Welp, arguably the best recruiting month in program history is over. Pretty fun, huh? The staff reeled in 14 commitments, including nine that participated in the Summer Swarm satellite camp circuit. While there were several big pick ups, the biggest may have been the last, Camden (NJ) DE Ron Johnson.
Johnson was the first of the top east coast targets to fall and, like expected, it looks like his commitment will cause a nice recruiting run for Michigan to end out the summer.
All of the New Jersey Recruits
WR Brad Hawkins
Even though he was unable to make the trip to Ann Arbor this past week, Hawkins decided to set an announcement date just days after teammate Ron Johnson made his pledge.
I will be announcing my commitment on Friday July 3rd. I will be choosing between Oregon, South Carolina, Michigan, Temple, & Rutgers.
— stay tuned (@bradhawkins9) June 29, 2015
With the quick decision, it looks like it’s all but a done deal for Hawkins to choose Michigan. Lets just say I would be completely shocked if he chose South Carolina.
TE Naseir Upshur (from Philadelphia, not Jersey)
Like Hawkins, Upshur quickly set an announcement date, which was a bit of a surprise.
#Rivals100 TE @NaseirUpshur tells me he will commit on Aug 8 #Bama #GoBlue #ASU #UMD #FSU #USC http://t.co/8lij0i8Gsj pic.twitter.com/WtPE20YCEk
— Adam Friedman (@RivalsFriedman) June 27, 2015
If he didn’t pull the trigger on his trip to Ann Arbor, most believed he was going to wait until he took some more visits. However, that’s not the case and things look very good for the Wolverines here. Once again, I’d be shocked if he chose anyone else.
DT Rashan Gary
To finish out the 2016 Jersey visitors from last week, the last top target to arrive was the top player in the country, Paramus Catholic’s Rashan Gary. This was the first trip he made to Ann Arbor with his mother and according to every report, Michigan absolutely killed it.
- The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb spoke with Gary’s mom, Jennifer Coney, and she was raving about how much she loved the Wolverines and Associate Athletic Director Greg Harden ($).
- Wolverine247’s Steve Lorenz heard similar as a source told him Michigan “knocking it out of the park” ($). While his colleague and fellow Steve, Steve Wiltfong spoke with his mother and learned that Gary will be cutting down his list after The Opening Nike camp and the Wolverines are in fantastic shape ($).
- Gary also spoke with Rivals’ Adam Friedman about his latest trips to the Midwest and absolutely raved about one of his visits a little bit more than the other (Hint: they have a 3 horse QB race this preseason……and went 5-7 last year). And like his mom told Webb, Gary spoke very highly of Greg Harden and his former head coach, Chris Partridge ($).
I have had the #1 player in the country on my 2016 Best Guess Recruiting Class since last August and will keep him there throughout. When reading the tea leaves, it looks like Michigan is the heavy favorite here. Though it would be smart to keep an eye on Auburn.
Mitchell was able to make the trip to Ann Arbor and it looks like they may have taken the lead for his services. He spoke with NJ Advance Media’s Todderick Hunt soon after he returned from the trip:
2 teams stand out 4 Mitchell although he's not ready 4 me 2 release them at this time. But seems to B gettin closer. pic.twitter.com/BEOgONFUZF
— Todderick Hunt (@TodderickHunt) June 27, 2015
Mitchell spoke with Rivals’ Adam Friedman about it and said that Michigan and Ohio State are those two teams on top ($). When you add in the rumor that OSU doesn’t have room for Mitchell and the fact that Michigan will likely land 3-4 of his closest friends on the recruiting trail, and I believe he ends up picking the Maize and Blue whenever he makes his decision.
2017 DL Corey Bolds and 2018 DE Jayson Ademilola
Michigan is absolutely killing it in Jersey in the 2016 class and I believe will keep that pipeline going in the 2017 and 2018 classes. And two of the future top targets are already planning trips for this summer:
@Chief_Corey Ayo hit me with the date
— jayson ademilola (@jaysonademilola) June 30, 2015
Bolds is teammates and good friends with Rashan Gary as well as the other top 2017 Paramus Catholic target, OLB Drew Singleton. It is not known yet but there’s a possibility Singleton tags along, as well as Ademilola’s brother, Justin Ademilola, to make a later summer visit.
Quick Hitters
- Speaking of Singleton, things are looking very good for Michigan here. While it would be out of the blue, I wouldn’t be completely shocked to see him join the 2017 class sooner rather than later.
- As for another very likely future commit, K/P Quinn Nordin told Rivals’ Josh Helmholdt that he will decide “by the end of July” ($). He went on to rave about Michigan which has most believing that he will choose the Maize and Blue. The real question is ‘will a spot is still available after that June recruiting run?’. I believe so, but we’ll see.
- I spoke with FB/LB commit David Reese and he cleared up some of the rumors out there about him looking around. He has some telling him to keep his options open and is just playing it safe, like most recruits should. However, he told me he loves Michigan and still plans on enrolling in January.
- One of the latest offers to go out was to 2016 WR/CB Keyshawn Young and that is now a name to remember. I chatted with Young for a bit and he let me know that this offer was “Very very very big” and that he is very close friends with the Flanagan recruits (Devin Gil, Josh Metellus and Devin Bush Jr). If he gets on campus soon, like he’s planning, I believe the Wolverines have a great chance to land the versatile playmaker.
Name to Watch:
2017 Middletown (NJ) WR Eddie Lewis
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