Part one of this week's two-part roundup, covering the recent commits, can be found here.

Official Offers Out: Sims Enrolling Early

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August 1st was the first day written scholarship offers could go out to the class of 2018. You can see what Michigan's formal offers look like above; over the last couple years they've added the "we expect you to continue to strive for excellence" section as an explicit defense against another Erik Swenson situation.

Offer day came with some news this year: four-star GA CB Myles Sims will take advantage of the new early signing period and sign on December 21st, getting Michigan their top defensive back commit on campus for spring ball.

In other commit news, four-star MI DE Aidan Hutchinson announced yesterday he was selected for the Army All-American Bowl.

After last weekend's BBQ at the Big House, Michigan's odds of holding onto four-star IN OG Emil Ekiyor have improved. Following a recent visit to Alabama, Ekiyor said he'd eventually decide between the Wolverines and the Tide, and it sounded like it might be a coin-flip. He told 247's Isaiah Hole, however, that he's simply covering his bases:

While there's still a long ways to go until Signing Day, Ekiyor reaffirmed that he's taking visits as part of an exploratory process, but that he remains firmly committed to Michigan.

“Michigan is definitely the place that I want to be," Ekiyor said. "But I'm also (taking visits) just to make sure that I'm not being blind to another place, just because I feel so good about Michigan.”

It helps that a fellow Indianapolis native, four-star LB Cameron McGrone, joined the class on Monday. Ekiyor told The Wolverine's Brandon Brown he's "really excited to get up there" and join McGrone (plus Hoosier state products Chris Evans and Brandon Peters) in Maize and Blue:

"It makes you feel more comfortable with everybody up there," Ekiyor said. "We already know each other from being in the same city. You get more people from Indy supporting you too because basically all of the best players are heading to Michigan. It just gives you a level of being comfortable."

While Michigan will have to sweat out more visits, Ekiyor's commitment looks to be firmer than we believed last week.

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

BBQ Wrap: Little On The 2018 Front

Other than the commitments of McGrone and Sammy Faustin, it was a relatively quiet BBQ weekend in regard to 2018 prospects. Michigan's main target to not commit, top-100 MO DT Michael Thompson, reportedly had a good trip but isn't talking to media, per 247's Steve Lorenz:

I've been told that Michigan feels better about their chances with Top100 DT Michael Thompson coming out of the visit. That's about all I've been able to muster on that visit, as Thompson doesn't do interviews and intel has been relatively sketchy. I would say Michigan is still fighting Missouri for his eventual commitment.

Four-star TX OT Rafiti Ghirmai was also on campus, and while he hasn't done interviews either, Scout's Greg Powers gave an update on his recruitment to TMI's Brice Marich:

"Ghirmai has been a world traveler this offseason and in addition to Texas the two schools who seem to have resonated with him the loudest are UCLA and Michigan. It's a good sign if you are fan of one of those two programs that he would be looking at two completely different programs in that regard."

If Michigan secures an official visit, that one could get interesting.

Unfortunately, four-star CA S Bryan Addison didn't make his trip as planned, instead taking an unofficial visit to nearby UCLA. He still plans to see Michigan on an official visit but Lorenz believes M's chances have "lowered considerably." Three-star TN OL Jerome Carvin was also a no-show.

BBQ Wrap: M Makes Move With #1 2019 RB

No one will ever know what we go through but we grow! @CrouchQuavaris extremely proud of you brother #makeHimstandup #movingmountains # pic.twitter.com/Zu80Z8X19k

— Sam Greiner (@coachSamGreiner) July 29, 2017

We already got an early look at five-star 2019 NC RB Quavaris Crouch's visit last week when he helped Chris Evans and Co. coach a youth football camp; it appears the rest of his visit went similarly well, per Scout's Michael Clark:

"The visit was great and I had a lot of fun," Crouch said. "I saw the facilities and they were really nice. The campus was also great. I like how everything is so close.

"But my favorite part was spending time with the players, and getting to feel and see how it is to be a student-athlete at Michigan. I really like the coaches, players and people. Michigan is just an amazing place overall. I want to go back as soon as possible."

Lorenz posted that he "wouldn't be surprised" if Michigan led for Crouch after the visit, which his coach seemed to enjoy as much as he did. That puts Michigan in contention for a trio of top-tier 2019 backs; five-star IMG RB Noah Cain (who's mentored by former M RB David Underwood) had a good visit last month, and top-100 TN RB Eric Gray did an interview this week with Scout's Michael Clark in which the three schools he discussed were Michigan (where he had an "amazing" visit last month), Tennessee, and Mizzou.

Michigan may be in even better shape with four-star IN DE George Karlaftis, who tweeted this following the visit:

Mood pic.twitter.com/vUC5IuuUqc

— George Karlaftis III (@TheGK88) July 30, 2017

Karlaftis recapped the visit for Isaiah Hole:

“I really had high hopes and I thought it was amazing," Karlaftis said. "And I thought it was even better than I imagined it would be.

“Just the overall environment, and the culture at Michigan is different and better than most places I've been to. And their facilities obviously were good. Everything was great about it.”

Then he placed Michigan in one of the oddest top threes I've ever seen:

“So first off with that, I visited Purdue earlier this week and they made a huge impression on me. It was one of my best visits ever. They have to be in my top three: Michigan, Purdue and Miami.

He's from West Lafayette; that still confounds. He added that Michigan made a "huge move" in his recruitment. A shiny silver dollar says Michigan won't lose this recruitment to Purdue.

The coaches moved on two big-time in-staters over the weekend, offering East Kentwood teammates Logan Brown and Mazi Smith. Brown, a top-100 OT, posted on Twitter that he "can't wait to return" to Ann Arbor, and Lorenz is considering pulling the trigger on a Crystal Ball pick for the good guys—Wisconsin is the other main contender. Smith, a four-star DT with an impressive early offer sheet, put Michigan in his top five along with Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Wisconsin, per Scout's Allen Trieu. He holds offers from all those schools save OSU.

Michigan also extended an offer to three-star CA WR Kyle Ford, whose early USC and UCLA offers indicate he could rise up the rankings. He left telling TMI's Brice Marich that the Wolverines are "definitely in my top five" after the visit exceeded expectations:

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Ford thought coming into the visit that he would probably be impressed with Michigan, but walked away feeling it even surpassed his expectations and more.

“Coming in, I already thought really high of them,” Ford admitted. “The facilities, the way they run things, the field and atmosphere is great. It really exceeded my expectations honestly. This place is amazing. The Big House and everything they got going there. I loved it and it is a good place to be.”

While top-100 IN WR David Bell wasn't able to attend the BBQ, he actually made it in for a visit the day prior and "really enjoyed his time," per Marich.

Four-star Baltimore St. Frances (Biff Poggi) LB Shane Lee told TMI's Josh Newkirk that he "liked everything" and wants to return for a game, but won't name any leaders at this stage.

Happy Trails, JT Daniels

One of the most prominent BBQ visitors was 2019's #1 quarterback, California five-star JT Daniels, who reportedly had a great visit, even including Michigan in a top four while on campus—then he committed to USC on Sunday evening. Michigan seems to have done as well as they could over the weekend; Daniels was just set on staying home. There were reports that if Michigan could land Daniels, they wouldn't pursue a second QB in the 2018 class, and at the moment Lorenz hears that may stay the case even without Daniels:

The biggest question that remains unanswered regards the 2018 class. As of today, I don't think the staff is going to pursue a second player at the position. Joe Milton is raw, but we were told once again on Sunday by a great source that Pep Hamilton is completely enamored with Milton's abilities and the belief is that they can turn him into a star eventually.

The coaches will focus on four-star OR dual-threat Michael Johnson Jr., now the only uncommitted '19 QB holding a Michigan offer.

Happy trails as well to four-star 2019 KY DT Jacob Lacey, who committed to Notre Dame instead of taking a scheduled trip for the BBQ, and three-star 2018 LB David Reese, who committed to Florida in a bit of deja vu.

Etc.

Michigan added Tim Drevno's son, Saline long-snapper Zach Drevno, as a preferred walk-on. He's ranked 24th among 2018 long snappers on Chris Sailer Kicking and 42nd on Rubio Long Snapping.

Top-100 2019 CA CB Chris Steele decommitted from UCLA and mentioned Michigan as a school he plans to visit in the fall, per Scout's Greg Biggins.