shanon reid

A Wall Worth Building

Michigan hosted a huge group of official visitors for the win over Wisconsin, and coming out of the weekend it sounds like they've made some serious progress recruiting for the offensive line.

The visitor most expected to eventually end up in the class was four-star IMG OC Cesar Ruiz. That impression didn't change a bit after the visit. Ruiz told The Wolverine's Brandon Brown that getting to spend time with a few recruits he's befriended during the process—Jedrick Wills, Alex Leatherwood, and Baron Browning—as well as the crew of fellow New Jersey natives on the team put Michigan in a different league from his other recent official visit:

"That made the visit ten times better for me," he said. "That’s what really separated it from my North Carolina visit last week. Jonah Melton is a really cool dude but I didn’t know him previously. Since I knew all of these dudes at Michigan previously we just decided to go have fun. We really enjoyed our time."

Florida and Oklahoma are the two official visits left on his itinerary. He made it sound like the Wolverines will be hard to catch:

"Michigan is in a good spot," he said with a chuckle. "We are going to leave it at that but yes, Michigan is in a good spot right now."

While Ruiz's warm reception to M's recruiting pitch didn't come as a surprise, the reaction five-star FL OT Alex Leatherwood, an Alabama commit, gave to TomVH was an eye-opener:

Leatherwood is still committed to Alabama but is exploring his options. His time spent in Ann Arbor seemed to have a big impact on his recruitment.

"Phenomenal, unreal atmosphere," Leatherwood said. "Changed [my recruitment] big time. My dad loves it here."

Leatherwood had similar comments to Scout's SEC-country analyst, Chad Simmons:

"To be honest, Michigan is making me think about my commitment to Alabama. My dad even likes them a lot. We're gonna do some very deep thinking on this.

"I can't really explain the feeling I have at Michigan -- I just like it a lot."

Sam Webb mentioned Leatherwood's father had been skeptical about the program entering the trip and ended up wearing Michigan gear on the visit; the repeated mentions that he enjoyed his time there could be as meaningful as the impression made on his son.

247's Steve Wiltfong got a quick visit reaction from four-star TX OT Chuck Filiaga:

"It was a great visit," Filiaga told 247Sports. "From the game, the crowd, the coaches, the players, they all make it something special! Michigan truly does have a great set up for its program."

Finally, four-star KY OT Jedrick Wills hasn't gone on the record about his visit yet, but a look at his Twitter page indicates it went quite well, too.

Michigan in in the driver's seat for Ruiz and may have moved to the top of the list for Filiaga, as well. Leatherwood and Wills are probably longer shots—especially Wills, who's expected to end up at Alabama—but it's clear the Wolverines made a strong impression on both of them.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]

M's Biggest Recruiting Weekend Is Here

Michigan has stacked this weekend with visits, many of the official variety, and it's shaping up to be their most important recruiting weekend of the fall. TMI's Brice Marich has a free rundown of the top visitors on campus, and 247's Steve Wiltfong has an overview of the major recruiting storylines. Here's a quick runthrough with some additional notes where applicable.

OFFICIAL VISITORS

Five-star TX OLB Baron Browning: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas, and UCLA appear to be Michigan's primary competition, and while the Wovlerines have been regarded as a fringe contender for much of Browning's recruitment, 247's Steve Wiltfong said this week his summer visit put M in better position than ND and OSU. Browning's brother played for Jim Harbaugh at Stanford, which can't hurt M's chances.

FIve-star FL OT Alex Leatherwood (Alabama commit): Michigan and Florida are trying to pry Leatherwood away from Bama, but Steve Lorenz has mentioned on our podcast that this is quite a long shot unless Bama OL coach Mario Cristobal leaves the staff after the season.

Four-star KY OT Jedrick Wills: Wills looked like he'd drop to Alabama before ever making it to Ann Arbor. While that didn't occur, Bama remains the favorite.

Four-star NJ OLB Drew Singleton: There's still a lot of optimism from Michigan insiders about Singleton—who's here for his second game this season—despite the buzz surrounding Clemson.

Four-star IMG OLB Jordan Anthony: Another linebacker prospect long considered a Michigan lean.

Four-star IMG OC Cesar Ruiz: As Lorenz said in this week's recruiting mailbag, Ruiz is arguably the most important target left on the board, and with Alabama seemingly out of the picture this is a race Michigan expects to win.

[This list is long enough to JUMP mid-section. As I said, it's a huge visit weekend.]

Yaaaaaaaa Luiji

The usual spate of post-commitment scouting reports have come in since Luiji Vilain announced for Michigan on Sunday, and lo, they are good. The Wolverine's Brandon Justice talked to an opposing high school coach who made a lofty comparison—Jevon Kearse—and had difficulty finding an issue with Vilain's game:

"Without any disrespect to other teams we play, he's the first name that pops up that comes to my mind when I think about defensive ends we'll play," he said. "I wouldn't say he has any flaws - just some size and strength to add, and Michigan will take care of that. I think he's right where they want him to be. I think he's big enough where he can make an impact right away, like a third-down specialist. He's just too athletic to keep off the field."

247's Clint Brewster posted a film breakdown slideshow featuring a strength of Vilain's that I didn't highlight much in the Hello post:

Villain's play recognition is another important aspect of his game that stands out on tape. He never drops his head and his awareness for run/pass diagnosis are impressive. At defensive end you have to be a quick-thinker and react to plays in an instant. Vilain's awareness allows him to come up with many bat-downs on tape and he's able to diagnose the read-option and come up with stops in the backfield. His ability to diagnose keeps him a step ahead on plays where there's mis-direction in the backfield.

Discipline on the edge is paramount against today's college offenses; Vilain appears to have it.

Scout's lengthy, free scouting report ends thusly:

Vilain will compete from day one at Michigan and he's going to be hard to keep off the field.

Ultimately, I expect him to be a multi-year starter, all-conference performer and play on Sundays.

That would be acceptable.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]