Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy TE Tre’ McKitty (image via USA Today)
COMMITMENTS
Suffield (CT) Suffield Academy wide receiver Brad Hawkins, Jr. appears to be a member of the 2017 class now. The 6’2″, 190-pounder graduated high school from Camden (NJ) Camden in 2016, and usually these prep school things don’t work out for Michigan. However, Hawkins and the coaching staff expect him to be in this class now. Here are his highlights from this fall:
Detroit (MI) King cornerback Ambry Thomas committed to Michigan (LINK).
Dallas (TX) Bishop Dunne cornerback Chevin Calloway decommitted from Iowa. He’s a 4-star, the #12 cornerback, and #113 overall. Michigan is not and has not been involved, even though they have a need at cornerback. He is leaning toward Arkansas, though Tom Herman is trying to get him to stay in-state with the Longhorns.
Clearwater (FL) Central Catholic wide receiver C.J. Cotman decommitted from Tennessee. He’s a 4-star, the #16 athlete, and #278 overall. Michigan isn’t involved, and he’s taking a trip to North Carolina this coming weekend.
Virginia Beach (VA) Bishop Sullivan Catholic defensive tackle Breyon Gaddy decommitted from Tennessee, along with his twin brother. The 4-star, #19 defensive tackle, and #323 overall prospect is taking an official to Maryland this weekend.
Hit the jump for many, many more updates.
Los Angeles (CA) Hawkins running back Greg Johnson decommitted from Arizona. Johnson is a 4-star, the #1 athlete, and #101 overall. A U.S. Army All-American, he’s a teammate of one of the top 2017 receivers in the country, Joseph Lewis. Johnson was perhaps the prize of Arizona’s recruiting class, but now it looks like he might be heading to Nebraska.
Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy defensive end Joshua Kaindoh decommitted from Maryland. Kaindoh, who’s originally from Maryland, is a 5-star, the #2 weakside end, and #21 overall. The decommitment probably means good things for Penn State, though there are some mutterings about Florida State.
Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy tight end Tre’ McKitty was offered by Michigan. He’s a 6’4″, 235 lb. prospect who committed to Oregon in July; he also has offers from Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, and Ohio State, among others. Oregon insiders are almost certain he won’t end up signing with the Ducks. Michigan seemed to be slowly closing the door on signing a tight end in this class, especially after they mutually parted ways with legacy commit Carter Dunaway.
Los Angeles (CA) Salesian cornerback Deommodore Lenoir decommitted from Oregon. He’s a 4-star, the #10 cornerback, and #94 overall. Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Oklahoma, and UCLA, among others, have also offered. It’s unclear where he’s leaning at this point, but there hasn’t been any buzz about him coming to Michigan.
Indianapolis (IN) Cathedral linebacker Pete Werner decommitted from Notre Dame. He’s a 6’3″, 220-pounder who’s a teammate of 2018 Michigan commit Emil Ekiyor, but Werner isn’t coming to Michigan. The 4-star, #17 outside linebacker, and #284 player seems like he’s probably headed to Ohio State.
OFF THE BOARD
Baton Rouge (LA) University Lab linebacker Chris Allen committed to Alabama. Michigan was never really involved.
Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy wide receiver Jhamon Ausbon flipped from LSU to Texas A&M. The Aggies were heavily on his mind for a long time, so it didn’t take a lot to push him out the door. Toss in the fact that he’ll be utilized a lot more in College Station than Baton Rouge, and the move makes sense.
Seattle (WA) Skyline offensive tackle Henry Bainivalu committed to Washington. Michigan was recruiting him heavily at one point and thought they might be able to sway him into taking an official visit, but that visit never materialized. He’s the #192 overall player in the country.
Oxford (AL) Oxford lienbacker Kenney “K.J.” Britt committed to Auburn. Britt showed some passing interest in the Wolverines, but nothing really developed between the two parties and he was destined to stay down south.
Kennedale (TX) Kennedale linebacker Baron Browning committed to Ohio State. A 5-star, the #2 outside linebacker, and the #9 overall player had Michigan in his top four at one point, but the Wolverines were always playing from behind. The one-time Baylor commit had a brother who was recruited to Stanford by Jim Harbaugh, and that was Michigan’s “in” with him.
Princeton (NJ) Hun School defensive tackle Fred Hansard flipped from Florida to Penn State. Hansard reportedly attempted to commit to Michigan at one point, but the coaching staff asked him to hold off and take his time. That soured relations between the two parties, and he didn’t give Michigan another look after that.
Plano (TX) East linebacker Anthony Hines III committed to Texas A&M. Hines was high on my wish list, and he’s the best inside linebacker Michigan offered this year, in my opinion. However, he never visited Ann Arbor and contact was sparse.
Walnut Creek (CA) Berean Christian wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins committed to Oregon State. The one-time Washington State commit is the son of former NFL fullback James Hodgins.
Covington (GA) Newton wide receiver Jeremiah Holloman committed to Georgia. Holloman, a one-time Michigan commit, shot up in the rankings over the past year and now sits just outside the top 100 in the 247 Composite.
Ft. Myers (FL) Dunbar linebacker Shanon Reid committed to Tennessee. Reid named Michigan his leader in the last couple months, but Michigan slow-played him a little bit while recruiting some guys who are higher up on their board.
Las Vegas (NV) Arbor View defensive tackle Greg Rogers committed to UCLA. Rogers was being heavily pursued by Michigan at one point, but the mutual interest seemed to taper off as the Wolverines found other guys for the 3-tech position. Now Michigan seems more interested in nose tackle types to finish out the class.
Jackson (TN) University School offensive tackle Trey Smith committed to Tennessee. Smith is the #1 prospect to ESPN. I don’t know why an elite prospect would choose to commit to Butch Jones, but sometimes crazy things happen.
Miami (FL) Carol City linebacker De’Andre Wilder committed to Miami. Wilder, like Reid, is a slightly undersized outside linebacker whom Michigan was presumably targeting for the SAM linebacker position.
Lexington (KY) Lafayette offensive tackle Jedrick Wills committed to Alabama. Wills put off multiple visits to Michigan and looked like he wouldn’t give the Wolverines a chance, but then he took an official visit and things changed. He still wasn’t expected to commit to Michigan, but the visit propelled them into his top few schools. Ultimately, though, the Crimson Tide were considered the long-time leaders, so this was expected.
MISCELLANEOUS
Here’s a link to this weekend’s monster visitors list (LINK).
Like I did last year, I’m posting about preferred walk-on offers on the message board (LINK). Feel free to check out the board and participate.
El Cerrito (CA) El Cerrito offensive tackle Aaron Banks is announcing his commitment today at 3:00 p.m. EST. He’s supposedly choosing between Michigan, Notre Dame, and UCLA.
Here’s a list of potential Michigan signees who plan to enrolling early (LINK).
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What is your take on Hawkins? Watching the film – he made “highlights” – but didn’t seem to blow away the competition. He didn’t seem to burn anyone with his speed, and many of the catches were comebacks to awfully underthrown passes.
If you were to give him a TTB rating – what would it be?
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He looked an awful lot like a Safety to me last year. Now, I’m not so sure, as he looks a lot more explosive to me on this vid than he did on his film last year.
If this thing goes the way everybody is hoping it does, we are adding a raft of size and speed to the receiver position. I do think that at minimum one of these guys end up at Free Safety, or whatever it is that we now call our Free Safety. But ….. who?
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Off the top of my head, probably in the mid or high 70s. He looks a fair amount like Amara Darboh to me.
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Have you thought about doing a regular top 10 list of ‘most important’ recruits to you. Could be a combination of guys who are likely to commit to Michigan (who it would hurt to ‘lose’) and big-time targets who would make a big difference if they signed on. Kind of gimmicky, but lists are always fun.
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This Hawkins situation worked out pretty great for Michigan. They got a free year of development and got to take another recruit in the meantime.
I was never that high on Hawkins, but this extra year gives him a bump. With the guys they seem to be turning away at WR, they must like Hawkins quite a bit.
I like the talent we’re putting together at WR.
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