maliq carr

2020

Michigan fans are familiar with MI WR Maliq Carr, and Carr’s very familiar with Michigan. So much so, in fact, that he isn’t planning an official because the school is so close to home and, as he told The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown, he “…can just show up.” It seems that Michigan has moved back up his list with the hiring of Josh Gattis, as Gattis is recruiting him at his preferred position of receiver where they had been recruiting him as a tight end before. He told Brown how Michigan sees him at the moment.

They told me that if I gain over 20 pounds from right now then I’d be an H, but that’s not about to happen. I’m not going to let myself do that," Carr said. "I want to be an X; basically where Donovan [Peoples-Jones] is. I’m at about 225 pounds right now after being around 230 last week.

Even though Michigan is recruiting him as a receiver for now, both Brown and Sam Webb write that Purdue appears to be his leader. Brown says Purdue is telling him “everything he wants to hear,” including playing exclusively receiver. Webb writes that Purdue told him he can also give basketball a shot, something he said Michigan was discussing with him before John Beilein’s exit. Whichever school lands Carr is going to be the one that he thinks will get him the ball most often. He spoke with both Brown and Webb about how he likes how much Purdue passes, then broke that down a little further with Webb:

“Honestly, it does (give Purdue an advantage),” Carr admitted. “I mean, the more that I get the ball, the more I can show what I can do… which raises my draft stock (and) the more money I can make.”

I mean, he’s not wrong. Can still make a career out of being a tight end, but he’s not wrong.

Carr said he thinks he will visit Michigan in June because other recruits have told him everyone will be there, and that’s the truth. Steve Lorenz reports that four-star TX CB and current Oklahoma commit Ryan Watts will be on campus this weekend. Watts picked up his Michigan offer in April and committed to the Sooners later that month, but a quick glance at his recruiting profile—particularly the number of other schools’ recruiting sites writing about him as a target—makes it appear as though his recruitment is fairly open. This is one more piece of evidence toward establishing a rule that if Oklahoma is in on a corner Michigan would take them too, as is the case with Oklahoma decommit CA CB Darion Green-Warren (who’s officially taking a Michigan official at some point). Joining him this weekend will be NJ S RJ Moten, who is visiting unofficially. 247’s Steve Wiltfong says Michigan would like to get him to set an official visit soon after, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it’s June 21. Moten’s crystal ball is 100% Michigan, and Wiltfong says Michigan is still the strong favorite. Moten is a composite four-star and ranked #328 overall, though to 247 he’s the 174th-best player in the country.

[After THE JUMP: many, many more visits]

Oak Park three-star WR Maliq Carr has recently seen his interest in Michigan explode, and he attributes it all to one person. As he told The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb:

“Coach Gattis is the difference there. Coach Gattis is the big difference. Before, I really wouldn’t really have considered (Michigan) as much as I do now. They probably wouldn’t have been in the top five without Coach Gattis. Coach Gattis is a huge difference.”

Carr told WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold that he expects he’ll get the ball often if he attends Michigan because that’s what Gattis told him he’ll do. Carr visited Michigan twice last week, and though he made compelling cases for each team in his top five (Purdue, LSU, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Michigan) in his discussion with Webb, they weren’t convincing enough to stop seven people from casting Michigan crystal balls in the past week. Coinciding with that came 247’s Steve Lorenz moving Carr up to “top target” on their Michigan board, which comes on the heels of fellow MI WR Rashawn Williams being moved down to “high choice” as he apparently is more interested in other Big Ten schools. There’s plenty of time for Carr to further develop his relationship with Gattis, as he told Petzold that he’ll be committing October 11th.

Sticking with in-staters for a minute, MI ATH Cam Martinez is still listed as an athlete in 247’s database, but he has some clarity regarding how Michigan would use him should he go there after taking an unofficial visit to Ann Arbor last weekend. The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich reports that Martinez spent most of his time with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, and the two made small talk and watched film to show how Martinez would be utilized in the offense. Currently a quarterback, Martinez says Michigan is looking at him at slot receiver and possibly running back.

Martinez is one of Michigan’s top targets, but the Wolverines’ staff shouldn’t expect to know much about his commitment anytime soon; he told Marich he’ll make his decision either before or after his senior season. Martinez told WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold he should have a slightly better idea how he feels about certain schools after the first week in April, during which he has one visit scheduled each day to predominantly Big Ten schools.

There’s even more good news when it comes to top targets, as VA DE Antwaun Powell unofficially visited last weekend and told WolverinesWire’s Evan Petzold he couldn’t have asked for a better visit. He left his unofficial having set a date in late June to come back and visit officially. If Powell’s ratings are to be believed, the Michigan staff must be ecstatic. He broke things down numerically with The Wolverine’s Brandon Brown:

"I'm feeling the love from them and it seems like they really want me," Powell-Ryland said. "I think they're recruiting me at about a 10 and I like them a solid 8, probably closer to a 9."

Powell noted that he got to spend a good amount of time with defensive coordinator Don Brown, and that Brown raved about his get-off and pass-rushing skills. He also told Brandon Brown that Virginia Tech and Duke are recruiting at a 10, and he has a Duke visit scheduled for the first week in April. Powell thinks he’ll make his final decision in the weeks after his Michigan official, as he told Brown he’ll make a decision before his season starts.

[After THE JUMP: more crystal ballz, big-time visitors, and rising 2021 players M got in on early] 

The last installment of this series led with 2019 recruiting (M might take a running back) before segueing into how Rivals’ post-All-Star game bumps (and drops) impacted Michigan’s 2019 class. Call it chronological organization or lack of imagination but with no other 2019 updates, this post is going to lead with how 247’s post-All-Star game bumps (and drops) impact Michigan’s 2019 class.

The biggest move in the rankings was GA OT Trente Jones’ 88-spot leap from #197 to #109. If you’re a regular reader of recruiting roundup this shouldn’t come as a surprise; if you aren’t, I’ll shamelessly plug a Future Blue Derivatives post I put together about Jones in December. In short, he pairs prototypical tackle size and weight with athleticism far greater than you’d expect from a guy his size.

Another guy who’s more athletic than someone his size has a right to reasonably expect to be is GA DT Chris Hinton. Rivals has him as the #15 overall player in the 2019 class, and though 247 didn’t bump his ranking quite so high, he did get moved from just outside the Top100 (#104) to the upper half of that distinguisher (#47). All told, the movement was enough to make him a composite five-star and #31 overall, up from #49 in pre-postseason-camp composite ranking.

Two other players made big moves up 247’s rankings. MI DT Mazi Smith had such a good week of practice prior to the Under Armour game that 247’s John Garcia was prompted to coin one of my favorite player descriptors of all time: leverage monster.  The Leverage Monster (Ol’ Leverage Monster?) is still a four-star to 247 but moved from #240 to #170. Another in-state four-star jetting up the rankings is MI OL Karsen Barnhart, who moved from #247 to #161.

There were no free-fallers; those who moved down were mostly bumped down by risers, and they generally slid about 10 spots down. OK S Daxton Hill was moved from #8 to #23 because…stuff and things. He didn’t have much to do at practice during the practice week in San Antonio and therefore didn’t get an All-Star game bump, and 247 gave 10 players a fifth star that they then ranked above Hill. All told, the bumps up were enough to lift Michigan's class to sixth overall.

[Hit THE JUMP if you want the post title to make sense]