2021 OT Garrett Dellinger names M to top 4

Submitted by Magnus on May 13th, 2020 at 7:41 PM

Clarkston (MI) Clarkston offensive tackle Garrett Dellinger named Michigan to his top 4. He's a 4-star, the #12 OT, and #80 overall. His top 4 is made up of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and LSU.

LSU has 100% of the crystal balls. I think it's at least noteworthy that Notre Dame is not on the list. At one time the Fighting Irish were considered the leaders.

On a side note, La Grange Park (IL) Nazareth Academy tight end Landon Morris committed to Syracuse. He's a 6'5", 210 lb. kid who's a teammate of J.J. McCarthy. I don't think Michigan was really recruiting him that hard, but they did offer. The more important teammate is 2022 wide receiver teammate Tyler Morris, who's the #56 player in the country according to 247.

Wolverine Devotee

May 13th, 2020 at 7:46 PM ^

If I had to pick between the Clarkston pair, I'd take Spindler. Just me personally. And I'd move him to DL. 

Saw him play against West Bloomfield last year and he was much more impactful on defense. 

As for Dellinger, we've never had crystal ball for him. It was either ND or LSU. Not too confident in this one. 

Sandy Lyles Revenge

May 13th, 2020 at 9:47 PM ^

He’s had the time to at least put Michigan in contention with some bigger fish, and really hasn’t. Not trying to be a jackass, like I said I was excited about the hire. But thus far, (some covid caveats applying) he hasn’t had much to show for his efforts. I’d love to be wrong, and for him to start pulling some stud Polynesians from the west coast. 

Denard In Space

May 13th, 2020 at 10:03 PM ^

In this instance, he's competing against Ohio State directly for Spindler's signature, among other teams. Larry Johnson is one of the most accomplished defensive line coaches in the game and an ace recruiter as well. I would also expect an emerging coach to be able to say he's recruited more than two players in his first calendar year, or to be able to point to some tangible development from his unit. Did I say he was trash, or that he was a bad guy, or bad at his job to warrant being called a jackass? No, I said compared to the competition, our defensive line coach has a thin resume. Don't be so absurdly reactionary. 

The other, implied half of the point that I am making is that it would be an advantage to keep OL on the table. Ed Warinner can point to (in his one extra year at Michigan compared to Nua) a slew of high-level commits *and* the obvious overhaul of an entire unit from a nightmare to pretty damn good. In his first two years. 

Denard In Space

May 14th, 2020 at 3:08 PM ^

Don't know if this will be read at this point, but I am genuinely asking in good faith (no Maizens): is it unfair to compare Nua to Al Washington, who has done a lot more on the recruiting trail in the same time frame with the Buckeyes? If so, why? I defer to your knowledge on this, as I'm just a hobbyist fan. 247 says he has only recruited two players in his time at M, one being Mcgregor. I could see that not being accurately reflective of the reality, which I'd also accept. Really just curious to understand more. From a layman's perspective, it seems like our D-line improved slowly in comparison to other units (O-line, backs), and that Nua hasn't done much to bring in talent. Maybe I'm wrong!

energyblue1

May 14th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^

On the Dline and Nua conversation, some said that McGregor wasn't coming if Mattison was still hear during his recruitment.  Idk how true that is. 

It's surprising how far behind Dline recruiting seems right now with Nua in his second class.  One would think he would be much further ahead.  Yes McGregor came in last years class and after McGregor only Jaylen Harrell is the only other dline recruit to be rated above .90000 in the composite rankings.  All others are below .89000.  He should be much further ahead than where he is. 

JH needs a fire under the arse of this staff recruiting wise.  And they need to decide what this program is going for.  Do they want program system guys, top players in the country to compete for conference and national titles, a mix, IDK.  But the former says go the msu/wisconsin route and the latter says lets go after osu and clemson/bama's of cf. 

ThePonyConquerer

May 13th, 2020 at 8:49 PM ^

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umGrad1981

May 13th, 2020 at 9:00 PM ^

Think recruiting will start picking up soon. Also got into an argument from an Ohio fan today. Dumb@ss had the nerve to tell me they could have 7 or 8 five stars in their class next year. All I could do is laugh because that's actually impossible to do just based on the odds. 

ThadMattasagoblin

May 13th, 2020 at 9:51 PM ^

I think Brian was right about being upset about the Bob Shoop hire. The whole thing was really weird with Partridge and Campanile bolting and no attention being paid to Clinkscale who would have helped Michigan recruit instate with Donovan Edwards, Spindler, Dellinger etc. Harbaugh at one point was going to hire an assistant strength coach. Ohio State rehired one of the best recruiters in the country in Coombs. Michigan plays checkers while Ohio State plays chess.

4th phase

May 13th, 2020 at 11:39 PM ^

Your timing might be slightly off. I think Camp screwed them. I thought they tried to give him a raise to stay instead of going all in on Clinkscale. Then after they got turned down Campanile left anyway. 
Only way to keep Partridge was to give him DC. 
You could argue maybe that Michigan should have backed up the truck for both Campanile and Clinkscale I guess. 
I still think Tank would have been a good hire. Young energetic former player. That’s the profile of a guy who recruits.

Stringer Bell

May 14th, 2020 at 9:17 AM ^

People are negative because we got Jim fricking Harbaugh, the guy who resurrected Stanford from the literal dead and took the 49ers to the Super Bowl, and we still aren't elite.  We're barely better than Late Lloyd era Michigan.  Also OSU is at an all time high right now.  At least with Hoke you had the hope that all we needed was a great coach to get to that level.  Now there's a sense of hopelessness setting in for a lot of people.

 

And yes, OSU is elite.  But if Purdue and Iowa can not only beat them but put a whoopin on them, then how come we're getting our asses kicked by them every year?

Magnus

May 14th, 2020 at 6:40 AM ^

Is this a bad time to say that some recruits have really taken a liking to Bob Shoop?

Harbaugh wasn't going to hire an assistant strength coach. He put him on staff so they could have an extra recruiter out on the road. The same thing has happened with Chris Singletary, Devin Bush, Sr., and others in the past. When a coach leaves and you're doing interviews, you change a staffer's designation to "coach" so he's allowed to recruit on the road. Then when you hire a new coach, that guy goes back to his staff position.

JoeMama11

May 13th, 2020 at 10:36 PM ^

I think Michigan actually has a really good chance at Dellinger. While I think LSU is the current leader I think the longer his recruitment goes on the better for Michigan. Allen Trieu also said Michigan was the team to watch in Dellingers recruitment and also said Michigan is the one team who could land both Dellinger and Spindler. So I feel really optimistic.

GoBlue1530

May 14th, 2020 at 11:27 AM ^

Would also like to add the follow up, is it a "they don't care one way or the other if they play together" or is it a "they don't like each other and don't want to play together" because that would be some flip from a year ago when they seemed to like/be open to the idea of playing with each other. 

AF1618

May 14th, 2020 at 11:29 AM ^

They are friends, but both won’t to carve their own paths. Both have said in interviews the two don’t even discuss colleges & don’t like to talk football. If they both end up at the same place it will be because of two individual decisions, not because they planned it. 
 

Bo Harbaugh

May 14th, 2020 at 12:28 AM ^

I’m excited to hear how much this kid values education throughout his recruitment, followed by UM finishing a “close” second to LSU for his commitment because he really likes their Economics program.  
 

Then we can watch him be an all SEC player and Academic All-American with a major in Sports Marketing before leaving to the NFL after his Junior year.

Don

May 14th, 2020 at 11:15 AM ^

"I’m excited to hear how much this kid values education throughout his recruitment..."

With very few exceptions, the protestations from top-level recruits about how education is so important to them is eyewash and PR designed to match the similar assertions from the coaches recruiting them. It's kabuki theater purposed to maintain the fiction that they truly are "student-athletes."

bronxblue

May 14th, 2020 at 10:06 AM ^

Of note, all of those crystal balls are from 3/19.  I'd be interested to see how many of those hold up given the past couple of months.