Tuesday Recruitin' Preps For NSD

Your slightly adjusted who-is-announcing-when primer:

• 5 PM, today: KS S Isaiah Simmons. Michigan, Clemson, Nebraska.
• 8:10 AM, NSD: TN WR Nate Johnson. Michigan, Miami.
• 9 AM, NSD: MI CB Lavert Hill. Michigan, MSU.
• 11 AM, NSD: MI K Quinn Nordin. Michigan, USC.
• 1 PM, NSD: NJ DE Rashan Gary. Michigan, Ole Miss, USC, Clemson.
• 1 PM, NSD: FL WR Pie Young. Michigan, Louisville, USC.
• 2 PM, NSD: AZ DE Connor Murphy. Michigan, USC, Oregon, ASU.
• 3PM, NSD: CA TE Devin Asiasi. Michigan, USC, UCLA, UW, Bama.
• 3PM, NSD: CA DT Boss Tagaloa. Michigan, USC, UCLA, UW.

Left field: yup

this is a good picture

MI OL Alaric Jackson was set to announce his commitment at 3:30 yesterday. Instead:

Due to some difficulties going on in this process of recruiting I will be postponing my commitment to February 3rd, 2016 on Signing Day.

— Alaric Jackson (@Alaricj_32) February 1, 2016

A Michigan offer to Jackson caused that delay, and also caused a series of crystal balls to come in. He is "without question intrigued" according to Allen Trieu, but another dead period just started so Jackson cannot meet with the coaches on campus. He can talk to them all he wants, he just can't visit.

That and the exceedingly brief courtship period here might see Iowa—the heavy favorite if he in fact announced yesterday—ride it out here. But you gotta think that Jackson aborting a decision just hours or even minutes before his announcement bodes well for M. A bunch of crystal balls agree.

Not much else happened yesterday

Calm before the storm; I ended up putting the moves that did happen in…

This instant's best guess

Here's a change: nobody committed or decommitted since yesterday. NJ CB Jordan Fuller did commit to OSU. /shakes fist at Counterstrike guy

We project 6-7 spots left. As always, in order of confidence:

1. NJ DE Rashan Gary. Gary officially announced he was down to two, with Michigan and Clemson the finalists. Still no ballz for Clemson, Wiltfong sticking with M, etc. Remember when the USC visit was a "game changer"? Yeah. Every time these visits happen you get a flurry of optimism because Gary and his mom are polite people.
2. MI CB Lavert Hill. Has been wearing his finalists' gear past couple days, MSU yesterday, PSU today. No change in intel.
3. MI K Quinn Nordin. USC picked up a PWO kicker yesterday, which may or may not indicate where they stand with Nordin.
4. CA QB Vic Viramontes. Wiltfong says it's "back and forth" with Cal, which would (probably) contradict the Brandon Justice report that (probably) Viramontes was calling to commit. Webb says Viramontes is a Harbaugh special and "don't be surprised" if he makes it in.
5. MI OL Alaric Jackson. Michigan's ability to stop Jackson's recruitment in its tracks probably presages a commitment.
6. CA TE Devin Asiasi. M picked up significant ballz for Asiasi from Lorenz and West Coast analyst Ryan Bartow recently. Washington mods (who will fight you) say that the LA schools appear to be out for Asiasi, but their intel has been shaky since I've being paying attention.
7. CA DT Boss Tagaloa. Confidence level with Boss is much lower since a lot of people believe he will stick closer to home. If the package is on that's increasingly good for Michigan.

And serious targets Michigan has who are not currently projected in the class:

1. FL WR Pie Young. No change in status; seems headed elsewhere after Michigan was a leader for months. If Michigan misses on a couple guys they might re-initiate contact.
2. AZ DE Connor Murphy. Murphy continues to trend to USC for… reasons. If Michigan is really putting up an academic roadblock to a guy who seems likely to sign with the Trojans that's frankly odd.
3. KS S Isaiah Simmons. Simmons announces at 5 PM. Everyone is saying Clemson, with various relevant crystal balls coming in for the Tigers after his visit.

Etc.: Per Webb there's nothing to the Onwenu twitter bio change. He's set to announce on a podcast tonight but that seems to be a Nate Johnson kind of thing. He might be doing it to give his buddy some publicity.