The coaching staff was very busy this weekend with all of the spring game festivities, a list of tasks that included handing out three new offers. Asmar Bilal and Darrin Kirkland Jr. are both “heat-seeking missile-type” linebackers from Indiana. They both received offers on the heels of a Josh Barajas commitment to Penn State. The coaches also delivered an offer to 2016 prospect Ben Bredeson, a big-time offensive lineman from the land of cheese.
Name: Darrin Kirkland Jr.
Position: Inside Linebacker
Ht/Wt: 6'2" / 225 lbs.
Location: Lawrence Central – Indianapolis, IN (2015)
Offers: Akron, Boston College, Cincinnati, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, North Carolina, NC State, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Tennessee, Toledo, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin
Rating: ★★★★ .9191 (247 Composite)
Ranking: #201 NAT / #6 ILB (247 Composite)
FILM
Darrin Kirkland Jr. has unofficially visited Michigan multiple times and this weekend, while not on campus, he finally received an offer. On film Kirkland Jr. is a magnet to the football and gets to it in a hurry. He plays with high energy and athleticism as well as good fundamentals.
With the frequency that Kirkland has visited Michigan it’s clear he is fond of the Wolverines and he confirmed that to me.
Michigan is just a great school with great tradition. I’m going to be announcing my top 8 schools in the next couple of weeks and I think Michigan will definitely make that cut.
Once his top group is announce we won’t have to wait long to find out who his top school overall is.
I’m thinking about taking another unofficial visit to Michigan soon before I make my decision on May 30th.
When/if Kirkland Jr. takes another visit to Michigan I will catch up with him again to gauge where his interest level is as he nears a decision.
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THE VIBE
5 – Trending Blue
4 – Solidly in a top 2-3
3 – Contender in a top 3-7
2 – Among large (8-15) group under consideration
1 – Let’s see if he visits before we talk
0 – Passing interest or none
Kirkland wouldn’t come right out and say who his leader was but it very well could be Michigan. Without being able to nail that down for sure I’d say Michigan is solidly in a top 2-3. If he does take another trip to Ann Arbor between now and May 30 it would seem that Michigan has as good a chance as anyone to land him.
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Name: Asmar Bilal
Position: Inside Linebacker
Ht/Wt: 6'3" / 205 lbs.
Location: Ben Davis – Indianapolis, IN (2015)
Offers: Cincinnati, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, NC State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Western Michigan, Wisconsin
Rating: ★★★★ .9121 (247 Composite)
Ranking: #224 NAT / #7 ILB (247 Composite)
FILM
Asmar Bilal visited Ann Arbor back in February and while he wasn’t on hand this weekend for the spring events he was still offered by the coaching staff. I asked him to recall his thoughts from his February visit now that he has an offer and could realistically consider Michigan. Bilal was very excited to receive the offer and Michigan seems to be in good shape with him right now.
I just remember how the stadium was so huge. Michigan has a great coaching staff too. I like how they really expressed how getting a degree at a place like Michigan is really significant. They talked about how it can set you up for life after college just in case I don’t play football beyond college.
The coaching staff has consistently been able to connect with recruits on a level beyond the football field. That sentiment was obviously true with Bilal as well, but he wasn’t ready to call Michigan a leader for him just yet.
I can’t exactly say Michigan is my leader. There’s a lot of great schools that have offered me. I’m going to take them all into consideration to see what best fits me. Michigan is in my top group but I haven’t really sorted them yet. For now I’ll just say that they’re up near the top.
Bilal said that he wasn’t planning on releasing any sort of top group anytime soon, but the fact that he says Michigan is at “the top” leads me to believe they’ll be a factor throughout. Bilal told me that he’d like to visit Michigan again whenever he can arrange it and also would like to take an official sometime during the fall.
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THE VIBE
5 – Trending Blue
4 – Solidly in a top 2-3
3 – Contender in a top 3-7
2 – Among large (8-15) group under consideration
1 – Let’s see if he visits before we talk
0 – Passing interest or none
Bilal does have a lot of solid offers but I do believe Michigan will be firmly in the mix for him. Notre Dame recruits Indianapolis well and his crystal ball currently predicts him to wind up in South Bend. A return unofficial visit along with an official visit during the season would be big for Michigan.
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Name: Ben Bredeson
Position: Offensive Tackle
Ht/Wt: 6'5" / 275 lbs.
Location: Arrowhead – Hartland, WI (2016)
Offers: Iowa State, Michigan, Tennessee, Wisconsin
Rating: N/A
Ranking: N/A
FILM
The coaching staff doled out just the 16th offer for the 2016 class over the weekend, offering Ben Bredeson during his first visit to Ann Arbor. Bredeson, a Wisconsin native, has already reeled in an offer from the offensive linemen factory that is The University of Wisconsin.
I actually talked to Ben on Wednesday and he said he wasn’t really sure if Michigan was that interested in him or not. Clearly they are.
I talked to Coach Singletary and he told me that they wanted to get me out there as quickly as possible and I had this weekend free so I decided to head to Ann Arbor for the Spring Game. I’m not really sure if an offer is coming. I’d be happy if one did because Michigan is such a great school. I’m not necessarily expecting one though.
Obviously an offer did come and Bredeson was very happy about it.
Well I was really hoping it would happen. I talked to Coach Hoke in his offic for a while and he offered me while we were in there. It wasn’t a big dramatic thing. He was just very relaxed about it and told me that I had an offer to play at Michigan.
Being a Wisconsin native, it seems that the Badgers might be hard to beat out, which may be true, but Bredeson seems to have a genuine liking for Michigan as well.
I’m somewhat of Badger fan, I mean yeah I grew up watching them my whole life. I’ve always had a great respect for Michigan though. I’ve always like them too so I have a very high interest level in them. I don’t have a leader right now but Michigan is definitely up there. The visit was cool and the stadium was unbelievable. I also like the way that the coaches were just so personable with everyone.
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THE VIBE
5 – Trending Blue
4 – Solidly in a top 2-3
3 – Contender in a top 3-7
2 – Among large (8-15) group under consideration
1 – Let’s see if he visits before we talk
0 – Passing interest or none
It’s really early for Bredeson and his offer total is low, but that’s not going to last long. He has a spectacular build already and could easily get to a healthy 315-320 at the next level. Being from Wisconsin it’s hard to see the Badgers not landing him but once his offer list swells anything becomes possible. Michigan is in on him early and by default is part of a top 4, but I think Michigan could stay in that “moderately interested” zone for a while until he takes some more visits and really starts focusing in on his recruitment. At that point it will depend on how aggressively Michigan pursues him and where his interests lie as he starts to form opinions on different schools.