2020 recruiting profiles

Previously: Last year's profiles. S Makari Paige, S RJ Moten, S Jordan Morant, CB Andre Seldon, CB Darion Green-Warren, CB Eamonn Dennis, VP William "Apache" Mohan, LB Nikhai Hill-Green, LB Kalel Mullings, LB Cornell Wheeler, LB Osman Savage, DE Aaron Lewis, DE Jaylen Harrell, DE Braiden McGregor, DT Kris Jenkins, OL Reece Atteberry, OL Zak Zinter, OL Jeffrey Persi, TE Matthew Hibner, WR Roman Wilson, WR AJ Henning, RB Blake Corum.

When JD Johnson was forced to retire from football due to a heart issue, Michigan found itself in a bad spot. These days quarterbacks go off the board earlier than any other position; pickings were slim. Anyone contemplating a flip from a secure situation was also looking down the barrel of a five-star 2021 QB commit. CJ Stroud was a highly rated dual-threat who was still uncommitted, but he went to Ohio State because that's how it works.

Enter Dan Villari, Fordham decommit and the #1225 player in the 24/7 composite. Here's your sleeper starter kit.

Michigan QB Signee Dan Villari Ready To Silence Critics

'Ultimate competitor': Dan Villari's unexpected journey to Michigan and desire to prove doubters wrong

You have now received your sleeper starter kit.

[After THE JUMP: scouting! no, not really]

Previously: Last year's profiles. S Makari Paige, S RJ Moten, S Jordan Morant, CB Andre Seldon, CB Darion Green-Warren, CB Eamonn Dennis, VP William "Apache" Mohan, LB Nikhai Hill-Green, LB Kalel Mullings, LB Cornell Wheeler, LB Osman Savage, DE Aaron Lewis, DE Jaylen Harrell, DE Braiden McGregor, DT Kris Jenkins, OL Reece Atteberry, OL Zak Zinter, OL Jeffrey Persi, TE Matthew Hibner, WR Roman Wilson, WR AJ Henning.

Ten years ago, Michigan running backs coach Fred Jackson said recruit Fitzgerald Toussaint had "Michael Hart ability with speed," which was quickly memed into "Mike Hart, but fast!" and became Jackson's tombstone quote. A decade later, there is another:

[St Frances head coach Biff] Poggi frequently referred to Corum as the “complete player” and likened him to former Michigan back Mike Hart, the program’s all-time leading rusher from 2004-07.

Corum has an electronic 4.4 40 and a rep as one of the fastest functional speed guys in the country. Mike Hart + fast = "Mike Hart, but fast!" God help us.

Can anyone possibly live up to such expectations? No, but Corum's going to try:

“He will drive you a little crazy,” Poggi said, laughing. “If you’re gonna start workouts at like 6 a.m., that kid is there, I’m not exaggerating, he’s there at 10 to 5. You feel terrible about it when you get there at 5:30, because he’s stretching in the parking lot waiting to get into the building. He’s the kind of guy, he’s up every morning at 4:30 working out. He’s a lunatic.”

Dude is catching literal bricks on Instagram. If anyone can sate the furious appetites of the internet-brain wing of the Michigan fanbase, it's Blake Corum.

[After THE JUMP: tenuous justification for these takes]

Previously: Last year's profiles. S Makari Paige, S RJ Moten, S Jordan Morant, CB Andre Seldon, CB Darion Green-Warren, CB Eamonn Dennis, VP William "Apache" Mohan, LB Nikhai Hill-Green, LB Kalel Mullings, LB Cornell Wheeler, LB Osman Savage, DE Aaron Lewis, DE Jaylen Harrell, DE Braiden McGregor, DT Kris Jenkins, OL Reece Atteberry, OL Zak Zinter, OL Jeffrey Persi, TE Matthew Hibner, WR Roman Wilson.

AJ Henning's appeal as a recruit isn't any harder to discern than Roman Wilson's. Dude is fast. He put up a 10.7 100 meter dash as a junior; he went to an Opening regional and put up a 4.46 40, 4.08 shuttle, and 37-inch vertical. Those numbers aren't quite at Wilson's level but are nonetheless top-tier nationally, and he did that with about ten pounds more weight than Wilson. There are naturally unconfirmed reports that Henning clocks in the 4.3 range.

So he's another guy whose recruiting evaluation are bursting with exclamation-point words. 24/7 profile scout:

Compact build. … elite speed. Great burst and acceleration … Catches the ball well away from his body …Good lower body strength and will break tackles. More someone that will run past defenders than a make-you-miss in a phone booth guy. … Needs to still continue to work on route-running … A true home-run threat and one of the more electric players in his class.

Notre Dame folks thought he was theirs early in the cycle and put him at the top of their "must get" lists, calling him an "elite recruit through and through" because "his speed [is] upper echelon, his hands sticky, and his cutting ability electric." Elsewhere his speed was described as "absolutely elite" in an article plugging Henning as the Irish's #1 priority in the 2020 class; another article also placed him at the top of ND's board, saying "The Irish need to get this guy."

This was not just a Notre Dame take. Adam's FBO take:

… made moderately difficult catches look routine … accelerates to top speed as fast as any prospect I've scouted the last four seasons. His route-running could use some cleaning up … displayed a keen awareness of when a single juke would create needed space. … testing results also match what we see on film: he has breakaway speed (4.46 40), short-area quickness that will help him avoid getting jammed (4.08 shuttle, which would have placed him fourth at last year's combine), and plus ball skills that will allow him to be a contributor inside or outside.

The coach he victimized in the 2017 Illinois state title game says they were winning until they put him in at RB, whereupon they were not winning because "his start/stop is exceptional and his overall speed is umatched"; another local victim/coach asserts that "being able to go from zero to full speed as he can is something you don’t see that often." Henning's the kind of kid that the word "electric" is more likely than not to show up in any evaluation.

[After THE JUMP: what is it? it's it]