Bama's Gain Is... Michigan's Gain, Too?

Alabama picked up two commits on the offensive line at the end of July, and they're expected to add five-star OT Jedrick Wills any day now. That may not seem like news that would lead a Michigan recruiting roundup, but word from multiple Bama insiders is the numbers crunch in Tuscaloosa will have a direct impact on at least one top Michigan target. Here's 247's Steve Lorenz on four-star IMG OC Cesar Ruiz:

I spoke with Hank South, our Alabama insider this morning, who confirmed that Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy Top100 offensive lineman Cesar Ruiz is NOT a take for the Crimson Tide, and barring more than one change to their current class, would not be regardless

When that news made its way over to the Scout board, their Bama insider, John Garcia Jr., confirmed he was hearing the same about Ruiz and added that four-star NY OT Isaiah Wilson could also get squeezed out by Wills:

Bama took in state OL Hunter Brannon on July 23, a kid who earned the offer at camp (UA wanted Ruiz to camp but he didn't make it). Numbers are tight and tackles are a much bigger need at this time. I'm not even sure they would take both Wills and Wilson should each want to join the class. Like with Nico Collins, a late spot may not be there for Wilson. Things can change but Bama feels good about each, the difference is Wills is much closer to ending his recruitment.

Alabama has been considered Michigan's primary competition for both Ruiz and Wilson. Ruiz said at the beginning of this month that Alabama, Michigan, and Oklahoma were tied at the top of his list; only a few days later, the Sooners landed four-star center Creed Humphrey. If Ruiz sticks to those top schools, his decision may have been made for him—he's also mentioned North Carolina as a school of interest recently but I haven't seen any indication they'd beat out Michigan.

Ice cold baby im ice cold #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/skJlgIuDBe

— Zay (@_LayZay_) August 10, 2016

Wilson, meanwhile, set up official visits to Florida State (Nov. 11), Michigan (Nov. 19), and Alabama (Nov. 25), with dates for Georgia and USC to be decided based on his basketball schedule—we'll see if those latter two materialize, as Wilson plans to make a decison in December. In the aftermath of his BBQ visit, he told Sam Webb that Michigan's "family atmosphere" stood out and played it coy about where the Wolverines currently stand:

These most recent Michigan experiences reconfirmed for Wilson why he has the storied program in his top five.  They’ve also caused those observing his recruitment to wonder if the Wolverines have moved up his list.

Said Wilson, “my response to that question is, Go Blue!’”

Take that how you will.

Yet another four-star lineman, CA OT Aaron Banks, is set to cut his list down to ten soon. After a better-than-expected BBQ visit, Michigan should make the cut:

"The trip to Michigan was cool," said Banks.  "It was nice.  It was better than I expected.  The school was bigger than I expected it to be.  I was with Coach (Tim) Drevno and one of his assistants.  We met up with Coach (Jim) Harbaugh but didn't get to spend as much time with him.  I met up with Jay Harbaugh some too.  Then we went to one of the stores and got some of the new Jumpman gear."

Banks plans to enroll early. Getting him back for an official visit will be of great importance if Michigan wants to push for his commitment.

Oh, and Scout's main analyst in SEC country, Chad Simmons, is projecting that Michigan will get four-star OG TJ Slaton:

This is probably the toughest one out of this group.  Slaton likes to keep to himself, a lot about his recruitment is unknown, and he could end up at a number of program.  Today though, over six months out, Michigan is the favorite.  The Wolverines landed his good friend, teammate Kai-Leon Herbert over the summer, and this only helps UM.  Herbert made his mind up when him and Slaton were in Ann Arbor a couple of months ago.  Clemson is in this, Florida State is there, and we will see what Slaton does this fall in terms of visits.

While Slaton isn't a lock, he's kept Michigan on top for a while now despite seeing other schools. There's a very real chance Michigan picks up three more elite O-line prospects, at which point one or two current commits might take a look around. No matter how it shakes out, it's hard to see a way in which Michigan doesn't have a great finish at OL.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]

M-MSU Battle For Martin?

Four-star IA WR Oliver Martin had to wait to take visits because of baseball season, then saw the two schools considered the favorites to land him, Michigan and Michigan State, in quick succession earlier this month. 247's Steve Wiltfong caught up with Martin's father, who said he "really liked both of them for completely different reasons." Time to play the always-reliable* Quote Comparison Game:

"He feels really good about Michigan," the elder Martin said. "Felt really good about the whole experience. We stopped off at the M-Den and we kind of went crazy, got shirts, hats, coats for everybody."

"Coach (Mark) Dantonio is completely different than Coach Harbaugh, but is still likable and is respected," Martin said. "Oliver feels good about Coach (Terrence) Samuel the receivers coach there. They have a good rapport. Coach Samuel contacts him quite a bit and they've been able to establish a good rapport.

I think that's advantage: Michigan, but it's tough to tell; mostly I enjoyed the "but is still likable" qualification for Dantonio. Oregon is still a threat for Martin, who will take an official to Eugene in September, but at the moment this looks like a Michigan-MSU battle.

Four-star CT WR Tarik Black was considered a Notre Dame lean heading into the BBQ, but Michigan reportedly did quite well with him on his visit. Incidentally, Black set up his first official visit this week, and it's not to South Bend, per 247's Tom Loy:

While he has a top six picked out including Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama, Auburn, Stanford and UCLA, only one of those schools is guaranteed an official visit at this point.

Black tells Irish247 that he will be in Ann Arbor on Sept. 3 for an official visit to Michigan. He will be on campus when the Wolverines open the season against Hawaii. That will be two consecutive trips to Michigan, as his final summer trip was to Ann Arbor for the annual BBQ in August.

Word after the BBQ that the coaches are considering taking four receivers in the class seems pretty relevant right now.

Hudson Now A Composite Four-Star

Here's a little 247 Composite quirk. When James Hudson committed to Michigan on August 8th, Scout ranked him as their #32 DE. Shortly after Hudson's commitment, Scout changed Hudson's position to DT to more accurately reflect where he'll play in college, and while they kept him in approximately the same overall position, he's their #28 DT because there are fewer four-star tackles on Scout.

Since Hudson's position ranking technically improved, his 247 Composite rating went from the wrong side to the right side of the 3/4-star fringe. It's a quirk of the formula instead of an indication Hudson's stock is on the rise, but we'll happily call him a four-star now.

Meanwhile, Steve Lorenz's latest at the Freep features Hudson going into detail on the roles for all the current defensive line commits:

"I'll be playing the three-technique as an interior pass rusher," he said of his role. "It's something I talked a lot about with Coach Mattison while I was in town over the weekend. I'd be playing next to Rashan Gary and would be the hammer on the inside. Corey (Malone-Hatcher) is a guy who can stand up or put his hand down. Phillip (Paea) is a bulldog in the middle. Aubrey (Solomon) is a 6-3 monster that will do some damage and Luiji (Vilain) is the quicker, longer guy around the edge. I think we're going to compliment [sic] each other really well."

While we've assumed Rashan Gary will eventually play extensive snaps on the interior, the way Michigan has recruited on the defensive line leaves open the possibility they can keep him on the edge at SDE—the spot where he might be the biggest matchup nightmare. Hudson is certainly DT-sized; The Wolverine saw him at a scrimmage last week, and while he didn't play much, he said he's now 6'6", ~290 pounds.

Like Buttah

It's getting tougher and tougher to consider Leonard Taylor a real 2018 commit. The four-star TE/DL made a surprise pledge to Michigan at the spring game, but has since mentioned multiple times that he won't make a "final" decision until his senior year, and this is the list of games he told 247's Bill Kurelic he plans to see this fall:

“I’m going to go to Ohio State when they play Indiana,” Taylor said. “I’m going to Penn State-Ohio State (at Penn State). I’m going to Notre Dame-Michigan State (at Notre Dame), and I’m going to Michigan-Ohio State (at Ohio State). I’m going to try to get to a game at Tennessee too.”

That's a whole lot of Ohio State, and not one game at Michigan Stadium.

Instead of going through the get-off-my-lawn, what's-the-definition-of-commitment song and dance, let's acknowledge that Taylor is holding a spot for now—which both he and the coaches seem fine with—and, like M's coaches, will continue to stay open to the recruiting process. I'm guessing the coaches knew when they accepted Taylor's commitment that their best chance at ultimately landing him would be to get a commitment early and hang on for the inevitable pull back from OSU, where Taylor's uncle played his college ball. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't, but this early in the process the strategy comes with minimal risk.

Etc.

While there's a long way to go, I should note Michigan is recruiting 2019 blue chip Belleville OT Devontae Dobbs as a defensive lineman, according to the TMI staff. His dad, a huge Michigan fan, painted a rosy picture of M's outlook with the rising sophomore star:

Dobbs' dad, a noted Michigan fan, was thrilled with his son's newest offer.

"He was happy, he already in love with Michigan so he just fell deeper in love with it. He was ecstatic, happy and was telling Jim Harbaugh that he had one of his books."

We have a Crystal Ball pick in for Dobbs to Michigan.

Four-star MS OLB Willie Gay, an Ole Miss commit, has set an official visit to Michigan. Lorenz has been adamant that Gay is very unlikely to end up here, so we'll see if the visit even materializes.

Michigan is seemingly done recruiting weakside DEs, which makes the news that four-star UT WDE Langi Tuifua, an Oregon commit, is considering an official visit to Ann Arbor seem odd when taken at face value. Tuifua, however, is high school teammates with coveted four-star DT Jay Tufele; if they end up with enough spots, perhaps Michigan is trying to make a package deal to give them an edge over Tufele's other top schools, Ohio State and Utah.

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*lol just kidding