Busy Month Ahead?
We've covered the distinct possibility of Michigan adding quarterbacks Joe Milton and Tyler Shough to the 2018 class this month. 247's Steve Lorenz went over a few more potential additions in his post on May's top recruiting storylines:
There are a handful of heavy Michigan leans out there who could decide at any time, with Traverse City (MI) West four-star offensive lineman Ryan Hayes being among them. Grand Rapids (MI) four-star Jalen Mayfield is also sitting out there and still appears to be a heavy, heavy Michigan lean. Jersey City four-star Shayne Simon has mentioned shutting things down early, although that could easily change.
Hayes and Mayfield both appear to be near-locks to end up in the class sooner or later. Simon, a S/OLB prospect who'd probably be a VIPER at Michigan, has several top programs in the mix; he ran down his extensive spring visit tour—Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, UCLA, and Stanford—for 247's Steve Wiltfong. He had high praise for all of them, but his crystal ball reads 100% for Michigan, and that includes picks from both Steves. He maintained he has no current timeline for a decision, however.
Another top target whose recruitment may come to a close in the near future is four-star NY TE Jeremy Ruckert, who has named four finalists—Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Wisconsin—and is eyeing a summer decision, likely in July, per Scout's Brian Dohn. Ruckert's choice is expected to come down to Michigan or OSU; the Buckeyes currently have all nine picks on his crystal ball.
Four-star PA WR Jahan Dotson is also nearing a decision after narrowing his options to Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State, per Wiltfong. The Nittany Lions currently hold the edge after a recent visit but Michigan will get a visit this month to make an impression. They have a potential edge; Dotson is originally from New Jersey:
When Dotson returns to Michigan it will be his first time in Ann Arbor since last year.
“Michigan they have a big New Jersey connection and Coach Partridge he’s been close to me so that’s been a good connection for me. Big stadium, there’s a lot of people and the campus is in town and that’s cool.”
It should be a busy month.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Michigan Camps Set; Satellite Camps Coming Together
Michigan opened up registration for their summer football camps, and as Scout's Allen Trieu noted on The Victors Board, they're taking a slightly different approach than in past years [emphasis mine]:
First, the Big Man Camp and Aerial Assault are separate now. There is a positional camp on the 17th with Aerial Assault too, but the big guys get their own day now on the 16th.
There is a one-day elite camp on June 23rd. So it looks like the "Wolverine Technique School" which is the traditional 3-4 day camp, is no longer. Most schools have an elite one-day, Michigan, has not consistently done that. They had one for one or two years under Rich Rodriguez and then went back to the old format. I like the elite one-day addition. Most kids don't like to camp at a school for several days anymore and even though kids would show up for one day during that camp, you'd get top guys coming on different days. Now you get them all there on one day. Last year, you had a night camp, you had a day camp, you had a week long camp, you had several on-campus camps. Now, you'll get all the talent here on the 23rd. I would expect that that will be a very good camp.
I'm a fan of this change; getting as many top prospects on campus at the same time as possible is usually much more effective than spreading it out, as elite players want to play with (and compete in camps settings against) other elite players.
As the Freep notes, Michigan is also getting their satellite camp schedule figured out; while the NCAA put limitations on satellite camps, Michigan can still do ten of them.
With the restricted schedule, U-M is trying to fit the satellite camps around its own on-campus camps from June 16-17 and 23-24,
So far it appears U-M will fill up the dates in early June with the Valdosta [Georgia] camp on June 4, the Tennessee State camp on June 9 and UCLA on June 11. Harbaugh split his staff to different venues last year but that may not be necessary with the restricted schedule this year.
Expect more to come, though one of them probably won't be Sound Mind Sound Body, which got hit hard by the new NCAA rules.
Grudging 2019 Stuff
Per Lorenz, Michigan will get a summer visit from five-star 2019 IMG Academy RB Noah Cain, a Texas native and the top-ranked back in the class:
"The weekend of June 20th I believe," he told Wolverine247 on Saturday. "I'm highly interested in them and know that Jim Harbaugh is a great coach. I'm excited to check them out."
High four-star GA SDE Chris Hinton told Rivals' Chad Simmons that Michigan is in his top group:
"I am still adding offers and I am going to give everyone a fair chance, but my top schools are California, Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Stanford," said Hinton. "There is no order. Cal has not offered me yet, they are doing a full evaluation, but I am seeing all these schools the same way right now."
As his list suggests, Hinton is placing a strong emphasis on academics, and he mentions that he could come to a relatively early decision. That could be good news for Michigan, the first program to extend an offer and a constant presence in his top group.
According to The Wolverine's Brandon Brown, Michigan offered four-star MO WR Marcus Washington, who visited campus a couple weeks ago. Washington is teammates with four-star 2019 ATH Isaiah Williams, who also holds a Michigan offer and has shown high interest in the program.
There's been concern about the recruitment of potential five-star Belleville lineman Devontae Dobbs. The quote he gave to TMI's Josh Newkirk shows why it's way too early to get worked up about him:
Dobbs, who was offered at Michigan's annual recruiting barbecue in August, says he’s been on consistent contact with the Wolverines coaching staff. However, he says he's still unable to give a proper gauge of Michigan yet, because he says he hasn’t been on campus enough to know what U-M’s program is all about.
“I can’t really say for sure yet because I haven’t taken that many visits (to Michigan), like time management has been messed up, so I have been up there lately,” he said.
Dobbs will have a national recruitment; there's a long way to go here.
Etc.
Michigan made the top 11 for four-star NC DT Rick Sandidge and the top 12 for four-star OH DE Tyreke Smith. Neither of those names has come up very often in connection to Michigan.
MLive's Brendan Quinn catches up with 2018 point guard commit David DeJulius, who says his commitment is "stronger than ever."