aj harris

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Tuesday Recruitin' Leaps Tall Buildings In Single Bound
Brian •

Donovan Peoples-Jones is ridiculous

Love the guy in the background who loses it:

Yes, that is Devin Gardner in the background, and he has some box jumping skill himself:

No update on his recruitment but hanging out with Gardner can't hurt now that Al Borges is gone.

Hello Linebackers

Michigan picked up commits from MI LB Josh Ross and 2018 OH LB Antwaun Johnson over the past couple days; Johnson's hello post was updated earlier today; Ross gets his turn tomorrow. Both are four-star types. Ross cited Don Brown's defense as a major attraction:

  “Just based on what he showed me with that defense, it fits me perfectly.  I just can’t pass the opportunity up.  I just had to take it. He really blitzes his linebackers.  I know last year there was a couple of plays where I got right through on blitzes, and I’m getting better and better at blitzing.  That’s a lot of what he does and I can see myself in his system.”

Older brother James was born four years too early. Would have been a Don Brown dude for sure.

The potato door opens in 2018

Ross was always likely to follow his brother to Ann Arbor, but Johnson is an alpaca out of nowhere. His commit is a significant one for Michigan since Jim Harbaugh hadn't exactly emphasized a nearby state with a lot of talent (and Michigan's main rival) in it. Since Harbaugh's arrival only Nolan Ulizio, a late flier Michigan flipped from UConn, has fled the potato state for the friendly confines of Ann Arbor.

So. Johnson is not only a very good player in his own right but also a thorn in OSU's side. He is also the teammate of OH DE/DT Leonard Taylor, an early five-star in the 2018 class. Taylor visited along with Johnson and came back making positive noises:

"It was an A+ visit," he said. "Definitely an A+. It was really an eye-opening visit for me to see Michigan in person. It definitely had an at-home feeling to it. I didn't feel out of place there."

More significantly, he immediately scheduled a return trip for the Spring Game. Two visits in a month and a teammate committed should give Michigan a very real shot at landing Taylor. Lorenz has a "hunch" that Taylor pulls the trigger in the near future in Michigan's favor, which is… rather something, that.

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every recruit gets their Peppers photo, including Jaelen Gill.

In addition to the Springfield duo, Michigan also hosted 247's early #1 in the state, OH RB Jaelen Gill. He returned from that visit downright effusive:

"Academics, the atmosphere, the campus life, and great football," he said of the Wolverines. "The people at Michigan are wonderful."

That's a really short article but there are a couple more very encouraging quotes in it all the same. Lorenz followed up with an Inside Michigan Recruiting in which he states the visit "couldn't have gone much better"… but that he's still guessing OSU. Even so the vibe is great, man.

Per a guy on Bucknuts, Gill is not a native Ohioan and is in fact from New Jersey originally. So… all of a sudden it's not too far fetched that Michigan gets three of the top five in the 2018 Ohio class. Harbaugh? Harbaugh.

AJ Harris may or may not be on commit watch

AL S AJ Harris also came up for a visit and was momentarily expected to commit yesterday. That did not happen, obviously. Harris remains very high on Michigan, naming them his outright leader after the visit:

“They are my top school,” said Harris. “They are just from the academic standpoint. One of the best out of any school I have visited and by far the best coaching staff that you will get at the college level."

Lorenz fired off a crystal ball, and it sounds like Harris is just letting things marinate before pulling the trigger. If there is a complication it would be on Michigan's end, as they have guys like MI S Jaylen Kelly-Powell high on their board.

Hansard announces announcement

NJ DT Fred Hansard will announce his destination on May 14th, his birthday. Michigan is amongst his seven finalists and his destination is very much am mystery. His crystal ball has a couple Rutgers picks from Guys Who Hilariously Pick Rutgers For Every High Profile NJ Recruit, a couple Penn State picks from Guy Who Fires Off A Guess At Every Recruit In The Country, and then the Temple 247 guy goes with M.

Bill Kurelic notes that in his tweet he "appears to be wearing an Ohio State helmet" and let's see if there might be a reason for that…

Hansard-Hero-copy

…oh.

Sullivan thinks it's Penn State, FWIW.

Spring practice visitors

AJ Dillon, a LB/RB out of Massachusetts, is on campus right now. Early yet; Michigan is in a top five with Wisconsin, ND, FSU, and Virginia. Meanwhile Sam Webb reports a bunch of guys came in for practice on Monday. One, Ross, already committed, and AJ Harris may be next.

Another interesting name is PA OL CJ Thorpe, who told Brice March that he is "extremely interested" and will pare his list down after a couple more unofficials. Thorpe told Lorenz he had a "sense of comfort" in Ann Arbor and that he would like to return for a fuller experience. This one would be a brutal blow to Penn State if Michigan can pull it off… he's a legacy.

Top X lists, tentative visits, you know the drill

  • PA RB D'Andre Swift has Michigan amongst a long list of schools that he intends to visit. That list includes anyone who's anyone. Also Penn State. He does not tip his hand in any particular direction in the above article.
  • AL WR Nico Collins doesn't have a top four but his top four is Michigan, Georgia, Bama, and Clemson. Bud Elliott also lists his height at a Funchess-esque 6'5". Collins just impressed at a regional Opening camp ("precise in his routes, caught everything with his hands and did it all on a 200-plus pound frame") and will visit for the Spring Game.
  • CN by way of FL WR Josh Palmer got his first offer from Michigan and has been on campus; he tells Tim Sullivan that he wants to see a few other Big Ten schools like Illinois and Maryland and sure let's just put Syracuse in the Big Ten because they're a mediocre program that might have some television subscribers attached. Uh. Then he will fire off a commit after spring. Michigan could be the choice but I'd be surprised if they took a three-star early when they aren't going to have big numbers at the spot and they are after Collins and Peoples-Jones.
  • Three star NJ OL Joshua Fedd-Jackson has a top three of UNC, Rutgers, and Michigan. He plans an early April visit to M… but probably not for the spring game since he'll be at UNC that weekend.
  • Three star CA WR/TE Grant Calcaterra will drop by Michigan on a seven-school Midwest tour. Calcaterra is a former teammate of 2016 signee Dylan Crawford and his list is academically-oriented, so if Michigan decides they've got room for him they'll likely be in it to the end.
  • Michigan offered TX CB Kary Vincent Jr, wants to visit, no definite plan, no top list. "Loves" Harbaugh, FWIW.
  • NV CB Alex Perry didn't want to leave the West before a Michigan offer came in; now he wants to get out for Unspecified Visit. He's got an odd list for a four star guy: he decommitted from Arizona State, visited TCU, and talks up Colorado some. As always, wait to see if he actually sets foot on campus.
  • FL CB Randall Haynie has a top five of M, Duke, Vandy, Wisconsin, and WVU. Grew up watching Denard, knows O'Korn, academic-oriented top five… if Michigan pursues they'll be in it.

Grudging 2018 mentions of the week

NV QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson visited and put Michigan high on his list, as you can see above. He seems, uh, enthused:

Thompson-Robinson has that Harbaugh Let's Capitalize Every Word thing going on, and his twitter handle was carefully curated by Jon Bois.

Significantly, that tweet follows visits to Florida State, Michigan State and Ohio State. He hasn't gotten a flood of offers yet; if Michigan does send one out he's likely to be in the 2018 class.

Happy Trails

IN LB Pete Werner fired off a commitment to ND shortly after visiting both ND and Michigan. Indiana Catholic school kid was always an uphill battle. Lorenz notes that KS TE Trevor Kent is trending to Oklahoma on the crystal ball and could commit this weekend on a trip to Norman.

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51

Tuesday Recruitin' Anticipates Influx
Brian •

Spring practice brings all the recruits to the yard

We've just had a bit of a down period where

  • Michigan "offered" every single recruit in the 2017 and 2018 classes,
  • those recruits said they were interested, and
  • visits were suggested to be on the docket but not actually scheduled.

Here's the platonic ideal of the form from VA LB Teradja Mitchell:

As for what's next for what's next for Mitchell, he plans to visit Florida and Florida State this spring, but no dates have been set. Then this summer, he hopes to get to Georgia, Michigan and Ohio State.

He claims no favorites at this time.

All right then. Thankfully, the opportunity to see a Jim Harbaugh practice is beginning to clarify who's actually interested and who's just talking. Two guys in the "just talking" category appear to be MS RB Cam Akers and CA RB Najee Harris. Harris scheduled a trip to OSU that does not include a swing by Michigan. Lorenz doesn't offer an explanation on Akers but "is from Mississippi" suffices for our purposes.

Visits of the recent past

WI OL Tyler Beach completed a visit last week. Surprise: it went well.

Beach maintains that M and Wisconsin are at the top; he's visiting ND, NW, and MSU in the near future but those schools are making up ground per Brandon Brown:

"I plan on committing in April or May," Beach said. "Michigan and Wisconsin are my top choices right now and I'll just pick whatever place feels right."

If Michigan gets Beach I want to see Wisconsin message boards put in an octagon with Washington mods.

OH OL/DL Howard Watkins was also on campus around the same time. Watkins is a new name out of Cincinnati Colerain, Joe Bolden's alma mater; he says he's been a Michigan fan his whole life. He's currently under the radar, unranked by 247 and a two-star guy to Scout, so he might have to impress as a senior. He's got an Indiana offer.

Watkins's teammate and OH CB Amir Riep already has an offer, as top 100 prospects almost universally do. His is certainly an all-caps one instead of an air-quotes one:

Former Colerain HC Kerry Coombs is OSU's DBs coach so this might be a high hurdle; he's got a ton of OSU predictions on the Crystal Ball. Lorenz relates that word from inside Schembechler is that Michigan believes they have a "very legitimate chance."

TX RB Eno Benjamin still maintains that Iowa leads after a Midwest swing. He announced a top-ten-and-change that purports to be in no order but kind of seems in order:

I can't remember the last time Michigan and Iowa were both involved with a kid from outside the Midwest.

Visits near future

Michigan will host AL S AJ Harris and AL DE LaBryan Ray this weekend; they are popularly thought to be a real contender for Harris but were previously on the fringe for Ray. The end result is likely to be the same: it'll take something special to convince an Alabama DE with a Bama offer to spurn the Tide.

Michigan has a better shot with IN LB Pete Werner, who will visit Thursday and Friday before a Saturday visit to Notre Dame. Wiltfong expects one or the other to lead in the aftermath and says Werner is expected to make an "academic decision."

IMG OL Cesar Ruiz and Robert Hainsey will visit for the spring game. It's tough out here for a Cable Subscriber:

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Michigan has a ton of competition for both gentlemen but should be in both top 5s. Hainsey is likely to be playing with or against Michigan—outside of Pitt his visit list is just about all Big Ten schools.

Michigan might land a visit from WA OL Henry Bainivalu per Washington mods who have spent the entire spring working the speed bag in anticipation of more Michigan-Washington recruiting battles.

Blame Recruit Canada

Michigan will be of more interest than usual to a couple of kids now hailing from Virginia: both VA DE Luiji Vilain and VA S Jonathan Sutherland are originally from Ontario and have moved to the US in order to make themselves more attractive to football programs. That makes Michigan one of the closest programs to home for both.

Vilain lists a bunch of schools when issued the "recruiting the hardest" question, but if you squint the local-ish programs may have an edge:

"I was pretty excited about Michigan and Michigan State," Vilain said. "I've been waiting on those two."

He will attend Sound Mind, Sound Body and hit up both instate schools.

Sutherland's list is more defined: North Carolina, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Michigan. He will also visit Michigan while he's in Detroit for Sound Mind, Sound Body.

Fine, 2018 exists and let's mention it briefly

This week in "MGoBlog grudgingly talks about the recruiting class after the current one":

  • The top in-state name to know next year is MI OL Marquan McCall, a two-way lineman currently inside the top 100 on 247. He will visit for the spring game. Michigan is the favorite.
  • Lorenz reports that Michigan is going after a number of kids in Las Vegas, amongst them Bishop Gorman teammates Dorian Thompson-Robinson, a dual-threat QB, and Brevin Jordan, an OLB/TE. Michigan would be "tough to beat" for Thompson-Robinson if they offer; Michigan is expected to do so when he swings by M and OSU this week. Mom is an M alum.
  • MI DE Aidan Hutchinson is the son of former Michigan DL Chris Hutchinson. He visited last week and is a guy to keep an eye on for an offer. I'm guessing Michigan will wait for his junior season to finish before doing so since that could be a situation where the phone calls goes "We'd like to off—" "YES".
  • OH LB Antwaun Johnson, another recent visitor, named Michigan his leader, twice, after returning from Ann Arbor. Encouragingly, he is scheduled to return for the Spring Game. The catch: no OSU offer yet.
  • NJ OL/DL Tyler Friday has Michigan, Ohio State, and Rutgers as an early top three. He wants to visit all those schools.

Name Alert!

IL TE Griffin Hammer.

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Griffin Hammer is +3 with an extra 1d6 damage to chimerae.

Etc.: Happy trails to MO WR Jaevon McQuitty, who committed to Nebraska. More or less happy trails to TX OL Austin Deculus, who announced a decision date of May 20. He hasn't visited or scheduled a visit; that's 99.9% seeya. LSU is the expected choice so Michigan might get back in if Les Miles's tenure gets wobbly again.

GA QB Davis Mills committed to Stanford, ending any chance the Cardinal starts sniffing around CO QB commit Dylan McCaffrey. Trieu ranks MI OL/DL Phil Paea the #2 DL in the Midwest. Sounds like he's in line for a four-star bump from Scout.

MI OL commit JaRaymond Hall visited this weekend as well. He's an in with McCall, his teammate. Bama still leads for FL OL Netori Johnson and his amazing hair even after his decommit. MI WR Donovan Peoples-Jones keeps it close to the vest, lather, rinse, repeat.

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39

Tuesday Recruitin' Might Own Amtrak
Brian •

Offers, meh

You know what? Michigan has offered everyone. At this juncture they're flying out so fast and furious that unless there's a react piece or the player in question is notably likely to commit we might skip mentioning it. I'm mentioning this just to note what we might not mention: FL DE Zachary Carter got an offer; Lorenz points out that he's got a solid top two of Florida and Clemson and has basically only listed Southern schools.

While we are mentioning him we might not mention other high profile guys in similar situations. Because is a touted player a recruit? He has an offer-type substance.

Here's a react piece from a guy who just got offered

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Call me Greg Sankey if you must. CA RB Stephen Carr is worth mentioning here. He just got a Michigan offer and despite being a soft USC commit his reaction to said event is promising:

“It was crazy, I honestly didn’t see it coming but I’m happy I have Michigan on my roster,” Carr said. “Michigan is a great school, a great program. It’s Michigan, man. Who wouldn’t want a Michigan offer?”

Just talk until a visit, but Carr's commit may be pretty notional—it was made in March, before a coaching change. Oddly, Carr told Wiltfong that he heard a lot of great things about Michigan from… Vic Viramontes. Sigh.

Here's another guy who just got offered

IL OL Kevin Jarvis is the gent:

A couple weeks ago Jarvis named Arkansas his leader; Arkansas's OL coach is none other than former Michigan OL Kurt Anderson. Jarvis is likely to be a consensus four star guard, and he's got excellent size at 6'5", 315; Josh Helmholdt was impressed with his recent camp appearances:

Just a really solid, well-rounded offensive guard prospect. 6-5, 315 pounds, has good feet. Saw him at Ohio State's Friday Night Lights camp over the summer and he was very good against a group of DL that included 2016 five-star Terrell Hall and 2016 four-star DT Antwan Jackson.

We'll see if the Michigan offer flips the direction of his recruitment. Leaning towards yes based on a text he sent Steve Wiltfong:

"Michigan is SICK," Jarvis texted 247Sports.

Well then. Jarvis plans visits to Arkansas and Michigan; those schools are a tentative top two.

Okay this is also a recent offeree

This is going about as well as "the SEC comes up for reasons to ban satellite camps." Anyway, Michigan extended an offer to KS TE Trevor Kent. Kent's a bit of a project since his high school never throws the ball—he had one reception last year—but Lorenz says he's "high on the TE board" all the same. He's saying the right things:

"I hadn't really heard from Michigan before that, so to get an offer from them like that so quickly was great because it showed me that they see something in what I can do. Michigan is a great football program that's getting better. They use tight ends like almost nobody else does either."

He is likely to visit in spring, because a family friend owns(?) the train line that runs by the stadium(?), which means he's friends with Amtrak(?).

Most of these guys have expressed serious interest, don't judge me

Michigan offered WV OL Billy Ross, who says he's "very interested" and wants to visit. Coincidentally he will be at IMG at the same time Michigan is and plans to attend practice. No leaders this early and Ross has fielded some other impressive offers like FSU.

Michigan also offered MI OL Jordan Reid. Reid is at Cass and so is obviously a person of interest immediately following an offer. Oddly, he told Marich that Michigan was his first Big Ten offer, which, uh…

…is either major #disrespekt or incidental forgetful #disrespekt. Reid is wide open, plans an visit that is as of yet unscheduled, etc. Says he grew up a Michigan fan.

Testing the Mississippi black hole's gravity

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Remember when Rich Rodriguez came in, hired Jay Hopson, and recruited Mississippi really hard for a bit? No? Right. You don't remember because Michigan didn't get one single kid from Mississippi; most of them went to in-state programs that were (at the time) amongst the worst in the country. The gravitational pull of Mississippi is not to be underestimated.

But Harbaugh is Harbaugh so Michigan is taking a swing at MS LB Willie Gay, a solid four star OLB who sounds genuinely interested:

"I've been watching Michigan football for as long as I can remember," he said. "I love everything about Michigan. They have always been one of those programs that I've kept track of and watched whenever they were on TV. I've watched so many YouTube videos about Michigan football and of their highlights and stuff."

Gay says he wants to visit over the summer. I'll believe a Mississippi kid commits to Michigan when it happens; IIRC the last one was Jeremy Lesueur, and that was a while ago. Gay lives in Starkville, further complicating things.

Rivals updates their Top 100

The biggest piece of news from Michigan's perspective is CO QB commit Dylan McCaffrey surging from outside the top 100 to 39th. The reason why, per Mike Farrell:

"He has the size of his father, former NFL receiver Ed McCaffrey, and some of the athleticism of his brother, Heisman finalist Christian McCaffrey. His ability to keep defenses honest with his feet opens things up for his arm. He can make things look very easy at this level and is just starting to become a polished pocket passer."

Tim Sullivan also caught up with McCaffrey's coach, who offered high praise for his abilities both physically and mentally:

“First, I think if you saw our film throughout the year, he played extremely well as a dropback passer: five-star seven-step, play action,” Sherman said. “Then just having a great feel in the pocket, I think he’s got a great feeling for that piece of it. Especially in the playoffs, we relied a little bit more on his legs: he ended up being our leading rusher. He was able to get us 3-5 first downs a game with his legs in addition to what he could do with his arm.

“The other thing that a lot of people didn’t notice, he got us into the right play so much with kills and alerts at the line of scrimmage, that really allowed us to be in the right play against the defense we wanted to run it against. The combination of those three things are going to make him a really special quarterback at the next level and be awesome.”

As a result McCaffrey is now the #1 QB, pro style or dual threat, on the composite; he's 18th overall and a five star.

Other moves of significance by recruits Michigan has a pretty good shot at:

  • MI WR Donovan Peoples-Jones got a fifth star, sliding up seven spots to #13.
  • AL WR Nico Collins also moved into the top 40, from #71.
  • FL OL Tedarrell Slaton moved up about 100 spots and is now #47.
  • FL OL Robert Hainsey moved up almost 200 spots and is now #56; he's at IMG and originally from PA.

Still a long way to go but Michigan now seems likely to have secured the top QB in the country.

In search of a center

NJ by way of IMG OL Cesar Ruiz tells Corey Bender that he has "six great friends" who go to Michigan and that he "knows the streets already" on campus. He's visiting a bunch of schools around IMG in the near future; he plans a Michigan visit over his spring break, and when asked who's recruiting him hardest it is M first out of his mouth. Michigan needs a center after not getting one last year and Ruiz looks like a solid bet to be that guy. 

Michigan is also after CA OL Brett Neilon, another guy who projects to C. He seems almost as high on M as Ruiz in an article by Steve Lorenz. 2016 signee Kekoa Crawford is a former teammate; he's planning a spring visit, possibly for the spring game. He sounds like the kind of guy who ends up in Ann Arbor:

"Michigan was a huge offer for me. I'm looking for the "4 A's" when I'm evaluating schools: Academics, athletics, area and alumni. Michigan checks all four of those boxes at a really high level."

Lorenz is "contemplating" a CB for Michigan; we'd probably put one in but we've already got one for Ruiz. Would M take both? Both Ruiz and Neilon are around 6'3" and 290 now, so see one playing guard. Probably they get one or the other and recruit a couple of monster Gs.

Top X lists and leaders

  • AL S AJ Harris lists a top four of M, FSU, Vandy, and Louisville, but he's already been to Auburn four times and has a fifth tentatively scheduled. That sounds like a situation where Auburn isn't offering right away because Harris is likely to pull the trigger when it does come.
  • MO WR Jaevon McQuitty doesn't have a top list; he did tell the Nebraska Scout site that the Cornhuskers were "slightly" leading. Michigan's likely to take a limited number of WRs in 2017 and has high profile targets in DPJ and Collins so prospects like McQuitty are on the back burner until those guys indicate they're leaning elsewhere. McQuitty did tell Brice Marich he was planning a visit to M in April.
  • New offer and CA OL Alijah Vera-Tucker has a tentative top three of M, USC, and Oregon. He's got a cousin at M. No mention of a visit yet.
  • NY OL Isaiah Wilson released a top five of M, OSU, LSU, Bama, and UGA. He says he will definitely visit all of those schools before pulling the trigger; he's already been to Michigan twice.
  • PA DE Donovan Jeter is a new offer; he told Sam Webb that he is likely to visit over he summer but that Pitt, PSU, and OSU have developed relationships with him already. Sounds like Michigan is a bit behind early, but he's acquainted with Khaleke Hudson and expects Hudson to be in his ear.
  • PA LB David Adams fielded an offer, says he's definitely interested, and "possibly might" visit. He currently has ND and PSU visits set up.

Happy trails

FL CB Trajan Bandy committed to Oklahoma, which is a bit of a surprise so early. If Michigan does hire Chip Viney they might get back involved here. Meanwhile GA WR Jeremiah Holloman is talking up a Georgia offer… a Georgia Tech offer. That does not sound like a guy who will be rejoining the class.

Etc.: Michigan is sniffing around OR DT Marlon Tuipulotu but hasn't offered yet. MI S Jaylen Kelly-Powell will be on campus Wednesday. FL DE Joshua Kaindoh plans a Michigan visit soonish. AL LB KJ Britt got a Michigan offer; he has blown up of late and will probably be hard to get out of the South.

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