justin rogers

Oak Park five-star OL Justin Rogers has been on Michigan’s radar forever, but it’s just in the past few weeks that they’ve seemed to make progress with the state’s top-ranked player. Rogers told WolverinesWire’s Isaiah Hole after a mid-February visit that he needed to continue to build a relationship with Michigan’s staff, particularly with new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, and that daily communication needed to happen. Rogers visited again a week later for the Michigan State game and told Hole that communication with the staff had indeed picked up, and the game served as another opportunity to build his relationship with Gattis.

Whereas last week’s visit the two spoke more about Rogers’ past, and not much about football in a recruiting-sense, this time, Rogers says that Gattis has started laying down the foundation of how the five-star prospect could fit in with the Wolverines’ offensive plans, especially given the attrition that will happen by the time the Oak Park standout would arrive on campus.

“We’ve just been talking about (the future), college-wise,” Rogers said. “The offensive line, (how they have) all of the seniors and juniors. We’ve definitely talking about the future. We’re talking about all of that.”

It seems particularly beneficial to have had Rogers on campus consecutive weeks in light of the details he shared with Hole about his conversation with Gattis during his first visit.

“When did you start playing football?” Rogers said. “It was the little questions he was asking. It was like, ‘Wow, this is the first coach that ever did it.’ It’s definitely, it was crazy.”

Turns out relationships are built by talking to people about their life.

Another big visit, this one upcoming, comes from three-star, #499 overall VA DE Antwaun Powell on March 22. His ranking might not be that high just yet, but it’s telling that he’s the only weakside end on 247’s top target list. The Brice Marich article linked above notes that Powell’s hearing frequently from and developing a good relationship with Don Brown, which also tells you something about priority.

[More 2020 updates after THE JUMP]

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]

While the Michigan commits in Orlando impressed scouts and analysts in the practices that led up to last week’s Under Armour All-America Game, a group of three signees with arguably the best odds of playing early this side of Mazi Smith were doing the same in San Antonio. The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown published an interesting set of articles in which he got other players to scout GA DT Chris Hinton and OK S Dax Hill. On Hill, GA QB and South Carolina commit Ryan Hilinski articulated what Michigan fans hope is the general sentiment of Big Ten QBs for the next three years.

“I'm telling you, when I go up to the line of scrimmage I'm always looking away from him," Hilinski said. "He's just a guy that covers so much space with his speed and he's so fluid with all of his motions. He's long too. That's the hardest thing to judge. I'll try to throw and out route and he'll get a finger on it. I'll be like, 'Dang, I thought I had that.' He doesn't even look like he's trying that hard yet either and he's still balling out. When he really takes it up a level, what is he going to do? He's a beast.

Brown talked to two Ohio State signees about Hinton, and if the roster’s composition wasn’t already enough to get him a shot at early playing time, his advanced technique should do it. GA OG Harry Miller is quoted first in the article and brought up one natural skill and one technical element of Hinton’s that stood out in practice.

"He's a really hand technician. He's just really good at using his hands and being quick," Miller said. "As an offensive player I have to be very aware of my fundamentals and be very sound with that. He's not a guy that you can just go out and attack and expect to beat him. You have to be really smart with how you approach him."

WV OG Doug Nester corroborated Miller’s scouting report.

"He comes off the ball really hard and he's very good with his hand placement," Nester said. "He knows where to hit you correctly. He'll hit you right in the chest and he extends away from himself so that you can't get into his chest. He's good at that."

[After THE JUMP: more players and analysts weigh in, plus updates from the UA Future 50 camp]