Carthage (TX) Carthage RB Keaontay Ingram (image via Twitter)
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Michigan missed out on Najee Harris late and lost the commitment of A.J. Dillon, so the running back recruiting in 2017 wasn’t quite what the coaching staff hoped. They got a couple solid commitments, but they’re going for some big-time players at the position in 2018. Along with several previously offered running backs, Michigan is sending out some new offers.
Butler (GA) Taylor County running back Lyn-J Dixon was offered by Michigan. He’s a 5’10”, 185 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Oklahoma, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #25 running back, and #402 overall. His rankings aren’t great, but he seems like a Harbaugh style of back: tough runner, good balance, good vision, and decent speed. As a junior in 2016, he ran 229 times for 1,914 yards (8.4 YPC) and 35 touchdowns, including a 99-yarder.
Carthage (TX) Carthage running back Keaontay Ingram was offered by Michigan. He’s a 5’11”, 190-pounder who’s a 4-star, the #18 running back, and #318 overall. Arkansas, Baylor, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech, among others, have all offered. He ran the ball a whopping 320 times for 2,225 yards and 31 touchdowns last year, and he added 46 catches for 475 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Hit the jump for a couple more new offers and some miscellaneous bits.
Decatur (AL) Austin running back Asa Martin was offered by Michigan. Martin is a 6’0″, 193 lb. prospect with offers from Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, and Oregon, among others. He’s a 4-star, the #10 running back, and #222 overall. He claims a 4.5 forty. He spent his junior year at Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy, where he played with a couple future Wolverines in Jordan Anthony and Cesar Ruiz.
Dayton (OH) Dunbar running back Tavion Thomas was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’2″, 225 lb. bull of a back with offers from Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and Oregon, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #30 running back, and #489 overall. He had 137 carries for 1,606 yards (11.7 YPC) and 17 touchdowns. Thomas is now a teammate of former Michigan commit Antwuan Johnson, though the Wolverines are no longer recruiting Johnson.
Buford (GA) Buford running back Christian Turner was offered by Michigan. He’s a 5’10”, 190 lb. prospect with offers from Miami, Nebraska, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #29 running back, and #485 overall.
MISCELLANEOUS
Westerville (OH) South running back Jaelen Gill will announce his commitment on March 1, and that choice will probably be Ohio State. The good news is he was a teammate of Michigan punter signee Brad Robbins. The bad news is that I put in a Crystal Ball for Gill to Ohio State.
Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy running back T.J. Pledger seems to be leaning toward Oklahoma. He’s in eventual 5-star range as a 247 Composite 4-star and the #29 overall player in the class. Michigan is working hard on the California native, but he still might be a tough pull.
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A 6’2/225 back with offers from Bama, Georgia OSU, & Oregon is a 3-star? Would guess that ranking will move upward.
Notable to me that all the other backs listed are in 5’10-6′ and around 190 pounds.
Thanks for the post. I like the approach of grouping by positions. Would be great to add some information about who Michigan might have a reasonable shot at (due to some connection to the program or stated interest level) vs who is just a guy they have interest in.
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I think it will probably move upward, yeah.
I probably won’t group recruits by position permanently because sometimes there aren’t enough at one position to make it worthwhile, but with so many new offers that I had not addressed yet, I thought it would be good to chunk it.
I posted a best guess list this morning (Tuesday), so hopefully that goes a little way toward responding to your last sentence.
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Sounds good. I view the position group posts as a primer of sorts, since I’m not big on looking ahead a class. Most of the names are still new to me.
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