Michigan lost their first verbal commitment of the 2020 cycle, and it was a big one. Four-star OH WR Kalil Branham tweeted that he was decommiting, somehow managing to fit it within Twitter’s character limit and eschewing the Notes app. 247’s Steve Lorenz wrote a quick piece in the wake of Branham decommitting in which he notes that Branham committed to Pep Hamilton and his primary recruiter was Al Washington (who, according to 247’s player profile, had been pursuing him since he was at Cincinnati) and, uh, those guys no longer have offices in Schembechler Hall.

The staff may be close to adding a verbal from a skill-position player, though. Lorenz did some digging in the wake of MD RB Blake Corum tweeting that he’s close to a decision and came back with his crystal ball still solidly on Michigan. Corum has been one of Michigan’s top targets for some time, and should he pick Michigan he won’t be going there alone; fellow St. Frances Academy four-star OLB Osman Savage and three-star OT Micah Mazzccua are a current teammates. When exactly said decision will go public isn’t clear, but Lorenz closed his post by saying it could be in the very near future.

Lorenz also added a crystal ball for NY ATH William Mohan. He unofficially visited earlier this month, and Lorenz reports that he’s a take as a Viper. The three-star is currently ranked #415 in the composite and is the #4 player in New York. The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown spoke with Mohan, who said that the intensity with which Michigan is recruiting him is a 10/10. He said OSU, PSU, Pitt, and Rutgers are also recruiting him hard, but noted that his interest in Michigan is a 10/10. Mohan then told Brown that he’s going to be back for an official visit. Fun fact, per 247’s player page: his nickname is ‘Apache.’ If this makes you think of Traverse City and now you’re hungry then we’re on the exact same page.

A long-time top target made his first visit to Ann Arbor at the end of last week and liked it enough that he told 247's Steve Wiltfong he'll be back for an official. NJ S Jordan Morant spent Thursday on campus and told Wiltfong he was impressed by the facilities and academic opportunity (and support) Michigan offers, and he added that his favorite thing about Michigan is having coaches Partridge and Campanile on staff due to the level of comfort that provides with them both being from New Jersey. 247's Steve Lorenz wrote that he was waiting to see whether the staff would mention playing with Daxton Hill to Morant; on Thursday Morant tweeted at Hill "this the move?", so I think it's safe to assume we know who was discussed that day. One thing that's interesting is Morant's ranking. He's #112 overall and the #8 safety in the composite, but 247 has him significantly higher at #43 overall and the nation's top safety. I watched his junior highlight film and his speed, athleticism, explosion, and change of direction lead me to believe 247's ranking is about where he should be.

[More big visits and crystal balls after THE JUMP]

AZ OT Noah Nelson recently officially visited Michigan, and 247’s Steve Lorenz continues to hear positive things about Michigan’s chances with the nation’s #552 overall player and #48 OT. Lorenz says that Nelson is a top target for Ed Warinner in his search for a high-ceiling tackle. He also notes that Oklahoma appears to be Michigan’s stiffest competition for the three-star at this point. Lorenz has additional quotes from Nelson on his experience at Michigan and his appreciation for Warinner’s coaching style that you can read here. Marich spoke with Nelson’s mother, who named her son’s current leader while noting that this visit was a 10/10.

Another prospect whose visit couldn’t have gone better is TN APB Jabari Small. The three-star, ranked #697 overall and the #10 APB, has visited Tennessee and Ole Miss and Mississippi State among others, but he told Marich that Michigan would be his choice if he committed right now. That said, he’s not committing now; Small said he’s still 100% open to offers and will either commit in the summer or drop a top-[whatever] list depending on what other offers he receives. So, Michigan leads…for now.

Less certain at this early juncture is the recruitment of Windsor TE Theo Johnson. He added offers from Ohio State and Florida State to an offer list that already has almost every blue-blood program, and it seems Ohio State is moving up his list of potential suitors despite a lackluster visit. His visit to Michigan earlier this year seems to have gone much better, as coaches Moore and Gattis were able to show him in practice how he’d be integrated into the offense. He also seemed impressed that Michigan practices the same way irrespective of which visitors are there that day, adding that it was good to “see the real stuff.” That said, he also mentioned how well a Penn State visit went and has a Georgia visit scheduled, including them alongside Michigan, LSU, and Iowa as schools showing the most interest. Perhaps the most notable thing from Webb’s discussion with Johnson is the shifting of his decision timeline, which has moved from this summer to after taking gameday officials.

Ohio State is currently at the top of the nonexistent top-schools list for MI ATH Cameron Martinez. He spoke with TMI’s Sam Webb and though he doesn’t have a preferred position between receiver and safety/corner, he does prefer Ohio State’s tactic of letting him decide which side of the ball he wants to play. Michigan wants him at H-back, and though his decision could come down to side-of-ball flexibility, he said it might also be based on relationships with coaches. Martinez said he plans to make his decision before the season, but if he’s feeling rushed he’ll wait until the season is over. Once he makes said decision, he says he’s “never going to back out of it.”

Michigan seems to have made some headway with one of their top targets, PA OT Michael Carmody. He visited earlier this month and said at this point the coaches’ message is that they want to make him feel as comfortable as possible at Michigan. It’s working, as he told Marich that he’s starting to see Michigan as a place where he could envision himself for the next few years. Carmody is ranked #130 in the composite, though 247 has him at #91. He’s the #11 OT in the composite, though he’s #12 to 247.

Current commit AZ QB JD Johnson spent three days on campus last week in an effort to remind himself why he committed to Michigan in the first place. That’s what he told Rivals’ Adam Gorney, adding that this trip was very important even though he’s still committed to Michigan. He told WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold that he watched a stream of the spring game and came away impressed with Josh Gattis’ offensive system, particularly its pace. Recent trips to Texas A&M and Oregon were intended to help form a backup plan should something change at Michigan, according to Johnson.

The backup plans can likely be shelved for the time being, as Johnson's visit seems to have solidified his commitment to Michigan. He told The Wolverine's Brandon Brown that he really likes Josh Gattis and thinks that he is a perfect fit for his offense. Johnson wouldn't comment on the strength of his commitment to Petzold, but he did mention that he is becoming more comfortable as he develops more meaningful relationships with the staff. Johnson also told Petzold that he will be signing in December and enrolling early.

2021

Michigan hosted a bevy of visitors for the spring game, including two top-50 2021 prospects from just up the road. Clarkston’s Rocco Spindler (#32 overall, #2 DT) and Garrett Dellinger (#29 overall, #1 OT) were on hand, and Dellinger gave a glowing review of the visit to The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich.

“It stood out to me that all the coaches were involved in everything,” Dellinger said. “This is important to me because the way they treat the players is a huge reason to want to go there. Also, being in the offensive line meeting and seeing the interaction with Coach Warinner and the players and seeing how they worked together.”

Spindler also seemed impressed with Warinner’s style, as touched on in a must-read interview with Marich. Spindler is still ranked as a DT in 247’s database, but he told Marich that it looks like Michigan’s preferred place for him has switched from defense to offense since Greg Mattison left. He also said that he and Dellinger intend to be a package deal. Two players at the top of Michigan’s 2021 board (per Harbaugh; it’s in the interview) from their backyard and on the same line. You can imagine the importance of this recruitment. Luckily for Michigan they have Matt Dudek, whom Spindler noted was one of his favorite recruiters. Neither player has a decision timeline, and they also don’t have any visits formally scheduled. Notre Dame is currently the crystal ball leader for both prospects, but taking the two interviews together and their intent to visit Ann Arbor again (with Spindler throwing out potential dates to Marich) points to Michigan being in the thick of things.

IL QB JJ McCarthy appeared to be an Ohio State lean at one point, but after a seemingly sterling unofficial visit six of seven crystal balls are now on Michigan for the #19 overall prospect. McCarthy told 247’s Steve Wiltfong that he liked the way Michigan’s coaching staff, in particular Jim Harbaugh and new QBs coach Ben McDaniels, interacted with players. Combined with the quality of education and distance from home, he said the university checks a lot of boxes for himself and his family. This is especially interesting considering what he told Wiltfong about being a lifelong OSU fan and singing Ryan Day’s praises later in the article. But hey, there are a number of very confident ballz!

Michigan seems to be in it for a number of 2021’s highest-ranked players, early though it may be. AZ SDE Quintin Somerville visited for the spring game, in large part because of what he called an extremely close relationship with Shaun Nua that started while the coach was at ASU. 247 has Somerville ranked #18 overall (#3 SDE), and his Michigan offer coming in January points to Nua as the key cog in his recruitment. He recapped his visit with Marich, adding that Michigan’s culture is unique and the combination of athletics and academics will be tough to beat. He also told Marich Michigan is currently one of his top five schools.

IN OT Blake Fisher, the nation’s #87 overall player and the #15 OT, also visited this month and raved about pretty much everything to 247’s Steve Wiltfong. He already has another visit to Michigan set up for late June.

Nua also seems to be the reason Michigan is in the mix for unranked UT OLB Logan Fano, who has been committed to BYU since early 2017. He told WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold that he’s looking to explore his options and that it’s tempting to commit to Michigan after visiting a few weeks ago. Instead, he’s planning to visit Nebraska (where he also holds an offer) and then work out additional visits over the summer.

North Campus has Michigan in good position with IA DE TJ Bollers. 247 has him ranked #207 overall and #14 at WDE, and Brice Marich reports that Bollers’ high profile can attract big-name programs without swaying him. Bollers is interested in Michigan because of its engineering program, not due to the program’s (or any other schools’) ability to get kids to the NFL. On that note, it seems the staunchest competition is likely to come from Stanford, surprising precisely zero of you.

As for already committed 2021s, MI OT Giovanni El-Hadi has parlayed his excellent winter camp performances into four stars in 247’s first set of rankings. The 6’4, 273-pounder is currently ranked #76 overall by 247 with a score of 94.0, which places him 11th among OTs. He spoke to Marich about not believing your own hype and strengthening his bond with Ed Warinner.

Etc.

Brice Marich with spring game visit reactions. Lorenz CBs 2022 MI (probably) DE Alex VanSumeren. Michigan makes top eight for 2020 VA DE Antwaun Powell. Michigan makes top five for 2020 MI WR Devell Washington.