Tag: unofficial visitors

Visitors: May 30-June 1, 2014

East St. Louis (IL) East St. Louis defensive tackle headlines an impressive group of campus visitors (image via Maxpreps)

2015
Terry Beckner, Jr. – DE – East St. Louis (IL) East St. Louis: Beckner is a 6’4″, 293 lb. prospect with offers from all over the country and a top group that includes Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, and USC, with Missouri the declared leader. He’s a 247 Composite 5-star, the #3 strongside end, and #21 overall. Beckner started off as an end prospect but with the size he’s already added, he’s more likely to play defensive tackle, in my opinion. Michigan’s coaching staff does not seem to be recruiting defensive tackles heavily in the 2015 class, but they would almost surely take a commitment from someone as talented as Beckner, regardless of his position.

Miles Boykin – WR – New Lenox (IL) Providence Catholic: Boykin is a 6’4″, 212 lb. prospect with offers from Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, and Oregon, among others. He’s 247 Composite 4-star, the #22 wide receiver, and #185 overall. Boykin visited Michigan for the spring game in early April and was offered shortly thereafter. He was supposed to visit next week but changed plans.

Natereace Strong – RB – East St. Louis (IL) East St. Louis: Strong is a 6’1″, 210 lb. prospect who committed to Missouri in April; he also has offers from Florida State, Illinois, Michigan State, and Ohio State. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #18 running back, and #238 overall. As a junior in 2013, he had 67 carries for 595 yards and 5 touchdowns. He’s pretty solid in his commitment and wants to stay close to home so his family members can see him play, but you never know what might happen with a good campus visit. Michigan has been expanding its running back offer list, and Strong would seem to fit in line with what Michigan wants – a big, physical running back with good straight line speed.


2016
Brendan Ferns – LB – St. Clairsville (OH) St. Clairsville: Ferns is a 6’3″, 223 lb. prospect with offers from Cincinnati, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Pitt, Virginia, and West Virginia. He’s a 247 Sports 4-star, the #5 athlete, and #51 overall. He’s also the younger brother of current Michigan freshman linebacker Michael Ferns. Despite no offer from either school, Penn State was considered to be ahead of Michigan early in the process. He will be getting a visit from the coaching staff early this week and then heading up to campus at the end of the week.

2017
Jeff Thomas – WR – East St. Louis (IL) East St. Louis: Thomas is a 5’10”, 170 lb. prospect with offers from Florida State, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Texas A&M. As a freshman in 2013, he had 54 catches for 944 yards and 12 touchdowns. He claims a 4.45 forty time. Michigan was his first offer and he grew up as a Michigan fan, so that was a big deal for him. This will be his first time on campus. As you may have noticed, he will be visiting with teammates Beckner and Strong. Michigan also recruited East St. Louis in 2014 with an offer to linebacker Kyron Watson (Kansas).

Visitor: May 16-18, 2014

Darrin Kirkland, Jr. (right) visited with fellow Indiana linebacker Asmar Bilal this spring

Darrin Kirkland, Jr. – LB – Indianapolis (IN) Lawrence Central: Kirkland is a 6’2″, 228 lb. linebacker with offers from Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, and Tennessee, among others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #5 inside linebacker, and #194 overall. He had 110 tackles and 8 sacks as a junior in 2013. Kirkland visited Michigan several times and finally picked up a Michigan offer this spring; he was set to announce later this month, but then offers from Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, etc. caused him to take a step back. He now plans to make a decision in August. Michigan was thought to be one of his top couple schools, but things got foggier when he postponed the decision.

Visitors: May 2-4, 2014

Bloomfield Hills (MI) Brother Rice quarterback Alex Malzone

Alex Malzone – QB – Bloomfield Hills (MI) Brother Rice: Malzone threw for offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier earlier this week and was invited to campus. At least six other teams were there to see him throw, and a visit scheduled so quickly hints to me that an offer could very well be on the way. I did a scouting report on Malzone back in January

, along with some other quarterbacks.

Visitors: April 25-27, 2014

Lincolnton (NC) Lincolnton defensive end Darian Roseboro doubles as a high school fullback (image via Lincoln Times News)

Darian Roseboro – DE – Lincolnton (NC) Lincolnton: Roseboro is a 6’4″, 265 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Texas, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and numerous others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #8 strongside end, and the #110 player overall for the 2015 class. If his stats are to be believed, he has had quite a three-year run since his freshman year when he had 107 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and 7 sacks. He followed that up with 107 tackles, 30 tackles for loss, and 8 sacks as a sophomore and then 121 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, and 11 sacks as a junior. Ace recruiter Roy Manning, who has taken over the mid-Atlantic area for Michigan, has been developing a good relationship with Roseboro and secured a four-day trip to Ann Arbor this week.

Visitors: April 18-20, 2014

Avon (CT) Old Farms tight end Chris Clark

2015
Chris Clark – TE – Avon (CT) Old Farms: Clark is a 6’6″, 247 lb. prospect who recently decommitted from North Carolina; he also has offers from Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ohio State, along with many others. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #3 tight end, and #130 overall. As a junior in 2013, he caught 39 passes for 417 yards and 6 touchdowns. Recruiting gurus are picking Notre Dame, where he visited a couple weekends ago, but he has yet to visit Columbus or Ann Arbor.

Clelin Ferrell – DE – Richmond (VA) Benedictine: Ferrell is a 6’5″, 225 lb. prospect who recently named a top eleven of Clemson, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia Tech. He’s a 247 Composite 4-star, the #8 weakside end, and #84 overall for the class. He plays in the same league as freshman QB Wilton Speight and 2014 cornerback commit Garrett Taylor, and his teammate is 2016 wide receiver offeree Scott Bracey.

Grant Newsome – OT – Lawrenceville (NJ) Lawrenceville School: I typed up a scouting report on Newsome at the end of March. He recently picked up an Arkansas offer and visited Penn State.

2016
Ben Bredeson – OT – Hartland (WI) Arrowhead: Bredeson is a 6’5″, 275 lb. prospect with offers from Iowa State, Michigan, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. He visited Michigan for the spring game a couple weekends ago and also took a swing through Columbus and Knoxville. The Badgers are considered to be the leader.