There are a lot of clever things a clever coordinator can do on defense to cover up for a weakness. Programs unable to recruit enough of the kind of defensive backs who can play man will commit to zone (Iowa). Those short on athletes in the second level can add hybrids and blitzes to make up for it (Indiana). Slower ends can be supplemented with 3-4 OLBs (Wisconsin), smaller ones can be covered by DTs and a good thumpin' Mike (MSU), and if you don't have a 3-tech, well, half of football bases out of a three-man front for a reason. Nose tackle, though:

The nose thing is probably my biggest "just watch the games, nerds" take. It's just so obvious when you watch good defenses that the Nose/iDL is the lynchpin.

— RichardJohnson (@RJ_Writes) December 31, 2020

Things happen too fast in the A-gaps to take a loss there. If you don't have a guy who can both stand up to doubles and demand them, all of your Winoviches and Garys get doubled, your secondary gets abused, your linebackers get blocked, and your clever coordinator is spending all of his time dreaming up mitigation strategies instead of stopping the opponent. This is why for years Michigan fans have been imploring our program to add at least one gettable nose tackle-shaped nose tackle to the end of the class in case the more dynamic options at the top don't work out. Failing to Moneyball this problem with build-a-bears and the odd competition-averse blue chip is the reason coaching legend Don Brown just got fired. Here in January 2021, Michigan's current class has zero plausible NTs signed, one local four-star on the hook, and a lame duck DL coach who has little hope of finding more.

The good news: the state of Michigan has at least one nose tackle-flavored nose tackle who projects to nose tackle, and he's game to play for Michigan when he graduates in 2022. The better news is he's got a lot of athletic upside. The bad news is he's never played nose tackle.

GURU RATINGS

As you'll see in the scouting, Miles is a nose tackle-sized person River Rouge has been playing at end, sometimes as far out as a stand-up SAM. That speaks highly of his agility, but hasn't made projections easy:

Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
3*, 5.5, SDE, no rank	no profile	3*, 86, NR OVR #45 DT, #17 MI	3*, 0.8466, #671 OVR, #49 DT, #23 MI
3.40*	n/a	3.58*	3.47*

Bottom row is my conversion of the above to a 5-star scale. Links are to profiles.

As with fellow recent commit Connor Jones, Miles has barely been seen by services. ESPN doesn't have a profile up. Rivals lists him as an SDE and slapped him with a 5.5, which is Rivals for "I'm working on something but I'll get to it I swear." 24/7 has little more than that, but put Miles down in the MAC/MSU portion of the in-state rankings. They also show an apparently more recent 6'5"/275; Rivals has Miles at 6'4"/265. His high school roster still says 240. So he's grown.

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

SCOUTING

Since they're the only site with an opinion we'll lead off with 247's Allen Trieu($):

….will end up playing inside but can give minutes at defensive end. Body type wise, right now, he is going to remind you of Chris Hinton.

With his background of being an end, he is more athletic than your average defensive tackle. He penetrates and makes a lot of plays in the backfield. He gets off the ball pretty well and can change directions and run plays down. He is a generally fluid and coordinated athlete. I think having come from defensive end and being taller, continuing to make his pad level consistent and anchoring against plays that come right at him are still areas he can improve in.

Ah, right. I remember that "pad level" phrase now. I think that was a common theme with defensive tackles back when Michigan used to recruit them. Davonte's coach Corey Parker sees a Raequan Williams type who controls interior linemen with big hands and too much leverage, except with Michigan grades.

"He’s got very long arms and very thick hands, but he also has a 3.5 GPA," Rouge head coach Corey Parker said. "He’s one of those kids that just works his butt off in the classroom."

Parker told Rivals that Miles can play all over the line in college.

“He’ll graduate at 285-290 pounds. He has another year with us. He eats well, but he lifts well, too. His body is able to pack up muscle and fat and distribute it. He’s got big legs, wide shoulders and no gut. The way his body distributes weight is beautiful. He’s got a big, fat, pudgy face and wide neck, but that’s it. He has huge hands. Is he a 1-technique or 3-technique in an over front system? Is he a 4-technique in a 3-4 system? He is whatever the new defensive coordinator wants. He gives them flexibility.

What about nose?

The only thing he doesn’t play is nose,

!!!!!!!!!!!

….and that’s not because he can’t. I just have a 330-pounder named Pius Odjugo. He holds down the A gap for me, so Davonte has always played in the 3-, 4- or 5-technique. I’m not afraid to say that he’ll be a 300-pounder, so he could be a 1-technique. He’s also quick, agile and fast. He has good bend, so he can change direction. I believe he gives you versatility as a 1- or 3-technique. He could possibly be a 4-technique. He has a mixture of length, speed and girth."

Parker told Sam Webb earlier this year that Miles was still raw after being recruited off the basketball team($):

We took the same approach that we had with Ruke Orhorhoro. We took a guy that was a center on the basketball team. He pivots and really knows how to bend at the hips well. We said, ‘hey, we can really work with you if you come out to JV football.’

“He was on JV football as a 9th grader, and he led us in sacks. That JV team went 9-0, playing some great opponents. So we brought him along to varsity football this year and he ended up taking a senior’s position at the four-technique… 4i in our three-down package. Before we knew it he was starting fully for us and was one of the leading sack-getters for us this season.”

A cousin of Mario and Michael Ojemudia, 2019 DL prospect Ruke Orhorhoro was listed at WDE despite being 6'4"/271, and ranked around the same spot as Davonte. Michigan offered but didn't pursue very hard, then Ruke burned his redshirt in 2019 and was on Clemson's two-deep at DT this year before losing the season to injury.

…

The three-star vibe is strong though. Before last season, 247's Steve Lorenz made it sound like the staff is thinking "need the dudes" more than "that's a dude.":

Two in-state recruits that are also potentially important for Michigan in 2022 are three-star offensive lineman Ka'Marii Landers and three-star defensive tackle Davonte Miles. I believe the staff is hoping both of these players can take steps forward on the field this season to put them in a clear 'take' category. I'm not 100% sure that's the case right now, particularly with Landers.

Which: yes, you need the dudes. Michigan offered last May, a couple days before Indiana. Miles attended that one 247 Midwest camp they got off in July, and won the award for shortest writeup:

"Is a big body that showed he can get up and move."

Maize n' Brew's Jonathan Simmons broke down a game and sees a guy with too much strength for high school and not nearly enough technique to play early:

In the interior, I think Miles’ quick step and strength will help him stand up to double teams, but he will have to work on his pad level so he can effectively leverage his strength and get skinny to split those blocks.

His slow change of direction will also not matter as much since he won’t have to bend around the edge like a defensive end would. But he will have to learn not to shoot so far upfield and take himself out of the play.

Given this lack of nimbleness and overall inconsistency, I can see why Miles is ranked as a mid-tier three-star right now. I do think he has a lot of untapped potential, though, and possesses plenty of traits that can make him a contributor for Michigan.

Pad level and technique. This is so familiar. Touch the Banner, what say you?

Technique-wise, Miles has some work to do. He’s not consistent with his hands, and he tends to reach for tackles rather than sinking his hips and breaking down. He can bend, but he doesn’t always do it. Playing a defensive end spot doesn’t do him many favors for the next level, because he’s not getting necessary reps taking on double-teams and defeating blocks as a 3-tech. From an effort standpoint, it seems like Miles plays tentatively. He doesn’t sell out to make tackles, he doesn’t finish tackles, he doesn’t always wrap up, etc. It just seems like he grabs ahold of ball carriers and hopes to hold on long enough until somebody else can get in on the tackle.

MGoFish?

He plays with good leverage and strength as he finds himself in the backfield throughout each game. Not the greatest athlete in the world but more than good enough. Has a good motor as he chases down quarterbacks and ball carriers. Still pretty raw with his technique and hands but should come with time and more coaching.

OFFERS

Indiana was in there around the same time as Michigan, and West Virginia, Iowa State, and Kentucky were in pursuit. Louisville, Cincy, MSU, and Maryland, Purdue, Cal, Pitt and others of that ilk have come by since. The school notably absent on that list is Clemson, who knows what they've got in Ruke, but the Tigers just brought in three top-100 DTs in their 2020 class, including #1 overall Bryan Bresee, and another top-100 guy in 2021. I do like that Dantonio's coaching tree has high interest given the DTs of this type they've developed.

HIGH SCHOOL

We call it "Down River." The Rouge River's tributaries spread across Metro-Detroit but come together just south of it. Just before it empties, between Henry Ford's historic factory and the Detroit River, is a community that had gone twice as long as the Detroit Lions without winning a championship until Coach Parker brought home a state title in 2019 with a win over Muskegon.

Michigan looked at NT Pius Odjugo but didn't offer; he's an unsigned CMU commit. Davonte's close friend Armorion Smith was the team MVP; he's a 2021 hybrid safety who recently signed with Cincinnati over Iowa State. Rouge also has a 2023 linebacker in Davon Jackson who projects as a 4* OLB/Don Brown ILB, and a 2024 WR who's already 6'2" and has a Kentucky offer. Wisconsin safety Reggie Pearson (2018), Iowa cornerback Daraun McKinney (2019) and Auburn JUCO CB Kamal Hadden have also come through their recently.

Coach Corey Parker, a former EMU DB, is an up-and-comer among the Detroit coaching fraternity, and I wouldn't be mad if Michigan snatched him up. If he keeps pumping DTs and CBs into Power 5 rosters at this rate, someone's going to.

STATS

Couldn't find any.

FAKE 40 TIME

None listed. That gets five FAKES because I assume a person with an athletic scholarship has moved 40 yards at some velocity.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

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

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

We'll see if his recruitment picks up over the next year but either way Miles looks like a guy to put in the oven and see what comes out down the road. We'll also have to see what happens with the new defensive coordinator, how Miles responds if Nua is let go by said coordinator, and how the rest of the class shakes out. I don't mind a 6'5" nose if he's got the feet and arms to translate that into leverage, but that pad level thing is always going to be an issue for a bigger 1-tech. It bothers me less in a prospect like Miles who's so far from a finished product.

If that athleticism translates we could see some of Miles on passing downs at 3-tech, or if defensive tackle is a disaster zone we could see a debut in line with that of Donovan Jeter, who started earning a ton of coach praise until he looked unplayable against Wisconsin as a redshirt sophomore, then got another waive of praise before showing out okay-ish as a redshirt junior. The closest comp I can name is a guy who's my age, Shawn Lazarus, a long-armed weirdo they found playing OLB at 6'3"/270 for a school in football country, Ohio, and tacked on to the legendary 1998 class. Lazarus started 29 games (fourth most of that class), as a decent 4-3 nose tackle, but wasn't drafted. Also:

Matthew Godin was another in range, but he topped out at as a 3-tech. You can also go back to some of the taller DT fillers of Lloyd Carr's classes, most of whom ended up in the DT rotation or playing more of a 3-tech role (Eric Wilson, Norman Heuer, Will Johnson). Those guys were also ranked considerably higher. 2021 DT signee Dominick Giudice is another.

ETC.

Played center for River Rouge's basketball team. Plays tight end on offense. Kansas edits.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

At the time he committed Davonte was the fourth member of the 2022 class, which with on-the-rise 4* in Alex VanSumeren was half DTs. Michigan's going after more of them, as they should, and a butt ton of cornerbacks, which is the other position that could inspire a paragraph or six about positional depth recruiting in a local 3-star's hello if one existed.