jacob smith

Michigan has piled up EDGE commitments in recent weeks, today's Hello representing the fourth such post we've had to do since mid-June. The class filled up in a hurry and Connecticut 4* Jacob Smith is the final piece to that quartet. The twin brother of DT commit Jerod Smith, Jacob took his time and dabbled with other suitors before finally joining Jerod in Michigan's 2024 class. 

GURU RATINGS 

Jacob Smith is a 4* prospect to three of the four outlets. 247 and Rivals are right in line with each other, having Smith just inside the top 250, while ESPN and On3 are on opposite ends. ESPN pegs Smith as a top 100 prospect, while On3 has him in 3* territory. The average is a consensus 4*, the 247 composite being higher than On3's consensus due to how they weight their own rankings. Jacob's rankings are not too different from Jerod's, but ESPN, On3, and Rivals are higher on Jacob, while 247 is higher on Jerod. As for the measurements, Smith is between 6'4 and 6'5 in height and between 225 and 235 according to the various sites.  

[AFTER THE JUMP: Another J. Smith defensive tweener]

Three! Three J. Smiths in the class, ah ah ah!

Plus two.

The highest rated J. Smith to commit so far, Jacob is the edge-playing twin brother of Jerod Smith; they are not related to linebacker commit Jaden Smith, nor wavering OSU WR commit Jeremiah Smith. Jacob was an important recruit for Notre Dame, but once Michigan had his brother turned around it seemed only a matter of time before the twin followed.

In that time Michigan grabbed fellow edges Devon Baxter, Dominic Nichols, and Elias Rudolph so there might be a playing time squeeze once they're all sorted out. Michigan technically has three positions to fill between Heavy (Mike Morris's job last year), Weakside (Okie, Upshaw, et al.), and OLB (Harrell), and only got Derrick Moore, Enow Etta and some fliers in the last two classes, so it's a load-up year. Nebraska was the main competition, with A&M, Wisconsin, and Kentucky hanging around.

Michigan hasn't had a J.Smith on the roster since 1970s WR Jim Smith. There was also an end named Jeffrey Smith in the late '50s and early '60s, and a John E. Smith who played a season here while stationed in Ann Arbor during WW2.

We'll have a full writeup on Jacob Smith that's about less important things than signing three J.Smiths in one class in the next week or so.

It's time for another wholesale recruiting update! Three weeks ago I set the stage for all the official visits, now with 3/4 of the big recruiting weekends in June done, I felt it was time to check back in, especially with a handful of more commitments in tow. This time we're not going to do a full position by position breakdown, but merely check in on the big races and talk about various updates across the board that have occurred in the past three weeks. This should quench the thirst of our readers for recruiting content and provide more context for the upcoming commitment dates in early July. 

The Aaron Chiles Saga and what it means for LB recruiting 

Let's start with the bad. Saturday night saw the most surprising development of this recruiting cycle, when 4* LB Aaron Chiles, who had long been a strong Michigan lean, committed to Florida while on a visit. Apparently there had been a few murmurs about Chiles and Florida in the days beforehand (I didn't see these until after the fact), but certainly nothing to suggest that anything like this was remotely possible. When I saw the news tweeted out by Chiles, I was completely shocked, and it seems like the coaching staff ($), and by extension the insider class ($), were as well. Even those who were familiar with Chiles' nibbling on what Florida was selling before the visit felt it was extremely unlikely that Chiles would commit on a visit. The surprise was so great that two Rivals national recruiting experts deemed Chiles --> UF the biggest surprise of the 2024 cycle nationally. 

The experience of Chiles choosing Florida out of the blue seems to have outraged the Michigan staff and inevitably the next question fans had was "will they keep recruiting Chiles?". Not to get too far into the "haha, we'll see what Chiles does when Florida goes 4-8 and fires Napier!! 🤣🤣" discourse, but you have to plan for all contingencies and yes, Florida is not exactly slated to be a juggernaut this fall. A kid who makes a (seemingly) rash decision like that is also one who profiles as likely to reconsider, so there are plenty of reasons to keep poking around, but at this time it's not clear if Michigan will do so. 

[EJ Holland/On3]

Insiders have been divided on what comes next, from some saying that the Chiles decision has burned all bridges and has rendered him persona non grata to the coaching staff ($), while others have said that they may continue to keep an open dialogue ($). Regardless, my reading of the reports makes it clear that they aren't expecting anything and are planning to take the commitment of 4* in-state LB Jeremiah Beasley and then call it a day. Beasley is set to commit next week and all signs are pointing to the Wolverines on this one. He would technically be the only true ILB in the class, but Michigan has a number of LB-ish athletes in this class and theoretically you could move one to ILB.

I wrote in the Cole Sullivan Hello that they plan to start him at MIKE, while I've also heard that Jaden Smith could be an ILB candidate too. Reporting suggests they like these raw balls of clay enough to stick with them + Beasley and wrap it up at LB in '24. It sucks to lose Chiles, because he was an awesome prospect, but given the presumption that a massive NIL offer was what tipped the scales and the manner in which the player conducted that process, perhaps he was not a great fit for Michigan and the culture they're building. Alas, we may never know. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: Happier discussion]