rashawn williams

VA DE Antwaun Powell on a recent Michigan visit
Potential ball destruction is also a 10/10 [via Powell's twitter]

Oak Park three-star WR Maliq Carr has recently seen his interest in Michigan explode, and he attributes it all to one person. As he told The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb:

“Coach Gattis is the difference there. Coach Gattis is the big difference. Before, I really wouldn’t really have considered (Michigan) as much as I do now. They probably wouldn’t have been in the top five without Coach Gattis. Coach Gattis is a huge difference.”

Carr told WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold that he expects he’ll get the ball often if he attends Michigan because that’s what Gattis told him he’ll do. Carr visited Michigan twice last week, and though he made compelling cases for each team in his top five (Purdue, LSU, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Michigan) in his discussion with Webb, they weren’t convincing enough to stop seven people from casting Michigan crystal balls in the past week. Coinciding with that came 247’s Steve Lorenz moving Carr up to “top target” on their Michigan board, which comes on the heels of fellow MI WR Rashawn Williams being moved down to “high choice” as he apparently is more interested in other Big Ten schools. There’s plenty of time for Carr to further develop his relationship with Gattis, as he told Petzold that he’ll be committing October 11th.

Sticking with in-staters for a minute, MI ATH Cam Martinez is still listed as an athlete in 247’s database, but he has some clarity regarding how Michigan would use him should he go there after taking an unofficial visit to Ann Arbor last weekend. The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich reports that Martinez spent most of his time with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, and the two made small talk and watched film to show how Martinez would be utilized in the offense. Currently a quarterback, Martinez says Michigan is looking at him at slot receiver and possibly running back.

Martinez is one of Michigan’s top targets, but the Wolverines’ staff shouldn’t expect to know much about his commitment anytime soon; he told Marich he’ll make his decision either before or after his senior season. Martinez told WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold he should have a slightly better idea how he feels about certain schools after the first week in April, during which he has one visit scheduled each day to predominantly Big Ten schools.

There’s even more good news when it comes to top targets, as VA DE Antwaun Powell unofficially visited last weekend and told WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold he couldn’t have asked for a better visit. He left his unofficial having set a date in late June to come back and visit officially. If Powell’s ratings are to be believed, the Michigan staff must be ecstatic. He broke things down numerically with The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown:

"I'm feeling the love from them and it seems like they really want me," Powell-Ryland said. "I think they're recruiting me at about a 10 and I like them a solid 8, probably closer to a 9."

Powell noted that he got to spend a good amount of time with defensive coordinator Don Brown, and that Brown raved about his get-off and pass-rushing skills. He also told Brandon Brown that Virginia Tech and Duke are recruiting at a 10, and he has a Duke visit scheduled for the first week in April. Powell thinks he’ll make his final decision in the weeks after his Michigan official, as he told Brown he’ll make a decision before his season starts.

[After THE JUMP: more crystal ballz, big-time visitors, and rising 2021 players M got in on early] 

Detroit Martin Luther King's Rashawn Williams
sorcerer's apprentice Rashawn Williams [Isaiah Hole]

Michigan’s junior day saw a bevy of talent come through Ann Arbor from all over the country and at a number of positions of need. They’ve been in the mix for IL WR AJ Henning since last spring (he visited for the spring game that didn’t happen), and they remains high on his list. There’s one key difference between last year’s staff and this one, though, and Henning got time to sit down and take in a presentation from new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis when he visited for junior day last weekend. It sounds like Gattis gave him the #SpeedInSpace pitch, pulling up film that illustrated how the Wolverines would use the nation’s #51 overall prospect and #8 WR. From what he told 247’s Steve Wiltfong, it sounds like Henning would be a perfect fit for Gattis.

"He's seen players like me before, the type of player that can make plays outside and make plays in space. Primarily they'll have me in the slot and move me around, different stuff with jet motion and outside as well.

Henning told Wiltfong that he has a good relationship with most of Michigan’s staff and just needs to continue to build one with Gattis. Five of six crystal balls favor Notre Dame, but they’re months (or, in two instances, over a year) old. This is a recruitment to keep an eye considering the fit, Michigan’s need for 2020 receivers, and the length of time they’ve been after him. 247’s Steve Lorenz asked around and was told that Michigan did what they needed to during the visit to become a real factor in Henning’s decision. Henning also spoke with The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown, telling him that he doesn’t know whether he will commit before or after the season and that his commitment date will impact when he takes his officials, but he does plan to take another visit to Michigan.

That said, there are certainly outside influences at play. 247’s Allen Trieu posted an excellent Midwest update in which he noted that he could see Henning and four-star IL WR Jadon Thompson going to the same school, and Thompson currently has one CB in: for Purdue, from Trieu. Thompson was on campus with Henning last weekend, though. Thompson told WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold that Michigan is high on his list after visiting; he has a top-six of Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, and Purdue.

[This post gets decidedly supernatural after THE JUMP]

Chris Hinton wins a rep at All-American Bowl practice
[Rey Holguin/247Sports]

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]

Former Michigan commit Daxton Hill

didn't expect Rocky V to play a prominent role in deciphering what exactly is going on but here we are

Michigan commit Zach Charbonnet leaps a defender

Recruiting is going pretty well when I have to worry whether I've buried the lede three times

Michigan prospect Rashawn Williams of Detroit's Martin Luther King High School

Come for the corner-crumpling routes, stay for the corner-crumpling blocks

BIG FELLA JUMP CUT ALERT

A little Fresh Prince and Good Times, too