jerome carvin
Part one of this week's two-part roundup, covering the recent commits, can be found here.
Official Offers Out: Sims Enrolling Early
August 1st was the first day written scholarship offers could go out to the class of 2018. You can see what Michigan's formal offers look like above; over the last couple years they've added the "we expect you to continue to strive for excellence" section as an explicit defense against another Erik Swenson situation.
Offer day came with some news this year: four-star GA CB Myles Sims will take advantage of the new early signing period and sign on December 21st, getting Michigan their top defensive back commit on campus for spring ball.
In other commit news, four-star MI DE Aidan Hutchinson announced yesterday he was selected for the Army All-American Bowl.
After last weekend's BBQ at the Big House, Michigan's odds of holding onto four-star IN OG Emil Ekiyor have improved. Following a recent visit to Alabama, Ekiyor said he'd eventually decide between the Wolverines and the Tide, and it sounded like it might be a coin-flip. He told 247's Isaiah Hole, however, that he's simply covering his bases:
While there's still a long ways to go until Signing Day, Ekiyor reaffirmed that he's taking visits as part of an exploratory process, but that he remains firmly committed to Michigan.
“Michigan is definitely the place that I want to be," Ekiyor said. "But I'm also (taking visits) just to make sure that I'm not being blind to another place, just because I feel so good about Michigan.”
It helps that a fellow Indianapolis native, four-star LB Cameron McGrone, joined the class on Monday. Ekiyor told The Wolverine's Brandon Brown he's "really excited to get up there" and join McGrone (plus Hoosier state products Chris Evans and Brandon Peters) in Maize and Blue:
"It makes you feel more comfortable with everybody up there," Ekiyor said. "We already know each other from being in the same city. You get more people from Indy supporting you too because basically all of the best players are heading to Michigan. It just gives you a level of being comfortable."
While Michigan will have to sweat out more visits, Ekiyor's commitment looks to be firmer than we believed last week.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Scout Rankings Update: Milton Gets Fourth Star
When quarterback Joe Milton committed to Michigan a little over a month ago, Scout was the only site that didn't rank him as a four-star. After last week's rankings update, that's no longer the case; Milton jumped to #261 overall. While movement was relatively minor for Michigan's other commits, their top uncommitted target at quarterback, Tyler Shough, also leaped up the rankings:
Shough checks in to the Scout 300 at No. 182 and is one of two quarterbacks out West to jump in to the 300 along with Camm Cooper. The Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton signal caller saw his stock soar this off-season with scholarship offers flying in from all over the country. After seeing him up close at the Elite 11 Finals over the weekend, it was easy to see why. Shough is a pure passer with a great feel for the position. He has a smooth, easy delivery, is smart with the football and among the most accurate quarterbacks in the country. California, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina and South Carolina are his finalists.
Michigan remains in excellent shape there.
HARBAUGH
DeSoto CB @GreenGemon dislocated his shoulder on a pass break up. He then popped it back in and broke up a pass on the next play.
— Mike Roach (@MikeRoach247) June 10, 2017
Harbaugh.
(Green is fine, by the way.)
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Small Town, Big Vibe, Big Ten
Three-star AZ QB Tyler Shough visited campus over the weekend. As you'd expect, the outlook is still quite good after he got one-on-one time with Jim Harbaugh. From Scout's Blair Angulo:
"It was a great experience to continue building that relationship with the coaches," Shough told Scout.com. "Coach Harbaugh has a great track record, but he's an even cooler guy in person when you get to talk to him. The whole experience, the whole environment in Ann Arbor was amazing because it has a small-town [feel], but you get a big-town vibe to it as well. Walking around the streets with coach Harbaugh, he's like a celebrity. Eating lunch with him was a cool experience.
In that same interview, Shough detailed a discussion with Harbaugh about how Michigan would manage bringing in two quarterbacks in the same class with different skill sets:
"The coaches told me that whichever quarterback wins that starting job, they would build the offense around him," Shough said. "They love my skill set in their base style offense with what I could do. I asked them about the quarterback situation and about Joe [Milton] as well because he's a freak athlete.
Shough's planned upcoming visits don't sound too threatening; he'll head to Indiana soon, and he may visit Cal after that. With a summer decision planned, Michigan is in great shape. 247's Steve Lorenz posted that the staff "killed it" with this visit and Shough is "all Michigan" unless they change course on taking two quarterbacks.
Meanwhile, here's a fun quote about Joe Milton from his head coach:
The quarterback from Olympia High School in Orlando, Fla., is right-handed but, while moving to his left, he launches the ball about 50 yards in the air down the sideline and over a pair of defenders for a touchdown.
It's just one play - and the first one at that - in Milton's highlight video. But, it offers a glimpse of his talent and potential.
"There's no drill for that," Olympia coach Kyle Hayes said. "We don't do the 55-yard throw against the grain drill. That's just being an athlete and making a play."
The future at the position looks bright. Speaking of which, the top-ranked quarterback in the 2019 class, California native JT Daniels, will take his next unofficial visit to Michigan, per Scout's Greg Biggins. Daniels is fresh off a trip to Stanford. Please go away, Stanford.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
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