I guess we'll just have to get used to the first guy on the board saying yes. Andrew Sprague's rankings may not say this, but the people who brought you Zak Zinter and Andrew Stueber are all saying Michigan had one name circled above the rest in tackle prospects, and the guy that name belongs to said he's enrolling it at Michigan.

This is big. Okay, yes, literally. But if you asked me what I want to see in a tackle prospect's hello post it's a 6'8" multi-sport athlete who's flying up the rankings and has every kind of evil pawing at him. This one was odd, however, as several major programs that really really seemed to want him didn't bother to, you know, offer Sprague a scholarship. Alabama was trying to lure him into their lair. USC waited until March. Notre Dame, whose former OL coach Harry Hiestand was in constant contact, held out until Hiestand retired a few weeks ago! Sure, Nebraska came out of the depths for an action scene, and Mizzou was crawling around calling him "Precious" all cycle, but the really big powers all seemed as put off from Sprague as they were obsessed with him.

Geez lady, just say no thank you.

Everyone has their theories—it may be they believe a terrible power has been growing in the East, and the only way to stop it is to prevent Sprague from linking up with OL-U. It also may be that he was still in basketball shape when he made the camp rounds last summer. Anyway, Michigan has him now, so let's go cover all the land with a second darkness.

GURU RATINGS

RATINGS BY SITE
247: 6'8/290	On3: 6'8/270	Rivals: 6'8/270	ESPN: 6'7/260
4*, 92, #133 Ovr #12 OT, #4 MO	4*, 92, #142 Ovr #14 OT, #4 MO	4*, 5.8, #225 Ovr #17 OT, #9 MO	4*, 81, #220 Ovr #15 OT, #5 MO
4.28	4.36	4.15	4.19
COMPOSITE RANKINGS
247 Composite	On3 Consensus	MGoBlog
4*, 0.9342, #160 Ovr #9 OT, #4 MO	4*, 92.39, #135 Ovr #9 OT, #4 MO	4*, #235/782 Ovr #18/55 OTs since 1990
4.34	4.24	4.26

That's a big solid top-250 four-star, with the two sites you want to be higher on a guy saying he's more like a top-150 four-star. You may also note the weights: ESPN has a snapshot of Sprague as a sophomore, On3 and Rivals are using his Hudl measurements. The oddball is 247, which has Sprague already up to 290, which is backed up by his coach.

The deltas are also very positive. Sprague jumped 100 spots up the 247 rankings and went from a 90 to a 92 in their March re-rank. Rivals, the site that tends to stick to their initial impressions through re-ranks, moved him up 16 spots in their latest one. He was at #249 out of 250 (and 250 pounds) when the Class of 2024 debuted, moved up to #234 when they doubled their list in June. On3 was always a believer; Sprague debuted at #106, and the 36 spots he's fallen since are all due to the normal discoveries over a the course of a junior class. ESPN had him #198 when they put out their initial Junior Top 300, and only moved a bunch of SEC recruits over him in November.

[AFTER THE JUMP: The ideal tackle prospect.]

SCOUTING

Alan Trieu calls Sprague a "Classic Midwestern offensive tackle prospect with a high ceiling and seemingly strong intangibles."

Prototype tackle frame. Basketball player who showed really good coordination and ability on the court as a sophomore. His junior year in football, he filled in and grew into his body more and started becoming even more of a dominant force. He finishes his blocks and plays with aggression. Has solid bend for a taller guy. Can still continue to work on his footwork and general explosiveness. Has a lot of raw ability and is trending in the right direction judging on the strides made between his sophomore and junior years. Either tackle side is a possibility at this time although right now, he has played more on the left side and is comfortable there.

Mmm basketball player. Trieu's comparison was Spencer Brown…

Brown was a high school tight end, but grew into an offensive tackle and had a basketball background. His big frame and disposition give us a glimpse of what we believe Sprague can develop into.

You know who else played basketball Alan?

But sure, Spencer Brown, the Northern Iowa tackle who measured *over* 6'8" with some crazy long measurements. That's still a helpful comparison; Brown is a very tall, quite athletic, very bendy, maybe not quite strong enough, good attituded (wait, THAT's a word to you spellchecker?") tackle who's at his best when on the move, and at his worst when long freaky edges take advantage of his high center of gravity. Brown also came in as a bit of a leaner who got out of control when climbing to the second level.

Mike Farrell says "knee bend" a lot and issues a "good" or "very good" to everything but the things having most to do with development:

OT prospect who is receiving attention throughout the SEC and Big 12. Very good height and adequate weight in a huge frame with very good lower body strength and knee bend. Good set quickness out of jump and 45 degree sets, looks to make immediate contact with good hand timing allowing for leveraged position at contact. Good anchor against the bull rush using very good knee bend to sink in and absorb contact due to very good lower body strength. Very good acceleration and timing on reach blocks, able to get his hat across and uses very good lateral agility to mirror DL toward the sideline. Very good drive and base blocks using very good initial quickness and lower body strength to move even heavier DLs off the spot when able to get his hands inside and finishing through the whistle consistently due to very good competitive toughness. Very good on pull, lead and open field blocks, uses his very good acceleration, knee bend and agility to get good angles while moving in a leveraged position. Good vision to key his assignment and help the running game transition into next level.

Adequate hand placement and punch strength allow for savvy DLs to remove his hands leading to him lunge blocking. Adequate angle and combo blocker, overruns his angles and targets due to adequate angle awareness and hand placement. Overall very good prospect who brings all the athletic ability and size you could want but need to refine his use of hands and processing to be trusted against SEC Pass Rushers. Starter by his 3rd season and has the upside for All-Conference when buying into the technical nuances of the position.

Sticking with 247, the Notre Dame interest usually means we're treated to my favorite ND scouts, though the late offer meant they never put out a full review. Kevin Sinclair calls Sprague a "quality student, he's a towering offensive tackle with notable growth potential"($) "a basketball player that morphed", and a "very trim, lean and mobile bookend."

He doesn’t have a former All-Pro tackle father, but Andrew Sprague has a frame similar to Joe Alt from a height and length perspective. … Once Sprague begins to fill out, he’ll venture far beyond the 300-pound mark. Frankly, given the Kansas City standout’s combination of size, light-on-his-feet nature, his length, and clear potential, I’m surprised he’s not ranked higher than No. 230 overall per Composite.

His stock is rising … This could be a prospect we’re discussing plenty over the cycle.

There's a lot of "he'll learn" and "will be" in there. Sprague's head coach, Kelly Donohue, says "there's some nasty to Andrew" but repeats the theme of development. 

“Andrew’s a really smart kid, and he’s an athletic kid,” Donohoe said. “He’s a really good basketball player. He’s every bit of six-foot-eight. So, obviously, just his measurables are impressive.

“The thing about him is for a big guy, you always worry about can he move? Can he bend? Does he have good feet? Because sometimes those big guys don’t as much. The good thing about Andrew is that Andrew is an athlete for his size, and he can bend, he can move. He can do those things that put him in a position to be successful at that level and beyond.”

“I think Andrew’s very driven. I think he probably grew up as a middle schooler where maybe his first love was basketball. But I think he’s realized in the last couple years that his meal ticket is on the gridiron. He’s worked really hard to put muscle on and size on because, obviously, he came in very lean.

“Now he looks really good. He’s up to 285, 290 right now. And so, I think there’s tremendous upside to Andrew. I’m also surprised he didn’t get the earlier offer (from Notre Dame). But I think he’s going to be one of the top tackles in the country. So, we’re really extremely excited for his senior year.”

The bend seemed to be the theme. Donohoe, to a different site:

"He's very intelligent, and he's athletic," Donohoe said. "He starts on the basketball team. That's what people like. And he bends well for a 6-foot-8 guy, which everybody wants. Typically, those guys don't bend very well. But he can take football as far as he wants to take it. He's one of those guys that if he commits hard like he has people will love him because he's going to be a big guy with a huge frame. Players like him are hard to find."

Really likes basketball, huh? Does he have an outside shot? Play defense? Rebound? Why? Uh, just asking for a friend. Anyway: football. 247's KSU guy Ryan Wallace went to see Sprague play it in September:

Beyond his God given measurements, it's the athleticism at his size that is quick to catch your eye. Not only does he have great length, making him difficult to avoid or get around, he can move and bend with smaller, shifty pass-rushers. Strength is something he'll have to improve at the next level as his body matures, something that will also help his first punch hit a little harder, but he's less pure size and more of a true football talent than one might presume. He even filled in on several occasions as a defensive tackle, flexing his fundamentals and versatility.

Extremely competitive and passionate about his performance.

Steve Lorenz called Sprague Michigan's most important OL target of the cycle. Why?

may possess the highest ceiling of any of Michigan's tackle targets in the cycle.

Right.

Over at Rivals they're saying the same. Mizzou recruiting reporter Sean Williams called Sprague a "natural athlete that also has very good footwork due to his basketball background." Oklahoma reporter Josh McCuistion echoed the development angle:

An offensive tackle with good length and the ability to continue filling out his frame. He'll only get more dominant as he adds some mass and gets bigger and stronger.

"They love my athleticism and length along with my potential. They also talked about my basketball background and my good footwork."

Touch the Banner took a look this afternoon, noting "elite height and length" and athleticism, but "questionable initial footwork," and mentions bend but not in the nice way. 

First step in pass pro is so slow that some edge rushers may get into his body before his first step gets in the ground . . . Tends to open up and give rushers his chest . . . Initial stance is too high and straight-legged. Needs to keep butt lower with more bend in knees

I enquired about the incongruence and . . . you guessed it: Needs Development.

Magnus still likes Sprague well enough, since he went with the other 77 for his comp:

Reminds me of: Some people might not like this, but he has a Taylor Lewan level of both rawness and athleticism. Lewan was tall but spent a lot of time in high school playing defensive end – and was even recruited by some schools as a defensive player – before settling in at left tackle. Lewan had/has some issues with his attitude, but there’s a comparison to be made here for the player on the field.

For a guy they've had in their top-150 for a year, On3 is oddly silent on the why. We're down to scraping second-hand coach quotes out of Sprague himself, like this from Notre Dame's new OL coach:

“He said he liked my film a lot,” said Sprague, recalling Rudolph’s first message. “He likes my athleticism.”

But at the Wolverine EJ Holland sees a first-rounder($).

But Sprague’s high grade on my board goes beyond just his sheer size. Sprague knows how to use his brute strength to his advantage, pummeling the competition. He also has great length and athleticism and is surprisingly nimble on his feet. On the second play of his HUDL reel, Sprague gets out in space and just demolishes a kid. The guy can move. And when you’re that tall and powerful, it’s a scary package all the way around. He reminds me of Andrew Gentry when I saw him at the high school level a few years ago.

OFFERS

Sprague's interest had an academic flavor. Stanford was in early along with Michigan, and Northwestern, and Vanderbilt came with the flood at the beginning of last season. Notre Dame—his favorite school growing up—and Oklahoma were involved if holding back offers, and locals Mizzou and Kansas were always around. As the junior tape spread interest picked up considerably, and it started to look like things might go fully national in early November when LSU got a visit. Texas A&M came in, followed by Ole Miss and Colorado, and Wisconsin's new staff offered as well, but a USC offer in February was the one that threatened to shake things up. Alabama was in contact and trying to get Sprague on campus, presumably ready to offer if requited.

Ironically, Notre Dame's chances appeared to fizzle out just as they finally offered. Though Sprague camped there last June, visited in November, and maintained a constant connection to Harry Hiestand, Marcus Freeman didn't extend a scholarship until the day *AFTER* Hiestand announced his retirement. Nebraska was another hurdle; Matt Rhule made a run at several Notre Dame OL prospects after Hiestand left (Nebraska's OL coach Donovan Raiola came up under Hiestand). A visit to USC planned for this weekend was canceled.

HIGH SCHOOL

Rockhurst is a Catholic all-boys school on the south side of Kansas City, Missouri, and literally just East of Kansas, as in across the road.

Every student there has to complete at least 40 hours a year of "corporal work of mercy" (community service). 2016 vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine is a graduate, and Jason Sudeikis is an alum (but graduated elsewhere). So is Nathan Scheelhaase and a number of NFL (Dexter McDonald, Brad Budde, Charlie Heck, and others), MLB (David Cone, Alex George, Jim Gleeson), and NHL (Ken Klee) players.

Other 4-stars in the Rivals era include Notre Dame's DJ Hord (2005), Mizzou's Tony Temple (2004), Wisconsin WR AJ Taylor, and that polarizing Draftageddon linebacker from Nebraska, Michael Rose-Ivey. They're good for about a 3-star or two per cycle. As the long list of old athletes suggests, the Hawklets have been a state power since the 1960s, claiming to have won a major state championship in each of Busch Stadium, Arrowhead Stadium, Faurot Field, and The Dome. They play in the state's highest (Class 6) level, but have been mediocre lately, going 4-6 in 2021 and 5-5 last season.

Unfortunately they haven't played KC North, which had the #2 edge in the 2023 class, Adapoju Adebawore, and Alabama-bound DT Edric Hill, but they did finish the season with a 49-42 loss to Park Hill (Ronnie and Kendrick Bell, Ondre Pipkins) that I mean to check out.

STATS

Is OL, no stats.

FAKE 40 TIME

Is OL, no 40 time.

I SAID FAKE 40 TIME

Pi, but only as far as you can calculate it.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

Sophomore highlights, individual games at his Hudl page.

ETC.

Plays basketball (AAU). First time all-state at OT as a junior.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Well he's not a former tight end, but if you were around for Jake Long: The Recruit, this is what he looked like. The downsides are mostly developmental—needs to gain strength, develop technique. Where that weight goes will be a factor on the other negatives mentioned, like coming in out of control, or being top-heavy when pass-blocking the longer edges.

The highlight video has an interesting variety of blocks, even if they mostly end in some poor KC area kid on the ground. I'm more interested in how quite a few of them are reach blocks, pulls, and screens. The ability to drive the high school equivalent of me into the turf isn't nearly as impressive as (about 3:00 in the junior highlights) crossing the face of a linebacker trying to get outside. Sprague can move.

Weights are notoriously unreliable, but these snapshots paint the picture of a guy still filling out his frame. Long experience with OL recruiting has taught us, rankings being equal, it's better to get a recruit who's list at 290 than 360. The former suggests the rankers are projecting a perfect frame and athletic potential after the player's been in a college weight program for two or three years. The latter is usually indicative of a mauler who's dominating high school competition right now. Any OL prediction has low accuracy, but unless you're actually playing the kid next year, a ranking based on upside is preferable to one based on how much faster he reached full size than the rest of his class.

Michigan isn't playing him early; this is the deepest OL room in college football. But the will start to run out of eligibility on the current tackles by the time Sprague is a redshirt sophomore—Persi and Bounds are good through 2025, Gentry and Link through 2026. Transfers, early NFL decisions, and competition from 2023-'25 guys makes the future murky, but if you had to place your bets right now on who's playing left tackle for Michigan in 2026, Sprague is about as good of a guess as you get. He's a better prospect than Link, a better left tackle prospect than Roebuck, Hamilton, or the other OL that Michigan is close on, and there are few—maybe no, give or take MA 5* Guerby Lambert—better left tackle prospects out there, period. Granted, the best LT prospect in America is still <50% to end up being a good left tackle—this is offensive line we're talking about.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Michigan is now up to three OL and very close to finishing off the class at 5 or 6. Luke Hamilton projects inside and Ben Roebuck projects as more of the type of mauler they like at right tackle. Michigan is also reportedly close to landing legacy TX 4* Blake Frazier, and maybe also TX OL Max Anderson. That would give them five in the class, but they're not done. For one, Gio El-Hadi-esque TX 4* Michael Uini will have a spot open in this class, period. All of those guys mentioned are "tackles" but only Sprague absolutely projects there.

Michigan also wants a center in this class, 4* GA Waltclaire Flynn—whom they see as a Cesar Ruiz—if they can swing it, MD 3* Kyle Altuner or FL 3* Jake Guarnera if not.

Sprague's commitment does effectively end some other tackle pursuits that were already falling off when Roebuck committed. Michigan already seems to have backed off the Armstrong twins (now expected to fall back on OSU) from Roebuck's school, and I expect they'll leave Kevin Heywood (PSU), DeAndre Carter (elites), William Satterwhite (B10), Malachi Toliver (SEC), Caleb Brewer (ND/PSU), and various other names to other suitors. I thought that meant TX 4* Bennett Warren as well but Lorenz says he's still a take($), which means Moore may see Warren as an elite as well. It also may mean they're falling back on Lambert, the 5-star prize from Massachusetts that OSU, Georgia, LSU, and Notre Dame were fixated on while Sprague slipped into Ann Arbor.

Then again, back-to-back Joe Moores. Maybe we just take everyone.

THE CLASS AS IT STANDS

OFFENSE
Pos	Player	State	Stars	In a nutshell
QB	Jadyn Davis	NC	4.7⬇	Smooth, accurate field general
RB	Jordan Marshall	OH	4.4⬆	Accelerates South-North
TE	Hogan Hansen	WA	4.1⬆⬆	Colston Loveland West
OT	Andrew Sprague	MO	4.3⬆⬆	Basketballin' grow-a-Long
OT	Luke Hamilton	OH	4.0	Midwestern mauler
OT	Ben Roebuck	OH	3.8⬇⬇	Bigger Midwestern mauler
DEFENSE
Pos	Player	State	Stars	In a nutshell
DT	Ted Hammond	OH	4.0⬆	Cincy build-a-bear
DT	Manuel Beigel	CT	3.6	Lengthy German via Choate
MLB	Mason Curtis	TN	4.2⬆	Long athlete moving up
S	Jacob Oden	MI	4.2	Tall son of coach

Our 2024 recruiting board lives here.