Wilkes Visits, Adds Offer
Five-star 2017 Indiana wing Kris Wilkes visited Ann Arbor on Sunday. As expected, Michigan put forth an offer, though Wilkes has yet to offer up any quotes about it beyond a quick post-offer tweet. Most of the top Big Ten programs are after Wilkes, as are the likes of Butler, Kansas, UCLA, and Xavier. Kentucky, which hasn't offered him, currently leads his Crystal Ball.
Michigan's best bet in 2017 continues to be three-star in-state wing Jamal Cain. Last week, Scout's Brian Snow posted that Xavier is now "basically out" for Cain after adding 2017 wing Jared Ridder, who's also a 3/4 type; that leaves Michigan as the odds-on favorite.
Four-star OH wing Kyle Young, who also holds a Michigan offer, included the Wolverines in his top ten and told 247 he'll be on campus for M's team camp this month. Young is coming off a visit to Ohio State, which is considered the early favorite for him.
UMHoops's Sean Moran reports Michigan has been getting involved with top-100 2017 IL PG Nojel Eastern:
“After the first EYBL sessions a lot more schools have been involved,” said Eastern. “The head coaches text me more and I get more calls. New schools, Michigan, a lot of them call my mom, but the one that calls me is Michigan.”
Michigan needs a point guard this cycle and Eastern is one of the more intriguing prospects at the position: he's listed at 6'6", 200 pounds. If the coaches can get him on campus, an offer is likely to follow—MSU, OSU, Purdue, and Illinois are already among the schools to offer him.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
No News Is No News
For those wondering about the status of Kentucky transfer Charles Matthews, there's nothing to report, and that's apparently by design. Matthews visited Michigan last week and has a trip to Xavier, the other school he's considering, coming up this weekend. Multiple outlets have mentioned his camp is deliberately staying silent while he's going through the process. Michigan was considered the favorite heading into these trips and I haven't seen anything that would change that opinion.
As for other possibilities to fill the open scholarship slots this season, Michigan hosted French wing Solly Stansbury last weekend. He left without an offer, and since UMHoops says the 21-year-old might have to sit out a season anyway, that probably will remain the case. MLive's Brendan Quinn, meanwhile, reports that Michigan is unlikely to pursue 2016 wing Harold Baruti, who the Wolverines took a look at before his commitment to (and subsequent parting of the ways from) Utah.
2018 Recruiting: M Offers Brandon Johns
Yesterday marked the opening of the offer period for 2018 prospects, and Michigan wasted no time putting one forth to four-star East Lansing wing Brandon Johns, who told TMI's Josh Henschke he's being recruited as a 2/3/4 combo by the Wolverines:
What does this offer mean for Johns? It doesn't necessarily put the Wolverines as the front-runner for him, but having the offer does put them in a good spot.
"Well I mean an offer period is such a blessing because like I said before not everyone can say they have a B1G school that has offered them," Johns said. "Michigan is definitely an option. I still have time left before I'm able to make a final decision on a college yet."
Johns will visit campus again "soon," according to Henschke. Michigan State, which didn't offer him yesterday, is the early Crystal Ball leader.
Johns was in great position to grab that offer because he'd already visited campus. He could soon be joined by three-star PA SG Robby Carmody, who's set to visit Michigan tomorrow.
For more 2018 prospects to monitor, UMHoops has an informative primer on M's targets in the class.