Your calls were heard. Enough with the strongside DE types picked from Boston College's footprint: we want a cornerback, preferably from some high school I've heard of. Well folks, I give you the new highest-ranked, and lowest-statured Michigan defensive recruit in the class, cornerback Ja'Den McBurrows from Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas.

GURU RATINGS

Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
3*, 5.7, #27 CB, #58 FL, Not ranked	3*, No rating	3*, 85, #90 CB #117 FL, Not ranked	3*, 0.8638, #44 CB, #85 FL, #580 Ovr

So no, the defensive class still has yet to crack the top-500. But that Rivals ranking is just on the edge of 4-star status: their 27th cornerback and 58th Floridian were well into 4-star status last year, and the #26 cornerback is a 4-star right now. That contrasts sharply with 24/7, whose score and rankings represent a 3.53 on my 5-star scale, i.e. in Terrence Talbott/Reon Dawson range. ESPN didn't have a profile up until this weekend. All describe a smallish but tough-as-nails DB with SEC speed, though Rivals has him at 175 (average for a freshman corner), an important 10 pounds heavier than the other two sites' listings.

Are you not entertained?

The mitigating factor: McBurrows reported a ton of elite offers at the end of January, including some Alabama interest that appeared serious, and a once-imminent Ohio State visit that in a non-Covid-19 world might have resulted in a Buckeye commitment:

“Just OSU right now,” McBurrows said when asked which schools are starting to stand out from his offer list. “I like how they have so many players in the NFL. And I love how they prepare their players for the NFL.”

Michigan offered with everyone else back in January, but had friend and former teammate Anthony Solomon working McBurrows when visitations ended. This was also the first recruitment for which LBs coach Brian Jean-Mary, whose ties to South Florida are as strong as any coach's in the country, played a key role. Take THAT rival program that can have anyone it wants this cycle (please don't take this).

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

SCOUTING

Let's start with the position because there's a little bit of uncertainty generated from this quote:

“They said corner, but I think I can play inside or outside,” McBurrow[sic] said. “Wherever they want me at.”

Michigan has a nickel-corner sub-position technically manned by Lavert Hill last year. On the other hand I wouldn't completely discount the possibility of a move to Rover (slot/strong safety) since his game has a bit of viper in it. Magnus even used a former Michigan corner who ended up starting a couple of years as a tiny hybrid linebacker for Rutgers:

If I had to come up with a more appropriate player comparison, I would pair McBurrows up with Ross [Taylor-]Douglas. While I like McBurrows a little better (I gave Douglas a TTB Rating of 63), Douglas was a kid who bounced around at Michigan, going from corner to running back and eventually ending up at Rutgers as a hybrid outside linebacker/safety

The other viper-ish thing about McBurrows is he seems to possess a Khaleke-ian knack for punt-blocking; he got his hands on four of them last year, and his coach said that easily could have been eight or nine. And that's in a league that produces a large share of college punters.

24/7's Miami guy scouts Aquinas a lot and describes the kind of player Iowa routinely turns into all-Big Ten:

"He’s on the smaller side, but explodes out of his breaks and has good instincts. He’s got some speed."

Rivals' EJ Holland loved the speed…

While he's not tall or super long, he brings great speed and should excel as a pure cover corner. McBurrows earned first team all-state honors and played great competition at St. Thomas Aquinas, which is a national high school powerhouse. McBurrows is still a bit raw as well, so he brings a lot of upside….

…and compared him favorably to Cass Tech CB prospect Kalen King, who recently chose Penn State:

McBurrows is just as good. While not the tactician that King is, McBurrows brings more speed and upside.

Holland also spoke with Aquinas HC Roger Harriott:

“Ja’Den is an extremely talented player and an even better person. From a football standpoint, he’s a student of the game with elite football acumen and great instincts between the whistle. On defense, he can shutdown an entire side of the field and is also a dynamic returner on special teams. As a person, he’s a brother to his teammates and leads by example.”

For those not familiar with Harriott, his player comps are Fred Jackson But Hot:

“Ja’Den reminds me of Rod Woodson from a physical standpoint with Deion Sanders type speed and instincts.”

I mean this with the utmost sincerity: never change Coach Harriott! While the speed may not be quite Deion Sanders, McBurrows did win the fastest man race at a camp in LA for incoming freshmen three years ago.

OFFERS

Tennessee was his first big offer. Pitt came in last year when Ja'Den transferred to Aquinas, and Florida State jumped in after the season. The explosion hit the last week of January: Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Maryland, Miami (YTM) and many others offered in quick succession. Rivals' Holland made it clear a lot of those were "offers":

While the timing of McBurrows' commitment was a surprise, the fact that Michigan landed him is not. McBurrows has an impressive offer list, but not all those scholarships are committable. Michigan cornerbacks coach Michael Zordich and the rest of the staff made him a top priority at the position and pushed hard during the dead period. They were in constant contact over the last several weeks.

He wasn't a top-tier recruit, but he was a guy the major programs wanted on the hook in case they didn't reel in their top targets.

HIGH SCHOOL

Few schools in the nation have put out more talent than St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, with Ohio State's Damon Arnette this week joining a long list of former Raiders to be drafted.

McBurrows transferred to Aquinas (Anthony Solomon, Jake Rudock, John O'Korn, Jon Shaw, the Bosas, and many more) last year after playing his sophomore season for American Heritage School (Nick Eubanks, Mike Morris) in Plantation, FL. This part of Florida runs along the coast down to Miami, generally with the beachfront communities to the East of I-95 and the former residents pushed to the west of it. However there's a wealthy, golf coursey East-West vein along I-595, which intersects I-95 at Ft Lauderdale's airport, and both of McBurrows's schools are on the north side of that corridor.

Florida breaks up its classifications by school size with 8A the highest, but 7A football is still considered elite among the nation's high school divisions, and Aquinas itself is Elite-elite. The school was USA Today's preseason #1 in the nation, and romped through a tough schedule featuring California superpower De La Salle, Florida 8A's Deerfield Beach, and Missouri state champion St. Louis in a bowl thing in Hawaii. The Raiders beat Edgewater for a state title in Florida's Class 7A, a game in which McBurrows featured prominently on special teams and defense (he's #27).

McBurrows is cousins with teammate Dallas Turner, an elite edge rush prospect Michigan would love to bring up as the next Uche, as well as teammate Jaydon Hood, a three-star LB with some film you should watch if he starts trending blue. It's a very good place to have a pipeline.

STATS

37 tackles, 15 pass break ups, six interceptions for 95 yards, four(!) blocked four punts, a blocked FG, 41-yard average on six kick returns, including a 95-yard TD.

FAKE 40 TIME

I didn't find one; his last national camp was apparently that one in 2017 and nothing was published from the satellite camp at Miami he attended last year. McBurrows also ran track. His team finished first in the 4x100 relay and came in 7th in the state in the 400-meter his sophomore season. Florida Runners lists an 11.01 in the 100-meter dash, which is good but not elite.

VIDEO

Junior highlights are below. Hop to 3 minutes if you want to skip the gift INTs and see him play balls not right to him.Sophomore highlights, freshman highlights, and single-game reels can be found on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

It's a cornerback that at least one site puts near the 4-star line, which YES PLEASE. If he brings an elite edge rusher and a Devin Bush-type LB with him while keeping the line to Aquinas open, all the better.

As a prospect however I see high floor more than ceiling. The acceleration to get to punts translates more to college production than catching lobs into Cover 2 that quarterbacks shouldn't have thrown. That forward acceleration makes Ja'Den as asset in the run game off the edge and in zone coverage. The highlights in man coverage show a guy who can redirect and stay with good receivers. What they don't show is him making up ground—if he had elite speed for his class in 8th grade, I don't see that on his tape.

So of course they talk about upside in his scouting. The usual avenues for that with cornerbacks are skinny late-bloomers with a recent growth spurt, kids out of nowhere schools, freaky hips who were on offense or quarterback, etc. Ja'Den's technique could use refinement like any high school corner's could, but McBurrows is a kid who's been on radars since before he got to high school, plays at one of the few schools every scout in the country knows about, and has plenty tape against top WRs so projecting him ought not to be hard. On the other hand he hasn't been to many camps recently, and the flood of offers in January shows recruiters were really into his junior tape. Personality-wise he's a fit.

Unfortunately they missed Miami 5-star Jacorey Brooks and Plant City top-50 WR Mario Williams this year, but four-star slot ninja Jacolby George is on that Plantation film and Ja'Den came out ahead.

There are a bunch of young cornerbacks on the roster we haven't seen play yet, but chances are pretty good you'll see Ja'Den on special teams at the very least. He projects as a fine Big Ten defender if not elite, and Michigan will need that sort sooner rather than later with Ambry Thomas set to graduate after 2020 and a lot of Vincent Gray-like long-types coming up. 2020 commit Andre Seldon will be tough to pass since they seem to have similar college skillsets.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

It has a corner in it: