Photo Credit: Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog

Inside the Fish Bowl Softens the Blow

Posted onAuthorGarrett Fishaw

While the 2020 college football season hangs in the balance, the recruiting world continues to push on through everything. Michigan just swung and missed on one of the top players in the state, which hurts, but may not sting as much thanks to another top-flight offensive guard prospect.

Told You So

No, I’m not talking to you, Danny Kannell.

I mean I was wrong with my choice but I totally told you in my 3rd 2021 Best Guess Recruiting Class prediction that if I put Clarkston (MI) OG Rocco Spindler in the class and left Noble & Greenough (MA) OG Drew Kendall out of the class, the opposite would end up happening.

“This one looks like it fully hinges on what Rocco Spindler does. If he picks Michigan, Kendall will end up elsewhere. If he picks Notre Dame, Kendall picks Michigan. And now that I put him on the Just Missed list, I could totally see Kendall being the one that ends up with that spot. But we’ll cross that road if it happens.”

BGRC 21.3

Not to mention, this is what seems like the 20th time in a row that I left someone off my BGRC and then just days or weeks later, they joined the class. Happened with Cristian Dixon after the BGRC 21.2:

And it looks like it could happen again.

Spindler committed to Notre Dame on Saturday and it came out that that was his chosen landing spot for some time. It didn’t help it was also a promise made to his late grandfather.

“I told my grandfather maybe a year ago, he only had three days left and he was a huge Notre Dame fan,” Rocco said. “I didn’t come with that decision yet, I told him just so he could know before he passed away. He was so happy. I was like, ‘Hey, you can’t tell anybody,’ and he didn’t. I didn’t come with that (decision) until later, actually two weeks ago knew I really wanted to go to Notre Dame so I fulfilled that promise.”

David Goricki/TheDetroitNews

That promise was made long ago so Michigan did still have plenty of time to sway things towards the Wolverines, which a lot of analysts believed was possible up until he announced. However, from just about all of the interviews Spindler did about his decision, while he said it was “splitting hairs” between the two blue blood programs, the Fighting Irish always seemed to have the upperhand.

That’s a good win for Notre Dame and bad miss on the perception side of things as well as in terms of roster talent for Michigan.

Missing on a prospect of Spindler’s level in your own state can hurt even if with the amount of young talent the program has at the offensive guard position.

Luckily, Ed Warinner and the staff aren’t too bad at this whole recruiting thing and have a four-star, top 150 offensive guard waiting in the wings that has been a lean to the Wolverines for quite some time.

Drew Kendall may not be as physically developed as Spindler at the moment but he too is the son of a former longtime NFL lineman and also has an extremely high ceiling. Give him a little time to add the proper weight and strength and lookout. It’ll be fun to compare the collegiate careers of the two in 4-5 years.

But it’ll only be fun if Kendall follows through and picks Michigan.

The Wolverine’s EJ Holland wouldn’t be surprised if Kendall jump on board “fairly quickly” ($) following Spindler’s decision:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Kendall commits fairly quickly. Everything makes sense for him to jump onboard. U-M offensive line coach Ed Warinner did a terrific job with Kendall’s parents this weekend. Kendall also feels comfortable with Warinner and his track record. On top of that, Kendall loves the New England ties and is close friends with guys on the team and commits. In fact, Michigan tight end commit Louis Hansen spent the day recruiting Kendall to Michigan. The two have a close friendship.”

EJ Holland/Rivals/The Wolverine

Quarterback commit JJ McCarthy has already turned his attention towards the top-ranked player in Massachusetts.

At this point, I don’t think anyone would be shocked if Kendall is officially a Michigan commit before the end of the month.

On the Bright Side

Missing out on top recruiting targets can be a downer but as the Kendall situation shows, there’s almost always a bright side to look at.

Luckily, it’s not too hard to remain positive on Michigan’s football recruiting as the staff looks to be pulling away from the pack for three of the staff’s top 2022 targets and setting themselves up for another great “backup plan” for a top in-state 2021 target.

Wiltfong also mentioned that his source believes “Michigan and USC may be in best position to land” four-star 2021 Del Valle (TX) RB Tavierre Dunlap. Wiltfong added he believes Michigan is still the favorite for West Bloomfield (MI) RB Donovan Edwards.

This has been covered before but to go over it again, multiple reports have said that Michigan will take two running backs if Dunlap joins before Edwards but if the in-state jumps first, it may close things up for that position.

Also, this is good security for the staff similar to the Kendall-Spindler situation. Always nice to have multiple 4+ star options at each position.

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Photo Credit: Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog

Garrett Fishaw
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