jeremiah caldwell

Board lives here.

We have a lot to get to, with a brewing war on the horizon with USC (don’t panic), some major changes on the board at quarterback and cornerback, and the NCAA finally allowing on-campus visits and camps again after a pandemic’s worth of naught.

But first, we’ve got to talk about The D (NNTTD), for Michigan declared yesterday Detroit Day. This was the scene in Ann Arbor:

Not pictured: an unkindness of Ravens

For one day in Ann Arbor, all T’s were pronounced as D’s* all soft TH’s became Z’s, company names were given apostrophized possessives and pizzas were served square and bubbly. Coneys and looseburgers were piled onto the serving staff’s arms and washed down with pop, followed by Sanders on Stroh’s. Harbaugh shared his powerpoint Hall of Fame case for Lou Whitaker, traded gear for jars McClures from Eastern Market, and everyone went home with Pewabic tiles, most of which survived the potholed ride home on 94, which still nobody calls the Ford. I made an all-Motown team for the occasion. Also 30 area recruits for 2022-‘24 were on hand (free), which hand doubled as a map for a spirited, three-hour debate about which route everyone should have taken to get there. That list also turned out to be incomplete($). Rivals’ EJ Holland got reactions($), with Cass Tech OL Jackson Pruitt’s ⬆ the most interesting.

Whom they met along the way is best detailed by the 24/7 crew, who broke down who’s who on the remade recruiting staff on their latest podcast. Lorenz also broke down Michigan’s greatest positions of need which became a high-view state of the class and hosted a VIP chat($) for those looking for the gritty—it’s a few weeks old but has some good bits on Deone Walker and tight end recruiting. Steve is also keeping the visitors list as updated as he can.

The board is also shifting daily. This was expected—after a year and a half of no visits, few camps, and scattered football we knew the late-rising 2022s and all of the 2023s were going to be left unevaluated, both in terms of their football projections and their real interests in schools, until way deeper in the cycle than usual. We’re now starting to see all sorts of guys show up to camps and earn serious offers, and it’s only been a few days since they’ve been able to officially interact in person with these schools and gauge how serious they are.

⬆⬆⬇⬇⬅➡⬅➡BA

People liked the NCAA Football game-inspired arrows last time so I’m going to use them some more. Ups and downs mean trends based on where they were last writeup. Lock means commit or near to it. Peepers is we’re watching for something to happen soon. Right arrow is steady on, or no change despite news, or Connor Jones’s coach is giving quotes again. Left arrow is just there so I could reference a videogame code that’s twice as old as the players we’re talking about.

* [I once seriously confused my bud from from France when I told him to find us a restaurant in a specific New York neighborhood and he spent a half hour searching for somewhere called Liddliddle Lee.]

[Hit THE JUMP for the position-by-position breakdown]

Linguist Fallout/Clink Reactions

Losing their hottest recruiter at a position of dire recruiting need last week was a blow, but one that was salvageable if Ron Bellamy could play damage control($) until Michigan could pull off the one hire people wanted more than Linguist. They did so, and now the damage doesn’t look so bad. There are a lot of details behind the paywalls here but I’ll give a quick rundown of the board and how things have shifted with links as to the how and why.

THE MR. BLUES:

• ➡ 5* MI CB commit Will Johnson: He’s “in the class” ($) says EJ Holland. Dad is on board. Johnson is still telling 5-star Oklahoma commits to come to Michigan, so I think we’re good here.
• ➡ 4* TN CB/Nk commit Kody Jones: Has an existing relationship, told Sam he’s “all-in” and that Clinkscale was his first offer.
• ⬆/➡ 4* TN CB target Myles Pollard: Told Holland Clink was his first choice(free), and Sam writes Pollard “has a leader”($, info in title) so no change. Pollard did add a visit to Florida after those to Oklahoma and Auburn. In a Michigan vs the field recruitment, I say more the merrier, since it just dilutes the field.
• ➡ 4* NJ CB target Jaeden Gould: Helps($) thinks Holland, “Still in a really good place”($) Johnson told Sam.
• ⬇ 4* MI S/Nk target Dillon Tatum: “Not had the best words about it” Johnson told Sam, who also got Dillon to admit on record that up until last Wednesday the only thing holding up a Michigan commitment before was waiting on the video. Apparently Tatum was turned off at some point when Clink was recruiting him to Lexington; Holland learned before Clink was hired(free) that Tatum didn’t have a good relationship there, says there’s some fence-mending needed($) and went into detail on a public Q&A before Clink was hired that sounded like somebody up US-23 was whispering sweet nothings. Upshot here is Tatum will take visits to his leaders, and Michigan is giving him time to form a bond with Clinkscale.

THE HAPPY TEETH​

• ➡ 5* CA USC CB commit Domani Jackson: Linguist’s leaving hurt, via Holland, but Clinkscale and Domani’s dad are both from Youngstown. Holland wrote that ASU’s Christian Hawkins would have moved the needle here the most.
• ⬇ TX 4* S Chace Biddle. Probably wasn’t happening anyways.
• ⬇ VA 4* S Sherrod Covil. Once an M/ND scouting win who was ticketed for Va Tech, now Clemson/Bama/OSU involved and ND is trying to hang on. M was probably pulling out before Linguist left.

THE DATUM (DATAS?)

• ➡ GA 4* UGA CB commit Marquis Groves-Killebrew is one Linguist connection I was surprised is still coming up here, but that’s the plan($) says Sam. MGK is one of two recent offers whom Will Johnson told Webb Michigan’s “in a good place with.”
• ➡ GA S Mumu Bin-Wahad is the other, and will still be up for a visit on Victor’s Weekend. Trying to dig on this guy returns mostly rebuffed recruiting reporters until the 24/7 Michigan guys started getting interviews about MBW’s bond with Will Johnson($, info in title).

THE SAD JOSH

• ⬆ 3* MI Kentucky S commit Jeremiah Caldwell: Probably changed this one from a peripheral recruitment to a flip.

THE NEFARIOUS EDUARDOS:

• ⬇ I’m just gonna take TX 5* Bryce Anderson off the board entirely. He was trending to Texas($, info in title) before Michigan lost the one reason he was interested.
• ⬇ Ditto LA 5* Jacoby Matthews (going to LSU guys).

NON-DEFENSIVE BACKS:

• ➡ 5* TN DT Walter Nolen. Via Holland, Bellamy had more to do with this recruitment than Linguist. Keeping Kody Jones is important. Michigan also just offered Walter’s middle school brother, a 2025(!) OL. This is the only way you’ll get me to talk about 2025 recruiting.
• ⬆⬆ 3* MI DT/OL Deone Walker: Up($), also rising. Holland had a (free) 1-on-1 recently, that includes an interesting note about how the new staff would use a 6-7/340 guy I’ve upgraded him to Mr. Blue on the board:
• ➡3* TX LB Jeremy Patton, who probably won’t be a 3-star much longer, is going to use one of his coveted few visits to check out Michigan(free) reports Steve Lorenz, who stresses Patton was one of the first targets the new staff ID’d. Seems like a big hurdle in a recruitment that will have a few of them.
• ➡ 4* MI Notre Dame LB commit Josh Burnham: No change($).
• ⬆ 4* TN LB Keaten Wade and 4* ATH/QB Destin Wade, both UK commits: Package deal($), M needs a QB so would make sense.

Rest of the board isn’t tied to Linguist or Clinkscale in a specific way. I guess it could help with MI CB/WR Jaden Mangham from my high school, who was just bumped up to a 4-star in 24/7, but I haven’t heard yet.

[After THE JUMP: Two more cornerbacks, and guys the size of two cornerbacks.]

This feels especially dumb now that literally having a guy signed and on campus isn’t enough to stop him from getting recruited anymore, but hey, here’s the defensive half of recruiting update. Recruiting board is here, or find it under ‘Useful Stuff’.

Offense is here, including a list of visits. Some quick updates on that: the June 18-20 visit weekend is being dubbed “Victors Weekend” and the BBQ is that one week in July when recruiting briefly reopens (thanks reader).

Welcome Home Courtney Morgan

Years ago I was at the Bentley Library texting late-’90s photos I was finding to late-’90s players, and at that moment some recruit Hoke was after chose UCLA. I asked Cato June what’s up with losing guys to frikkin Jim *L* Mora and, Cato was like “You know who’s out there: Courtney Morgan!” So last week when I heard from someone that Mississippi State was going to hire Morgan I said “Man, we should get him.”

This totally means you have me to thank (you really do not) for Harbaugh bringing home a beloved Lloyd-era lineman who’s been killing it (and sometimes us) on the West Coast, to modernize Michigan’s recruiting efforts. Sitting recruiting director Matt Dudek, was welcome to stay but understandably wasn’t thrilled that Michigan had hired a high-profile alum to share his job, and gracefully resigned to take the opening under Mike Leach in Starkville.

For what it’s worth I was told “That wasn’t it” when I suggested the timing of this shakeup coincided with losing Xavier Worthy, that this was just a case of jumping on a true blue hot commodity who was in the process of moving up. Dudek critics have always been way off base—the I still don’t think I’m going out on a limb in believing Worthy’s botched enrollment played a role in making Dudek expendable.

Anyway: great move. Everyone from his former teammates to the OL coach of Pittsburgh Steelers have been handing out unsolicited praise about Courtney Morgan, and his track record at UCLA, Fresno State and San Jose State speaks for itself. Sam noted on their podcast (38:00) that Morgan adds a guy with Ohio ties (his parents are from there), which was previously a blind spot for this staff, and Lorenz added that Courtney has experience in marketing for when NIL comes into play. Like Hart and Bellamy, and very much unlike Dudek, this is the kind of program hire that should survive a rough season if Harbaugh doesn’t, which means the recruiting class could too.

Defensive Tackle

Quick summary: Need bodies. They have have a 3*, plus a good shot at Cass Tech’s next big guy, and the kind of Alabama 4-star Michigan can get. Very much in it for a #1 overall elite but you know how those go down.

The latest: All hands are on deck in the recruitment of elite TN 5* Walter Nolen, who will be visiting during the big June weekend. Via Sam Webb, the Allied forces include lead recruiter Ron Bellamy and position coach Shaun Nua, the parents of CB commit Kody Jones, 5-star commit Will Johnson, and Mom’s entire extended family($):

“Man, my wife's uncles and cousins... we went out to her grandmother's house and they came in with their Michigan paraphernalia on,” Mr. Nolen recalled laughingly. “They were like, 'cuz... nephew... you gotta go to Michigan!'”

“She's got an aunt that's in Phoenix and they were FaceTiming. She was like, 'nephew, you gotta to Michigan.' They were cracking jokes and one her uncles said, ‘tell her Ohio State is one of the (schools) on the list and watch what she says.’ She pitched a fit! Man, it was hilarious. (Laughter)”

Of course camp friend Kody Jones is in Nolen’s ear all the time.($, info in title)

EJ Holland used the bulk of his Into the Blue (free) column this week to address Michigan’s pitch after Nolen came up for an unofficial visit:

Michigan always preaches family to recruits. Nolen will get a better feel for the staff's genuine approach to this on his official visit, but I know Michigan is virtually moving the needle in this area. Nolen's grandparents live in Detroit, so he would have family close by if he were to pick Michigan. The Wolverines also offered Nolen's younger sibling, which meant a lot to the family. And I'm told his parents and other relatives that made the trip really loved their time at Michigan and around Ann Arbor. Continuing to pitch family will be key in this recruitment.

Holland thinks OSU and Alabama are the other teams ahead, while Wiltfong includes Florida, Nolen’s dad lists Michigan, OSU, and Georgia as his most likely visits to MLive’s Ryan Zuke, and OSU writer Bill Kurelic would take the field over OSU($). Mom says “academics, academic support, good strong academic support and a coach that’s going to challenge him,” are what she’s looking for. 24/7’s staff has analyzed the attack plan($) and agrees the Nolen Alliance presents a real danger. SEC writers warn not to overestimate our chances.

[After the JUMP: Michigan leads for some guys but shhhhhhh]