Malone-Hatcher: Ankle "Never Better"
Steve Lorenz's VIP Notes from Corey Malone-Hatcher's commitment feature a few notable tibdits about his recruitment. Jim Harbaugh remembering to ask about Malone-Hatcher's younger sister each time they talked apparently struck a chord with the family, while Greg Mattison—and his wife—may have been the most important factor in getting CMH's commitment. Lorenz also got details on how Malone-Hatcher expects to be utilized in Don Brown's defense:
"He was really clear with us," Orlando Malone mentioned after Corey committed. "Corey's worked really hard to put himself in a position to be a guy that will get to the quarterback consistently, and we wanted to make sure that's how he was going to use us. He was pretty blunt about how he wanted to utilize him. 'We'll put him on his own at end sometimes. We'll line him up next to another defensive end in certain sets. We'll shift him to middle linebacker. We want to do a lot of things with him, but we'll get him to the quarterback'. He has a complicated scheme, but was clear about how he'd use Corey. That was important to us."
Malone-Hatcher has some versatility; while he'll mostly be a defensive end, he played middle linebacker extensively during his junior season before it was cut short by an ankle injury. Speaking of which:
"Never better, man," Malone-Hatcher said when asked how he was feeling coming off his ankle injury. "My confidence is at an all-time high."
That is nice to hear.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
McCaffrey: Elite
Textbook toss from Dylan McCaffrey (@dcaf20) #GoBluepic.twitter.com/DkdMNczMbk
— Elite11 (@Elite11) June 5, 2016
Commit Dylan McCaffrey was the second participant chosen for the Elite11 quarterback contest—this weekend, confusingly, was the Elite11 "finals"—following a weekend in which he impressed with both his play and his leadership:
The 2017 five-star quarterback was the second choice to enter the final round after a strong weekend put him in contention for a good spot. Renowned quarterback coach George Whitfield says McCaffrey's intangibles stood out among the rest throughout the two-day event.
"He was the alpha here the whole weekend," Whitfield told 247Sports analyst Luke Stampini after the event. "Every kid looked to him and every kid was led by him. There's no question why he's so highly regarded."
Onlooking scouts weren't quite as high on McCaffrey's performance—Scout ranked him 12th—but as we note every year, the Elite11 isn't the best barometer; there's a lot of emphasis on a handful of throws and almost always a split between how the camp counselors and scouts go about ranking the players.
Five-Stars Set Visits
Michigan's coaches may be all over the country—and, for a few of them, the world—this month, but that won't stop the program from hosting a couple five-star visitors.
Five-star CA OG Wyatt Davis will visit campus for a few days in mid-June after spending time at Notre Dame, and this trip will give both schools a chance to catch up to his early standouts:
“I would say they are up there with everyone else,” said the 6-5, 310-pounder about the Wolverines. “The only thing holding them back and Notre Dame back, is the fact that I haven’t been there for a visit yet. That’s why I’m looking forward to the trip.
Alabama has seven of the nine picks on Davis' Crystal Ball, with UCLA and Washington getting one apiece. You'll never guess who put in the Washington pick.
Michigan will also receive a multi-day visit from five-star TX OLB Baron Browning, according to Steve Lorenz:
Wolverine247 confirmed on Friday evening that Kennedale (TX) 2017 five-star linebacker Baron Browning will visit Michigan on June 20th for two days.
While Texas is the presumed leader for Browning, Michigan—as well as Notre Dame and Ohio State—has a chance to pull him out of the region.
Satellite Camp Stuff
As was the case last year, the volume of recruiting news has picked up considerably now that the satellite camps are underway. Sam Webb is once again working as tirelessly as Harbaugh to cover them. His free recap of the Connecticut camp features a quick scouting report on commit Ben Mason and updates on four-star ATH CJ Holmes and four-star WR Tarik Black, the latter of whom showed up decked out in Michigan gear.
In Georgia, Michigan reconnected with former WR commit Jeremiah Holloman, who decommitted when his recruitment took off. The now four-star prospect has Georgia, Tennessee, and Auburn out in front, but he told Webb that Michigan is in the running and will receive a visit from him this fall:
“I couldn’t really give you a number (on a scale from one to ten) but I know my interest is still very high with them,” he said.
“I know will be visiting Michigan. Me and Kurt (Taylor) will be up there. Me and Kurt and Jaquan (Henderson). I believe we will be up there for the Hawaii game.”
Michigan also made some headway in potentially flipping a Georgia commit. Four-star GA OT Netori Johnson won't be an easy pull, but he's a fan of Harbaugh's recruiting tactics and has a teammate pushing for the Wolverines, per Webb:
“I like this coaching staff. They’re not scared to take a risk on anything, I like the way they travel. Before this I was looking at Michigan, talk to Michigan. I like the way Harbaugh has everything in control, there’s nothing wrong with the program. He went to IMG with the whole team for practice, not too many teams can say they’ve done that. I have done that, Michigan is a place I would love to be and one of my teammates went up there, Elysee Mbem-Bosse, so I definitely have to get up there.”
“(Mbem-Bosse) wants me to be a Wolverine, man.”
Johnson added he'll "most definitely" take a visit to Ann Arbor.
The coaches handed out a few offers in Florida. 247's Ryan Bartow reports St. Thomas Aquinas wideouts Michael Harley and Elijah Moore—the former a three-star rising senior, the latter an four-star rising junior—after seeing them in Fort Lauderdale. While both of those guys were already on the recruiting radar, that wasn't the case for 2017 Orlando (FL) Bishop Moore Catholic WDE Donovan Winter, who Scout's Corey Bender reports received his first Power 5 offer from Michigan.
In Jacksonville, five-star FL CB Shaun Wade, an Ohio State commit, told The Wolverine's Brandon Brown about his current contact with Michigan's coaches:
“They are still recruiting me," he said. "It’s a visit that I’m going to take.
"I like Michigan. That was one of my little league teams when I was younger. I always liked their basketball team and then I started watching their football team and they were good too.”
Wade is looking at several top schools and Michigan is firmly in the running for an official visit.
Etc.
Great feature from MLive on commit AJ Dillon fulfilling a childhood promise to his mom that he'd earn a scholarship to college.
Despite a recent LSU offer, commit J'Marick Woods tells MnB he's "110% committed" to Michigan.
As expected, Michigan made the final seven for top-100 AL WR Nico Collins, per Lorenz:
The Wolverines were joined by basically the "who's who" down south, as Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss and Florida State were the other six programs to make his final group.
Collins recently named Michigan his leader.
Michigan also made the top nine for five-star CA WR Tyjon Lindsey, who will decide on August 22nd. There's a lot of ground to make up in his recruitment.
The Wolverines are in an early top six for four-star 2018 Cass Tech CB Kalon Gervin.