Josh Gattis is a man of his word: he wants speed. In space. And he's acquired a heck of a lot of it in the form of Hawaii WR Roman Wilson, who destroyed both the Hawaii state 100 meter championship and an Opening Regional's testing en route to a suite of major offers and a Michigan commitment.

Let's play the feud!

GURU RANKINGS

Rivals	ESPN	24/7	Composite
3*, 5.7 rating #76 WR, #3 HI	4*, 80 rating #55 WR, #3 HI	4*, #218 overall #43 WR, #3 HI	4*, #318 overall #59 WR, #3 HI

Note that Rivals only does their own camps and was not present at the Opening Regional that established him as a dude. They have no scouting at all right now. If they do get a look at him at some point he might get a bump. Should get a bump. I mean…

SCOUTING

Wilson's rise was abrupt. April 18th:

Three-Star recruit reacts to "big" offer from Cal

A month later he was fielding offers from Pac 12 power like Oregon and Washington along with Michigan. That camp was the inflection point, naturally. There's no mystery here:

Roman Wilson was our overall top performer for not only how he performed in the drills and one on ones but more so how he tested. Wilson had the top Rating of the day with a 124.59 score that included the days fastest 40 time at 4.37. He also jumped 39" in the vertical, had a 3.96 shuttle and then won the fastest man competition as well.

We liked Wilson in the position drills and one on ones as well where he routinely used his speed to get behind a corner and caught the ball very consistently. He wasn't just a straight line guy, he looked fluid and explosive in his route running.

All of those numbers are bonkers even if the lasers at these things are generously calibrated. That shuttle would have been the top time at the NFL combine this year. Is it real? Ehhhhh maybe, maybe not. Is Wilson both a super fast guy and in possession of elite stop-start ability? Very probably.

[After THE JUMP: can also receive]

24/7 also saw Wilson in action during a couple 7-on-7 tournaments, making their top 5 in both. After a Las Vegas 7-on-7 tournament:

…showed that he’s not only a burner that can get behind a secondary, but also a technical pass-catcher that made a number of impressive snags. …reliable hands, does well to separate from cornerbacks

After a national championship thing of some variety:

…one of the fastest players in the entire tournament, exploding after the catch, turning short receptions into big gains.

Wilson's "athleticism carried over" into drills and 1-on-1s as he was "simply too explosive for the competition"; he's "more than just fast" because he can "turn defenders around as a route runner" made tough catches; by the end of Wilson's camp/7-on-7 summer 24/7 noted he "…continues to be one of the most consistently productive pass catchers in camp settings."

Wilson may not arrive on campus as ready to go as Tarik Black was—shakes fist at various bones in Black's feet—but neither should he show up without the ability to track a ball.

Wilson's been working hard to get where he is, leaving home at 4 AM to fly to his high school until his family recently relocated to the same island it happens to be on. One of the reasons he did that is that St. Louis is a magnet for football talent with its own S&C coach and the like. That S&C coach on Wilson:

“Professional attitude …not normal. Tremendous work ethic. Definitely high IQ as far as being a student of his craft. Great desire to be great. A chip on his shoulder. …

“He’s a lot stronger than people think. He can bench press 225 around 11 or 12 times. He can single leg squat 225, I have that on film."

Finally, this isn't scouting per se but it is interesting. Wilson talks about his meeting with Josh Gattis:

“We watched my tape, Michigan tape, old Michigan tape, Alabama tape, the Chiefs tape… just showing me every possible way that he can make me the best receiver I can be.”

Mixing in the Chiefs, who run the most college-spread system in the NFL, demonstrates that Gattis is going to pull from anywhere he thinks is useful.

OFFERS

Wilson listed a top nine of Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, UCLA, Washington and Wisconsin a little over a week ago.

I don't have anywhere else to put this so here is where I mention that UCLA's recruiting branding is impossibly bad:

UCLA's June 8Clap8th Offer Candidates

what

If you didn't know, 8Clap8th is a gimmicky thing UCLA came up with to try to generate recruiting interest; it offers candidates on one day of the month, the 8th.

UCLA has seven commits and ranks 75th after their full 2018 class finished 40th last year. The dissolution of Chip Kelly is a thing to behold.

HIGH SCHOOL

We're pretty sure that Wilson is the first Hawaii native on the roster since John Althouse was a walk-on in 1985.

St Louis has a number of other prospects in this class. ILB Jordan Botelho is just outside of the composite top 100 and is headed to ND; WR Matt Sykes committed to UCLA; QB Jayden de Laura has offers from BYU, Hawaii, and WKU.

STATS

Wilson had 32 catches for 803 yards last year. That's 25 yards a catch.

FAKE 40 TIME

Wilson's 4.37 40 came at an Opening Regional and immediately after a 10.6 100 meter dash and rates a half-fake at most.

VIDEO

Watching high school cornerbacks try to press Wilson without getting a hand on him is an interesting experience.

INCREDIBLE COINCIDENCE

In our Slack someone called Wilson "Ronnie Bell, but fast!" There is a Roman Wilson who's currently at Park Hill High School in Missouri, which is Bell's alma mater. He's a 6'10" basketball player.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

There will be some opportunity for immediate playing time if this season goes as expected and Michigan has a couple of WRs head for the NFL. Freshman Wide Receivers Suck, though, so if Michigan holds on to one of their triumvirate it's probably that guy and Ronnie Bell holding down the outside. Oliver Martin's very frustrating departure means there won't be any experienced depth aside from Cornelius Jones and Quintel Kent, who will both be redshirt freshmen unless the walls cave in.

Probably a wait, though. If one of the big three comes back there will be another battle for a starting job in year two. And Gattis uses a lot of WRs. Opportunity will abound.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Wilson is the third WR but the other two guys are slots—give or take AJ Henning becoming Jeremy Gallon 2.0—and Michigan seems to want another guy on the outside. That might have been Jay Brunelle until ND lost out on Henning and a kid who went to Washington and turned up the heat, securing a commitment. The most likely second outside guy is AZ WR Brenden Rice.

As for the rest of the rest of the class it's probably about to get another dude when Kris Jenkins announces today.