The second 2023 Hello from the state of Ohio comes from Breeon Ishmail, a LB commit that Michigan picked up the day before The Game. He is the second of two true LB commits in the 2023 class to this point, after Pennsylvania's Semaj Bridgeman. Ishmail is from the Cincinnati area and one of two Cincy kids in Michigan's 23 class, joining CB Cameron Calhoun, who committed one day after him. 

 

GURU RATINGS

RATINGS BY SITE
247: 6'4/220	On3: 6'4/216	Rivals: 6'5/204	ESPN: 6'5/200
3*, 86, NR Ovr #89 ATH, #38 OH	3*, 83, NR Ovr #113 ATH, #78 OH	3*, 5.6, NR Ovr #NR ATH, #27 OH	3*, 76, #92 MW #72 OLB, #29 OH
3.52	3.14	3.64	3.57
COMPOSITE RANKINGS
247 Composite	On3 Consensus	MGoBlog
3*, 0.8659, #890 Ovr #71 ATH, #27 OH	3*, 83.5, #1403 Ovr #82 ATH, #41 OH	3*, #659/762 Ovr #66/75 ILBs since 1990
3.66	3.35	3.51

Size is pretty consistent, 6'4 or 6'5 and in the 200-220 lb. range. Ishmail is a Who Dat recruit to all the services, with On3 being the lowest, ranking him outside the top 75 in Ohio. The aggregates thus peg him in the 700-1000 range, making him one of the lowest rated (non-kicker) recruits in Michigan's 2023 class. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: LB or EDGE?]

 

SCOUTING 

We'll start with the free scouting report provided by Allen Trieu of 247, which gives us a bit of a nice overview of Ishmail's positional history and profile: 

Comes from a background of wide receiver, linebacker and edge pass-rusher ... As a senior, he played some MIKE for his team. Athletic background allows him to do well in coverage and came away with several interceptions as a senior. Has quickness and agility as a pass rusher. Still filling in and getting stronger as well as developing a technical arsenal of pass rush moves and counters. Trajectory is going up and versatility allows him to fit in a variety of schemes and situational packages.

So, multi-positional football player with physical and athletic upside. Sounds a bit like the other upside play 3* prospects Michigan has scooped up in this cycle. Let's dig a bit deeper. EJ Holland has not seen Ishmail play live but gives us some opinions on the available tape ($): 

Look, there is no question that Ishmail is extremely raw. He’ll need a lot of technique and development work in Ann Arbor and should be considered a project. While the floor is low, the ceiling is also high ... From watching his tape, it’s clear Ishmail can run. Michigan values the ability to get sideline-to-sideline in a hurry and be comfortable playing in space. Ishmail is athletic and appears to have above average speed for his size. I was a little surprised at his comfort level in pass coverage, coming away with a couple of interceptions. 

Can you give us a good cliche to sum this up, EJ?: 

The versatility and athleticism are there, but he’s a ball of clay that needs to be molded

Ah, right. 

Lucas Reimink of Rivals did a quick scouting report on Ishmail and seconded the opinion about the coverage abilities: 

When dropping into coverage, Ishmail shows solid foot quickness to be able to drop into his zone quickly and does a good job keeping his eyes on the QB when in zone coverage. He can go out and cover the flats well, and when the ball is thrown his way he shows good, natural ball skills to record PBU’s and INT’s. 

As for the rest of his game, Reimink felt the pass-rushing skills need a lot of work but said there are solid traits for run defense in particular: 

Also due to (Ishmail's) solid athleticism, he shows good range to cover lots of ground in the run game. He is a very willing tackler, where he uses his violent mindset to try and lay the wood on the ball carrier whenever possible. He will need to wrap up more in college football, but the mindset and approach to tackling is very encouraging. 

A big question revolving around Ishmail is what position he is going to play in NCAA Football. Some talk about him more as an EDGE, given his height and lankiness and the ability to fill out a solid frame for that position. Others see him more as a traditional LB. EJ makes it clear that Michigan sees him as such ($): 

He is expected to come in as a WILL and be in a similar mold as Nikhai Hill-Green and Michael Barrett

If Ishmail is in the NHG and Barrett mold, he will be a tall LB, that's for sure. Touch the Banner is not sure that he will be able to play LB, detailing the steep learning curve ahead (emphasis mine): 

The instincts at linebacker are lacking, which is not surprising, considering his relative lack of experience. He tends to just bounce until the direction of the play is declared, and then he takes off like mad. That made me turn a side eye to early reports that he was being recruited as an inside linebacker, because those instincts for diagnosing plays need to be there. He also has a tendency to narrow his feet and get high when facing ball carriers head on

TTB goes on to liken Ishmail to Jaylen Harrell and seems to view him more as an EDGE, but also comments that lots of teaching will need to be done with pass rushing technique too. Either way, everyone seems to agree this is a low floor, high upside player that will need significant work. 

OFFERS 

Ishmail held offers from a variety of schools. In the P5, he had offers from Purdue, Tennessee, WVU, Pitt, Louisville, Iowa State, and most significantly, Kentucky. Outside the P5, he had offers from Cincy (which is close to P5), CSU, Toledo, Akron, Bowling Green, Marshall, and FCS Eastern Kentucky. 

HIGH SCHOOL 

Ishmail plays for Princeton HS in Sharonville, OH, outside of Cincy. Princeton has produced a handful of very good football players, including former OSU RB Carlos Hyde, former MSU DBs coach Harlon Barnett, and current OSU LT Paris Johnson Jr. They compete in Division 1, with the likes of Ohio powerhouses St. Edward and Archbishop Moeller. Princeton was 9-3 this past season (7-2 in conference), getting the #6 seed in the Division 1 bracket, winning their first round matchup but being defeated soundly by Lakota West. 

Ishmail played his first three seasons for Hamilton HS, in nearby Hamilton, OH (also a Cincy suburb), prior to transferring to Princeton. Hamilton was a similar sized school and in the same conference and division as Princeton, but over the past two seasons has been significantly worse than Princeton as a team. 

STATS

MaxPreps has Ishmail down for 42 solo tackles and 17 assisted tackles for 59 total tackles as a senior this fall. Over 11 games that comes out to 5.4 tackles per game. Ishmail recorded 10.5 TFLs this season and 3.5 sacks, in addition to a pair of interceptions and three recovered fumbles. 

FAKE 40 TIME 

Ishmail did not attend camps that I know of and there is no 40 time available anywhere that I can find.  

VIDEO

Here is Ishmail's junior season Hudl reel (he has not published a senior reel from his time at Princeton yet). You get to see plenty of him at WR and also some at LB: 

ETC 

Prefers staying at home and playing video games to going out and partying. Very close with his HS principal, who is a Michigan native and has Michigan alums in the family- helped guide Ishmail to Michigan. Click here for MGoSlack Moby Dick humor. 

 

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE 

Breeon Ishmail is another upside flier but I find myself not as enthused about him as say, Jason Hewlett. The payoff could be sweet with Ishmail given his real athleticism, but a lot of work is going to be required here. Michigan seems set to start him off at LB, liking him as an athletic sideline-to-sideline complement to Semaj Bridgeman, who is much more Josh Ross-ian. If that's the case, then Ishmail is going to have to learn how to play LB, a position that is one of the most difficult to learn how to play. Maybe he gets a hang of it, but Kalel Mullings has shown that not every athletic LB prospect who is sushi raw grows into Devin Bush. And Ishmail is far lower in the rankings than Mullings was, FWIW. 

Step one for Ishmail will be working with Ben Herbert and staff, adding more strength and weight to get his body in the right shape. Step two will be working with Jesse Minter and George Helow, possibly for several years, to learn all the intricacies of playing LB at the FBS level. There are some traits I like about Ishmail- he does hit hard (as his tape shows) and when he can get going downhill, he could be a lot of fun (also Michael Barrett-like). But that's the easy part of LB play- diagnosing what's going on isn't his expertise right now as someone new-ish to LB and will take time for him to learn (if he ever gets it). 

To me it feels like a stab-in-the-dark, but a rather low percentage one at that. If they can't pull off the project at LB, then there is the possibility of moving Ishmail to EDGE and giving it a shot there. His surprising accumen for coverage and taller-than-normal-for-an-LB height means he could be a Jaylen Harrell type EDGE/OLB, though that also requires teaching him pass-rush moves. Either way, a lot of work will have to go into the Ishmail project from the Michigan coaching staff. 

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS 

Once Ishmail was added to the class, it seemed that Michigan was done at LB for the cycle, but a couple developments in the last few days has changed that. First of all, Michigan added Ernest Hausmann yesterday out of the portal, very notable because despite his starting experience in 2022, Hausmann is much closer to a recruit than a plug-and-play starter. He has an extra year an advantages on the 2023 crop, but he's still a developmental take that makes LB on next year's roster deeper. Secondly, it sounds as if Michigan's push to flip 2023 Nebraska commit Hayden Moore is accelerating ($) and now there is a not insignificant chance that the Wolverines could take three LBs in this class if they got that one done. Does that mean Michigan may be more interested in moving Ishmail to EDGE? Idk, but at least it gives his project more positional flexibility. 

THE CLASS AS IT STANDS

OFFENSE
Pos	Player	State	Stars	In a nutshell
QB	Kendrick Bell	MO	3.5	Ronnie's little brother
RB	Cole Cabana	MI	4.3	Speedy receiver back
RB	Benjamin Hall	GA	3.5	Battering ram with vision
SL	Semaj Morgan	MI	3.8	Homegrown Gattis-ian slot
WR	Fredrick Moore	MO	3.7	Crafty, Roundtree 2.0
TE	Deakon Tonielli	IL	3.9	Catchy bouncy bballer
TE	Zack Marshall	CA	3.7	1,000-yard receiver in Cali league
OG	Amir Herring	MI	4.0	West Bloomfield's interior mauler
OG	Nathan Efobi	GA	3.8	Ineffable teddy bear
OT	Evan Link	DC	4.1	Agile OT with a Wisconsin offer
OT	LaDarius Henderson	TX	3.7	Transfer G could be a LT
DEFENSE
Pos	Player	State	Stars	In a nutshell
DT	Brooks Bahr	IL	3.7	Lengthy grow-a-3-tech
DT	Trey Pierce	IL	3.8	Polished, rising 3-tech
SDE	Enow Etta	TX	4.4	Poor man's Rashan Gary
WDE	Aymeric Koumba	FRA	3.7	Long/French athletic freak
OLB	Jason Hewlett	OH	3.8	Hybrid S/OLB/DE
MLB	Semaj Bridgeman	PA	4.1	Formerly elite, WLBish
MLB	Breeon Ishmail	OH	3.5	LB/Edge tweener
LB	Ernest Hausmann	NE
CB	Cameron Calhoun	OH	3.9	Gritty not-fast playmaker
PK	Adam Samaha	MI	3.2	Local #6 kicker