Board lives here.

We have a lot to get to, with a brewing war on the horizon with USC (don’t panic), some major changes on the board at quarterback and cornerback, and the NCAA finally allowing on-campus visits and camps again after a pandemic’s worth of naught.

But first, we’ve got to talk about The D (NNTTD), for Michigan declared yesterday Detroit Day. This was the scene in Ann Arbor:

Not pictured: an unkindness of Ravens

For one day in Ann Arbor, all T’s were pronounced as D’s*, all company names were given apostrophized possessives and pizzas were served square and bubbly. Coneys and looseburgers were piled onto the serving staff’s arms and washed down with pop, followed by Sanders on Stroh’s. Harbaugh shared his powerpoint Hall of Fame case for Lou Whitaker, traded gear for jars McClures from Eastern Market, and everyone went home with Pewabic tiles, most of which survived the potholed ride home on 94. I made an all-Motown team for the occasion.

Also 30 area recruits for 2022-‘24 were on hand (free), which hand doubled as a map for a spirited, three-hour debate about which route everyone should have taken to get there. That list also turned out to be incomplete($). Rivals’ EJ Holland got reactions($), with Cass Tech OL Jackson Pruitt’s ⬆ the most interesting.

Whom they met along the way is best detailed by the 24/7 crew, who broke down who’s who on the remade recruiting staff on their latest podcast. Lorenz also broke down Michigan’s greatest positions of need which became a high-view state of the class, and hosted a VIP chat($) for those looking for the gritty—it’s a few weeks old but has some good bits on Deone Walker and tight end recruiting. Steve is also keeping the visitors list as updated as he can.

The board is also shifting daily. This was expected—after a year and a half of no visits, few camps, and scattered football we knew the late-rising 2022s and all of the 2023s were going to be left unevaluated, both in terms of their football projections and their real interests in schools, until way deeper in the cycle than usual. We’re now starting to see all sorts of guys show up to camps and earn serious offers, and it’s only been a few days since they’ve been able to officially interact in person with these schools and gauge how serious they are.

⬆⬆⬇⬇⬅➡⬅➡BA

People liked the NCAA Football game-inspired arrows last time so I’m going to use them some more. Ups and downs mean trends based on where they were last writeup. Lock means commit or near to it. Peepers is we’re watching for something to happen soon. Right arrow is steady on, or no change despite news, or Connor Jones’s coach is giving quotes again. Left arrow is just there so I could reference a videogame code that’s twice as old as the players we’re talking about.

* [I once seriously confused my bud from from France when I told him to find us a restaurant in a specific New York neighborhood and he spent a half hour searching for somewhere called Liddliddle Lee.]

[Hit THE JUMP for the position-by-position breakdown]

Quarterback

Matt Weiss really wants to bring the Ravens running game to Michigan, and that means a serious dual threat. They have a Denardian guy on the hook and next year they’re all in on Dante Moore, but it seems they’ve changed tacks on 2022 recruiting as the board’s opened back up for spring risers.

CA 3* QB Nate Johnson ⬇ made 247 analyst Blair Angulo’s list of ten fastest players in California. However after Michigan’s spring evals Johnson suddenly went from a lock to be Michigan’s QB of the class, to a hold on a minute. Sam on the podcast:

“It really feels here over the past few weeks the pendulum has really shifted in other directions.”

The other piece to the Johnson recruitment is Utah had JP Zamora decommit, so they’re now going all-in for Johnson, along with Oregon State.

Brice shared his read is Michigan got cold feet, and wondered if Johnson’s even a quarterback. Anyway the board’s expanded. The first addition is AL 3* Conner Harrell ⬆, a guy with Duke, Northwestern, and Vandy on top of his list whom Lorenz loves for his run/pass decision-making. UNC, Tennessee, and Arizona State have also gotten involved. 24/7 Bama writer Hank South saw Harrell at the Tide camp($):

Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson quarterback Conner Harrell threw for the UA staff on Wednesday, one day after throwing for Auburn. The Tigers haven’t pulled the trigger on Harrell yet, nor has the Tide, but there appears to be real interest from both programs. Of course UA already has its QB1 of the 2022 class in five-star signal caller Ty Simpson. We’ll wait to see if Bama makes a move on a second quarterback.

Next they're looking at GA 3* Ashton Daniels ⬆, whom Michigan is trying to get up for a visit($, info in title).

Michigan also finally offered the Cal commit, 4* CA QB Justyn Martin ⬆, who was one of the “top 3-4 quarterbacks” at the Steve Clarkston QB retreat. Ole Miss also offered recently. I know I’m rough on Tom Loy but I very much respect this scout:

"The Cal commit has a tremendous frame at all of 6-4 and 200 pounds. He is going to add on some great weight and keep his ability to move quickly when he gets in a college weight program. As a pure thrower, he’s so smooth and natural. The ball jumps out of his hand. If you’re looking for a guy that maybe some didn’t know about and that quickly changed yesterday, look no further than Martin.”

Lastly Michigan’s asked unranked TX QB Bert Emanuel Jr. ⬆ to come camp ($, info in title). Emanuel has offers from Army and Texas Southern.

Running Back

Look, I know Michigan was his first offer, but it’s not happening with Gavin Sawchuck ⬇. I’ve removed him from the board.

Lorenz put together a list of four questions for the staff in June($), which boils down to “How is this staff different from all other Michigan staffs?” His answer to #4 surprised me because I did not realize we were in it for VA 4* George Pettaway ⬆ still. (Also I ask if 24/7 is going to require these articles on an annual basis that they do so in April and include a festive meal). Pettaway will visit for Victors Weekend and told Allen Trieu he’ll be looking to see if he’s a priority or not($).

I figured TX 3* ATH Dillon Bell ➡ is the top target now, and Marich confirmed Bell is A top target($, info in title). Bell will be on campus for Victors Weekend and then we’ll see if things change—Wiltfong and the 24/7 Baylor guy put in crystal balls for the Bears in March. Baylor and Minnesota, who’s also jumped into this recruitment($, info in title), seem to think Bell is a receiver, but Michigan’s been clear Dillon is an RB to them.

Michigan also got a Detroit Day visit($, info in title) from OH 3* Kaleb Johnson ⬆, who ran a 4.6 forty and said Hart was impressed by the big back.

Receiver

When we said we’re going after Kentucky commits I figured it was just the guys with Clinkscale on their profiles, but here we are offering($, info in title) a 4* Wildcats legacy out of Lexington in Dane Key ➡. This isn’t a slot, nor is it some 3* only UK people know about—Key is a 6-2/170 consensus top-250 guy with Oregon and South Carolina interest.

One of the more interesting names at Detroit Day($) was MI 4* WR Antonio Gates Jr. ⬆, the MSU legacy who’s had Michigan outside a Kentucky-MSU-Tennessee trio while Michigan waited for him to grow into a tight end. I think State still leads, but Clink was his area recruiter for Kentucky so Michigan might($)…no, dude’s a State legacy.

I’m more concerned what this might mean for their chances with OR 4* Darrius Clemons ⬇⬇ , who picked up a PSU crystal ball last week($, info in title) from 24/7’s Brandon Huffman. Huffman said the Lions “are slightly out in front” while Clemons waits on Washington and Ohio State offers. Eesh. Following IL 4.5* Kaleb Brown ➡, who doesn’t have any officials set up for after a June 7 trip to Columbus, we could be looking at two big receiver targets Michigan could lose to division rivals.

Here’s some 7 on 7 video of MI 3* commit Tay’shawn Trent ➡, who told EJ Holland he’s solid and working on other in-state recruits with the old Lo Marshall pitch:

“I’ve been talking to Dillon (Tatum),” Trent said. “I might make the magic happen. Coach Bellamy is his ex-high school coach and would be his position coach. He might as well come on home. I’m also talking to Deone Walker and Jeremiah Caldwell. I just tell them that the best players in Michigan go to Michigan. If you’re the best player, come on.”

Tight End

GA 4* Oscar Delp ➡ once seemed like a Michigan scouting win; now he’s a full-on blue chip battle. His five visits will be Georgia, Michigan, South Carolina, Florida, and Alabama, which was the last to be added while Clemson got an unofficial. He plans to commit on September 30.

Another person of interest in that Clemson roundup I just linked is KS 3* ATH Jaren Kanak ⬆, who is looking at Bama, Clemson, and Michigan—the other two seem to be looking at him on defense—safety or linebacker. Wiltfong put in a ball to Clemson last month. He’ll visit Michigan tomorrow($).

There hasn’t been any visible movement with April offeree, ID 3* Colston Loveland ⬇ as Michigan tries to get him into town for a visit($, info in title). 24/7 raised him to 4-star status, and Arizona, ASU, Oregon State, and Colorado have the first five weekends of June booked but Michigan might get an official ($). Michigan’s in a top seven with those guys, Boise State, and oh yeah: Bama.

Michigan’s been evaluating($, info in title) an in-state WR/TE Tommy McIntosh ➡, who was a receiver prospect with Big Ten West offers but at 6-5/203 he might grow out of that. We’ll see where he’s at after he camps.

Offensive Line

Michigan’s board has moved around but if there’s been one guy they’ve been honed in on all cycle it’s CO 4* George Fitzpatrick ⬇. So it was a bit of a rising concern the past month or so that Fitz wasn’t booked to visit($, info in title) as Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Oregon all got places on the schedule. He did take a dead period visit to Ann Arbor in February (as well as ND and the other three), and has finally locked in that June 11th date($, info in title) over the protestations of USC and Florida.

That’s good, but fending off two blueblood recruiters for a fourth spot with three locked in title contenders is way down from how we were feeling about this recruitment before. Especially since his recruitment is going to wind up in July—a fact that I was reading as good for Michigan when it seemed Michigan was way out in front. It’s also possible I’m over-reading this situation and these visits are all just a tour to make sure?

At least Michigan is quietly a factor(audio) for newly minted WA 5* Josh Conerly Jr. ⬆, which recruitment got serious when Sherrone Moore took over, and turned into a real possibility when Courtney Morgan came on board. Now that Conerly is #15 overall and possibly the best offensive lineman in the country, it’s a recruitment that’s going to go all the way against Bama, Oregon, Oklahoma, et al.

The staff got a chance to see($) Cass Tech 3* OL Jackson Pruitt ⬆ live at the EMU camp before he was on hand for Detroit Day—we’ll see if things pick up there.

They’re also talking with IN 3* Ashton Craig ⬆, who came up for Detroit Day($, info in title). Craig’s another recent riser, though the rankings haven’t followed a spate of non-Wisconsin Big Ten West plus FSU offers. This sounds exactly like the kind of guy we were talking about when we said there will be a lot of sudden risers on the 2021 summer circuit:

Ashton played a little for us as a freshman," Knigga told 247Sports. "The biggest thing was he was a 13-game starter as a sophomore, but he played at 6-foot-4, 225-230 pounds last year. Then in quarantine, Covid, which was bad for a lot of people, it really helped him put on size. He grew a few inches and got up to around 270. He took off.

The EMU camp was also a chance to see Dexter, MI 3* OT James Livingston ⬆, a 6-7/275 guy with MAC offers  whomMichigan will be monitoring($).

Finally in OL, here’s your weekly CO 4* commit Connor Jones ➡ scouting report($), which now includes the number he expects to don:

"I would play him at guard first just so he can get the physical element of it down. That's what I would do with everybody except true left tackle bodies. Eventually, he can play right tackle then left tackle. He's wearing No. 77. That's a f****ing revered number in that room at Michigan. If you get that number, you better be a baller."

Glad he knows that.

TN 3* Jacob Hood ⬇ seems locked into the SEC($) as he sets his visits and prepares to cut his list to five. I took him off the board and am close to removing the other linemen we haven’t heard anything from.

Nose Tackle

I’m still not over Worthy but if I had to choose between California 4-star moonshots Michigan was after last year, it would have been humongous DT Jay Toia ⬆⬆⬆, if only because of positional need. For those not familiar, Toia committed early to USC but every time we were ready to give over, Michigan would put on another full-court press.

Marich hinted Michigan would definitely be interested($, info in title) as soon as Toia was back on the market, and Toia made it known Michigan was going to be one of his top places of interest, along with Utah, UCLA and Miami. He will be on campus this weekend, so things could happen quickly. Balas thinks Michigan has a great shot—and could probably find a role for him immediately (USC could too) at nose tackle.

Meanwhile Oregon State transfer Jordan Whittley is making the journey to Ann Arbor. 24/7’s Zach Shaw wrote about Whittley’s voyages since signing with San Jose State in the same class as Peppers:

Since 2014, Whittley has at one point gained more than 160 pounds, switched positions, had a burglary arrest, endured multiple injuries, discovered a heart tumor and lost many close to him living in a rough part of the Oakland area.

He was also on hand for Detroit Day.

Moving to the future, Michigan will be using a satellite camp in Memphis to sidle up to 5* DT Walter Nolen ➡, though he’ll hardly be the only Michigan target($) there considering the newfound presence in the state. Nolan will also be “the most important prospect on Alabama’s board” this year so there’s still a long, long way to go.

Sam went into his “very very very strong position” when he knows something routine when I brought up the hometown of Ocoee, FL 3* Jordan Phillips on WTKA last week.

Defensive Tackle

Now that 6-7/356 MI 3.5* Deone Walker ➡ has slimmed down and blown up, the shape of his recruitment has changed some. Rivals moved him up to a 4th star, and 24/7 sounds ready to do the same.

As for his recruitment, Michigan fans expecting Walker to commit on the offer will be disappointed that he intends to take his visits($) to the big schools. Georgia, Arkansas, and Texas all got into the mix since March. Walker was at the EMU camp earlier this week (Marich posted some camp video), was at Detroit Day yesterday, and will take an official to Michigan on Victors Weekend, but skipped Sound Mind, Sound Body at Ferris State today. RCMB writer Justin Thind says Walker “seems to be favoring out-of-state schools for the time being” which is sorta funny but also was said after Walker was up at MSU so I won’t discount it. Even if the Wolverines are late to the party, lot of arrows are pointing their way, since Clinkscale was pursuing Walker hard at Kentucky, and there’s a lot of familiarity with Bellamy, Hart, and the campus. Michigan is certainly making him a priority($, info is the title). Patience urged.

⬆ Michigan’s also jumping into the fray for rising CA 3* DE/DT Zach Rowell ⬆, who’s got the top of the Pac12 after him; Lorenz says Michigan made a “strong impression.”($)

Note, I’m going off of the Ravens-style depth chart, which has a nose guard and two DE/DT “tackles” like Michigan’s used to under Moeller.

Michigan seems to be falling out of things for their old top Anchor target IN 4* Joe Strickland ⬇⬇, who canceled his Michigan visit planned for the 18th to see Stanford instead. I’d rather he end up there than IU, Penn State, or Purdue.

⬆ The good news is they’ll soon have a similarly versatile down lineman($) FL 4* Hayden Schwartz ⬆ on campus, and with no other visits on his list it could be Hello time soon.

The other early top target, who’s since blown up into a national one, IN 4* Caden Curry ⬇, hopefully this fall($, info in title). Ohio State wants, as does Bama, and Clemson sees Curry as a top target so Michigan probably needs a very good fall to stay in this race.

If they’re looking for a late riser, Toronto’s DE/DT Isaiah Hastings ⬆ blew the doors off Mercer’s Camp on Tuesday and picked up offers from Tennessee, IU, West Virginia, and Georgia Tech, prompting Hastings to visit and talk about their academics. They put him at 6-5/270 with a 7-foot wingspan and noted Hastings will be at Florida’s Clearwater Academy next year. Both he and Harbaugh will be in Florida next week.

They’ll also be making a decision on 3* River Rouge commit Davonte Miles ⬇, for whom it’s going to be an important camp:

Lastly, this camp should give us more clarity on the status of the aforementioned Miles. Michigan has been off and on with contact despite Miles being a commit. He gave the Wolverines an early pledge but hasn't necessarily progressed as anticipated. Miles is ready to work with Nua and Harbaugh and can't wait to 'show them' what he can do. Miles wants to be at Michigan. It will be interesting to see how the Wolverines feel about him after getting in a live evaluation.

Edge

Lorenz called FL 3* Micah Pollard a “perfect fit for the database shift”($) to calling these guys “EDGE” players instead of trying to parse between DE and OLB. He’s also the dude Michigan’s coaches, specifically George Helow, have super-high on since they arrived. Brice Marich said on the podcast that Pollard was better than 4* OLB Brandon Jennings, the signing day flip to Maryland, and Sam noted Ty Wheatley is passing along good vibes, and there’s a Braylon Edwards connection. Lorenz thinks getting Pollard (and Schwartz) on campus as early as possible (25:00) is a good thing because guys are going to start committing all around the country now that visits are on, and someone who missed out on their favorite edge target won’t take long to pop in the tape.

The other guy Helow doesn’t want the rest of the world to know about is FL 4* Mario Eugenio ➡, recently named the guy ISU must get and (phew) is still “fighting Michigan hard for.” Indeed Michigan on the 18th and Iowa State a week before that remain his only two visits.

Michigan will also try not to disabuse TX 3* Joseph Adedire ➡ of this notion($):

“I've learned a lot. I've learned about the culture there,” he said. “The atmosphere, they're really heavy on football. It's a college football town.

Beside his visit to our Basketball Baseball Softball Art Fair Tweedy History Nerd YIMBY vs NIMBY totally football town, Adedire has been to Dallas (for TCU), and plans to check out Evanston, Atlanta (for Georgia Tech), and Berkeley, which, okay, compared to that group, sure: football town.

The Wolverines are in official-or-unofficial? territory($, info in title) as they battle for the last opening for DE Tomiwa Durojaiye ⬆, whose visits are a weird mix of academics like GT and Northwestern, and SEC also-rans South Carolina and Arkansas.

Linebacker

The new staff were really into FL 3* Omar Graham Jr. ⬇⬇ but nothing seems to have changed since a bunch of FutureCasts and crystal balls went for for Florida State in April. 24/7 Florida guy Andrew Ivins thinks Penn State, who’s getting the other visit day Michigan was targeting, is FSU’s only challenger($, info in title), which means Michigan’s out.

Lorenz did a short write-up on 3* CA LB prospect Kevonte Henry ⬆, who recently got a USC offer—sounds like we’ll know after his upcoming visit($) if Michigan’s in serious pursuit.

The move for Henry could be related to things dropping off with AZ 3* Shakaun Bowser ⬇⬇, who set up officials with Oregon State, Colorado, and KSU but not Michigan.

I don’t know where they go at middle linebacker now. Weirdly IL 4* LB Sebastian Cheeks ⬇ picked up a Texas Longhorns crystal ball($, info in title) from 24/7 UT writer Mike Roach. Roach:

Notre Dame seems to have backed off a bit while Michigan is in a state of disarray and turnover. Those factors combined are providing Texas with a window in which to strike. Sources are starting to show some real cautious optimism with him, and they could slam the door when he visits this summer.

That visit is June 11th, following one this weekend at UNC.

Safety

The safety and cornerback and receiver boards have a lot of mixing but I’m going to start putting guys where I think they’ll end up unless I know specifically where they’re being recruited.

Score one for the “When a guy has one school as a leader forever and doesn’t commit to them, that’s a bad sign” metric. NJ 4* Jaeden Gould ⬇⬇⬇, who’s had Michigan on top since forever, suddenly dropped way down the board and seems headed to Penn State. Sam Webb notes this happened at the same time as the recent rise of a lot of other safety-cornerback candidates($). PSU writer Sean Fitz notes a knee injury caused Michigan and Penn State to “tap the breaks.” I think back to when we brought up Gould on a podcast with Lorenz last year and said (paraphrasing) “Uh, he’s interesting—I don’t really know if he’s a cornerback or a safety. But that’s one that’ll be interesting.” My guess here is Gould was a major target because duh—top-150 cornerback and we’re not a year removed from getting Ricky White in the face. However the cornerback and safety boards are in pretty good shape, and when that’s the case and a guy you led for forever really quickly swings to one other school without a push from other nominally involved programs, well okay. Just hope we don’t regret it.

Speaking of guys we’ve led on forever, Dillon Tatum ⬆’s got a new timeline which gives him time to get to know Clinkscale, and the industry still quietly thinks 4* ATH Jaden Mangham ➡, the one from my alma mater that’s never sent a scholarship guy to Michigan, ends up at Michigan. MSU’s writer says the Spartans are still trying to get them to use an official visit…

Defensive backs Jaden Mangham and Dillon Tatum also would have been included, but they are undecided on whether their visits will be unofficials or officials right now.

That’s understandable for Mangham, who has interest from GT, WVU, and Notre Dame, and picked up FSU and Tennessee offers over the spring. For Tatum, who’s got five officials to burn and is down to Michigan and Michigan State, end sentence.

When Clinkscale replaced Linguist we knew there would be some changes to the board, though the fallout is happening way too slowly for the recruiting industry’s impetuosity. One example of that is MI 3.5* WR/CB/S Jeremiah Caldwell ⬆of Belleville, a Kentucky commit who was up here for Detroit Day. At Clink’s hire we were all “We’re gonna get Caldwell!” which didn’t result in an immediate decommitment so people started going “Oh no, we aren’t gonna get Caldwell.” Meanwhile Caldwell was like “Hi, nice to meet you guys. I know Steve pretty well and hey, Ron, been a long time. So, what’s this place like?” He was up here this week. I’d like to know what their plans are too—he told Josh Helmholdt in January that he thinks his highest ceiling is at corner. I think he’s a free safety or a receiver. I also can’t get enough of Belleville’s thicc QB who does 41-year-old back exercises between plays.

Michigan’s not just waiting on the in-staters, as they’ve really made a move in the last month or so with IL 3* Austin Brown ⬆⬆. Sam on a podcast some weeks ago:

Because, I think a lot of Austin Brown. You're talking about a guy who a lot of teams are seeing as a safety (and others) seeing as a linebacker. I think Michigan sees him as a guy who has some really good size. He’s a 6-1, 210, sub-11-second 100-meter guy who can come down and smack you. But he can think the game because he's a quarterback. To have a guy like that... when you look at his film there’s a lot of QB film and some linebacker stuff… so you get why people are thinking linebacker. But this is the kind of guy that has been going to Wisconsin and getting Michigan over the years.

One of the more interesting safeties lately is TN 3* D’Arco Perkins-McAllister ⬆, a Nashville kid Clink was after. I looked at him when Kody Jones committed and thought DPM was a bit skinny, which apparently is old news now. He’s a 4-star and a top target($) for Michigan to 24/7 now, and is up in Michigan for the Sound Mind Sound Body camp at Ferris State this week.

Cornerback

Things are more settled at the top here. We gather that TN 3.5* Myles Pollard ➡ could commit after seeing Oklahoma and Auburn following his June 11 visit, possibly when he appears at The Opening. Pollard’s dad told Sam Webb it will be sometime in July. In a free article on Michigan’s Memphis camp EJ Holland notes Jeremy LeSueur played a key role in keeping fellow Memphisian Kody Jones ➡ committed through the loss of Linguist.

USC will be getting a visit from MI 5* commit ⬇ Will J—

No-no, it’s fine, look I’m changing it to sideways arrow.

So USC wasn’t just going to sit idly by why we steal Jay Toia and pick away at Domani Jackson. They are coming in guns blazing for 5* CB commit Will Johnson ➡ , who agreed to take an official visit there. Johnson’s words with EJ Holland made it sound like more than a free trip to LA:

They were on me before and after I committed,” Johnson said. “I have a great relationship with Donte (Williams). He’s a cool dude that I respect even though I’m not committed there. I think it will be cool to give USC a view. Domani (Jackson) is out there, so it’ll be cool to see everything with him. I went out there once and couldn’t see much. Just getting out there and meeting with the staff. I want to have a real chance to look at it. They’ve been recruiting me really hard, so I just want to give them a chance

USC is also sending crack recruiting assistant Donte Williams to the Sound Mind Sound Body camp at Ferris State today. EJ Holland sees a threat:

As I've said before, the threat from USC is real. Williams wouldn't be getting on a last-minute flight to Michigan if he didn't think the Trojans didn't at least have a slight chance to convince Johnson to head West. Johnson made a self-guided visit to USC before the dead period and will be back in Los Angeles for an official visit this coming month. Williams is known as one of the best recruiters nationally and is going all in for Johnson.

Sam disagrees, thinking this is USC recruiting past the whistle in case Johnson ever wants to transfer. Webb got Will’s father Deon on the phone to allay some concerns($):

“I wouldn’t read too much into it,” Johnson’s father Deon Johnson told The Michigan Insider Thursday.

“I would just say that (USC defensive backs coach) Donte Williams has been in touch with William and myself, and he hasn't stopped calling and recruiting. When we went down in January, everything was pretty much closed down. Will just wanted to take a visit. He wanted to have some semblance of a recruiting process. His whole recruiting process was taken over by the pandemic. He didn't have a chance to visit any schools. He didn't have a chance to go anywhere. I personally think he's earned the right to have the opportunity to enjoy the recruiting process. He's fully committed to Michigan, and USC knows that, but they're still willing to have him come down and take a visit on their dime. So, why not?”

As Sam was saying on his roundup this morning, “even if you think you’re not going to get the kid, might have another bite at the apple down the line,” e.g. Jay Toia.

Sam also notes elite 5* CA DB Domani Jackson ➡ isn’t scheduled to visit Michigan in the summer window; it would be nice if spending time with Johnson convinces him to come back to Michigan in the fall one.

Lorenz moved CA 3* Jahlil Florence ⬆ to “top target” ($). The late riser will be on campus next week. 24/7 has him a 4-star while Rivals recently gave him a 5.7 rating but hasn’t ranked him yet.

Another new top target($,info in title) is GA 3* Andre Stewart ⬆, who committed to Clinkscale at Kentucky in March and was offered by Michigan on Memorial Day($, info in title).

2023 and Beyond

5-star MI QB Dante Moore met all of MSU’s staff on Tuesday($) then was at Michigan for Detroit Day.

Keep an eye on Dexter RB/Slot Cole Cabana—a kid who probably would have started blowing up last year if not for the pandemic, but who’s starting to “dazzle” at camps, along with 2024 #1 in-state prospect Nick “Baby Megatron” Marsh.

The #1 LB in the 2023 class at the moment is IN 5* Drayk Bowen, who will visit ($, info in title), as will the #1 safety, Pickerington, OH 5* Sonny Styles, whose #15 overall class ranking is fascinating because I think he’s a hybrid linebacker—I actually remember Prescott Burgess looked like that in high school. Styles is the younger brother of Lorenzo Jr., the receiver Michigan was badly trying to steal out of Notre Dame’s class last year. Lorenzo Styles Sr. was a star for Ohio State, and talks regularly with 11 Warriors, so the chances here aren’t great.

I also clipped this bit about 5* TX DL Jordan Renaud because David Underwood and I went to school together and this is the kind of thing people our age are saying now:

First and foremost, he's a cerebral kid. In all aspects of society. He's a kid that's hip to everything and he's a hard worker. He's a kid that you want in your locker room and the sky is the limit for him. I'm excited about his future and can't wait to see where he goes.

I reached out and David confirmed he was wearing high white socks in flip-flops and thigh-high shorts, and was holding a garden hose when he said this. Josh Newkirk actually went to Dallas, and while he didn’t say anything about Underwood’s amazing lawn, he said Renaud sounds more like a “Florida boy” who’s just getting to know about Michigan but intends to visit.

In other five-stars, Sherrone Moore is hard after IMG via IL 5* WR Carnell Tate, the JJ McCarthy/AJ Henning friend who’s now a top-50 player and he will visit($, info in title). Tate just got an Ohio State offer and Tom Loy put in a Notre Dame crystal ball as soon as they offered, which Tate thought was so funny he told Sam Webb to put in a crystal ball to Michigan (at 30:00). Brice points out Tate wears a strange amount of Michigan gear.

TX 4* Isaiah Robinson grew up Michigan and his coach had a lot to say to Josh Newkirk($) about his family connections here.