Hello a third time, Mr. McCaffrey

Ace's Hello post can be found here, and is ver' nice:

a big strong quarterback who has electric reset ability with his feet, meaning when he goes from one target to the next he wastes no time. He resets to number 2 better than most college quarterbacks. Dylan has a great smooth delivery.

He's a top 50 player to everyone except Rivals because of course; Rivals has him just outside their top 100.

McCaffrey told Sam Webb that it would take something "super traumatic" for McCaffrey to even consider a decommit. Hopefully Harbaugh doesn't broach the idea of practicing over spring break until after Signing Day. McCaffrey also has a #1 target as he dons his recruiter hat: yep, MI WR Donovan Peoples-Jones.

FWIW, Wiltfong lists a bunch of guys who may join McCaffrey in the 2017 class. I'm not sure where either of these reads comes from, but it's clear he's in contact with the coaching staff:

It’s going to be a small class for Michigan in 2017 after signing 29 in what turned out to be the nation’s No. 5 recruiting class this past cycle according to 2016. … Michigan may take just one receiver in 2017.

Unless there's unexpected attrition from the senior class Michigan should have 18 to give at a minimum, and then there are a number of potential fifth-year guys that could exit. With the NFL and playing time transfers I expect Michigan at least gets to 25.

And finally, McCaffrey's commitment gives us the chance to catch up with immaculately-coifed Denver sportswriter Neal Devlin, who we last encountered during Alex Kozan's vision quest.

Jungle beats, Kurt Taylor style

Let us observe a drill:

#Michigan commit Kurt Taylor in action.@SamWebb77 pic.twitter.com/JB6eY9KhHQ

— Chad Simmons (@ChadSimmons_) February 14, 2016

Man, Taylor is a compact little dude. Chance he gets compared to Vincent Smith: high.

Let's just glory in this enormous dude for a sec

I don't think his name will come up in connection with Michigan but this is too amazing to let slide:

Juan Harris, DT, West Union (Iowa) North Fayette
Juan Harris is an interesting guy. As we head into the spring of his junior year, he has already decommitted twice and had three different commitments, all involving the same school – Iowa. He's currently committed to the Hawkeyes and appears to be solid but all of that off-field drama distracts from the more important fact that this kid is a beast. At 6-4 and a weight that varies between 365 and 400 pounds, Harris has nimble athleticism and more mass than most offensive linemen can handle.

Somewhere in the fields of Iowa there is a 400-pound defensive tackle who has already committed to the Hawkeyes three times and recinded it twice.

Nobody has to make America great again; it never ceased being great.

SIDE NOTE: Ace reminded me that Williams is the guy who we thought Mike Onwenu was being confused with when news first broke that Onwenu was playing at 370, because if anyone at SMSB was 370 it was Williams. Onwenu is still made of some superdense alloy.

More Wilson react

Sam Webb caught up with NY OL Isaiah Wilson after his unofficial. Wilson has backed off Michigan as his leader, at least publicly. Things still sound pretty good:

“They made great impressions.  Everything about them was genuine and inviting.  They’re all on a mission.  There is not any nonsense going on over there.  I was with Ahmir Mitchell, Kareem Walker, who I’ve played against, and Khalid Hill.”

A summer decision is a possibility if Wilson thinks he's seen enough. He doesn't have anything upcoming listed on his 247 profile yet, FWIW. He's already been a number of places.

Tufele top four

Defensive tackle is a huge need in 2017 and Michigan doesn't have a lot of top names on the board right now; one of them is UT DT Jay Tufele. Tufele told Oregon's 247 site that Michigan is in his top four along with Utah, USC, and Ole Miss(?!), though an Oregon offer could change that.

Unfortunately, he does not have a visit to Michigan on the docket; he does expect to take his recruitment close to Signing Day, giving Michigan an opportunity to impress on an official.

Baron back on the market

Five-star TX LB Baron Browning has decommitted from Baylor. He didn't offer Scout any sort of top list in the aftermath. He is scheduled to hit up a Texas junior day in the near future, FWIW; Michigan will continue to recruit the guy through Signing Day just because.

Top four for Samuels

FL CB Stanford Samuels III is at Flanagan, where Michigan picked up three players a year ago. He's got a top four consisting of M, Clemson, FSU, and Georgia. Going to be tough—Samuels, like Devin Bush Jr, is an FSU legacy—but they did get Bush.

The NTDP, for football

An extensive article on IMG Academy notes that they cannot offer scholarships to in-state players, so any FL guy you see on the roster is paying like 70k for the privilege. Meanwhile it doesn't seem like a year or two in Florida is having much impact on recruits' final destination:

Most believed Florida, Florida State and Miami would get inherent advantages in recruiting players from IMG, specifically the Seminoles. Former Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke, the 2000 Heisman Trophy winner, was IMG’s head coach in 2013 and 2014.

Three signing classes later, the same amount of IMG athletes (three) have signed with the Seminoles as Ohio State. That said, FSU and Miami are tied with the Buckeyes for the most IMG signees.

Just two other programs — LSU and Notre Dame — have signed more than one athlete from IMG in this three-year stretch. The Tigers reeled in receiver Davis and cornerback Smith, while the Irish got running back Tony Jones Jr. and safety Spence Perry.

Florida has signed no one from IMG Academy after defensive tackle Shavar Manuel, a Gators commitment, flipped to Florida State on national signing day last week.

That isn't much bias since a lot of the kids are close to Florida anyway. In this it's like hockey's NTDP, which has been in or near Ann Arbor for the duration of its existence but has mostly seen its kids go back to where they came from after they're done. By the time a lot of the IMG kids play a down for the school they'll be committed or en route to doing so.

Michigan offers underworld robot, also other new names

Deommodre Lenoir is not a fan of Zoidberg

• CA CB Deommodre Lenoir is interviewed by Washington mods in a break between rounds. He's got a Michigan offer and tentatively plans a visit; he seems to be leaning towards leaving the state. Washington is a serious contender, and I'm not just saying that to forestall a duel. Apparently nicknamed, yes, "Clamp Clampington." Do want.
• LA S Todd Harris picked up an offer. Normally offering a top 100 kid from Louisiana* would be an exercise in futility, but Harris told Lorenz that "there's just something different about Michigan" and would like to take a visit. He also says he wants to "compete for a starting job immediately," something Michigan can absolutely offer.
• Michigan, along with MSU and Oregon, offered previously unknown MI OL Phil Paea, a guy with no articles at any recruiting site until just recently. At 6'4" Paea is probably destined to be a guard. Trieu says this one will be "tough" for Michigan, with Oregon a "dream school." Possible he's related to NFL DE Stephen Paea, who went to Oregon State, and is from a West Coast family.
• This might not be a new offer but it's new to me: TX RB Eno Benjamin is planning a visit on March 8th. Benjamin is a top 100 guy to Scout and just outside of it on the composite. The visit is part of a Midwest swing through M, OSU, NW, Iowa, and… uh… Kansas?
• Michigan is also moving up the list of FL RB Kyshaun Bryan. Bryan attended Heritage with new Michigan tight end Nick Eubanks; he's transferring to St Thomas Aquinas for his final year. He tells Lorenz that Eubanks is "honestly like a brother" and that he's setting up a spring visit. SEC schools are the competition. Bryan was also interviewed by Scout and seems to have a tentative top four of M, UF, FSU, and LSU, although Florida hasn't talked to him recently.

*[An aside on the LSU-football-might-not-exist thing: it's brinksmanship balderdash that will have zero impact on any recruit this cycle. LSU, the institution, has been strugglingfor abit now and it just does not matter to instate recruits. Meanwhilethe state goverment isn't going to let their flagship institution close for a semester.]

Etc.: Scout, er, scouts TX DT Marvin Wilson. Potential grad transfer QB Taysom Hill decides to stay at BYU(!). Happy trails, I suppose.