Offered: Mighty Mighty Boss T.
FIRE UP THE NOTY SIREN. Michigan has offered top-100 CA DT Boss Tagaloa, per 247's Steve Lorenz ($):
"It's really a surreal feeling to get the opportunity to play for [Harbaugh]," Tagaloa said. "When I got the offer, I guess I couldn't really put it into words how I felt. It's just been a really great blessing to have all of these opportunities. Not that long ago, I was watching Coach Harbaugh coach my favorite team and now I could possibly play for him in college. That's a really cool feeling."
Tagaloa is a longtime teammate of top TE target Devin Asiasi, who he says is "like a brother" to him; they plan to take their official visits together and could very well end up at the same school. Both plan to take most of their official visits after the season and commit on Signing Day, so this recruitment will play out over the long haul.
Because this is how Michigan operates now, that wasn't the end of offers going out to California prospects last week. Top-100 CB Trevon Sidney told GBW's Josh Newkirk he'd like to visit Ann Arbor this summer after adding an offer ($). He said USC, UCLA, Washington, and Notre Dame are the schools going after him the hardest.
Three-star CA WDE Bryson Young only had three offers heading into the week—Colorado State, Fresno State, and Oregon State—before Michigan jumped into the fray and made a major impression, per Sam Webb ($):
“I was not expecting Michigan to look at me. They’re a great school and I never would have thought that they looked over here for players. It was a complete shock.” ...
“(Talking to Harbaugh) was one of those (things) I’ll never forget. That was amazing. I did not expect that at all. Talking to a coach from Michigan is fantastic enough, and talking to Harbaugh that was just unexpected. I’ll never forget that. That was great.”
Young said he's "definitely" considering Michigan now and he's looking to set up a visit. He may still be a tough pull from California—UCLA offered yesterday, and Young called USC his "dream school" while discussing the Michigan offer. The Trojans haven't offered yet, but if they do—which seems likely—they'll be the prohibitive favorite.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
More Offers, Obviously
Michigan had some success recruiting the state of Utah under Brady Hoke, and it looks like Jim Harbaugh is hoping to continue that trend. One of M's latest offers is to four-star Salt Lake City WR Simi Fehoko, who told Steve Lorenz he hopes to see Michigan in person "as soon as [he] can," and that the presence of fellow Utahns Bryan Mone and Sione Houma is a potential draw ($). Fehoko claims a short but distinguished offer list that also includes Stanford, Washington, Clemson, and Utah.
While three-star KS DE Xavier Kelly made an early commitment to Kansas State, he's not sure if that will change, and a recent Michigan offer could at least produce a visit, per The Wolverine's Brandon Brown ($):
"It's a great feeling especially from a Big Ten school," he said. "My dad is actually from Detroit and that's his team so he was really happy about that. It was exciting to get the offer and to get all of these offers. It's just an exciting feeling.
"The coaches talked to me about visiting. I'm interested in checking out Michigan but I don't know when we can yet. Especially with my dad being from Detroit I'm sure he'd like to go with me on a visit and check it all out."
Tyrone Wheatley personally offered three-star TX RB Rakeem Boyd, whose school is forever connected to Jim Harbaugh, per Lorenz ($):
Harbaugh is familiar with Stratford HS. It's where he recruited former four-star quarterback Andrew Luck to play for him at Stanford. Luck is now considered one of the best players in football after turning into the #1 overall pick in the NFL Draft in 2012.
"We have the same coaches that Luck did here," he said. "They obviously think the world of both Coach Harbaugh and Andrew. Andrew opened a lot of doors for prospects like me at Stratford. It wasn't necessarily a school that people paid a lot of attention to until he was recruited. Now we get schools coming through all the time."
Boyd added that he is "super excited" about the offer.
DJ Durkin's method of offering three-star OR OLB/ATH LaMar Winston earned Michigan some serious brownie points, per Lorenz ($):
"Coach Durkin was the first coach to establish contact with me and he was the one who offered," Winston said. "He actually had me get my mom on the other line so he could offer me with her on the phone. Michigan is the first school to do that and it really meant a lot to both my mom and I. She really liked that."
While Winston isn't very familiar with the school, he is friends with fellow Oregon native Kam Chatman, and plans on reaching out to him to learn more about Michigan. Oregon has already offered Winston a scholarship, and while he claims no leaders, that could be tough to overcome.
Three-star FL S Spencer Perry called his Michigan offer "jaw dropping" and told GBW's Josh Newkirk he'll probably take a visit during his spring break ($). Perry plays at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, but he originally hails from Auburn, Alabama—notably, Auburn and Florida have both offered him.
The Wolverine reports twoother recent offers. Three-star NC CB Mark Gilbert is a taller corner at 6'2"; he's also a Pitt legacy—his father is former NFL lineman Sean Gilbert and he's cousins with Derrelle Revis. Unranked GA ILB Elysee Mbem-Bosse named an early top three of NC State, Alabama, and LSU, though thus far only the Wolfpack have offered among them.
California Receivers: Crawford Plans Summer Decision
From Allen Trieu's latest Detroit News column comes this tidbit on top-100 CA WR Dylan Crawford:
"The schools recruiting me the hardest are USC, Michigan, Stanford, California and Washington -- those are the main ones," he said. "I'm planning to visit Stanford in the next couple of weeks and I want to visit Michigan again this summer if I can.
Crawford plans to announce his decision at The Opening in July if he makes that elite camp, which seems pretty likely.
Five-star CA WR Tyler Vaughns told Scout's Greg Biggins that USC is recruiting him harder than anyone, but there's an offer out there he'd still like to receive ($):
"My most recent offer was from Georgia and that's pretty big. It's my first SEC offer and I would like to take a visit there. I might do an unofficial visit to Michigan in the summer and hopefully they offer. I wouldn't mind doing an official visit to Michigan too but I need that offer first."
Four-star CA WR Darian Owens is in a similar situation, per Biggins ($):
"Washington, Oregon and UCLA are the schools recruiting me the hardest right now," Owens said. "I'm going to officially visit all three of those schools for sure and if Michigan offers me, that's another school I would like to visit.
Both Vaughns and Owens have late decision timelines, so Michigan has a chance to jump into the mix with each of them.
Etc.
Michigan made the top ten for five-star CA LB Caleb Kelly, who will be on campus in a week.
Top-50 IL SDE Josh King will visit Michigan on March 28th, per 247's Bill Kurelic ($). King will visit Ohio State two days later, and says he's "pretty close" to naming a top ten.
Four-star FL LB Devin Bush Jr. has Michigan in his top group, per 247's Jamie Newberg ($):
There are a handful of teams that standout right now.
“Auburn, Georgia, Florida State, Michigan and South Carolina. No leader right now, its just kind of what I’m looking at and who I’m talking to the most right now.”
Bush's father starred at Florida State before moving on to the NFL; they're the likely team to beat.
Four-star TX CB Jared Mayden told Steve Lorenz he plans to take an official visit to Michigan this fall ($).
We started with a great name, we'll end with a great name. 2017 four-star CN DE Luigi Vilain told Scout's Bill Greene that he'll visit Michigan in the next few weeks and he hopes to come away with an offer ($).