Scottsdale (AZ) Saguaro defensive end Quintin Somerville committed to Michigan on Saturday afternoon. He picked the Wolverines over offers from Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, and Ohio State, among others.
Somerville is listed at 6’1″ and 230 lbs., though some reported height measurements have him at 6’2 1/2″ now. His own team lists him at 6’3″ and 238 lbs. As a junior in 2019, he reportedly made 68 tackles, 29 tackles for loss, and 7.5 sacks.
RATINGS
ESPN: 4-star, 84 grade, #12 DE
Rivals: 4-star, 5.8 grade, #5 WDE, #151 overall
247 Sports: 4-star, 90 grade, #18 SDE
Hit the jump for more on Somerville’s recruitiment.
Defensive line coach Shaun Nua’s presence in Arizona helped here significantly. In fact, this commitment probably wouldn’t have happened in the era when Greg Mattison was the defensive line coach; Michigan has offered a lot of prospects in Arizona between the days of Craig Roh/Taylor Lewan and now, without much benefit.
Somerville is a top-150 prospect because he’s a good all-around football player. He’s a little sawed-off for a defensive end, and he has a pretty thick body. I like his hand strike and the way he uses leverage to fend off blockers. He uses a variety of pass rush moves with a decent dip-and-rip and an excellent push-pull.
Somerville has decent quickness, but I think he lacks the real quick-twitch movements you would want in a weakside end. His acceleration is good but not great, his top-end speed is good but not great, etc.
Overall, I think Somerville is one of those high-floor, moderate-ceiling prospects. His technique and ability to maintain leverage are positives that should overcome the negatives. I see him having a very similar game to Carlo Kemp, who went from linebacker to defensive end to defensive tackle, with possible upside being Kwity Paye, a guy who plays weakside end and then moves inside to defensive tackle on passing downs.
Michigan now has 18 commitments in the 2021 class, including several defensive line commits with position flexibility: Somerville, Dominick Giudice, T.J. Guy, and Kechaun Bennett. Somerville would be the first Saguaro product to ever play at Michigan, and Saguaro produces a lot of high-level prospects, such as WR Christian Kirk (Texas A&M), RB D.J. Foster (Arizona State), and CB Byron Murphy (Washington).
TTB Rating: 76 (ratings explanation)
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carlo kemp was the 1st name that popped to mind as theyre both smart, tough, well rounded players with the personality and attitude harbaugh loves but also a step or two slow (and less importantly lacking ideal size).
2nd name was corey malone hatcher – in terms of similar DL prospect who flashed potential as a frosh/soph on tape and camps, blew up with some early offers and ratings and then leveled off as more and more of his classmates saw the field, were evaluated, developed, etc.
i wouldnt rank top 150 but he still should be a productive player
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Malone-Hatcher was another guy I thought of, too. A guy who was highly rated but who I just didn’t see living up to those early expectations.
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Not the most hopeful reading so far, anywhere
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That’s an impressive offer list, but I agree with your more cautious prognostication. From his tape, he plays smart and executes his assignments, but he doesn’t have the speed or power I’d usually expect of a 4-star recruit. Even in the picture used for this post he looks like he’s carrying around more fat than muscle. I bet he’ll be redshirting his freshman season.
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