or HELLO: HELLOS

[pokes head up from under couch]

is it over?

...

i think it's over.

...

All right folks, the dust has settled years after the meteor impact. Fewer complaints echo through the forest. The recruiting class is radically different than it was a couple weeks ago. Mammals can get big now. Let's play the feud!

QUARTERBACK

STATUS: No change. Michigan has NV QB Cade McNamara, a mid four-star. McNamara did get invited to the Elite 11 finals, which naturally consists of 12 quarterbacks these days, and performed well, finishing third in 24/7's eyes on the first day:

...solid showing from start to finish with good ball placement. The Reno (Nev.) Damonte Ranch standout consistently spun a good ball, and might have been the surprise of the day of the quarterback group. We will see if the 6-foot-1, 206-pound McNamara can continue this good showing during seven-on-seven play.

The Elite 11 changes formats every year and had a period where it was absurd—Trent Dilfer was involved, they invited like 25 QBs and gave them all eight throws, that sort of thing—but IIRC it's now a three-stage process and McNamara has impressed at all three stages. So maybe it has some legitimacy?

MORE? No. No QBs are on the radar.

RUNNING BACK

Charbonnet's film is all right

STATUS: Michigan went from zero to stocked up by adding CA RB Zach Charbonnet [hello] and TN RB Eric Gray [hello]. Gray is the #1 all purpose back per 247 and a lock to be compared to Chris Evans in a year when his recruiting profile gets posted; Charbonnet is the "thunder" in this package but is more of a slashing jump cut guy who happens to be 215 already than a De'Veon Smith reprise.

Both guys can credibly claim to be underrated by the composite. Gray has a prima facie absurd ranking from Rivals, which asserts the kid with 3,000 rushing yards and a committable-ish Bama offer is the #21 prospect in Tennessee; Charbonnet has a boatload of top-end offers, killer film at Oaks Christian, skipped the camp scene, and is in line for a big bump up on 24/7 per Greg Biggins.

That is quite a recovery from a fairly grim outlook earlier in the year when Charbonnet was the only back of note listing Michigan. Usually it takes five touted out of state interests to get one guy; Michigan got two out of one.

MORE? Uh, maybe? Michigan is still hot on the heels of NC RB Quavaris Crouch. Er. NC ATH Quavaris Crouch. Per Lorenz, on his recent unofficial Michigan told him he could play whatever he wants and Crouch might be favoring linebacker—at 6'3", 240 he's a truly enormous running back.

Michigan does have offers out to another couple APB sorts. CA RB Giles Jackson told 24/7 that Michigan was in his top four a couple days ago, and he's taken two visits so he's serious and Michigan is serious about him. KY RB Wandale Robinson made his second visit to AA, has Michigan in his top seven, and provided a really interesting quote about the future of the offense that explains the sudden profusion of waterbug sorts in the class and on the radar:

“They are spreading out the offense. With Shea Patterson and Joe Milton as the quarterbacks, they are opening things up. I saw some film and what they staff did with them in the spring and with the RPOs. They really need a slot guy, who can play running back too. They don’t really have a true touchdown maker and I can be that guy."

Robinson has a bizarre crystal ball split almost equally amongst Duke, Kentucky, Ohio State, and "dunno."

Smart money is Michigan being done at RB unless Crouch comes in as a two way player.

[After THE JUMP: one wild google image search. Bring a fan.]

WIDE RECEIVER

STATUS: Michigan is taking FL ATH George Johnson III [hello] as a slot and they're no longer barren here. Johnson is a virtually unscouted dual-threat QB who picked up a couple of shiny but potentially uncommittable offers just before his Michigan commitment but remains in the low three star range everywhere. You can pick up productive slot receivers from deep in the three star ranks; Johnson's a wild card.

GIS for Cornelius Johnson is wild man

MORE? Certainly. Michigan took just one WR last year and he is solidly in the "flier" range; they should be looking for two or three outside WRs. The bad news from earlier—there was literally nobody on the board who even seemed like a strong possibility—has eased somewhat. Emphasis on "somewhat." The main positive here is the emergence of CT WR Cornelius Johnson, who's the kind of guy with Stanford, Michigan and ND high on his list. Johnson's gone from off recruiting radars to the the top 250 on the composite and is at the Opening; Steve Wiltfong just asserted he thought M and Stanford were his top two.

Other touted folk seem like pretty long shots. TX WR Dylan Wright says he'll take an official but is probably an instate battle; NC WR Khafre Brown has Michigan in his final four but probably just as a hat on the table; Top 50 and rising CA WR Kyle Ford will visit and is probably Michigan's best shot at a blue-chipper but USC lurks, as per usual.

Meanwhile in sleeper territory, 24/7's Bill Greene put in a Michigan crystal ball for OH WR Trevon Raphael after Raphael named Michigan his leader in the immediate aftermath of a visit. Like a few other guys in the class, Raphael is new to football and combines potential (6'3", sub-11 100m) with uncertainty. Raphael mentioned Michigan wanting to see some grades from summer classes, so that's additional uncertainty.

2020 BONUS: OH WR Kalil Branham [hello] was Michigan's first 2020 commit. He could be a big slot or an average-sized outside WR; with track speed and many many videos of his personal jugs machine he seems like a good bet to hit.

TIGHT END

STATUS: OH TE and potential headline MVP Erick All [hello] was part of the recent blitz; he's a consensus three star in the Big WR mold who will take a year or two to get up to mashing weight. A bad combine 40 held back his rankings but he did pick up some nice offers (FSU, Wisconsin, Notre Dame) before pulling the trigger for Michigan.

MORE? The only other TE on the radar is 4* CA TE Isaiah Foskey, who's been to a ton of schools over the past six months. Michigan was one of those schools and they are getting a return trip late this month. With a wide open field and a projected February decision Michigan will know if they've got a spot, which is good. After two TEs the past two years a second in this class would be a luxury if Michigan's actually recruiting slots in earnest.

And then there's the "find a large athletic guy in New England" route that Harbaugh's repeatedly used to good effect. This class's Luke Schoonmaker or Sean McKeon could be somewhere in rural Vermont, amiably looming over the townsfolk. Probably not. But maybe! But probably not.

OFFENSIVE LINE

STATUS: Even before the recent commit flood Michigan was close to set on the OL, with five commits. GA OL Trente Jones is the only guy who cracks 6'6" and is definitely a tackle; MI OL Karsen Barnhart and CT OL Jack Stewart are potential swing guys. OH OLs Nolan Rumler and Zach Carpenter are emphatically guards. Rumler's a solid four star and one of the best guards in the class; Barnhart and Jones are in the 3.5* range; the other guys are more generic three stars.

MORE? Apparently yes. Michigan does not have a ton of pure tackles yet and I think we're all agreed on the fact that they should get one to 18 of those. IL OL Trevor Keegan is the name most often mentioned; Michigan also has 100% of the ballz for MD OL William Harrod. Harrod recently backed off on his intention to commit at the end of this month, which might be a slow play from the presumed favorite. Harrod just went to UNC and has a bunch of other trips planned. Keegan just swung through M, PSU, and OSU, his supposed top three, and might come off the board pretty soon. Unusually, Michigan has most of the ballz but Steve Wiltfong has OSU.

OVERALL

Michigan will add another couple wide receivers and an OL; other than that they're probably done give or take a decommit who needs replacing or wild card like Foskey or Crouch. Cornelius Johnson and Ford are the most important guys left on the board, both because they're highly rated and because Michigan needs some outside wideouts badly.

If they can grab one of the two the class is... fine. Good. Good-ish? Good. It's more like a good Carr or a Hoke class than the "I wonder if we can catch Alabama" whirlwind of Harbaugh's first two full classes. That's still a nice recovery from last season's absurd drought. Hopefully whatever logistical/this-guy-needs-fired issues that led to that have been addressed.