Buckle Up
Three-star CT ILB/FB Ben Mason, who picked up an offer while on an unofficial visit last month, will announce his college decision tomorrow evening:
I will be announcing my commitment on Tuesday May 3rd at 6:30 at Cover Two in sandy hook @Cover_Two_SH
— Ben Mason (@benmason41) April 29, 2016
Michigan is the prohibitive favorite; there were rumblings Mason might commit shortly after his offer came in, and all ten of his Crystal Ball selections are for the Wolverines. He's coming off a strong showing at the New Jersey Opening regional that earned him position MVP honors:
Sandy Hook (Conn.) Newton linebacker Ben Mason won MVP honors for his position group, doing well in drills, the Cat and Mouse setting and also moving well in coverage in 1-on-1s and 7-on-7s. It’s easy to call the 6-foot-2 ½, 247-pound Mason a throwback, and one wouldn’t think this would be a setting he’d shine in, but Mason did his thing and left with hardware.
Mason could be an inside linebacker, fullback, or even defensive end in college. If a commitment comes as expected, I'll have much more on him tomorrow.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Dillon, St-Juste Test Well In New Jersey
Birthday Present came a day early! Won the Rating MVP with 127.53, and got invited to the @TheOpening in Oregon! pic.twitter.com/5X4YndYqUG
— AJ Dillon™ (@ajdillon7) May 1, 2016
The New Jersey regional also featured a couple Michigan commits. Four-star RB AJ Dillon posted the event's top SPARQ rating for the second straight year, earning the #4 spot on Steve Wiltfong's top performers list:
At 6-foot-1, 239-pounds with humungous thighs and bulging calves, Dillon ran the 40-yard dash in a laser-timed 4.56 seconds with a 4.29 shuttle and a 38-3 inch vertical. Perfect for the power style Michigan wants to play, if Dillon can match his athleticism with the same kind of toughness, he’s going to be a special player in Ann Arbor. Also looking good in running back drills, Dillon was indeed one of the six to Get Open.
Dillon earned an invite to the Opening finals. He wasn't the only future Wolverine to stand out in the combine portion; the forgotten man in this class, Canadian import Benjamin St-Juste, posted impressive numbers for a corner with his length:
Michigan cornerback commit Benjamin St-Juste tested off the charts at 6-foot-3, 189-pounds running a 4.64 laser-timed 40-yard dash with an outstanding 3.93 shuttle and a 34-9 inch vertical. St. Juste is strong, fluid and in the competition portion of the camp got his hands on a few footballs.
Scout's Brian Dohn liked what he saw from St-Juste in drills, as well:
St. Juste also showed skills on the field. He was able to stay low in his backpedal, and he showed good closing speed. He will have to get stronger and his body will fill out a lot, but he showed a nice skill set.
If St-Juste fills out, he's got a size/athleticism combo reminiscent of Jeremy Clark when he came out of high school.
More From Jersey
Five-star NY OT Isaiah Wilson attended both the RCS New Jersey and NJ Opening regional camps over the weekend, and based on what came from Rivals' Adam Gorney...
The savvy of a New York City kid – no nonsense, all business – the five-star has weeded things down to six schools as Michigan, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, USC and Rutgers have taken the lead in his recruitment.
When pressed whether the Wolverines are the team to beat, Wilson said he has no frontrunner.
...and 247's Ryan Bartow...
Wilson said his top five in no order is Michigan, Alabama, LSU, USC and Georgia. This is still an Alabama/Michigan battle. The Crystal Ball reads 60-percent for Michigan, 20-percent for Alabama, 10-percent for Penn State, 10-percent for Rutgers. Wilson said he plans to take all of his official visits before making his college decision.
...Wilson has a top five and token interest in Rutgers, with Michigan and Alabama likely the two standing out among that group. Rivals had mentioned Ohio State as a favorite alongside Alabama as recently as March, so their omission is good news.
As you'd expect from a couple high-profile camps in New Jersey, there were additional updates on several Michigan targets. From that same Bartow post, Michigan leads for four-star 2018 twin brothers Jayson and Justin Ademilola; the former is a DT, the latter an OLB, while they're battling Clemson (though likely trailing) for 2017 fours-star DT Corey Bolds.
Tim Sullivan caught up with three-star NJ OG Joshua Fedd-Jackson, who has Michigan in his top group:
Fellow offensive lineman Joshua Fedd-Jackson (a teammate of Hardy's at St. Joseph Regional) has an official top three of Michigan, North Carolina, and Rutgers, and hopes to take a trip to Ann Arbor this summer.
Michigan is also in good shape to land four-star NJ ATH Markquese Bell, per Rivals' Adam Friedman:
Michigan and Rutgers are in great position with WR Markquese Bell right now. He's said he will take official visits to Michigan as well as Clemson, Florida and Tennessee. Penn State and Maryland are very much in the picture for Bell, who wants to use his official visits on schools that are farther from home.
According to Bartow, Michigan will receive an visit this summer from four-star NJ APB D'Andre Swift, though they'll have to work their way from behind a group of top programs:
Running back D'Andre Swift (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) said he has high interest in Georgia, Clemson, Penn State, Florida State and Alabama.
We'll see if that visit even happens given Swift's interest and Michigan's current RB situation.
Etc.
There was concern that four-star CA TE Jimmy Jaggers was losing interest in Michigan when his 7-on-7 team was nearby recently and he didn't visit campus, but he told Sam Webb that isn't the case:
“I just talked to them,” said Jaggers. “I told them there was still interest there and that (not visiting) was nothing to do with no interest there. I told them that it was kind of a family decision not to go up there, that we had been there twice, and we kind of wanted to see some other schools that we hadn't seen before. Then also we wanted to look at schools on the west coast. With June coming we might be able to get out there (to Michigan) and visit. We'll kind of see what other schools we visit in June. They were just like, ‘we understand it. We know you've been up here, so it's not really a big deal to get you back up here.’ I'm comfortable with the place and familiar with it."
Jaggers plan to narrow his list at the beginning of the summer and enroll early at the school of his choice.
Four-star 2018 QB Artur Sitkowski added a Michigan offer on Friday and didn't hide his excitement in the aftermath:
“(Linebackers) Coach (Chris) Partridge came to watch me throw than he contacted my head coach and said that (Head) Coach (Jim) Harbaugh would like to to talk to me and he offered me,” Sitkowski told The Michigan Insider. “My first reaction was that I was speechless because I couldn't believe it. It was a dream come true. It was a blessing and humbling experience. I was not expecting it at all.”
Michigan and South Carolina are the most prominent programs among his early offers.
Three-star OR OT Alex Forsyth will visit Michigan on Wednesday, per Steve Lorenz.
After a little misdirection, five-star IMG DE Joshua Kaindoh committed to Maryland. Happy trails to him.