2020

With June expected to be a huge month for visits, it seems this week is the calm before the storm. We start with leftovers from last week’s big news, as The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich spoke with MI DE Braiden McGregor’s family about their stories from the recruiting trail. They detail when they knew McGregor had decided he would go to Michigan, share some Jim Harbaugh stories (for example, he told McGregor he has go-go-gadget arms), and talk Shaun Nua and what he did to impress them.

There was some commitment-day tension as it was reported that the staffs at both Notre Dame and Michigan, McGregor’s presumed leaders, had heard nothing from the nation’s 89th-raked player all week. Turns out Michigan’s staff may not have heard anything because there was nothing they needed to hear; McGregor was already committed. He told Marich he silently committed to Michigan on a recent visit to Ann Arbor a couple of weeks ago. He told WolverinesWire’s Brandon Knapp it’s always been Michigan for him; he realized this in part when he started using Michigan as his point of comparison for all other schools.

The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown wrote a piece on the impact of McGregor’s commitment, and one of those ways is allowing the staff to focus on interior DL now. Brown says to keep an eye on AL DT Jayson Jones, TN DT Omari Thomas, CA DT Kobe Pepe, and CN DT Jaedon Roberts. 247’s Steve Lorenz also wrote about where the staff goes from here with regard to defensive line recruiting, and he thinks the top priority on their list is VA DE Antwaun Powell. On the interior, NC DT Kedrick Bingley-Jones has an official scheduled for next weekend and appears to be a priority. He also clarified that, though they’re listed as defensive ends on 247, FL UCHE Jaylen Harrell and GA UCHE Choe Bryant-Strother are being recruited as Uche-like ‘tweeners, hence the new designation.

[The headline and caption make sense if you hit THE JUMP]

Speaking of new additions to the staff making an early impact, it seems that’s the case for linebackers coach Anthony Campanile at Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall High School. That’s the school top Viper target William Mohan attends, and it has a long history of sending players to Ohio State. Mohan has been thought to be leaning toward Michigan for quite some time, but that history with the Buckeyes kept The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb from submitting a Michigan crystal ball until now.

Webb spoke with Danny Landberg, Mohan’s head coach, and not only did he say that Michigan and Ohio State are on equal footing in his eyes because he trusts Campanile, he gave Webb some incredible soundbites about Mohan.

“He is a relentless, Tasmanian devil type where he is just going to keep coming after you. That’s his game. His game is he is going to chase you like one of those National Geographic wolves chasing a rabbit and not giving up.”

I thought Viper was a cool name for a position but would not be opposed to renaming it National Geographic Wolf. If fits. Mohan now has Michigan crystal balls from Webb, Steve Lorenz, and Brian Dohn, and he has an official visit scheduled for June 21st. Seems like when, not if (and June 21 is probably when).

Mohan spoke with Webb and said going to Ohio State wouldn’t be bad because he’s seen alums of his high school like Curtis Samuel and Matt Jones find playing time there, but he also said he wants to play safety and linebacker and that his style of play and the way Michigan uses the Viper connect. He also used Khaleke Hudson and Jabrill Peppers as player comparisons when Webb asked, so I guess he was paying close attention to the Michigan staff’s pitch. When asked about Michigan’s coaching staff, Mohan said he puts his “…trust and everything into them.” Mohan said he’s heard that they might use a hybrid space player at Ohio State this season and plans to visit to hear more about their plans, but the tone of everything he said (and, of course, the CBs) makes it appear that Michigan is in the driver’s seat.

2021

Recent commitments are paying dividends on the trail, as 2020 MI DE Braiden McGregor and 2021 IL QB JJ McCarthy have reached out to IN OT Blake Fisher to let him know they want him in Ann Arbor. Fisher is unranked in the composite, but 247 has him as the #15 OT and #90 overall player in his class. He told The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich that he would like visit Michigan again this summer (he also took an unofficial last month), as McGregor, McCarthy and Zak Zinter recently committing has increased his level of interest in Michigan.

One player for whom interest in Michigan has always been high is IN LB Yanni Karlaftis, brother of 2019 target George Karlaftis. He spoke with TMI’s Brice Marich about how he was “kind of sad” when he lost contact with Michigan in the wake of Greg Mattison’s departure, and how happy he is to now be in contact with Shaun Nua. 247 has Karlaftis ranked as 2021’s #4 OLB and #70 overall player, and that’s a heck of a profile for a guy who feels this way:

“Yeah, that is the thing on people thinking my interest went away with Michigan, it didn’t” Karlaftis said. “I liked Coach Mattison and still like him, but Michigan is still the same program. I still really like Michigan and Ann Arbor is still a really amazing place. All of that hasn’t changed one bit. 

2022

Sherrone Moore let OK ATH Gentry Williams know he had a Michigan offer last week, and though he said the offer left him “starstruck” it’s not the first big offer for the quarterback. He already has offers from Oklahoma, Memphis, Oklahoma State, and Baylor. Williams was teammates with Michigan signee Daxton Hill last season, and between that and Sherrone Moore it seems the Michigan-Oklahoma connections might be strong enough to leave the school a serious contender. That will be up to Williams though; he told TMI’s Brice Marich he plans to check out Ann Arbor at some point, but he doesn’t think Hill’s presence will sway his decision.