Previously: Last year's profiles. S Makari Paige, S RJ Moten, S Jordan Morant, CB Andre Seldon, CB Darion Green-Warren, CB Eamonn Dennis, VP William "Apache" Mohan.

Baltimore, MD – 6'2", 230
		24/7	4*, 90 rating #23 OLB, #12 MD
		Rivals	3*, 5.7 rating #21 ILB, #19 MD
		ESPN	4*, 80 rating #30 OLB, #4 11 MD
		Composite	3*, #390 overall #25 OLB, #17 MD
		Other Suitors	Pitt, Wisc, Neb, BC, IU, PU
		YMRMFSPA	Mike McCray
Previously On MGoBlog	Hello post from yrs truly.
Notes	Early Enrollee. St Frances alum, originally from Pittsburg.
Film
Junior Year: Senior Year:

You know you have Name Of The Year disease in your brain when Michigan gets a commit from Nikhai Hill-Green and you immediately try to construct a Michigan back seven exclusively comprised of Hills, Greens, and combinations thereof. For the record we were one year of eligibility, one grad transfer, and an incredibly improbable depth chart reshuffle from a nickel package back seven with Lavert Hill, Dax Hill, German Green, Gemon Green, Darion Green-Warren, Nikhai Hill-Green, and Hill-Green portmanteau (give or take an L) Devin Gil.

So close, and yet so far.

Anyway: this guy. 

[After THE JUMP: post gets radically less silly]

Hill-Green is one of the many St. Frances players to commit to Michigan over the last couple years. That's Biff Poggi's program, and when not making fashion statements on national television he doubles as the father of former Michigan TE Henry Poggi. The elder Poggi has collected a ton of talent. St. Frances is trending towards a national schedule since local programs are sick of getting run over by them; last year they took on California power Mater Dei and IMG Academy, handing the latter an extremely rare loss.

I was briefly incensed that there was nothing on Hill-Green from this clash of titans. Then I resorted to the ultimate desperation move: watching a months-old high school game. Hill-Green platooned at MLB, getting the second and fourth quarters. The latter was largely academic. He made a couple of nice tackles but if you weren't watching this specifically to see about him he wouldn't have drawn much mention. (Blake Corum, on the other hand… hello.) Since your author did and there's little other scouting on Hill-Green, some bullets:

• His reads were all over the place. Hill-Green had multiple incidents where he was multiple steps into the wrong read before correcting himself. I'm not including a couple of jet sweep fakes into screens the other way; I'm talking about pass plays with no play action where he took a couple steps to the LOS before dropping and one draw where he got in his drop so far that recovery was impossible.
• He brings the proverbial wood. A couple of his tackles in this game made his senior highlight reel because they are stoppers with no YAC or chance to escape. A couple other times in this game he was able to take on free releasing guards and stall them out, then shed.
• His change of direction is pretty good, considering. Hill-Green isn't your modern sideline to sideline Bush-backer. One mitigating factor is that he's playing MLB at 230, so he's already close to what he'll be as a finished product. And on one of those jet-fake to screen plays he was able to stop, redirect, and get there fast enough to push the screen target wider and into a teammate.

Other scouting is beyond minimal for a guy who hit some camps and played on one of the most loaded high school teams in America. The only extended take came from 24/7's Brian Dohn, who saw him in person a few times, on the occasion of his commitment:

…size and moves with fluidity inside the box. His strength is nearly college-ready. He diagnoses plays and reacts quickly. … athletic and changed direction well. He played downhill and stood out on a very talented team. …manipulates his way through traffic and locates the ball carrier well. …uses his hands well to disengage quickly from blocks. … remains to be seen if he has the speed to get [to the edge] against elite college players. … drives well on the ball in front of him. … has to improve his footwork [in man] … smart, physical and comfortable playing in traffic.

Touch The Banner:

… big, thick linebacker … powerful hitter and run-stopper with good instincts. … bit of a lumberer, and his range is limited. I have questions about his angles, because I [don't] think he’s going to keep up with Big Ten players in the speed department.

TTB upgraded its middling rating on Hill-Green after his senior tape showed a guy "who is more physical, quicker, more decisive, and more confident."

Some brief snippets: "moved well in drills and his change of direction stood out" after a UA camp; "long and has wide shoulders … physical at the point of attack, but was caught a few times peeking into the backfield on pass plays" after Dohn scouted the St. Frances vs St. Joseph game.

The only other takes out there come filtered through Hill-Green himself:

Schools believe that one of the biggest strengths to Hill-Green’s skill set is his versatility and ability to cover at his size regardless if its assigned to tight ends or running backs.

“They also like the angles I take and how I can come downhill and get into the backfield,” he said.

Or from Hill-Green himself:

“I think I can cover in space. I’m a physical player. I can tackle in space. I can close the gap, so if a running back catches a pass, I can get out there fast and tackle him. I can fill the hole and do a lot of things well.

“I really played everything: offense, defense, field goal, field goal protect, kick return, everything. It was fun.”

That was when he was a 195-pound sophomore. Even his junior film has an extended section where he plays slot receiver. Hill-Green has generalized football skills. The lingering question with him is if he should have been born 20 years earlier.

Etc.: St. Frances sent two other players, the aforementioned Corum and fellow LB Osman Savage, to Michigan in this class.

Why Mike McCray? Big, physical inside linebacker who brings an oomph to his play who may be a little uncomfortable playing in the acres of space that define modern football. McCray hit the NFL combine as a 6'1", 243 pound linebacker, where he ran a 4.76.

The other role Hill-Green could play at Michigan is SAM. He's not as big as Noah Furbush or as explosive as Josh Uche but if Michigan's got two ILBs with range and speed they'll likely prefer those guys, leaving few options for Hill-Green other than working towards a role as an OL assassin in a 3-3-5. In that case he'd probably be more Furbush—snowplow for other players—than the electric Uche.

Guru Reliability: Low. Relying almost literally on one guy's opinion. Dohn did see him a lot so that opinion is one to take seriously but this is a recruit I threw up my hands on and scouted myself.

Variance: Moderate. Close to college playing weight and not a lot of positional projection. Some bust potential if he's not athletic enough.

Ceiling: Moderate. LBs with Hill-Green's profile tend to top out at Desmond Morgan. Note: this space loves Desmond Morgan but understands why the NFL wasn't biting.

General Excitement Level: Moderate. I and everyone else is in love with the lightning bolt LB who can pop up anywhere from the hashes to Timbuktu; everyone also remembers the matchup-type substance that was McCray vs Saquon Barkley. So while Hill-Green is a fine prospect it feels like I'll be rooting for one of the flashier guys to get whatever jobs are available.

I'm also a little leery that his junior film was 10 minutes long and his senior film is two minutes long. St Frances has a lot of talent but splitting snaps as a D-1 bound senior is a little ominous.

Projection: Michigan needs a linebacker two deep since Charles Thomas is the only veteran behind the starters. Hill-Green is well-positioned to grab a spot because he's college-sized already. Then there may well be a job open next year if Cam McGrone hits the top end of expectations. Hill-Green will be a candidate there but it might be late early for him even then since he's got four guys in his class and four guys in the class Michigan is currently assembling to deal with.