The third and final commitment in Michigan's mini-run last week was Marshfield (MA) Noble & Greenough School linebacker Casey Phinney. As you may have guessed given the position and location, Phinney is a Don Brown recruit. He'll come in as an inside linebacker with some positional versatility, according to his high school coach:

Phinney is heading to Michigan to play inside linebacker, but he also has fullback/h-back skills.

“He’s very versatile,” Voulgaris said. “He can certainly do that (play on offense). My sense is once he gets there, they will fit him in where it is appropriate, but it is as a linebacker to get things started.”

Phinney is a virtual unknown to the recruiting services. He's using that as motivation:

Thank you to the Michigan faithful for the support on my commitment and an even bigger thank you to the doubters, can’t wait to prove you all wrong. Go Blue 〽️

— Casey Phinney (@caseyphinney) April 4, 2020

Thanking the haters is a power move.

Phinney is the seventh commit in Michigan's 2021 class, which currently ranks 14th at this relatively early stage in the cycle. He's the only linebacker in the class for the time being.

GURU RATINGS

Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
3*, 5.5, NR ILB, #7 MA	NR ILB	3*, 84, #37 ILB, #11 MA	3*, 0.8366, #40 ILB, #9 MA, #1002 Ovr

Phinney's junior film didn't go public until mere hours before his commitment, so take these rankings—or lack thereof—with a grain of salt. Rivals and 247 at least had rankings and profiles up for Phinney before last week; the same cannot be said for ESPN, surprise surprise.

As a result, Phinney would've been merely a middle-of-the-pack recruit in Michigan State's 2020 class. In related news, he'd be the Spartans's top commit for 2021. We'll see if there's any upward movement when the sites do their next re-rank and evaluators have more of a chance to go over his tape.

Phinney is listed at 6'1" and in the 225-230 pound range by all three sites. He's already got most of the size you want in a modern inside linebacker.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and the rest.]

SCOUTING

Since every recruiting site scouting report is based off of Phinney's junior film instead of live evaluations, let's start with the (admittedly sunny) point of view of his high school coach:

“He is an excellent blitzer,” he said. “He is the type of kid, when they are facing those run-heavy teams in the Big Ten, he can smash fullbacks, he can take on guards, he can plug holes so he is very much a downhill player.

“He is smooth in his drops into a zone as well. He has shown some sideline-to-sideline ability as well.”

The part about Phinney's blitzing, run defense, and physicality is echoed in other evaluations. The pass coverage and athleticism, on the other hand, come into question, in large part because they're simply not on display in his junior tape, which only features a couple snaps of him in coverage.

247's Brian Dohn highlights this disparity. There's the good...

He is able to stack and shed, he is quick with his hands and he knows how to keep the offensive lineman from getting hands on him. He picks out gaps to hit and he is a sure tackler.

...and the looming questions:

The questions with Phinney revolve around his speed and his explosion. Can he get to the sideline in college, especially against some of the perimeter speed teams in the Big Ten, and does he have the closing speed to shoot gaps and get to the ball carrier?

On tape, he is very good in the box but his top end speed does not show on tape. Nor does his ability to burst and cover five yards in a blur to make a play.

Maize N Brew's Jonathon Simmons broke down Phinney's tape with some GIFs, the first of which highlights Phinney's solid instincts:

This next play displays Phinney’s quickness to read and react to a play really well. Not fooled by the fake jet sweep, Phinney instead reads the tight end and wingback pulling across the formation in the direction of the run. From there, he explodes into the backfield and makes the tackle behind the line.

At WolverineDigest, Shawn Crable(!) got into the nitty gritty of where Phinney fits in the defense:

At MIKE linebacker, I worry about his arm length when it comes to taller, bigger guards coming at him. I would suggest placing him at SAM linebacker to the strong side as an overhang, tight 9-technique over the tight end. You could also have him as a loose 5-technique to the open side. I also worry a bit about him covering running backs out of the backfield. His highlights really don't show him in coverage all that much.

I can see why Michigan would be after him. His style of play is aggressive and appealing to a pressuring, blitzing coach like Don Brown.

That puts him in the Noah Furbush role, which makes sense given his skill set and how much he could fill out—Crable thinks he can get up to 250-260 pounds as a sophomore.

Multiple scouting reports mention that if Phinney can't stick at linebacker, fullback and H-back should be additional options. His size/athleticism combination projects well to those spots and he shows some skill on tape as a running back.

OFFERS

Phinney holds offers from Army, Georgetown, Harvard, UMass, Penn, Princeton, and Yale. Academics shouldn't be a concern. Boston College showed interest but hadn't offered before he committed.

HIGH SCHOOL

Noble & Greenough School has only produced one Division I player in the Rivals era (2002-present), three-star 2020 Wisconsin tight end signee Cam Large, whose ranking belied an impressive offer sheet that included Alabama, Georgia, Iowa (tight end, remember), LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and many others.

That gave Michigan a chance to look at Phinney. They also have an eye on Phinney's 2021 teammate, guard Drew Kendall, who's in the top 100 on both 247 and Rivals. Kendall also knows recent tight end commit Louis Hansen and he's taken note of Michigan's efforts in Massachusetts, per TMI's Brice Marich:

“It does make me more interested in Michigan. I mean I have a good relationship with Louis. He lives right down the road from my school and obviously I have a great relationship with Casey. I would say, yeah it does make me more interested. Getting to know Coach Warinner and Coach Harbaugh a little bit better during this time will be important to me.”

Michigan is one of two big offers out to Kendall along with Penn State, and of those two he seems to have more interest in the Wolverines; he's also showing strong interest in Boston College (which has all three of his early Crystal Ball picks), Duke, and Virginia.

STATS

MaxPreps only has seven games of sophomore stats: 45 tackles (16 solo) and six TFLs.

FAKE 40 TIME

None listed. Based on his running back highlights, he's not a sideline-to-sideline burner, though I think he's got decent short-area burst that's accentuated by his good timing on blitzes.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

Sophomore highlights and single-game reels can be found on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Phinney should start out his Michigan career as an inside linebacker to see if he can hack it as a three-down player; without more film, I have no idea how this will work out, but you want to at least see if your prospect can play at a full-time position before moving to more niche spots.

That said, Phinney could be a useful niche player. He's well-suited to the Furbush role if Don Brown wants to break out that style of 3-3-5 again; in that defense, the SAM often functions as an extra defensive lineman, and their job is to take on blocks—making plays in the backfield is a bonus. If defense doesn't work out, Phinney could move to the other side of the ball as a fullback or H-back, the latter probably being a more prominent place in Josh Gattis's offense.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Michigan class stands at seven prospects and ranks 14th nationally (albeit only sixth in the Big Ten) after the three-commit week. They're still going after linebackers in the class; Belleville four-star Jamari Budden is a top target and Brice Marich reports Michigan is pushing for WA four-star Josh McCarron.

Phinney's commitment could very well help Michigan land Kendall, who'd fortify what's turning into an excellent offensive line class. Here's the full class as it currently stands: