I track how recruiting rankings of Michigan's commits move over the course of the recruiting cycle, because it's useful to have a record of this stuff, and because the way the rankings change often tell us more about the player's prospects than the rankings themselves.

Previously: December 2019 offense and defense. July 2019 offense. Feb 2019 offense/defense, July 2018. This class mostly came together this year, meaning except for McCarthy and El-Hadi (who haven't changed much) I didn't get comprehensive snapshots until March, so we'll start there.

There were few camps this summer for re-evaluations but Rivals and 24/7 have been updating their rankings. ESPN has been so laissez-faire that you can see how everybody moved up one spot in their rankings after former CB target Tony Grimes reclassified to 2020. We're not going to have much fall football either (the state of Michigan just announced practice can resume), and a lot of these guys would have opted out if there was, so this class is probably staying where it is. They're also going to show up on campus with the same eligibility as this year's freshmen, who get a year in college weight programs to get ahead of them. For that reason many are planning to enroll early, perhaps even this fall.

Also: My rosters have been updated with the new eligibility rules, latest recruiting ratings, and new weights, along with the recruiting comps list.

Gravity: Players will naturally drop as more players are evaluated; a few spots relative to their previous ranking is standing still.

Ratings: My star ratings are on a curved 5-star scale and based on a composite of available national, state, regional, and position rankings, as well the sites' individual ratings and stars. A quick table of what the scores mean:

Site	5-star	High 4*	Solid 4*	Low 4*	High 3*	Decent 3*	3* Pile	Meh/?
247Sports	98-104	94-97	90-93	88-89	86-87	81-85	70-80	67-69
Rivals	6.1	6	5.9	5.8	5.7	5.6	5.5	4.9-5.4
ESPN	91-100	86-89	81-85	80	79	77-78	70-76	59-71
Composite	0.99+	0.97-0.98	0.90-0.93	0.88-0.89	0.86-0.87	0.81-0.85	0.7-0.8	<
MGoBlog	5.00	4.67	4.33	4.00	3.75	3.50	3.25	3.00

I'll use the larger font for guys with interesting changes. Let's go!

[After THE JUMP]

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QB commit J.J. McCarthy (IMG via IL)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	6.0 (#5 PRO), #31 OVR	6.0 (#5 PRO), #33 OVR	6.0 (#5 PRO), #30 OVR
ESPN	88 (#2 DUAL), #24 OVR	88 (#2 DUAL), #24 OVR	88 (#2 DUAL), #23 OVR
247Sports	95 (#3 PRO)#28 OVR	95 (#3 PRO)#26 OVR	95 (#3 PRO)#33 OVR
Composite	0.9898 (#2 PRO)#15 OVR	0.9898 (#2 PRO)#15 OVR	0.9893 (#2 PRO), #16 OVR
Avg Stars	4.77	4.72	4.72

Nothing's changed, even after the Elite 11 and move to IMG. The pecking order for QBs in this class was set long ago and probably won't shift unless someone has a miserable season, which would also entail someone having, you know, a season. McCarthy will.

If he holds firm McCarthy will be the 5th-highest ranked quarterback Michigan's recruited since 1990 by my ratings, solidly behind the 5-stars (Patterson, Mallett, Henne, and Henson), but just as much ahead of the next tier of Gardner/Kapsner/Peters.

RB target Donovan Edwards (MI)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.9 (#2 RB), #59 OVR	5.9 (#2 RB), #61 OVR	5.9 (#2 RB), #65 OVR
ESPN	86 (#4 RB), #67 OVR	86 (#4 RB), #67 OVR	86 (#4 RB), #66 OVR
247Sports	95 (#2 RB)#23 OVR	95 (#2 RB)#22 OVR	95 (#2 RB)#24 OVR
Composite	0.982 (#3 RB)#38 OVR	0.9818 (#3 RB)#37 OVR	0.9810 (#3 RB), #37 OVR
Avg Stars	4.72	4.72	4.72

Same deal with Michigan's top in-state target. Donovan Edwards has been in about the same spot since the rankings debuted, and we've been talking about the West Bloomfield prospect at least as long. FWIW Ty Wheatley Sr. was a 4.75 on my scale as Lemming's #6 RB, National Recruiting Advisor's #26 player overall, and everyone's #1 player in Michigan in 1991. Charbonnet was a 4.69.

RB target Tavierre Dunlap (TX)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.7 (#23 RB), #44 TX	5.7 (#24 RB), #47 TX	5.7 (#27 RB), #51 TX
ESPN	78 (#37 RB), #106 Midlands	78 (#35 RB), #100 Midlands	78 (#37 RB), #110 Midlands
247Sports	90 (#20 RB), #299 OVR	90 (#18 RB), #44 CA	91 (#14 RB), #220 OVR
Composite	0.8889 (#25 RB), #359 OVR	0.8843 (#26 RB), #394 OVR	0.8883 (#22 RB), #374 OVR
Avg Stars	3.87	3.85	3.89

Dunlap was recently bumped up to a 91 and the #14 RB after falling out of the Top 247 (and thus the national rankings) to 247Sports, the only site that has him a 4-star. The others are holding steady though there was a slight bump up from ESPN during a re-rank this summer. They created profiles for a bunch of new guys at the time so that might have been a bump. Dunlap is down to Michigan and Oklahoma State. He'd be be in the same range as Chris Evans, Walter Cross, and Fitz Toussaint if he ends up where he's at now.

WR commit Xavier Worthy (CA)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.6 (NR WR), NR CA	5.6 (NR WR), #47 CA	5.9 (#10 WR), #57 OVR
ESPN	84 (#22 WR), #125 OVR	84 (#22 WR), #125 OVR	84 (#22 WR), #124 OVR
247Sports	93 (#24 WR), #147 OVR	93 (#24 WR), #141 OVR	93 (#11 WR), #94 OVR
Composite	0.9185 (#39 WR), #208 OVR	0.9193 (#40 WR), #209 OVR	0.9662 (#11 WR), #71 OVR
Avg Stars	4.15	4.21	4.55

Yeah, baby! Worthy just shot up the Composite as 247Sports and Rivals (re-)reviewed the tap and saw a top-100 prospect. In the case of Rivals it was a long time coming after sitting in 5.6 (meh 3-star) land for far too long. That means ESPN is still the outlier but the opposite direction. The difference is that between a Carl Tabb/Amara Darboh/Devin Funchess ranking and the Stonum/Streets/Avant/Drake Harris region he's among now. He'd be the #13 receiver recruit in my database as it stands.

WR commit Cristian Dixon (CA)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.8 (#32 WR), #175 OVR	5.8 (#32 WR), #175 OVR	5.8 (#32 WR), #186 OVR
ESPN	84 (#26 WR), #140 OVR	84 (#26 WR), #143 OVR	84 (#26 WR), #142 OVR
247Sports	93 (#46 WR), #30 CA	87 (#96 WR), #59 CA	87 (#95 WR), #60 CA
Composite	0.9289 (#33 WR), #178 OVR	0.9175 (#38 WR), #210 OVR	0.9160 (#37 WR), #210 OVR
Avg Stars	4.26	4.11	4.11

Dixon took a big, unexplained drop to 247Sports over the summer, probably as a delayed reaction to him moving to a school where he wasn't even on the top of his depth chart. He's been holding since and probably ends up here because he's foregoing his senior season to enroll early. He's in that Tabb/Darboh/Funchess range.

WR commit Markus Allen (OH)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.7 (NR WR), NR OH	5.7 (#76 WR), #18 OH	5.8 (#44 WR), #10 OH
ESPN	78 (#86 WR), #60 MW	78 (#86 WR), #60 MW	78 (#92 WR), #64 MW
247Sports	86 (#117 WR), #20 OH	86 (#118 WR), #21 OH	86 (#118 WR), #25 OH
Composite	0.8709 (#83 WR), #507 OVR	0.8709 (#88 WR), #533 OVR	0.8783 (#68 WR), #454 OVR
Avg Stars	3.73	3.72	3.81

Allen was a consensus ranked 3-star until recently when Rivals bumped him into their 4-star status, and more. He's a actually close to the top-250—the #42 receiver ranked #239. That's after not even having a ranking as late as April. The other two sites ranked him and forgot him in that zone that most Ohio recruits who don't get Ohio State interest end up in. That's a very hit-and-miss zone in Michigan receiver recruiting history: I have Jerald Robinson, Braylon Edwards, Mo Ways, Roy Roundtree, and Jehu Chesson in range.

WR commit Andrel Anthony (MI)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.7 (#71 WR), #15 MI	5.7 (#81 WR), #15 MI	5.7 (#80 WR), #16 MI
ESPN	77 (#101 WR), #75 MW	77 (#102 WR), #76 MW	77 (#111 WR), #81 MW
247Sports	87 (#99 WR), #12 MI	87 (#100 WR), #12 MI	87 (#102 WR), #13 MI
Composite	0.8721 (#82 WR), #495 OVR	0.8721 (#87 WR), #519 OVR	0.8721 (#87 WR), #544 OVR
Avg Stars	3.67	3.67	3.65

I was expecting a ratings bump for the slippery route artisan after his Hello post but none came. Michigan's history of guys ranked in this range is mostly Brady Hoke whiffs: Csont'e York, Jeremy Jackson, Nate Johnson, Da'Mario Jones, and Grant Perry. The last is probably the most instructive though Anthony's more of a Roundtree than Perry.

TE commit Louis Hansen (MA)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.9 (#4 TE), #66 OVR	5.9 (#4 TE), #68 OVR	5.9 (#4 TE), #70 OVR
ESPN	77 (#18 TE-Y), #83 East	77 (#20 TE-Y), #84 East	77 (#23 TE-Y), #85 East
247Sports	88 (#15 TE), #4 MA	88 (#17 TE), #3 MA	88 (#21 TE), #3 MA
Composite	0.9075 (#10 TE), #251 OVR	0.9073 (#10 TE), #256 OVR	0.9070 (#12 TE), #254 OVR
Avg Stars	3.97	3.97	3.97

Rivals has finally figured out the thing about eastern tight ends and is sticking to the metric, while the other two sites still put the archetype in that high- but not-close-to-a-four-star range. That puts Hansen in a tight area of comparison with guys who came out just under 4 stars: Ian Bunting, Nick Eubanks, Erick All, and Eric Rosel.

G target Drew Kendall (MA)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.9 (#3 OG), #63 OVR	5.9 (#4 OG), #65 OVR	5.9 (#4 OG), #67 OVR
ESPN	81 (#13 OG), #257 OVR	81 (#13 OG), #257 OVR	81 (#13 OG), #256 OVR
247Sports	94 (#5 OG), #78 OVR	94 (#5 OG), #81 OVR	93 (#12 OG), #153 OVR
Composite	0.9529 (#5 OG), #110 OVR	0.9522 (#6 OG), #106 OVR	0.9423 (#9 OG), #130 OVR
Avg Stars	4.43	4.41	4.36

Here's another Eastern recruit Rivals seems to think is a top-75 prospect and others are treating as not top-10 among guard prospects. He dropped down to more of a solid four-star after being a top-100 player recently to 247Sports. The explanation wasn't given but I can guess it's about the recent conversations about how large he can't get, and 247's tendency to rate based on pro potential. Kendall's probably going to end up more like 310.

Among historical Michigan interior prospects I have a Onwenu and Filiaga, Harold Goodwin, Jeff Zuttah, Jeff Gaston, Chris Ziemann and David Baas ranked similarly in their respective classes. Oh and Steve Hutchinson was a 4.32.

C/G commit Raheem Anderson (MI)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.8 (#2 OC), #149 OVR	5.8 (#2 OC), #149 OVR	5.8 (#2 OC), #155 OVR
ESPN	82 (#3 OC), #238 OVR	82 (#3 OC), #238 OVR	82 (#3 OC), #237 OVR
247Sports	89 (#3 OC), #10 MI	89 (#3 OC), #10 MI	89 (#4 OC), #10 MI
Composite	0.9184 (#3 OC), #209 OVR	0.9171 (#3 OC), #212 OVR	0.9163 (#2 OC), #208 OVR
Avg Stars	4.16	4.16	4.13

Still no movement, and their likely won't ever be, for an interior prospect who's been on recruiting radars since popping as a freshman at Cass Tech, which is as well-scouted as you can get in the state of Michigan. In that context no drop is news since it's a common story to see early 5-stars (think Marvin Robinson or Ricardo Miller) who fell to a spot just under the 4-star line when they didn't keep up with those expectations. Anderson has held on as a top-250 guy, almost top-150 to Rivals, though 247Sports does have him floating in that just-under-four territory.

Former Michigan interior products who came in at the standard four-star line are many: Dave Petruziello, Jeremy Ciulla, Paul Barry, Adam Kraus, Kurt Anderson, Ricky Barnum, Noah Parker, Ben Mast, Courtney Morgan, Steve Frazier, Zak Zinter, Karsen Barnhart, and Andy Christopfel.

C/G commit Greg Crippen (IMG via MA)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.9 (#5 OG), #136 OVR	5.9 (#7 OG), #136 OVR	5.9 (#6 OG), #145 OVR
ESPN	80 (#15 OG), #297 OVR	80 (#15 OG), #297 OVR	80 (#15 OG), #295 OVR
247Sports	88 (#6 OC), #73 FL	88 (#6 OC), #72 FL	88 (#6 OC), #69 FL
Composite	0.9098 (#4 OC), #243 OVR	0.9089 (#4 OC), #247 OVR	0.9077 (#4 OC), #252 OVR
Avg Stars	4.08	4.07	4.07

And here's the national version of a Raheem Anderson. Crippen has been at IMG for awhile now and as such everybody's got their opinions pretty locked in. 24/7 is the only site ranking him at center, where Michigan intends to play him, and doesn't have him in their top-247 or even close to it. Rivals again is the highest on him and ESPN is keeping him in their top-300 however that shifts. I looked into that because I wondered if there was some kind of bias that's helping a technically Florida prospect stay on the page, but ESPN hasn't changed their rankings except to reclassify a couple of guys. He's on the bottom of that range I described for Anderson.

OT commit Giovanni El-Hadi (MI)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.9 (#8 OT), #49 OVR	5.9 (#9 OT), #51 OVR	5.9 (#10 OT), #54 OVR
ESPN	84 (#18 OT), #137 OVR	84 (#18 OT), #137 OVR	84 (#18 OT), #136 OVR
247Sports	94 (#15 OT), #85 OVR	94 (#15 OT), #87 OVR	94 (#16 OT), #87 OVR
Composite	0.9672 (#9 OT), #66 OVR	0.9666 (#11 OT), #67 OVR	0.9662 (#11 OT), #70 OVR
Avg Stars	4.55	4.55	4.52

Most boring almost-five-star recruit ever.

Michigan has one of the top offensive tackles on their board committed, and has for a very long time. Nothing has changed, and with no football in Michigan probably nothing will. The other 4.5-stars at tackle in Michigan history are Maurice Williams, Dann O'Neill, Cory Zirbel, Trezelle Jenkins, Erik Magnuson, Chris Fox, Demeterius Solomon, and Trente Jones.

OT commit Tristan Bounds (CT)

	March 2020->	June 2020->	Sept 2020
Rivals	5.5 (NR OT), #5 CT	5.5 (NR OT), #5 CT	5.8 (#28 OT), #2 CT
ESPN	78 (#53 OT), #76 East	78 (#51 OT), #72 East	78 (#53 OT), #72 East
247Sports	88 (#37 OT), #3 CT	88 (#39 OT), #2 CT	88 (#46 OT), #2 CT
Composite	0.8567 (#59 OT), #650 OVR	0.8628 (#56 OT), #662 OVR	0.8850 (#33 OT), #400 OVR
Avg Stars	3.63	3.67	3.83

The big news here is the big guy leaping up the Rivals rankings, which again is the only site to believe in Northeastern recruiting. Evidence it's a regional thing is in how Bounds ranks among other Connecticut recruits on the other two sites. That's a matter of choice not bias—the level of competition is lower and how much you adjust for that is little more than a guess.

Of course Rivals has to see it first and it's clear they hadn't seen Bounds—5.5 is one notch above a 2-star, and is typically used as a placeholder for players they know nothing about. They also had Bounds listed 28 pounds lighter and 2 inches shorter than his current 6'8". The ESPN and 247 ratings are nearly identical.

That 3.83 is right in the middle of the run of recent and ancient Frey types in my database: Ryan Hayes, Ja'Raymond Hall, Jon Jansen, Jeff Potts, Ron Acheson, Mike Sullivan, Eric Moltane, and Jon Runyan Sr. If you're too young to know anything, Jansen, Sullivan, and Runyan were very tall and very good at football. Jumbo Elliott predates recruiting rankings but same idea.

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Defense next time because this ran long.