Three-star Virginia offensive tackle Tristan Bounds, who'll spend his final season before college prepping at Wallingford (CT) Choate Rosemary Hall, became Michigan's 17th 2021 commit yesterday afternoon. Michigan's place at the forefront of Bounds's recruitment became clear when he and his family drove from Virginia to Ann Arbor, as well as South Bend, earlier this month for a tour of campus even though they couldn't see or talk to the coaches on the trip because of the ongoing recruiting "dead" period.

With Michigan and Notre Dame standing out as the teams to beat along with home-state squads Virginia and Virginia Tech, momentum shifted over the last month in favor of the Wolverines. After his visit, Bounds told Sam Webb he saw himself in Jim Harbaugh:

“Somebody was telling me a story about how he beats his five-year-old in mini-golf.”

So, would a 6-8, 285-pounder really show no mercy to a five-year old?

“I don’t like to lose at all,” Bounds replied laughingly. “That’s probably one of my least favorite things. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if that was something I did at some point.”

Around the same time Michigan turned up its pursuit of Bounds, the young tackle posted this video on Twitter. I'm not saying correlation is causation, but...

This weighs plenty? pic.twitter.com/z147KxwMGD

— Tristan Bounds (@bounds_tristan) May 7, 2020

...the timeline tracks.

Bounds is the fourth offensive lineman in the class and is a lock to play tackle given he's listed at either 6'7.5" or a full-blown 6'8", 280 pounds. I'm not saying he should be named "Tristan Pounds" but I'm not saying he shouldn't look into it, either.

GURU RATINGS

Rivals	ESPN	247	247 Comp
3*, 5.5, NR OT #5 CT	3*, 78, #51 OT, #3 CT	3*, 88, #39 OT, #2 CT	3*, 0.8628, #56 OT, #3 CT, #662 Ovr

Bounds has a bit of a range for someone who's a three-star to all three sites. On the high end, 247 has him only five places in the position rankings away from four-star territory. Rivals is an anchor, leaving Bounds out of their position rankings, which go 70 offensive tackles deep. ESPN splits the difference, leaving him a couple grade points below four-star status.

[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and the rest.]

SCOUTING

Bounds's frame stands out. He's in the area of 6'8", 280 pounds as of most recent reports. That's already progress from his junior season, which he played at 260 pounds according to his Hudl film—he looks downright skinny in his highlights. Bounds participated in track & field (as a thrower) his first couple years of high school and has played basketball throughout, which makes it hard to focus on weight training and adding bulk.

His size is discussed early and often in the first of the few scouting reports I can find on him, a spring 2019 camp evaluation after he earned an offer at NC State:

Another lineman who performed well in the final week of camps was 2021 Alexandria (Va.) Episcopal tackle Tristan Bounds. Bounds' frame was impressive and will easily allow him to add another 40 to 50 pounds. He showed great athleticism and technique, which drew a lot of praise from offensive line coach John Garrison.

Bounds used his 6-foot-7.5 frame to outmuscle defensive linemen throughout the camp and was immediately invited for a tour of the campus and a sit-down discussion with Dave Doeren following his camp. The Pack offered Bounds on Thursday, adding to an already impressive list that includes ACC competition in Virginia, Boston College and Louisville.

Since Notre Dame was after Bounds, we have an extensive junior film breakdown from Irish247's Tim Prister:

Bounds pass protects with a massively-wide base and a pretty powerful use of his hands. He has a quick jabbing thrust into the opposing player’s chest and outstanding balance. He does not allow defensive players to get into his kitchen with an aggressive use of hands and extremely long arms. In fact, there’s no “lunge” to his game as a pass blocker or run blocker. He maintains a good center of gravity in both areas.

Of course, getting underneath the pads of defensive ends is difficult for Bounds because of his extreme length. He tends to go along for the ride with defensive players as opposed to disposing of them. But that’s not all bad either because most defensive ends will have difficulty getting off his block or around him as he continues to churn his feet. That’s a big frame for an opponent to navigate.

Prister describes him as raw in the run game and athletic with the upside to be "outstanding" as a pass-protecting left tackle. He even copped to expecting to write a negative review of a player he thought of as a project, then came away describing him as a four-star talent if he adds lower-body strength and improves his run-blocking fundamentals—both achievable goals.

In April of this year, Steve Lorenz mentioned Bounds among six prospects Michigan valued more than the recruiting sites. He's the fourth of those six to commit since, joining WR Markus Allen, S Rod Moore, and DE TJ Guy. The other two, SC DT Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and PA CB Tyreek Chappell, appear ticketed for South Carolina (after a push from Georgia) and Texas A&M, respectively. Ingram-Dawkins recently shot into 247's top 100.

After Bounds's commitment, The Wolverine's EJ Holland acknowledged the low Rivals ranking while saying he sees the upside:

Bounds is rated as a 5.5, which means he's on the bottom of the three-star spectrum. While you can't teach his size, Bounds not only needs to add weight, but he needs to add muscle as well. Bounds also needs to continue working on his feet and overall technique. I do like that he plays with a mean streak and has high upside. I think Warinner can do a lot with him, and I'm excited to go out and check out Bounds this fall.

Those are generally areas that high school O-line prospects need to improve. The upside of Bounds's size/athleticism combo usually merits better than bottom-of-the-barrel three-star ratings. Talking to SI's Eric Rutter, Bounds pinpointed the right areas to put in work:

Left tackle is where Bounds plays for Choate Rosemary Hall, and it is the position he expects to assume at Michigan. In order to improve his play when that time comes, Bounds has already set out a host of areas he’d like to improve upon before the start of his senior season.

“Really just to get stronger, try to get lower and more explosive,” Bounds said. “I think that I’m a very athletic tackle. That’s what I was recruited because of, but I think the stronger I get, the better I’ll be at bull rushes, inside moves and in the run game.”

There's a lot to like here. The rankings belie the upside.

OFFERS

Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Texas, and UCLA headline Bounds's offer sheet, which also includes Cal, Duke, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Louisville, Maryland, UMass, NC State, Nebraska, Rutgers, Temple, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Dartmouth, Princeton, and Yale. Penn State reportedly showed interest but hasn't offered.

HIGH SCHOOL

As you may have guessed, Choate Rosemary Hall is a boarding school that cares a lot about lacrosse. Bounds will be only the fourth three-star recruit produced by the program and he'll be traveling the farthest west by going to Michigan; previous D-I signees went to Pitt, Boston College, UConn, and Army. Current walk-on defensive back Hunter Reynolds attended Choate, as well.

Bounds's previous school, Alexandria (VA) Episcopal, is quite familiar to Michigan, which landed Luiji Vilain from the school and also pursued 2016 CB Patrice Rene (North Carolina), 2017 S Jonathan Sunderland (Penn State), 2019 S Litchfield Ajavon (Notre Dame), 2020 CB Elijah Gaines (Virginia), and 2021 OLB Bryce Steele (South Carolina). I imagine it's been hard to pass on that team the last several years.

FAKE 40 TIME

None listed.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

2019 camp video that includes him running routes(!):

Single-game reels can be found on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Sam Webb described the vision for Bounds in a Detroit News article:

“Physically he is very much like Jeff Persi except he is already 280 pounds so similar athlete, similar kind of upside except closer to it and a guy who, for them, gives them some tackle security," said Sam Webb of 247Sports' The Michigan Insider. "You have Giovanni El-Hadi who can play basically anywhere on the offensive line and be a guard or tackle, and here you have a pure tackle that, if you miss on some of the tackles they are chasing down the stretch like Garrett Dellinger or Nolan Rucci, you’re still fine. If you pick up one of them then you have a luxury of moving Gio around. So Bounds gives you a high-upside guy and some security at the tackle position.”

While Bounds may never be a punishing run blocker, he's got the most potential as a blindside pass-protector that we've seen at Michigan in a while; if Bounds comes close to his ceiling, it'll be a far cry from the days when the program kept moving the starting center to left tackle.

He should get as much time as he needs to develop. Even if redshirt sophomore Jalen Mayfield hits on some way-too-early 2021 NFL Draft projections, Michigan should have Ryan Hayes, Trevor Keegan, Trente Jones, and Jeffrey Persi as true tackles in the three classes ahead of Bounds, plus classmate Giovanni El-Hadi and swing tackle candidates like Karsen Barnhart and Jack Stewart.

If Bounds can anchor against the run and get up to the range of 300-315 pounds, he's got the talent to break through early. It may take longer depending on both his development curve and those of the other tackles on the roster. He's not a guaranteed hit—no lineman is, as we've learned—but his upside can be described in similar terms as his frame. There aren't many 6'8" guys who can move.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

As Sam insinuated in the section above, takings Bounds indicates Michigan doesn't think they'll get both elite tackles they're still pursuing, which is probably a good concession to reality. The Wolverines have only been mentioned on the outskirts of Rucci's recruitment of late, while LSU has all nine Crystal Ball picks for Dellinger.

Michigan is still going to push for top-level linemen. Bounds lets them take on another prospect who may be better suited to the interior. Top-50 in-state OG Rocco Spindler fits that description, as does top-150 MA OG Drew Kendall, and M is in good shape to add at least one of the two.

Other positions to be filled include RB, WR, TE, DT, WDE, CB, and S. Michigan is picking off needs at a fast rate and have mostly narrowed their board to select prospects of need. Here's the class as it currently stands: