Photo Credit: Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog

Are New Offers the Sign of Issues on the Cornerback Recruiting Front?

Posted onAuthorGarrett Fishaw

With the beginning of the football season, a new season of recruiting begins. Official visits have begun for top targets and new offers have started to go out thanks to senior game tape now available for the coaching staff.

Michigan has already hosted one official visitor this season with plenty of others on the schedule. They’ve also extended two scholarship offers to 2017 recruits, both of whom happen to be at a position of need in the class.

The Wolverines staff handed out offers to two elsewhere committed cornerback prospects in Boston College commit, Cheshire Academy (CT) CB Brandon Sebastian, and Iowa commit, Marcus (TX) CB Matt Hankins.

These offers had people asking if it was a sign of Michigan’s staff not feeling as good about top targets or just finding another good fit for their secondary?

Land of 10’s Brandon Justice believes there’s less confidence on the staff’s end. However, I’m leaning the other way.

The top two targets on the board are Detroit King (MI) CB Ambry Thomas and Calabasas (CA) CB Darnay Holmes. Both of whom are elite level prospects, and they’re being target as such.

Thomas has looked to have the Wolverines out front for awhile now. But MSU is fighting hard. Dantonio and his staff are putting in extra time for the talented Detroiter but I still believe the connections to the Michigan staff, roster and recruits will win out in the end.

As for Holmes, distance is the biggest hangup for Michigan right now. UCLA is in-state and has very close ties to Bruins staff. But his visit to Ann Arbor for the BBQ at the Big House looks to have been a game changer. That’s what brought on my Crystal Ball prediction for the five star to Michigan and it’s what has kept it there, even after postponing his official visit to Ann Arbor this weekend.

According to The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown, Holmes has yet to take his standardized test which is holding him back from taking any officials. So, don’t worry about the postponement, Holmes will visit Michigan before he signs his LOI.

While Michigan is in a dogfight for both Thomas, with Michigan State, and Holmes, with UCLA, I’m still feeling good about their chances with both, especially Thomas.

That takes me back to the staff’s latest offers.

Michigan may be expanding their board a bit but I believe it’s because they found two more guys they believe are Michigan-level prospects. This staff has shown in the past that they’re the type of staff that will offer any player they evaluate and believe can play for them. And though Sebastian and Hawkins are only three star recruits, they show the size, athleticism and playing style in the senior tape that Don Brown and Jim Harbaugh are looking for in their cornerbacks.

Look for all four of the corners above to make it to town for a visit before NSD.

Photo Credit: Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog

Garrett Fishaw
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