A number of prospects from Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy, current home of LB commit Osman Savage and former Michigan staffer Biff Poggi, visited Michigan recently. One of those players is four-star Luke Hill, the #5 CB in the 2020 class. He told 247’s Brian Dohn that he spent most of his time on campus talking to cornerbacks coach Mike Zordich, whom he called “real” and said he related to.

Four-star MD RB Blake Corum, also of St. Frances and #194 in composite (but #355 to 247), told The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich that he’s very interested in Michigan and spoke about the quality of his relationship with running backs coach Jay Harbaugh. Jim and Jay Harbaugh told Corum about their plans for how they could use him, and it included running the ball, catching passes, and returning punts. In other words, he’s as quick and athletic as you’d expect for a 5’9, 180-pounder with offers from the SEC’s power players (minus Alabama), USC, and half the Big Ten. He’s also Steve Lorenz’s most recent Michigan crystal ball, which comes on the heels of 247 moving Corum up to Michigan’s top target list just before his visit.

And yet Corum isn’t the most recent player from St. Frances to commit to Michigan. That honor goes to OL Micah Mazzccua, who announced his commitment Monday night, spurring offers from Maryland, Virginia Tech, and Syracuse. Mazzcua is listed as 6’5” and 289 pounds in 247’s database, but recent scouting reports have him listed at 305. He’s currently #771 and the #76 OT in the 2020 composite, but 247’s Brian Dohn saw him play last fall and it seems Mazzccua is another guy Michigan is in on early that they could ride up the rankings.

Mazzccua could see his ranking increase as long as he continues to develop throughout the offseason. He is raw but came a long way from the start of his junior season to now. His athleticism and frame make him a very intriguing prospect, and someone who could turn out to be a steal on signing day.

Dohn also mentioned that Mazzccua has good enough footwork to eventually play right tackle and also does well on pulls, but he has issues with pad level. RIvals analyst Adam Friedman’s take is similar to what Dohn saw.

"He’s 6-6 and right around 300 pounds but he can really bend well and he fires off the line really well. He plays with a great aggressiveness too.

Friedman added that Mazzccua has four-star potential as long as he continues on his current trajectory. The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown thinks that Mazzccua could be this year’s Trente Jones in that he’s a guy who’s far more athletic than a human his size should be and thus could be poised to make a big rankings jump by the end of the season. I took a cursory glance at his junior highlights and yeah, I could see it. Mazzccua transferred to St. Frances from Philadelphia’s Simon Gratz High School last year, so he’s only had one season of spotlight scouting. He told 247’s Maryland site that he felt like he learned to finish blocks consistently once he got to St. Frances, and that he’s still working on leg strength and getting more explosive, and I don’t doubt that he has rare enough athleticism for his size to make a splash once he cleans up his technique a bit.

[After THE JUMP: updates on the state's most highly touted prospects]

Prior to the one for Corum, Lorenz’s most recent crystal ball in Michigan’s favor was a similarly huge one: MI DE Braiden McGregor. He was on campus for the basketball game against Maryland and, as Lorenz has been reporting for some time, has family that is believed to favor Michigan. The four-star is ranked #337 in the composite and #279 by 247, but his junior film shows why Lorenz believes him to be the top target on Michigan’s board.

The crystal ball isn’t too surprising in light of some of the things McGregor’s parents told The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich in a recent interview, particularly with regard to how quickly he’s established a relationship with new defensive line coach Shaun Nua. Worth noting that they mentioned a family RV trip they have planned for mid-March to southern schools that they believe will help him narrow things down. He told Marich he plans to visit at least LSU, Alabama, Clemson, Florida, and Florida State on the trip, with others (like Miami, Notre Dame, and Ohio State) up in the air because he doesn’t want to take away from his sister’s vacation. McGregor also said to Marich that he’s going to shut down his recruitment for a couple weeks after returning, release a top-schools list, then commit sometime between July and September. Their interview was informative and worth it for the anecdote about getting hustled by Shaun Nua in a free-throw shooting contest alone.

Michigan got the best player in the state of Michigan (per 247 and the composite) on campus two weekends in a row in Oak Park OL Justin Rogers. Rogers has thought to have been leaning toward an out-of-state blueblood for months (either Ohio State or Georgia are the ones mentioned most often), but Steve Lorenz reports that Michigan’s staff feels they’ve made progress with Rogers, though they cautioned that he’s a difficult prospect to read.

MI LB and current commit Cornell Wheeler spoke with The Michigan Insider’s Josh Newkirk after a recent Rising Stars workout in Pontiac and reiterated that he’s still 100% committed to Michigan even though other schools are still in contact. He also spoke about the relationship he has with Don Brown (they talk every day, and not just about football), spring practice (he’ll be visiting Ann Arbor to take one in), and recruiting teammate and top target Makari Paige (he’s trying, but said Paige shows no emotion about any school). As for his game, Wheeler knows what he wants to work on:

“The game changed, so I definitely need to get my speed up to play on third downs and stuff like that. So I’m definitely working on my speed.”

Wheeler’s 6’1 and 215 pounds, so it’s not like he’s so hulking he’ll have to shed a bunch of weight to get faster.

One of the prospects listed on Steve Lorenz’s list of notable 2020 offensive linemen is interested enough in Michigan to pay his own way for an unofficial visit, and the distance he’s traveling to do so is significant. Four-star CO OL Andrew Gentry told The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich that he’ll be on campus the weekend of March 30. Gentry, currently ranked #115 overall, also told Marich he’s looking to fit an official visit into his schedule at some point; Ed Warinner is Gentry’s primary recruiter the interest he’s shown in Gentry seems to be reciprocated, though if you look at the other articles about Gentry on 247 it would seem Notre Dame will have something to say about that. Gentry is currently 6’8” and 315 pounds and his film looks great, so it’s no surprise that Michigan will have to fend off another blueblood should they secure his services.

While we’re on the topic of visits, FL CB Jahquez Robinson committed to Alabama a few days ago, but he’s still planning to take his official visits and let the process play out. One of those officials will be to Michigan. His take on Michigan’s offer, as told to TMI’s Brice Marich:

“Moves a few things around to be honest,” Robinson said of his U-M offer. “Definitely worth an official visit.”

Robinson is currently a three-star and #573 in the composite but 247 has him at #298, and Steve Wiltfong shared a scouting report with Hank South that sounds a whole lot like someone Michigan would take at corner.

“He has the obvious traits … 6-2, length, lean, a body to be developed, and then on film you see flashes of why he was one of the more sought after defensive backs in Florida,” 247Sports Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong said. “He shows instincts and range and cover ability. We’re still learning about him, waiting to get verified athleticism on him. You see him in man coverage running with receivers on Friday nights. He shows physicality on tape, making plays in the flats, getting off blocks and tackling in space. There’s upside here.”

Robinson’s head coach spoke with South and told him that all they do is play man-to-man, then sung Robinson’s praises for taking honors classes and holding down close to a 4.0. Seems like he's a good all-around fit for Michigan, and his interest in the university certainly seems high.

VA S Malcolm Greene has over 30 scholarship offers but told 247’s Steve Wiltfong that the four schools he has the best relationship with are the ones pursuing him the hardest. Michigan is on that list alongside Virginia Tech, Duke, and Clemson, with Michigan the lone school that Greene has yet to visit. He told Wiltfong he likes those four schools because they’ve all made it clear he can compete immediately and grow there on and off the field. Greene, a composite four-star ranked #226 overall (and #169 overall by 247), doesn’t have a Michigan visit scheduled but plans to start visiting colleges again in March.

MI LB Jordan Turner picked up an offer at last month’s junior day and recently spoke with TMI’s Sam Webb about how that pushed Michigan into his top schools.

“I was happy (because) Michigan State didn’t offer, so it was like all of my offers were out of (state). But now I’ve got my in-state (offer), so it really impacted my recruiting process.”

He told Webb Northwestern, Purdue, and Kentucky are the other schools standing out along with the usual stuff about building relationships with coaches and sitting down after going on a number of visits to assess everything. That will likely happen sometime in later summer, as Turner told Webb he’s likely to commit right before his season starts.

MI ATH Anthony Romphf picked up a Michigan offer last month as an athlete and told TMI’s Josh Newkirk that he’d like to learn more about what that “athlete” designation means to Michigan’s coaching staff. He told Newkirk he would adjust to anything they’d like him to be, but also said that his preference is to play quarterback in college. Michigan has one 2020 QB in the class already (JD Johnson) and has only taken one per year for the past four cycles, so it will be interesting to see what comes from the meeting. That’s if it happens, though. Romphf told Newkirk he’s anxious to get the recruiting process completed so he can focus on next season, and he seems serious; Penn State hasn’t offered Romphf yet, but he said Penn State is looking at him as a defensive back and an offer from them could draw a commitment.

Reading between the lines of this Sam Webb piece on MI DT Bryce Austin, it seems that he’s most interested in Purdue, Michigan State, and Michigan. That Michigan is up there seems to be thanks to Shaun Nua, whom Austin got to spend time with on his recent Michigan visit. He spoke highly of how easy it was to converse with both Nua and Jim Harbaugh, but it looks like Michigan’s hitting from behind for the time being.

“They’re kind of up there, but they can contact me more… and I can do a better job of talking to them too,” said Austin. “I’ll go up there sometime soon. They’re only 45 minutes away. I can go up there whenever.”

That kind of you-can-I-can realization sounds a lot like an apology text to my wife, and that’s not a criticism because it took me like 12 years to figure that last part out. Anyway, Austin told Webb he’s probably going to make his decision at the end of July or in early August, so there’s a lot of time left for Michigan to get in more frequent contact if they so choose.

Steve Lorenz published an interesting piece on the players he believes are Michigan’s highest priority at tight end. The list is composed of players who are either unranked (Colorado’s Kole Taylor) or three-stars (Theo Johnson, Elijah Yelverton, Jonathan Odom, and Cam Large). This is a position of interest because it fits the recent trend of Michigan doing early digging (and deep digging at that), then watching guys they offer/receive commitments from rocket up the rankings.

Offers: #558 overall OH CB Sammy Anderson, #629 overall GA (which, according to an interesting anecdote in the linked article, is being heavily recruited because Ty Wheatley pushed it while he was on Michigan’s staff) RB Kobe Pryor

2021

The father of VA CB Tony Grimes told 247’s Steve Lorenz that they have two Michigan visits they’re in the process of planning. Grime’s father told Lorenz that they’ll be in town for a practice this spring and again for a game this fall. Grimes doesn’t have enough ratings to be in the composite yet but is the #12 overall player and #1 corner to 247.

Though his plans are less firmly established, AL ATH Ga’Quincy McKinstry is a similarly elite prospect who said he’ll definitely be visiting Michigan after picking up an offer earlier this month. He told 247’s John Garcia Jr. that he’s interested in Michigan “just like any other school” but that he knows a lot about the school from seeing them on TV and knowing some of the current players. McKinstry is ranked #30 overall and the #2 corner in his class by 247, though Garcia Jr. noted that Michigan is interested in McKinstry at receiver as well.

Etc.

2022 MI CB Myles Rowser, younger brother of 2020 commit Andre Seldon, picked up a Michigan offer and spoke glowingly of the school to The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown. AZ QB commit JD Johnson jumped 250 spots and earned a fourth star in 247’s composite, which isn’t a surprise if you read Future Blue Derivatives. Sam Webb interviewed 247’s west analysts about Michigan’s chances with prospects in Arizona.