Ja’Den McBurrows, Wolverine

Ja’Den McBurrows, Wolverine


April 24, 2020
Fort Lauderdale (FL) Saint Thomas Aquinas CB Ja’Den McBurrows (image via Sun Sentinel)

Fort Lauderdale (FL) Saint Thomas Aquinas cornerback Ja’Den McBurrows committed to Michigan on Friday. He picked the Wolverines over offers from Alabama, Florida State, LSU, and Ohio State, among others.

McBurrows is listed at 5’10” and 165 lbs. He claims an 11.01 in the 100 meters. As a junior in 2019, he made 37 tackles, 6 interceptions, and 15 pass breakups.

RANKINGS
ESPN: N/A
Rivals: 3-star, 5.7 grade, #27 CB
247 Sports: 3-star, 85 grade, #90 CB

Hit the jump for more on McBurrows.

It’s NFL Draft time, so I don’t have time for this s***!

The way McBurrows’s body moves, he almost reminds me of Karan Higdon. I know that’s not a great player comparison because Higdon was a running back his whole career at Michigan, but I just see some similarities in their mannerisms and athleticism.

McBurrows is a physical kid who should fit in well with how Michigan likes to play its corners. I don’t see the burst or makeup speed to ascend to an elite level as a corner, and therefore, I shrug my shoulders and expect a continuation of the status quo. Ohio State will have some guys at wide receiver who can just outrun Michigan’s secondary, and there’s not much the Wolverines will be able to do about it unless there’s an upgrade in talent.

If I had to come up with a more appropriate player comparison, I would pair McBurrows up with Ross Douglas. While I like McBurrows a little better (I gave Douglas a TTB Rating of 63), Douglas was a kid who bounced around at Michigan, going from corner to running back and eventually ending up at Rutgers as a hybrid outside linebacker/safety

Michigan now has 10 commitments in the 2021 class. It’s an odd class makeup, where the top 5 guys are all offensive guys rated from #14 to #244, the next 4 are defensive guys rated from #580 (McBurrows) to N/A, and the last guy is a punter.

The last guy from St. Thomas Aquinas to sign with Michigan was linebacker Anthony Solomon in 2020, and there are several other guys the Wolverines are working on in the 2021 class.

TTB Rating: No TTB Ratings for now

4 comments

  1. Comments: 40
    Joined: 9/24/2017
    bluegoinggray
    Apr 25, 2020 at 12:32 PM

    Just have to stop caring about beating Ohio State. Yeah. Right.

  2. Comments: 295
    Joined: 12/19/2015
    Extrajuice
    Apr 25, 2020 at 10:07 PM

    Hmmmm. Another Don Brown guy? No, he’s not cashing it in or anything.

  3. Comments: 313
    Joined: 8/17/2015
    JC
    Apr 27, 2020 at 8:34 AM

    I love me some track times.

    An 11.0 second 100m dash is plenty fast. Kwity Paye ran an 11.0 and David Ojabo ran a 10.9… but that’s besides the point as those are freak athlete times for their sizes. From a look online Vincent Gray hit 12 seconds as a freshman (which is still bad for a freshman), but as kids are developing and we can ignore that figure. He’s probably somewhere in the 11.3 to 11.5 range, similar to Deveon Smith.

    Haven’t watched any tape yet, but I do like seeing 11.0 seconds or faster for a DB.

  4. Comments: 111
    Joined: 10/14/2015
    UM_1973
    Apr 27, 2020 at 9:47 AM

    It puzzles me why we are unable to recruit better players for our defense given that we have been rated pretty highly defensively despite fielding ‘not-a-difference-maker’ type athlete. Most of our defensive players leave the program better than when they come in. Our offense on the other hand has been pretty disappointing despite the highly rated recruits.

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