Santa Margarita (CA) Rancho Santa Margarita defensive end Collins Acheampong committed to Michigan on Friday afternoon. He picked the Wolverines over offers from LSU, Miami, Oregon, Texas, UCLA, and USC, among others.
Acheampong is reportedly heavier than his listed weight and comes in at 6’7″ or 6’8″ and 254 lbs.
RANKINGS
ESPN: 4-star, 82 grade, #23 DE, #162 overall
On3: 3-star, 89 grade, #43 Edge
Rivals: 4-star, 5.8 grade, #21 WDE
247 Sports: 3-star, 88 grade, #35 ATH
Hit the jump for more.
Acheampong was an unknown to me until he visited Michigan in mid-March. Then I started doing some digging on him and found him to be pretty intriguing. Michigan has been recruiting internationally for several years – including David Ojabo, Daniel Fa’alele, Benjamin St-Juste, Luiji Vilain, Alessandro Lorenzetti, Patrice Rene, and Julius Welschof – and had some success, so when Ghana native Acheampong popped up on the radar, I was intrigued. Michigan offered him on his visit, things stayed silent for a bit, and then buzz started coming out that Michigan would be the pick. He took an official to Ann Arbor in early June, followed that up by visiting Miami, and suddenly had a July 1 commitment date that looked iffy. But he pushed it back a week, settled in with Michigan, and went public.
Scouting Acheampong is very difficult right now. He transferred from Ghana to Anaheim (CA) Fairmont Prep as a freshman, didn’t play as a sophomore because of COVID, didn’t play as a junior because weird stuff continued, and then is transferring to Rancho Santa Margarita for his senior year. His freshman year highlights show a long, lanky, athletic kid who was sometimes accidentally physically dominant, but largely looked like a basketball player who was afraid to really hit anyone.
I love legitimate basketball players who play football, because the athleticism really translates to the field. But the big question about Acheampong is whether he’s ready to be physical and do some dirty work by taking on blocks and fighting 300-pounders.
From watching his basketball highlights, I think he’s going to be a major problem for tackles to block because of his length, quickness, and explosiveness. If Michigan continues to play their edge guys like bats out of hell who have nothing to do other than terrorize the quarterback, I think Acheampong could be a star. If he has to play a more traditional defensive end role with his hand in the dirt, I’m not so sure that will work. Based on athletic potential, I think Acheampong could be a 1st round pick in three or four years.
Michigan now has ten commitments in the class of 2023 and the first edge rusher. He would be the first Rancho Santa Margarita product to sign with Michigan since Kekoa (a.k.a. Dylan) Crawford picked the Wolverines in 2016.
TTB Rating: 87
Freshman year Varsity football highlights🏈 pic.twitter.com/iHjhSyexOz
— Collins Acheampong (@collins_xi) December 20, 2021
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