omarion hampton

I’m trying different formats for the recruiting posts. If you’re keeping track of all the names you can get much better recruiting coverage from the paid sites dedicated to it. If you’re just trying to get oriented, these posts are for you. I update the 2022 Recruiting Board under Useful Stuff every week or two.

Visits

Lorenz has a (free) rundown of who’s coming and when, with the penultimate weekend in June (which I assume is the BBQ) when they’re going for the most overlap bonuses. I’ve added a few that have been announced since.

June 11-13: QB Nate Johnson, ATH (LB) Tyler Banks, CB Kody Jones, CB Myles Pollard

June 18-20: RB CJ Stokes, RB/H Dillon Bell, OL Lucas Heyer, NT Walter Nolen, SDE/DT Joe Strickland, DT Justice Finkley, DT Sir Mells, DE Mario Eugenio, SDE Joseph Adedire, ILB Omar Graham, OLB Joshua Josephs, HSP Austin Brown, CB Will Johnson

June 25-27: WR Darrius Clemons, DE Anto Saka

Quarterback

Quick Summary: Down to a 3-star Denard type, but it looks like they’ll get him.

Latest: EJ Holland dropped a free article that shared some of his thinking behind potential FutureCast picks, and the first on the list was the one quarterback Michigan still seems to have on the hook, CA 3* Nate Johnson. Short version: Michigan should be able to beat Utah and Oregon State here. Johnson is visiting on the 11th.

Class it is like: 2000. With Drew Henson’s best years ahead of him and 3.5-stars Navarre/Mignery in the class after that, the school about to graduate Tom Brady struck out with elite targets, was too late to get in with the next level, and settled for Jermaine Gonzalez, the gettable athlete from Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. Gonzalez would play some receiver but was never much threat to three-year starter Navarre.

Happy trails: TX 3* Alex Orji committed to Virginia Tech.

[After THE JUMP: What class these offensive positions remind me of.]

We’re catching up on the shape of 2022 recruiting, which has morphed some since the staff shakeup this offseason. I covered defense last week but there have been some significant moves on the offense too.

Summary:

QB: New board, best two options are a couple of Midwest 3-stars Cincy and Iowa were after.
RB: Hart is going to gun for some 5-stars.
WR: Bellamy’s added some long and tall prospects (one an ATH from Groves) to the longtime pursuits of Gattis-beloved targets Brown/Morris.
TE: Klein solid, the other GA prospect is now a 4-star with SEC suitors, other-other GA prospect recently decommitted from PSU.
OL: The commit may move up the rankings, one impending commit is gonna hold off to get to know Moore better, one impending commit already does, and a number of Sherrone’s top targets have replaced guys who liked Warinner.

Most Likely Warinner OL to Stick

CO 4* commit Connor Jones hasn’t wavered with Sherrone Moore taking over as position coach, and Brice Marich got us some recent scouting from Jones’s coach:

“…a point of improvement was his footwork in pass-pro. It really got better and moving lateral with quickness. He’s violent with his hands and all those things really improved significantly during last off-season through the end of the 2020 season. He’s always been a very physical run blocker and always been very demanding of himself. He punishes people and finishes blocks, but that’s how he’s always been. I think his lateral speed, quickness and violent hands in pass-pro have really gotten better.”

Colorado doesn’t have any naturally large bodies of water, so that coach can be forgiven for mangling a maritime Keynesian economics metaphor…

“He’s a guy that puts water in the harbor.”

…to say Jones is a great teammate. But he also reports Jones is up to 6-7/290, so it could also mean the kid literally lifts all boats.

We thought we’d have a second guy from the state in the class, as CO 3* Braden Miller, Reece Atteberry’s teammate and SixZero Academy partner($), was really close to committing our people tell us (and EJ’s people tell him($)). Clearly the Warinner divorce held off Miller’s announcement, which is great news for those of us who were procrastinating on that Hello post.

MN 4* Lucas Heyer is a top priority for a lot of Big Ten schools. Warinner was in early($) thanks to his Minnesota connections, but it waits to be seen if Michigan surrendered their slim lead there when they surrendered Ed. We may not have to wait long; 247’s Brice Marich put in a Crystal Ball to Michigan this week($).

[After THE JUMP: lock up yo five-stars]