Moving on to the second of the three 2025 Hellos we need to cover, today is TE Eli Owens. The Tennessee native trended hard to Michigan after attending The Game in Ann Arbor and then gave the Wolverines his commitment in early January. Today we will get to know this TE/Fullback prospect: 

 

GURU RATINGS 

RATINGS BY SITE
247: 6'1.5/243	On3: 6'2/230	Rivals: 6'3/220	ESPN: 6'3/230
3*, 88, NR Ovr #19 TE, #11 TN	3*, 88, NR Ovr #24 TE, #11 TN	4*, 5.8, #210 Ovr #6 TE, #7 TN	3*, no ranking
3.75	3.71	4.17	n/a
COMPOSITE RANKINGS
247 Composite	On3 Consensus	MGoBlog
4*, 0.8919, #355 Ovr #19 TE, #11 TN	3*, 88.67, #367 Ovr #23 TE, #12 TN	3.5*, #476/805 Ovr #31/53 TEs since '90
3.92	3.87	3.88

Owens is a 3* to three of the four sites, getting a relatively high ranking only to Rivals. From the height/weight listings you can see one of the primary issues holding back Owens from being ranked among the elite TE prospects, which is his very modest height. He's listed at only 6'1.5" to 247, while ESPN/Rivals are more optimistic by listing him at 6'3", but Owens is obviously an undersized TE recruit, which begs some questions about his position, which we will discuss below. Among all TEs Michigan has recruited since 1990, Owens is towards the middle, 31st out of 53 in Seth's database. A pretty routine 3.5* sort of prospect. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Max Bredeson, but a rated recruit]

 

SCOUTING 

The scouting on Owens is not as plentiful as it was for Carter Smith, since Owens is not a prized QB and hasn't been committed as long. A recently committed 3.5* junior TE is not going to be a goldmine of takes so we will do our best with what is available. We can start with On3's EJ Holland, who gave some overview opinion when Owens committed on January 4 ($): 

So what does Owens bring to the table? Expect him to fill the Max Bredeson role in the future. At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, Owens has more of a fullback build and is a very willing blocker. In fact, Owens is physical in the run game and can be used as an in-line tight end, an H-Back and a traditional fullback. 

There's the first window into Owens' positional versatility, something that dominates all scouting opinions of him. While some may immediately jump to calling Owens a fullback, EJ thinks there's more upside there that can keep Owens more in the TE bucket: 

I had a chance to see Owens in 7v7 last year, and he does bring more of a pass catching skillset than Bredeson does. Overall, I think Michigan can use Owens in the same way the San Francisco 49ers highlight Kyle Juszczyk. 

For those not up on the NFL, Juszczyk is a perennial Pro Bowler for the Niners, averaging a half-dozen carries and 15-30 catches per season. EJ caught up with Charles Power, On3's Rankings Director, who admitted there is a bit of a struggle properly evaluating Owens as a TE given his height ($): 

Eli Owens is an interesting prospect in that he plays tight end and works as a pass catcher for his high school but has positional versatility at the college level given his size ... It’s hard to envision him as an in-line tight end in Michigan’s offense. But given how multiple they are and how many different tight end and fullback sets they run, he would give them some versatility as a pass catcher. It’s an interesting fit given his skillset and the fact that Michigan uses players like that. 

Is there a chance for Owens to move up the board? Probably not: 

There probably aren’t a ton of national prospects that are true H-Back prospects. To be considered a blue chip prospect, you have to be a big-time mismatch and fairly electric with the ball in your hands. 

In other words, Owens is not seen as dynamic and his shorter stature not making him a true TE limits the recruiting rankings ceiling. That's fine. How about a review of his actual skillset? EJ spoke to Owens' Nashville-based 7v7 team's head coach and got some predictably glowing quotes ($): 

Eli is a really great kid and a hard worker. He’s a really sophisticated route runner. He has really good hands and long arms, so he has a really good catch radius. He has great athletic ability. But where he’s unique these days is that he’s a very willing blocker and is very physical. He can block in space with his athletic ability, and he can block in the box

Pretty typical Michigan TE recruit quotes, "but you know, this kid can actually block!!" sort of stuff. Touch The Banner did a more critical and analytical look at Owens' tape and came away with some takes: 

Owens is light on his feet and a willing blocker who can widen his base and get low to take on defenders. He’s able to latch onto second- and third-level players in open space because of his athleticism, and he drives his feet after contact. In the passing game, he’s an athletic receiving target who has some elusiveness after the catch. He catches the ball smoothly away from his body and protects himself and the ball from approaching defenders.

That's all good, but here's another dose of the limiting factors that Power was referencing: 

Owens doesn’t have game-changing athleticism, and his height may be somewhat limiting when it comes to his position. 

On the plus side, TTB does note that he believes Owens has more receiving upside than Max Bredeson and " should be able to contribute relatively early, perhaps in his second year once he adds the appropriate weight/strength in a college program". 

Seth Berry of Rivals caught up with Owens himself and Owens noted that the staff views him as a mix of Bredeson and Colston Loveland. Owens went on to give an NFL comparison to himself and then talk about Michigan's scheme fit: 

A player Owens said he likes to watch is Miami Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold, who is someone Owens has a lot of the same traits as. 

... 

"How much Michigan uses their tight ends factors in every part of my decision," Owens said. "You can go back and watch the film from the Rose Bowl and it feels like almost 75% of plays they have three tight ends on the field."

Feels like all the scouts, the staff, and even the player himself are in alignment on the evaluation here. 

OFFERS 

Owens held offers from a few SEC schools being a southern prospect, including in-state Tennessee, Mississippi State, Kentucky, and Alabama, as well as OSU, MSU, Maryland, and Wisconsin in the TE factory B1G. Other schools offering include Cincinnati, UNC, VT, Louisville, and Group of 5 institutions USF, Charlotte, and Tulane. Among those schools, the top schools that Owens visited outside of Michigan were Ohio State, Alabama, Tennesee, Kentucky, and Cincinnati. 

HIGH SCHOOL 

Owens plays for Alcoa High School in Alcoa, Tennessee, a city located in Blount County in eastern Tennessee, some 15 miles south of Knoxville. Alcoa's football program has been one of the powers of the state at every class it has competed in over the past few decades, originally in Class 2A and now in Class 3A. They have won 22 state titles and are currently on a streak of nine in a row(!!) at the Class 3A level, having played in eleven consecutive state title games(!!!). Their most recent title was a 42-20 romp over East Nashville, begging questions about whether the school should move up to 4A (or higher) due to their dominance. If you want to read a story about that, I refer you to this article which includes a quote from Owens (he strongly feels that Alcoa should stay in 3A). Among alumni, the most famous Alcoa HS NFLer is probably former Packers star WR Randall Cobb. 

STATS 

I have only been able to find 2022-23 (sophomore) stats on Owens. MaxPreps had him down for 33 catches for 385 yards and 5 TDs, as well as 17 kick returns. Nothing from his recent junior season, however. 

FAKE 40 TIME 

Have not found a 40 time of Owens. 

VIDEO 

Owens does not yet have a full set of junior season highlights but here's a half-season reel: 

Many more clips and basketball highlights available on his Hudl page. 

ETC 

Also a basketball player. Has extended family in the Detroit metro region and participates in Sound Mind, Sound Body camps in Detroit. 

 

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE 

We talk about Michigan's struggles recruiting WRs and in some cases elite QBs due to the run-heavy offense that has dominated the playbook in the Jim Harbaugh era, but the flip side of that coin is the system makes it much easier to land prospects like Eli Owens. When you produce quality TE prospects like Michigan does, can turn HS QBs into NFL TEs (see: Schoonmaker and Gentry), and can turn walk-ons into valuable pieces of national championship teams at the position (see: Max Bredeson), you can win battles for guys like Eli Owens. All of this is a long way of saying there's no program in the country better fit to maximize Owens' skills and talent than Michigan and both sides recognized that in this recruitment. 

Owens appears to be a tailor-made H-Back/TE/fullback prospect, one that is already decently developed physically and a willing blocker, but with more receiving upside than Bredeson. His height and athleticism will limit his recruiting ranking, but he also fundamentally projects to play a different sort of position in college than the "tight ends" he'll be compared to on the 247 rankings. Among those players he is actually comparable to (of which there aren't many), Owens is presumably one of the best in this 2025 class. Owens seems like an easy fit in Michigan's current offense, fitting into the Max Bredeson role but his skillset will allow Michigan to be more creative with that position when it's the more versatile Owens filling the role. Right now the obvious path for Owens is a 2025 redshirt while he gets bigger and then a clear path to playing time thereafter because none of Michigan's previous TE recruits fill the mold he does (Marshall, Tonielli, Hansen, and Prieskorn are all 6'4"-6'6" true TEs). 

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS 

Owens is one of three recruits that Michigan has a commitment from in the 2025 class, joining QB Carter Smith and DL Bobby Kanka. He is the only TE in the class at this time and given their patterns, you have to assume Michigan is looking to add at least one more. Also, considering the positional ambiguity of Owens, Michigan can probably add two true TE options who can play the Flex role while treating Owens as his own position on the depth chart as a FB/H-Back/TE hybrid. There's a long list of names of potential targets, but I will spare the time getting into those until the 2025 recruiting board is posted in a couple weeks. For now, consider Owens a very early building block on a '25 class in its earliest stages.