semaj bridgeman

Previously: Last year’s profiles, K Adam Samaha, K James Turner (Tr), S Brandyn Hillman, CB DJ Waller, CB Cameron Calhoun, CB Jyaire Hill, HSP/LB Jason Hewlett, LB Hayden Moore.

Philadelphia (Imhotep Institute), PA – 6'2"/230
		247: 6'2/230                    4.03*	4*, 90, NR overall #37 LB, #6 PA
		On3: 6'1/235                    3.98*	4*, 90, #299 overall #37 LB, #7 PA
		Rivals: 6'1/220                    4.05*	4*, 5.8, NR overall #14 ILB, #7 PA
		ESPN: 6'1/220                    4.17*	4*, 81, #24 East, #251 ovr #9 ILB, #3 PA
		Composites:      4.04* / 4.03*	4*, #300/#305 overall #26/#31 LB, #5 PA
		MGo Avg:                   4.04*	4*, #356/786 overall #26/76 ILBs since 1990
		YMRMFSPA	Carl Diggs or Khalid Hill
Other Suitors	PSU, Rutgers, Illinois, FSU
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello from the Future by Alex.
Notes	Double transfer. Makes good M's.
Film:
Hudl. Game clips from EJ Holland. Sky INT.

In gauging how we feel about recruits, we often pay a lot of attention to momentum, especially near the end. Players who rise in the rankings late never rise high enough. Players who fall never fall far enough.

Bridgeman is a quandary. Until his senior film came out he was on the well-tread path from sophomore with serious Bama interest to the kind of guy Rutgers gets to pretend their class is made of 4-stars with Alabama offers. By the time he committed to Michigan he was in the low 4-star range where former top-100 players tend to settle. Because that happened just as previously committed 5-star Raylen Wilson flipped to Georgia, there was this whole "He's no Raylen Wilson" factor on top of it.

Then a funny thing happened. He transferred to a Pennsylvania powerhouse, and his rankings stayed put, even incrementing upwards. They started talking about his size a lot more, and how he was still moving very well with it, and how this was all very frightening for Philadelphian running back parents. And that's kind of the book on Bridgeman. He doesn't look like he's going to get there, but then he does, and it's like somebody hit a wall.

[After THE JUMP: Physicality.]

Michigan lost LB commit Raylen Wilson in late June but then replaced him in the class only a couple days later in snaring Imhotep Institute's Semaj Bridgeman. The Michigan-Bridgeman courtship was pretty quick, as Bridgeman's name seldom appeared in recruiting insider pieces until mid-May and then suddenly it was on. He visited in early June, and all the predictions trended Michigan's favor. On July 1, Bridgeman made it official: 

GURU RATINGS

Last row is Seth's conversion to a five-star scale. Links are to profiles

Bridgeman is a consensus four-star recruit, with only On3 as the dissenting opinion leaving him on three-star status. ESPN is the highest on him, so take that for what it's worth, while 24/7 and and Rivals are pretty in-sync. All of the sites have him around the same height and weight, so not much to say physically here from the guru opinions. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Many high schools mentioned]

Michigan picks up its second commitment of Canada Day, in 4* LB Semaj Bridgeman from Philadelphia, PA: 

〽️ pic.twitter.com/sSKvWdhcuK

— Semaj Bridgeman † (@SemajBridgeman7) July 1, 2022

Bridgeman replaces Raylen Wilson as the lone linebacker in the 2023 class. After the commitments of Bridgeman and Fredrick Moore today, the Wolverines' struggling '23 class is up to eight players. Today represents the beginning of a run of commitments in July from Michigan targets, including Jaxon Howard (just committed to LSU), Collins Acheampong (delayed his commitment date from today), Paul Mubenga, and Amir Herring coming soon. The Wolverines typically do most of their recruiting in the summer, so further developments are expected in the near future. 

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