Tuesday Recruitin' Is Working For The Weekend

They come in pairs

Crawford (bottom) and Kinnel

Two 2015 Ohio defensive backs have proclaimed Michigan their outright leader, and both have given Michigan fans a reason to believe they'll pop in the near future. In OH CB Shaun Crawford's case, that's because he's announcing on Friday at 4 PM on ESPN.com. He told Rivals's Mark Givler that "I don't really have a group of finalists, it's mainly just that one school for me," actually moved Miami down his list after visiting, and hasn't been offered by other potential favorite Notre Dame. This one is not heavy on suspense.

Crawford is a leetle guy at 5'8" to 5'10", depending on who you believe, but he brings 170+ pounds to the table already—the same as Michigan's 6'2" freshman corners—and impressed Givler with his toughness:

Shaun Crawford is as good in run support as any corner I've seen come out of Ohio the last few years.

Commence the Antoine Winfield comparisons that will never, ever stop.

That is a highly reassuring thing to hear about Crawford, since no one doubts his athleticism or skill—it's all on the size, or lack thereof. Crawford's actually playing safety for his team so that he'll have more impact on the game this fall, FWIW.

The other guy, OH S Tyree Kinnel, has not been as explicit as Crawford but according to Brandon has set a visit for Saturday. Kinnel was clamoring for a Michigan offer, extremely disappointed when one didn't come after camp, and now has one. A commit watch is definitely on. While Kinnel was momentarily inclined to open things up given the lack of proverbial love, Hoke and company have a knack for closing the deal, like they did with George Campbell.

Kinnel is a four-star to 247 and Scout but has not been rated by ESPN yet. Those four star rankings in the range where Kinnel would be on the tail end of top X lists or just outside; he's a solid 3.5 star guy by our reckoning. The major drawback is that he seems to be a CB/S tweener, which Michigan doesn't care about at all. Nickelback, maybe?

[After the jump: Jabrilladiculous]

Jabrill Peppers is still ridiculous

Paramus Catholic scrimmaged over the weekend; NJ CB commit Jabrill Peppers acquired one decleater…

…and one sick spin move touchdown…

…to add to his list of jaw-dropping highlight reel plays. Jabrill Peppers, like George Campbell, is committed to Michigan.

LUGINBILL, DISCLAIM ON  OUR PRIZE

Thank you, sir.

Hair is important to our interests

Also in important Jabrill Peppers news that the United Nations will undoubtedly pass a resolution in support of:

Snipes recognize Snipes

Everyone is doing their best Simon Phoenix impression, and I approve.

BONUS: I don't remember PA LB Chase Winovich's hair being quite so… blonde.

Don't look at that thing directly, use a pinhole camera. I probably should have told you that before the picture.

Hair. It's important business around here.

[ACTUAL FACT LIKE THINGS ON WINOVICH FROM ARTICLE: says he's 6'3, 216, which would make him the smallest Michigan linebacker in the last two classes other than Wangler so of course he's projected to SAM. He's also playing quarterback for his high school team this fall to go along with his LB duties.]

Rerankings abound, but are boring

Both Rivals and Scout released new top X lists to mark the end of the summer camp season. It was mostly the usual slow degradation of rankings that happens when your evaluation doesn't change and other guys appear from nowhere and pass you.

There were some other events, though. On the Scout side of things, camp "sleeper" Freddy Canteen picked up a fourth star and moved into the 300 at #280. He no longer qualifies as a potential sleeper of the year even with our new relaxed standard of at most one four-star ranking.

Other moves:

• #5 Jabrill Peppers: up two spots.
• #10 Da'Shawn Hand: down eight.
• #33 Drake Harris: down five spots.
• #38 Malik McDowell: down five spots.
• #91 Bryan Mone: up three spots
• #107 Lawrence Marshall: down four
• #173 Michael Ferns: down 27
• #253 Mason Cole: down two
• #266 Chase Winovich: down 36

Ferns had a couple of camp outings in which he did not show as much mobility as folks wanted, IIRC. No idea what the Winovich deal is since they haven't said anything about him after they bumped him into the 300 after the Michigan-OSU battle there resolved itself. I don't think he went to any camps.

Hand's drop was one it was easy to see coming after most analysts at the Opening said he was very good but only that. In the context of potentially generational talents like Fournette and Peppers he did not quite match that.

Rivals also released new rankings, which Ace analyzed a bit yesterday after the Rivals twitter account said something entirely different than what they wanted to say. They were not at the Opening, supposedly because someone's ticked off about Rivals's new exclusive camp series. It shows right at the top:

• #1 Da'Shawn Hand: unchanged
• #2 Jabrill Peppers: unchanged
• #40 Malik McDowell: down from something
• #62 Drake Harris: also down
• #122 Mason Cole: down
• #180 Bryan Mone: up one
• #189 Michael Ferns: down 61

And so forth and so on. Their articles on the 100 and 250 getting updated have exactly one mention of Michigan, that a passing reference to Jabrill Peppers being a Michigan commit. That's because Michigan commits generally ain't GAF about camps: Cole, Mone, Harris, and Peppers showed up to one or two things between them.

Where Wangler goes

New commit Jared Wangler is moving from safety to linebacker this year at De La Salle. Where does he fit in college? Weakside linebacker mostly but don't rule out a nickel-type role where he can flex over the slot more effectively than most linebackers. Hybrid is the name of the game:

"Right now, he is playing a kind of hybrid position for us," Verska explained. "He's has linebacker responsibility in some of our packages, and safety responsibilities in others. He has played a lot of safety for us over the summer. We moved him there about halfway through the summer. He's a big kid, but he can run really well. He's done a great job.

"He's very good in coverage. He has picked up all the checks and things we do in the secondary very well, and he breaks on the ball quickly. He can jump, and he plays very physically. You're not going to find too many 220-pound safeties around, unless they're in the NFL."

He'll be at least James Ross size by the time he sees the field, and he may bring more coverage ability. In an ideal world he is a tight-end killer capable of beating their blocks and covering them one on one.

Etc.

2015 VA DT Tim Settle, an early contender for the top kid in the country, will be at the ND game with Da'Shawn Hand. 2015 Denmark(!) DT Hjalte Froholdt consuming Herlev Rebels. Wheatley brothers profiled by a guy who is not good at talkin':

TJ Wheatley is 6'6", 245 and claims Michigan and Alabama offers.

Michigan lands five commits and a potential future commit on the USA Today All-America list: George Campbell (who is committed to Michigan), Mason Cole, Drake Harris, Michael Ferns, Jabrill Peppers, and possibly/probably Da'Shawn Hand. Not bad.