Official Visits Wrapup

This guy is a legend pic.twitter.com/nD6MewDzAT

— Chris Clark (@Clark8Chris) January 18, 2015

While Michigan's big official visit weekend hasn't yet produced a commitment, it certainly moved the needle for some of the program's top targets. Four-star CT TE Chris Clark—who appears to have rocked khakis on his visit, based on the above picture—was already familiar with Michigan's campus. He came to Ann Arbor to meet Jim Harbaugh, and told MLive that couldn't have gone much better:

"It's crazy, he's really intense, and you really like that," Clark told MLive on Sunday. "He grew on me a lot. I didn't know what to think at first, I wasn't sure what he'd be like. But once I left, he really, really grew on me.

"He's the best coach I think I've sat down with. I just think he's awesome."

An important note: Clark had an in-home with UCLA's Jim Mora last week. Clark now says his two finalists are "neck and neck" heading into this weekend's official visit to UCLA; Harbaugh will have an in-home with Clark after that visit, hopefully allowing him the last word in the process. Momentum looks to be swinging Michigan's way, though we'll see if that changes after Clark sees UCLA's campus for the first time. Clark is slated to make his decision on Signing Day in a televised ceremony on ESPNU.

Michigan also made significant progress with top-50 GA LB Roquan Smith; per TomVH, the Wolverines are poised to make the cut when Smith narrows his list to three ($):

Heading into the trip, Smith had Florida, Georgia, Michigan and UCLA as his likely top four. He has yet to take his official visit to UCLA, but says he should have news before that trip. 

"[Michigan is] in my top and I'll be coming out with a final three next week," he said. 

I'd assume Florida is the odd team out here—the main reason Smith looked at Michigan in the first place is because they hired DJ Durkin, who'd recruited him while at UF.

Three-star FL CB Damon Arnette, a South Carolina commit, got some important perspective from his player host, Jabrill Peppers, per Scout's Amy Campbell ($):

“Me and Jabrill had this conversation, just based off of speaking to him, he’s ready, you know what I mean? I can tell he’s going to be a great player, and I think that’s maybe something I want to be a part of. Him being back there behind me,that would be great. I can tell, since he got hurt, that put a drive in him,” Arnette said.

“Speaking with Jabrill, he was saying when he got hurt, he was going crazy because he didn’t know what else he could do, but then he realized he’s getting a great education. God forbid something happens to me, if I end up going to Michigan, I still have my education to fall back on.”

Arnette sounds like a strong candidate to commit; he had effusive praise for the coaches and even said he loved the weather—not exactly the norm for a Florida kid visiting Michigan in January.

The only uncommitted official visitor who doesn't sound like a distinct possibility to end up in the class is three-star FL DE Shelton Johnson, who said the visit was "pretty good" to Scout's Corey Bender ($). Nothing he said in there gave the impression Michigan should challenge Florida State, the presumed leader, for his commitment.

Meanwhile, five-star CA CB Iman Marshall is on campus. There will be much more on him later in the week.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]

O-Line Possibilities Emerging

Michigan is going after another committed prospect, this time two-star OH OL Nolan Ulizio, currently a UConn commit. Ulizio has received some added attention of late, as Michigan's offer closely followed one from Kentucky, but per Scout's Dave Berk, the Wolverines are the ones to watch here ($):

While Ulizio was happy about Kentucky’s offer, Michigan offering really caught his attention.

“I’m pretty excited about getting an offer from Michigan,” he said. “It’s a pretty big deal as Michigan is a great school with a great tradition. I’m also excited about seeing all my hard work starting to pay off.”

Ulizio said he'd speak with his family and talk to the UConn coaches before deciding how to proceed; the consensus is that he'll have a tough time turning down Michigan.

The Wolverines have reemerged for four-star MD OL Patrick Allen, making it into his top four, per GBW's Sam Webb ($):

With his recruitment now reopened the 6-5, 285-pounder is taking another look at the schools he took official visits to last fall. One of those trips was to Ann Arbor for the Minnesota game.  On the strength of that visit and the younger Harbaugh’s recent contact, Michigan is back in the mix.  Allen informed GoBlueWolverine today that his final four are Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Michigan.

Allen had been a Georgia commit before recently opening up his recruitment when they underwent staff changes at OC and O-line coach.

Although Michigan has yet to reach out, they're in line to compete for mammoth three-star NJ OL Sam Madden's signature after Wisconsin surprisingly wouldn't admit the long-time commitment. Madden's father told Maize n Brew that there's a lot of interest from their end:

"With Jim Harbaugh going to Michigan, they are of great interest," his father said. "He’s an amazing coach and I think he’s going to turn that program around really fast. Both Michigan schools would definitely be of interest and there are a few other schools we've discussed.

"We have not heard from them (Michigan), but we would be thrilled to be. It’s a pretty exciting program with an amazing legacy to potentially join, so that would be an exciting call to get. We’ll see what’s available and what’s out there and just have a realistic conversation. I've got all of Sam’s grades ready to send anybody quickly if there’s interest."

As long as there aren't any issues with admissions—and Madden's father made it sound like his grades are fine—it seems like this is a guy Michigan would want to go after: Madden stands at 6'7", 345 pounds, and was committed to play on one of the best gap-blocking O-lines in the country.

In Ur Base

Michigan could be poised to pilfer at least a couple prospects currently committed to other schools. In addition to the players mentioned above, they're in strong position with three-star FL CB Jarius Adams, a Rutgers commit, who set up an official visit after getting a Michigan offer, per The Wolverine's Tim Sullivan ($):

"We set it up for the 30th," he explained. "I've never been up there before. I want to just check out the school. I've heard it's one of the best schools in the nation,m and it's one of the top public universities. I just want to check it out, I want to meet all the coaches, some of the football players, and just get the feel around it, and see if I can be there for four years."

Adams will take an official to Rutgers this weekend; he's down to those two as finalists.

The Wolverines are targeting a pair of Nebraska commits. Three-star DE Reuben Jones set up an official visit for this weekend, and given what he told GBW's Kyle Bogenschutz, he certainly doesn't sound strong in his Husker pledge after their coaching change ($):

“I don’t know how I’m sitting with them,” Jones said. “I was with them talking and they were really serious in letting me know that I was their player and all that. I don’t know if I was feeling it too much just cause they were so serious.

“I felt like I was almost in a television show. I was listening to what they were saying, liked some of it, but at the same time I don’t know where we’ll stand in furthering that relationship.”

Louisville is also in the mix for Jones. Michigan is also pursuing three-star Husker TE commit Matt Snyder, who told 247's Steve Lorenz he's "leaning towards" taking an official visit to Ann Arbor ($). It could be tough to pull in Snyder, however, as the California prospect has been recruited by Mike Riley, first at Oregon State and now at Nebraska, for over a year.

Michigan offered three-star Stanford TE/FB commit Reagan Williams while he was on his official visit in Palo Alto, and 247's Clint Brewster thinks the Wolverines have a shot ($):

Reagan does not have a visit set up to Michigan yet but I feel like one could be in the works and very soon obviously with signing day nearing. Michigan was always a school that Williams really wanted an offer from.

Four-star LA RB Nick Brousette, an LSU commit, is considering an official visit after hearing from Tyrone Wheatley, per Lorenz ($). We'll see if that visit even materializes; pulling an LSU commit out of Louisiana at this late juncture would be quite unexpected.

Word flew around over the weekend that Michigan was targeting a quarterback committed to another Big Ten school; OSU pledge Joe Burrow told 247's Bill Kurelic that he got a phone call from Jim Harbaugh, but said in no uncertain terms that he's fully committed to the Buckeyes ($).

Michigan will also recruit four-star NV TE Aliz'e Jones, though that's not likely to result in much; Jones immediately committed to Notre Dame last week after decommitting from UCLA.

Other 2015 Updates

Michigan made the final four for three-star TX CB Nate Dalton, per his Twitter:

Narrowing it down to my top 4: Michigan,Liberty,Kentucky,and Arkansas #NoOrder pic.twitter.com/I8EgPbikI6

— Nathaniel Dalton (@TheN8Dalton) January 19, 2015

I must say that's the first time I remember seeing Liberty in the same grouping as Michigan. Per 247's Josh Edwards, Dalton plans to take an official to Ann Arbor.

There's been little word out of Tyrone Wheatley Jr. as his recruitment nears a close, and while that's been cause for concern around here, Sam Webb said in GBW's free recruiting roundup that there's plenty of reason to be confident:

At the moment Wheatley’s visit list is unchanged. He will Alabama this weekend, will follow that up with a trip to UCLA, and then finish up with Oregon.

Does that mean the Wolverines have no shot?

No.  I think that Michigan's chances have improved greatly thanks to his dad’s recent hire, but in speaking with his father about Junior's recruitment before he officially accepted his new job it became abundantly clear that senior is not going to push TJ on this.  I do think Michigan gets a visit and I do think their chances of landing him improve even more if they decommitments like Chris Clark and Mike Weber back in the fold.

That being said, Tyrone Wheatley Jr. is not a slam dunk for Michigan.  But the game isn’t over yet either.

Clark appears likely to end up back in the class, and optimism has been growing on the Mike Weber front, as well.

2016 Updates

I'm keeping the 2016 updates short for now since there's so much happening with the 2015 class; there'll be some catching up to do after NSD, but I'll at least keep you abreast of new offers.

One such recent offer went out to three-star AZ DE Connor Murphy, the younger brother of one of Harbaugh's former Stanford recruits, current NFL LB Trent Murphy. Based on what he told Tim Sullivan, I think the younger Murphy would be pretty comfortable playing for Harbaugh ($):

"A funny real quick story about me and Jim Harbaugh," Connor Murphy said. "When I was young, my mom actually went into labor at the hospital when Jim Harbaugh was over in Arizona recruiting my brother. He was at my house for an in-home visit, and I got to sit down on the living room floor with Jim Harbaugh as he ended up babysitting us kids. I got to play chess and drink milk with him, I guess that was pretty cool. 

"I go way back with Coach Harbaugh. He's obviously the guy that recruited my brother to go to Stanford when he coached at Stanford. Jim Harbaugh, he's always been a father figure to me, so I'm stoked about the Michigan offer for sure."

Murphy plans to visit Ann Arbor this summer.

Michigan also offered four-star TX ILB Dontavious Jackson, who's already familiarized himself pretty well with the school, per Sam Webb ($):

“Michigan has a great engineering program,” Jackson.  “They (also) have a great business program.  It’s a great school and a good education.  They just got a new head coach, Jim Harbaugh, and he going to make things happen.   He’s made things happen at the level above the collegiate level.  He’s made things happen in college before.  So I know he’s a great head coach and he’s going to make something happen (at Michigan).  That intrigues me.”

While Jackson plans to visit at some point, Michigan will have a ton of competition in his recruitment—he's one of the top prospects in Texas and the Longhorns got in on him early.