Football season is officially here! Team 136 aka Jim Harbaugh’s first team at Michigan is set to take the field in Salt Lake City for a match up with the Utah Utes. Will it work out for the Wolverines? I believe so but don’t be too deflated if they leave the west coast 0-1. Utah is a very good team and has, arguably, the best individual player that Michigan will play all season in RB Devontae Booker.
Either way, the season is here and recruits will now finally get to see what Harbaugh has been selling to them for the last 8 months. Speaking of selling the program to top recruits…..
September Starts the Cycle
When August ended, college football coaches had the green light to contact 2016 targets as well as send material on social media to 2017 recruits directly. For more information on what the start of September means every year for recruiting, check out AthleticScholarships.net.
As for what Michigan did on the 1st, well, to put it simple, they recruited with an Enthusiasm Unknown to Mankind.
According to Wolverine247’s Steve Lorenz, Michigan reached out to the entire 2017 “Pipeline 9” and 49 offered juniors in total, along with their top 2016 targets ($). That 2017 list includes heavy hitters like Hawkins (CA) WR Joseph Lewis, St. John Bosco (CA) OL Wyatt Davis and Valor (CO) QB Dylan McCaffrey.
To go along with Lorenz’s list, I was able to confirm Michigan reaching out to three names to remember:
- 2016 Centennial (TX) RB Anthony Pegues
- I spoke with a source close to situation who broke down the little known Pegues:
- Kid’s a perfect fit for the spread offense. Small but well put together with low center of gravity, impress feet, disappears behind OL and has good speed. Can make you miss and catches ball well as well. Under the radar kid that I really like.”
- I spoke with a source close to situation who broke down the little known Pegues:
- 2017 Covington (GA) RB Kurt Taylor
- Taylor let me know he’ll be visiting Georgia Tech this weekend and Michigan next weekend for the home opener against Oregon State.
- When I asked him how he’s feeling about the Wolverines, he kept it short and sweet:
- “I love Michigan”
- 2017 Clairton (PA) ATH Lamont Wade
- Wade is a name that has been my Best Guess Recruiting Class in the past and may be moving forward now that he has that offer in place.
- He originally let me know that the staff wanted him to camp up at Michigan before they’d extend an offer. However, that clearly wasn’t the case for long as they extended his offer on the 1st.
Updates on Three Top Defensive Target
While Michigan is in fantastic shape with several top targets in 2016, there are three recruits that have been very pretty quiet as of late: Clovis West (CA) OLB Caleb Kelly, Alief Elsik (TX) LB Dontavious Jackson and CB Chris Brown.
I spoke with an Oklahoma source about their feelings on the three top targets:
With Kelly we feel it’s an (Oklahoma)/Michigan battle right now but his visits will be key and could bring Notre Dame, Oregon or Texas right up until that group.
Believe OU is no longer a player with Jackson/Brown. (They are) looking to fill 1 more CB spot in the secondary and don’t believe Jackson has had interest in OU in quite a while”.
At the moment, I don’t believe Michigan has a very good shot at the Alief Elsik duo. However, there is a very good chance things could change after they officially visit this fall. They were rumored to be on the verge of committing after their spring game visit.
As for Kelly, it looks like a toss up between the Sooners and Wolverines, like my source said. Though most believe OU is where he lands, I’m not counting out Michigan even though they are his first official visit. The staff can offer him the NFL experience unlike any other and that is a big factor in his recruitment.
Quick Hitters
- Recruits Taking Visits
- Ben Davis (IN) ATH commit Chris Evans told The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich that he is “all in for Michigan” but will be taking official visits to two local B1G schools ($).
- Flanagan (FL) S commit Devin Gil spoke with CardinalSports’ Mike Singer and told him about how solid his commitment is to the Wolverines but did mention that he’ll be officially visiting Louisville and UCF along with Michigan ($).
- As for another recruit who doesn’t have any other official visits set up, Cass Tech (MI) OG commit Michael Onwenu let The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb and Josh Newkirk know that he is “still solid” to the Wolverines ($).
- 2016 Detroit King (MI) WR Donnie Corley‘s father spoke with The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb and let him know that Donnie should be ready to make a decision “after the first month” ($).
- 2017 Paramus Catholic (NJ) LB Drew Singleton is a top target for the staff and is in fantastic shape with the east coast standout. He was glowing to Rivals’ Adam Friedman when talking about Michigan and mentioned the Wolverines among the three teams that he’s “focusing on” along with his intentions to visit Ann Arbor this fall ($).
Bills is Money
With the start of the direct contact period for 2017, it was expected that we’d be delighted with some more top notch edits from Michigan’s graphic artist, Aaron Bills. And he did not disappoint. Here are four of the Pipeline 9’s September edits:
2017 St Mary’s (MI) WR KJ Hamler
#Michigan's edit to 2017 in-state four-star @Kj_hamler pic.twitter.com/1o3PcPA7OJ
— Steve Lorenz (@TremendousUM) September 1, 2015
2017 Cass Tech (MI) WR Donovan Peoples-Jones
https://twitter.com/dpeoplesjones/status/638773686280060928
2017 Cass Tech (MI) S Jaylen Kelly-Powell
#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/85gXi2ccZc
— Jaylen Kelly-Powell (@JKellypowell) September 1, 2015
2017 De La Salle (MI) ATH Allen Stritzinger
https://twitter.com/Stay_Winnin_/status/638837334906007552
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