mekhai white

I've been wanting to write a Spring Football Bits for weeks, except the biggest news coming out of there isn't what's happening on the field for 2023 but which high schoolers have been coming by to watch it. So here we are, mid Spring Ball of the most anticipated season since 2006, rolling out an update on teenagers who might sign in 2024 or 2025 and be relevant by 2026.

Oh, and one stray 2023 that's still out there.

Safety swipe. VA 4* ATH Brandyn Hillman recently asked out of his NLI to Notre Dame and is expected to join either Michigan or Ohio State($, info in title), with Michigan calling within 15 minutes of Hillman reopening his recruitment. Lorenz agrees Michigan is in front($) but makes it sound more like a 4-point lead, with Ohio State about to get possession($), as Bill Kurelic says OSU is the only school that's currently certain to get visit (video). OSU was the loser of a 5-star battle with Bama for #1 safety/#6 overall Caleb Downs on Early Signing Day. USC, who missed out late on TX 4* Warren Roberson, also offered.

Michigan didn't have a pure safety in the class but brought in three guys who redshirted in 2022 and a couple more ATHs in Jason Hewlett and DJ Waller who project to the LB and CB sides of the safety range, respectively, meaning they can afford Hillman time to develop. Not so at Notre Dame, where the safety depth chart is starting resemble their 4-scholarship player basketball roster. Their 2023 class also got raided over the course of the cycle.

Hillman played QB and several other positions in high school but it's pretty clear this is a safety offer, not a last second quarterback. He's shown out at camps, most recently at the Polynesian Bowl. Tim Prister describes a versatile "wrecking ball" and "Point A to Point B missile" who's sized like a pure safety but brings a LB's mentality. All that sounds more like Khaleke Hudson.

So how did Hillman slip loose? Hillman said "personal reasons." MnB did some message board sleuthing but only found Tom Loy claiming academics but not just academics:

[Loy] stated he “believes academics played a role here in this decision” for him to leave Notre Dame. Loy further stated there were “some hurdles” to getting him academically admitted, but Notre Dame didn’t push to get him cleared. Apparently this is a specific academic problem related to Notre Dame, otherwise high academic schools like Michigan, Vanderbilt and Virginia likely would not have offered.

It's my understanding that Michigan and Notre Dame have the same academic approach—the teams get a handful of "trust us" counters for freshmen who are reasonably close but everyone else has to get in on their own—which means non-qualifiers either A) didn't meet the minimal standard for a counter, or B) were supposed to get in on their own and now need a counter. Loy's claim that ND "didn't push to get him cleared" is a nod toward 'B' but could also translate to "he told us not to bother."

[After THE JUMP: Phil Brabbs gets a downgrade]