Under Josh Gattis Michigan skill position recruiting has often seemed like a quest for the croots to get smaller and faster until they were photons. Tavierre Dunlap is an acknowledgment that third and short still exists.

GURU RANKINGS

Rivals	ESPN	24/7	Composite
3*, 5.7 rating #27 RB, #51 TX	3*, 78 grade #37 RB, #84 TX	4*, #220 overall #14 RB, #37 TX	3*, #374 overall #22 RB, #56 TX

24/7 is pretty optimistic. Rivals is less so, though they've been extremely tough on running backs this year: there are only 17 four-star backs. That seems uncommonly low.

[After THE JUMP: scouting, video, and no otters]

SCOUTING

Dunlap is less of a finished product than Michigan's two most recent power backs. He's listed at 6-foot, 196, and will probably end up playing significantly larger than that. 24/7's profile scout suggests he'll play at 220 and projects him as a one-cut downhill runner:

Terrific north-south hole puncher with requisite long speed to hit the home run … Run finisher who uses size and top-end speed to his advantage. Dangerous if he gets loose at the second level. …Gears down at times when changing directions. Can improve short-area lateral fluidity to maximize elusiveness. Not the type to string moves together in the open field.

Hassan Haskins is probably the best recent comparable. This Notre Dame scout—they offered about three weeks after Michigan—is Haskins to a T:

… has limitations that might prevent him from being a No. 1 back on the highest level of play… knack for seeing the hole and hitting it … decisive runner … quality vision. … keeps his shoulders square to the line of scrimmage, …. knows when to lower the pads pre-contact and then churns his feet through contact.

… questions to be answered [about] Dunlap’s “consistent speed,” lack of wiggle, and overall ability to power through tackles on the next level.

This "SI All-American"—which looks like an attempt to create a college football recruiting vertical in the morass of Maven's freelance content swamp—scout is similar:

…. Room to add mass … Balanced athlete with good burst and long speed … One-cut style built for spread/modern football with some finishing power when he plays behind his pads. Acceleration in the open field may be best trait … Vision and no-nonsense style … decisive north-south efficiency … frame and athleticism, along the skillset, to project as a three-down back built for modern college football.

A Texas analyst for 24/7 also called him a "big back with a huge frame" who is a "one-cut runner without a lot of wiggle."Rivals has a couple of brief takes from Texas analysts, with this the most extensive:

Dunlap is a big-framed back that's light on his feet, can contribute in the passing game and is powerful enough to run over you or around you.

All right then.

Dunlap's coach says many of the things you usually hear about college-level recruits:

“Oh man, first off all the dude, he’s super consistent and that’s with everything,” Dunlap’s coach at Del Valle Charles Burton told 247Sports Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong recently. “That’s with his work ethic and approach to practice, his mentality, he doesn’t have any up and down days. He comes to work every single day, not saying that’s rare, but he never stops and I can appreciate that as a head coach, especially with him having a leadership position in our program.”

He also thinks Dunlap's working to improve some of the negatives that have been mentioned:

"He's put in tremendous work this summer,” Burton said. “I think he's gotten even faster and he's been doing a lot of work in the passing game so his route tree has expanded and his vertical catches have gotten better. The kid can run anything. That's the great thing about it. He's been staying low so he can cut between the tackles with good lateral movement and explode out of those cuts. That's been coming along well also."

The ability to run vertical routes is going to be important for backs under Josh Gattis

Dunlap is supposed to enroll early, FWIW.

OFFERS

Dunlap had offers from a big chunk of the college football world west of the Mississippi, including UCLA, USC, Nebraska, Utah and much of the Pac-12 and Big Twelve. OU and Texas were notable exceptions. Also, east of the Mississippi suitors included Notre Dame, Minnesota, and MSU.

Dunlap's final two were Michigan and Okie State. The latter has a hell of a running back legacy, including Justice Hill—Daxton Hill's brother—and yoinking a Texas back from them is a bit of a coup. He was also drawing some buzz as an option for Texas.

HIGH SCHOOL

Del Valle has not sent a player to Michigan in the recruiting site era. They have sent a smattering of three-stars to Big 12 schools over the past decade. I was going to note that Colorado QB Steven Montez, who you may remember, is an alum but apparently there's also a Del Valle in El Paso as well as Austin so nevermind.

STATS

This is some wide open football right here:

Dunlap surpassed the 1,300 yards rushing on 128 carries with 20 touchdowns as a junior in 2019. He also had 20 receptions for 208 yards and three additional scores. Del Valle finished the season with a 5-5 overall record, averaging 42.3 points per game. As a sophomore in 2018, Dunlap was named first-team all-district selection after rushing for 1,449 yards and 17 touchdowns on 186 carries.

Imagine averaging seven touchdowns a game and going 5-5.

FAKE 40 TIME

Dunlap has a 4.63 on record from an Opening Regional. One fake. He's also got an 11.2 hundred meter time.

VIDEO

Junior tape:

This has a certain Ty Isaac vibe since there is little to no opposition in the first five yards on many of these runs.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Dunlap will fit into the Charbonnet/Haskins wing of Michigan's running back corps. With those two guys on campus for a while longer yet Dunlap is likely to have a wait in front of him before he can make an impact. He'll probably emerge into a rotation option in his third year, playing thunder to the various lightnings on the roster.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

The main upshot: this does not change Michigan's pursuit of in-state RB Donovan Edwards. Sam Webb reached out to Edwards's camp before Dunlap's commitment and was told it's "not an issue." Steve Lorenz reports the same. He remains Michigan's top uncommitted target; the ideal RB class at this point is Dunlap and Edwards.

Michigan has 21 commits in the 2021 class at this point. They have a completely unknowable number of open scholarships since the NCAA has granted a blanket eligibility waiver this season, but they remain in pursuit of another OL and a couple of DTs; a class of 25 or 26 is likely. Probably.