The next of the four Ohio-based Hellos to get to is Cameron Calhoun, a corner out of the Cincinnati area. Calhoun is currently Michigan's only true corner in the 2023 class as of this writing, though that could change very soon. He committed to Michigan on the day of The Game, and was a nice prize for finally slaying the Buckeyes in Columbus. 

GURU RATINGS 

There's a pretty broad consensus between the four sites here, with Rivals on the high end and ESPN on the low end, while On3 and 247 are in lockstep. Calhoun is in the 40s among corners nationally, and straddling the top 15 or so prospects in Ohio. The height numbers are interesting, with everything from slightly under 6 feet to 6'2 showing, though the sites have a good feel on his weight. As the MGoBlog box above shows, Calhoun is close to the middle among all corner recruit Michigan has gotten since 1990. Not a blue chipper, but not a Who Dat either, just a solid 3.5*. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Solid. Polished.]

SCOUTING

Let's start it off with the overview descriptions of Calhoun, the first of which provided to us by On3's EJ Holland ($): 

Calhoun is more of a high floor take. There are question marks about his athleticism and speed, but he’s a great technical corner on the outside. At about 6-feet, Calhoun has decent height and length and is a very patient player. He does a great job of understanding what the opponent is trying to do and has a high football IQ.

And the second from Allan Trieu of 247: 

Solid measureables. Has size to match up on outside receivers. Former receiver who showed the anticipation and ball skills to intercept a lot of passes during his high school career. Also showed he could turn defense into offense as a senior, scoring on several interception returns. Has the agility to play man to man on an island. Has adequate recovery and long speed but can continue to work on that. 

Both agree that Calhoun has solid size to matchup with outside receivers, and both agree that Calhoun's technical polish and football IQ give him a high floor and have aided him in his success at the HS level. But both, crucially, see long speed as an issue with Calhoun, which opens the door to some questions. Let's go deeper. 

Touch the Banner gave his rundown of Calhoun off the tape. His first notes were very similar to the overviews listed above: 

Calhoun is a long, lanky cornerback. He is an intelligent, technique-oriented player who does a good job of disguising coverages and reading the development of routes. He is a physical player who can come up to tackle and support the run

Alright, but how about the speed?: 

What he lacks is great speed and change of direction skills. He’s more of a technician than a physical specimen, and he reminds me of Gemon Green in that respect.

Well, that comp. makes me feel a little bit better. There's a big difference between Gemon Green speed and Darion Green-Warren speed, and the difference is called "Gemon Green is a quality NCAA player". 

Let's go back to EJ to hear about Calhoun's performance at a camp that Holland attended. Sounds promising: 

I actually wrote that Michigan should offer Calhoun back in the spring after he put on a terrific performance at the Under Armour camp in Ohio. Calhoun was named DB MVP over several highly touted prospects in attendance and shut down some of the best wide receivers in the Midwest. Again, Calhoun is technically advanced and won the majority of reps thanks to his feet, patience and willingness to get physical

Calhoun seems to have shown enough at the HS level to think he's ahead of the curve in terms of his technique, even if there may be some physical aspects he needs to work on. One that pops up is his hips, as Lucas Reimink of Rivals mentioned "hip fluidity" as a weakness and TTB said "(Calhoun) needs to work on flipping his hips to react to the ball when it’s in the air". Reimink also focuses on foot speed rather than long speed, but overall summarizes it as such: 

Cameron Calhoun projects as an outside CB who can play press coverage or off coverage when in either man or zone at the next level due to his good length, good physicality, and really good ball skills. 

Feels like a reasonable overview based on all the sources I've listed. 

OFFERS

Calhoun was first committed to West Virginia, but flipped to his local team, the Cincinnati Bearcats, in June 2022. He stayed with that for five months before decommitting in November 2022, when major interest started rolling in. Calhoun backed off the commitment while visiting Kentucky, which was the team many assumed Calhoun was planning to flip to. One UK insider actually had a pick for Calhoun --> 'Cats, but Steve Clinkscale stuck his nose in and got it done for the Wolverines. Other schools with offers of note include MSU, Rutgers, Maryland, Pitt, Purdue, Georgia Tech, and that's right, your UConn Huskies. I should point out that Calhoun committed to Michigan after visiting OSU for The Game, though he did not yet have a Buckeye offer. 

HIGH SCHOOL 

Calhoun plays for Winton Woods HS, just north of Cincinnati. Winton Woods is a school of ~1100 students and competes in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference (ECC), a league they have done very well in recently. This past season Winton Woods went 9-0 in conference play to finish first and were 12-0 before being defeated by Kings Mill in the Division 2 playoff. They have a quite talented roster this season, with Calhoun opposite Jermaine Mathews, the other starting corner and senior, who is a 4* signing with OSU (could be a fun narrative for future broadcasts of The Game). Furthermore, Winton Woods' sophomore (2025) EDGE/OLB Justin Hill already has an offer from Michigan. 

Winton Woods is on the newer side as high schools go, opening in 1991, but they have produced a few players of note. David Long Jr. (not that David Long) was a LB at West Virginia who was an NFL pick and is currently on the Titans' roster, while Mike Edwards was a 3rd round safety out of Kentucky and is currently on the Bucs' roster. Miyan Williams, OSU RB, is also a Winton Woods product. 

STATS 

The ECC Sports site has Calhoun down for 52 tackles (34 solo, 18 assisted), 3 TFL, and 5 INTs in 13 games. One INT was returned for a TD and Calhoun finished the season tied for fourth in the conference with those five interceptions, one back of a three-way tie for first. 

FAKE 40 TIME 

Calhoun attended camps, as I put in the scouting section, but finding a 40 time proved harder than anticipated. Trieu described the recorded times as "solid". Scouting Ohio has combine results from some unknown testing date, and lists Calhoun as just a "4.5", which was the only actual time I could find. 

VIDEO 

Here is Calhoun's senior year highlight reel via his Hudl page: 

ETC 

Plans to enroll early. Track background, qualified for Ohio Division I regionals in the 110-meter hurdles (15.39 PR) and 300-meter hurdles (40.24 PR) in spring 2021. 

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE 

So long as the speed is playable at Michigan's level, and the scouts seem to believe that it is, then I like Calhoun in this class and think he should be a solid player for the Wolverines. Doesn't seem like he has a terribly high ceiling, but a technically sound, smart corner with decent size and length projects to be a possible mutli-year starter for Michigan on the outside. Gemon is taller than Calhoun, though the WR background seems to give Calhoun somewhat better ball skills... if that's the ballpark of player we're talking about, it's a fine take. It's an added bonus that he's from Ohio as well, on a HS team that saw the Buckeyes sign his fellow corner yet pass him up formally. This is a guy who will want to slay the scarlet and gray with the energy of a thousand suns. No problem with Calhoun in this class, or any class for that matter. 

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS 

Calhoun is one of two true DBs in the class for the moment, being joined last night by fellow Ohioan D'Juan Waller of Youngstown, who projects as either a corner but perhaps more likely, a safety. Calhoun's skillset in particular as a polished but not hyper-athletic corner pairs relatively well with that of Michigan's other high priority CB target in this class, Jyaire Hill, who is scheduled to announce his decision on Wednesday [I know that Hill recently posted a top five without Michigan in it despite all the CB's now being in Michigan's favor... that feels very troll-y and so my analysis has not changed]. Hill is believed to be down to Michigan and Illinois, though the predictions are tilting heavily towards the Wolverines. Netting Hill and Calhoun as the two true corners in this class is far from a worst-case scenario in a very bumpy class, and one that your author would feel okay about. 

THE CLASS AS IT STANDS