d'juan waller

Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, S Brandyn Hillman

Youngstown (Chaney), Ohio – 6'3"/195
[Twitter]		247: 6'3/195                3.69*	3*, 88, NR overall #67 S, #21 OH
		Rivals: 6'3/190                3.77*	3*, 5.7, NR overall #35 ATH, #20 OH
		ESPN: 6'2/195                3.46*	3*, 75, #121 MW #95 S, #37 OH
		On3: 6'3/195                3.53*	3*, 87, NR overall #97 S, #28 OH
		Composites:     3.69* / 3.71*	3*, #1253/#704 ovr #116/#64 S, #37/#23 OH
		MGo Avg:                3.63*	3*, #626/782 Ovr, #54/74 CBs since 1990
		Other Suitors	UK, Toledo decommit.
You might remember me from such players as:	Jeremy Clark
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello.
Notes	Teammate of Jason Hewlett. Steve Clinkscale also an alum.
Film:
Senior Highlights: Hudl.

There was an annoying thread on our message board (from a reader I still like a lot) recently that knocked Michigan for missing out on Detroit King alum Sauce Gardner. Believe me when I say that had they done so, "2019 Recruiting: Ahmad Gardner" would have been a very weak post, followed by an angry comments section. Doubtless, the Michigan offer alone would have jumped him 400 spots up the composite, though still well in the 1,000s. Between would have been a small smattering of "is really long" and "good ball skills" and "has to fill in that frame." This isn't a one-to-one comparison, but the point is three months before Sauce became a freshman All-American, the thing to know about him was he was 159 pounds and ran a 4.74 forty.

Does that mean DJ Waller is Sauce Gardner? No, I'm not saying that. Gardner was also a camp rat and surprisingly fluid in the hips, which is a bone of contention between the sites on Waller. Also the list of Michigan recruits who got substantially faster in college isn't long: those I'm aware of who went from a 4.7 to the 4.4s or better are DJ Turner, Devin Funchess, and Troy Woolfolk, and then if you want to you can count Dymonte Thomas doing it over his last year of high school.

The point is most guys like Waller don't hit. Every so often you get a 6'0" HS sophomore who shoots up 4 inches, and is still getting used his body while the recruiting sites underrate what just happened. Sometimes that body ends up being a tweener that transfers to Duke. But on rare occasions, you can get something Saucy.

Michigan has landed four recruits in Ohio this cycle and after covering the first three, we now come to the end with Youngstown DB D'Juan "DJ" Waller Jr.. Waller is a former Toledo commit who started to rise late in the process and eventually picked Michigan over Kentucky, choosing the Wolverines on Sunday night after visiting Ann Arbor this past weekend. He is also a teammate and BFF of one of the other Ohio commits this cycle, Jason Hewlett. 

GURU RATINGS 

Waller is definitely a stab in the dark type recruit based on the rankings. No one rates him as a 4* prospect, and the consensus has him in the mid-3 star range. The On3 consensus is quite a bit more favorable than the 247 composite, but he's still well outside the top 500, clocking in as one of the lowest rated recruits in the 2023 class, and one of the lowest rated safeties Michigan has taken since 1990, per Seth's numbers. That said, he may be a corner instead of a safety, something we will dig into in the scouting. As for his measurables, he's listed at 6'3 by most sites and that seems legit. When the Michigan staff went in-home with Waller, there was a photo taken that I used as the cover for his commitment stub on Sunday, showing Harbaugh standing next to Waller. The two appeared to be the same height, if not Waller being slightly taller. We know JH is a legit 6'3", so it would appear Waller is as well. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Lanky tweener]

In a weekend filled with portal news for the Michigan Football team, they also picked up a class of 2023 commitment from DB D'Juan (DJ) Waller Jr.:

Waller hails from Youngstown and is a teammate of Michigan commit Jason Hewlett at Chaney HS. Waller checks in at roughly 6'3" and ~195 lbs., marketed as a DB who is a bit of a tweener between CB and S. Like Hewlett and fellow 2023 commit Breeon Ishmail, Waller is another stab-in-the-dark type prospect, with his 247 composite ranking being outside the top 1,000, although some sites have him far higher. He will be an interesting Hello to get to in a couple days. 

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