victory vaka

Last week I dumped 97 links on offensive recruiting for the class of 2021, and y'all said you were looking forward to the defensive one. Well the thing is the defensive side isn't nearly as set. There are a LOT of guys on the board, and the staff is constantly turning up more of them, so I'm going to have to split this up into three parts, and push 2022s to a fourth. Just remember you asked for this.

The Board:

The fellas again:

Icon	Name	Meaning
	Sad Josh	The genre of player with unrequited interest in Michigan. Unlikely to receive offers; most will eventually fade off the list and go to Duke or Michigan State or something.
	Nefarious Eduardo	Player is a longshot. Either they've declared someone else a leader publicly or popular opinion holds that they're likely to go to another school.
	Data	Either no opinion or Michigan is one of a fairly even group of chasing schools. Players in this category maintain no leader or change their leader frequently. The default category for players that we don't know much about yet.
	Happy Teeth	Players who have Michigan in a small leading group or have Michigan as a tenuous favorite. Should be regarded as a good shot, not a slam dunk.
	Mr. Blue	Player is either a verbal or is expected to be one sooner or later. Players with this designation are 65%+ to be Michigan commits.

The order is my interpretation of how likely they are to commit and how many recruiting points are being expended.

An *Expanded* Note on Stars: What I said last week: These are a general (not exact) average of a player's status among the recruiting services. Addition: The sites don't have two-stars anymore but I'm going to use the designation for certain low 3*s to differentiate between a guy in the 750s who'd still be in the top half of a Michigan State class, and one who's in the 1,000s or not even ranked.

An *Expanded* Note on Premium Info: What I said last week: No illicit sharing of said material will appear on this site. Players are listed with interested schools in their profiles; this information is public. Commitments are by definition public. Any assertions as to schools in the mix, decision dates, or leaders I will back up with links to the source of the information. Addition: There will always be more interesting information after the link. If you want that stuff, subscribe to their services. If you want one place to read what you could spend a few hours looking up for free on your own, this post is for you.

Defensive Tackle

Strap in, because there are a lot of guys to talk about here. In fact I left out another ten Shaun Nua stays in contact with. The guy likes to recruit.

Commits
Player	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Previously
Dominick Giudice	NJ	**	Michigan		Hello. Harbaugh bait.
Targets
Player	State	Stars	Schools	Y/N	Previously
George Rooks	NJ	****	Cuse Michigan, PSU, Miami, Pitt, BC		Visited for PSU
Rayshaun Benny	MI	****	Michigan, Iowa, Penn State, Ohio State
Tywone Malone	NJ	****.5	OSU, Ole Miss, TAMU, UF		Baseball too
Jacob Schuster	WA	***	Cal, Stanford, Wash, Wazzu, Michigan
Jay Toia	CA	****	USC Commit
Derek Wilkins	CA	****	Cal, Stanford lead all the academics
Arden Walker	CO	***	Wis, Michigan, MSU, Iowa, ISU, Colorado, BC
Ikenna Ugbaja	MA	**	Michigan, Vandy, Cuse, Harvard
Ryan Keeler	IL	***	RU, Ole Miss, Michigan, entire Midwest		Best of Midwest star. Raves about UM. Iowa Visit.

NEEDS:

Major, and avoids "Dire" only because they got an elite guy and another guy close to it last year in Chris Hinton and Mazi Smith. They're also several years into their build-your-own DT program, and likely to start seeing the fruits of that labor by the time any 2021 commits step on campus. Any 2021 commit who can contribute immediately is, in the most plausible scenario, immediately competing with RS Jr Julius Welschof, RS Soph Michael Morris, and RS Fr Kris Jenkins to be Mazi's or Hinton's backup at the two most cycled positions in football.

The good news is the board looks way better than it did a few months ago, and things may change with the blue chips once Ohio State's had their fill. Welcome to Recruiting in the Modern Age. How's that NIL stuff going?

[After THE JUMP: is everyone an anchor?]

A similar note as the recent basketball crootin post: I'm taking these posts over for the time being and am still in the process of catching up on target boards and needs and the like. Also, my tabs app crashed the first time I tried to put this together, so I'm missing some stuff from before the last few days. Not making this easier: much of the recent action is with the 2021 class, and it's gonna take me a little longer to get up to speed with that group. I appreciate your bearing with me.

Commit Updates: RJ Moten is an Athlete

While RJ Moten is probably going to wind up at safety or VIPER, one can learn a few things by watching him on the other side of the ball:

#Michigan 2020 DB commit RJ Moten has some wheels. He runs for the 42 yard TD for Delran. @SamWebb77 @TremendousUM @BriceMarich @JoshHenschke @BrianDohn247 @rjmoten_ pic.twitter.com/mPAhXSF64P

— Josh Newkirk (@JoshNewkirk7) September 13, 2019

Invisible jetpack: check.

The Wolverine's new hire, EJ Holland, has hit the ground running. He provided updated scouting reports on each of Michigan's linebacker commits; he's highest on Kalel Mullings, but the Cornell Wheeler writeup caught my eye:

If you are looking for an old school thumper, look no further than West Bloomfield’s (Mich.) Cornell Wheeler. At 6-foot, 230 pounds, Wheeler is built like a true inside linebacker. While he’s a bit undersized, he fills gaps quickly and is a violent hitter.

If he's got some mobility in coverage, that profile sounds familiar.

High school stats are often hard to contextualize, but it's easier when you play against the best program in the country. Blake Corum posted 252 scrimmage yards and a score in St. Frances's 34-18 loss to national #1 Santa Ana (CA) Mater Dei; he's now inside the Top247 and may continue to move up.

MGoFish's Harry Hillman posted lengthy scouting reports on two of Michigan's more under-the-radar commits, OT Jeffrey Persi and DL Aaron Lewis. He's quite high on both, comparing Persi to Taylor Lewan and Lewis to Chris Wormley.

One bit of recruiting news among the 2020 commits: Jordan Morant took an official visit to Texas A&M, but heading into the trip there wasn't much concern on Michigan's end. Sam Webb posted a previously unpublished quote from Morant's coach—Anthony Campanile's brother, Vito—in which he said Morant would take a visit to A&M because of a long-standing relationship with DC Mike Elko. There's been nothing from the A&M end since the trip; it doesn't seem like Morant had his recruitment change dramatically.

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