Hello From The Future: Kalil Branham
As Seth posted yesterday, Michigan picked up its first 2020 commit shortly after camp when OH WR Kalil Branham pulled the trigger. Like most rising juniors outside of the super-hyped tier, there's not a ton out there on him yet. But at least he can almost make a shirt out of medals!
GURU RATINGS
247 | ESPN | Rivals | Composite |
3*, #322 overall #36 WR, #5 OH |
NR | 3*, NR overall 5.7 rating |
N/A |
24/7 is the only site with a ranking on Branham; they put him in the heart of 3.5* territory at #322 nationally and the #5 kid in Ohio. ESPN doesn't have a profile for him and, given that they've seeming fired all their useful people so they can meet Stephen A. Smith's demands for ever-larger carrot cakes, may not ever have one. Rivals has an early placeholder. 5.7 is the top end of their three star range, FWIW.
[Hit THE JUMP for scouting, video, and more.]
SCOUTING
Nothing yet from Rivals. 24/7 also doesn't have much that's substantive. Bill Greene provides the only network scouting yet published:
With good size (6-foot-1, 190-pounds), track speed and the ability to go up and over defensive backs for the football, Branham is already looked at as one of the top wideouts in the Midwest for the class of 2020.
He followed that up with a clarification: he hasn't seen the kid in person yet but likes the kid "a lot" and will catch him this fall. Magnus's highlight film take:
Branham appears to have legitimate track speed. He has good acceleration off the line of scrimmage, and he can create separation from defensive backs on vertical routes. That speed also helps him set up shorter routes. His frame is solid for a high school rising junior, and he should be strongly built in college, even if he doesn’t get much taller. He catches the ball with his hands away from his body, and he shows an ability to track the ball in the air and make adjustments to poorly thrown balls. He shows a willingness to block and takes pride in it, and that should be a strength for him going forward.
On the negative side, Branham plays like a track guy. He runs rather upright, and there’s not a whole lot of shiftiness to his running style. He occasionally tries to work in a spin move, but it’s not super tight and he uses it where some kids might try a dead leg. He also needs to improve his route running, which is expected for a guy just coming out of his sophomore yea
Michigan probably has a better grasp on Branham than anyone else since they just got him in camp, where he was a positional MVP, and pulled the trigger on an offer a couple of days later.
Michigan's had a couple early commits from Ohioans that didn't stick but this one is probably going to. Branham comes from a brave and thick-skinned family of Michigan fans:
Here's my grandfather who died a little while ago. We miss you paw paw. He was a WW2 vet and very proud of that. He was also a die-hard Michigan fan. #branhamboys #GoBlue #FathersDay pic.twitter.com/TommJ39vSH
— Kalil Branham 2020 (@kbug_dash) June 15, 2018
Hopefully some blanks get filled in over the next few weeks.
OFFERS
With all due respect to Boston College (miss you, AJ Dillion), Michigan was Branham's first top-tier offer. BC, Wake, Cincinnati, and various MAC schools were his other early offers. GT and Pitt were supposedly near offers.
HIGH SCHOOL
Northland High School in Columbus hasn't sent many football players to major colleges in the past decade but sounds familiar because of its outstanding basketball program, which sent one Trey Burke to Michigan. Jared Sullinger is also an alum, and Michigan recruited SF Seth Towns for a bit last year before Tommy Amaker swooped in and dunked on Shaka once again.
STATS
I couldn't find any.
FAKE 40 TIME
Branham doesn't have a camp one. He self-reports a 4.44. That gets two FAKES out of five. That's optimistic for any sophomore in high school but Branhham is probably pretty good at running in a straight line:
Kalil will focus on the Junior Olympics, where he has an opportunity to place highly in the 200 and 400-meter dash events. As a result, he is not certain which camps he will go to yet. He is not planning on enrolling early when he begins college as he wants to finish his baseball and track seasons when he is a senior.
Per his self-reported stats on twitter he's faster than Ezekiel Elliott.
@EronHodges Numbers dont lie. IJS pic.twitter.com/e99uDIAaiF
— Kalil Branham 2020 (@kbug_dash) October 10, 2017
Also he does big box jumps.
VIDEO
PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE
Dunno? Let's wait until there's some scouting. One positive item: Branham is the kind of guy who has a jugs machine at home that gets plenty of use:
I have a Blue Collar with dirt on it. I wont be outworked #GoBlue #branhamboys pic.twitter.com/EnczKQvRmZ
— Kalil Branham 2020 (@kbug_dash) June 14, 2018
He says he won't be outworked, and that's likely to be true.
UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS
Branham was the only 2020 recruit Michigan had for most of the drafting of this post, but no longer. Either way the 2020 class is in its very early stages and it's hard to project anything until 2019 is put to bed. One thing of note: Branham has an older brother in the 2019 class named John who's currently projected to go to Pitt.
"ESPN doesn't have a profile for him and, given that they've seeming fired all their useful people so they can meet Stephen A. Smith's demands for ever-larger carrot cakes, may not ever have one."
lolz
At what point does ESPN get taken out of the Composite rankings and stopped getting referenced. They have clearly stopped emphasizing recruiting so their analysis (when it exists) have become close to irrelevant.
Of course, the Starz Mafia (who by the way are a nearly identical group to the Douchebag Mafia) don't care about this and will still claim that a 2 year old fire and forget from ESPN means more than a kid's tape and coaching staff eval - but for the those of us with brains, we should just ignore the last remnants of ESPN recruiting content.
There are a lot of smaller / independent recruiting shops out there - I would give them a shot over the rotting carcass of ESPN.
I mean if you drop ESPN the composite is just 247 and Rivals, and Rivals has its own camp preference issues. The composite already lost some of its usefulness going from four services to three.
I don't think that the market can support more than 2-3ish (ESPN is the ish) national recruiting services but it would be nice if some investors wanted to lose money to give us more useful info on football children.
Yeah, agreed, although I think there are already some independent analysts out there put out rankings. If I worked at 247 / MgoBlog, I would take a look to see if any of them are worth including.
ESPN is now skewing the numbers by ignoring top 300 kids and/or firing and forgetting on kids for years at a time.
May be a moot point anyway, may not be long before ESPN puts a kibosh on the whole thing anyway.
The numbers don't lie: he's better than Ezekiel Elliott.
You can't teach speed!
Add in good size already and I think he will climb the recruiting charts.
I wonder how many prospects own jugs machines?
$2,200 to $2,700 on Amazon. Got to admire a family investing in the guys football future. If I had a kid with that kind of WR speed/ability I'd get one too.
What gave it away that this kid has track speed?
On WTKA this morning, someone at the Michigan Camp said the coaches were freaking out after Branham ran his 40 because it was close to a 4.3. Also on WTKA, Bill Greene said that he thinks that he'll move up in rankings and Ohio St would push hard for him in the future
I don't think he would want to disrespect his grandfather by flipping. I would think he is solid.
This kid looks like a great get and I wish him well. But did anyone else think that in that medals pic he looks like a cut-up Gary Coleman?
I think he looks like Devin Hester - hope his speed, ability and returning ability match Hester.
Good to have him committed to the Blue. Nice size, athleticism and attitude. Also great to see his excitement with the offer and shout out to the paw paw.
Yes.
What are you talking about?
His face doesn't fit his abs at all. He has those baby cheeks grandmas & aunties love to pinch. He has the stomach that can be used to clean clothing. Those two usually don't appear on the same kid!
I suppose it could always be photoshop but it's astounding to me that a kid that young is already that physically mature. Hard work gets you a long ways, sure, but you also need testosterone and stuff.
Do all the metals he's wearing keep this post from getting an "OMG shirtless" tag?
I dunno but I’m there a few posters here who would drop to the ground with that much weight around their neck.
Between the OMG Shirtless and the damn underwear ads, this site is getting NSFW. (and I work from home.)
A little surprised the that no. 5 ranked player in Ohio at any stage of the cycle would not be considered a full-on four star.
I thought he was #5 WR in Ohio? Regardless I think he is moving up.
One thing for certain is the recruiting rankings are in serious question with their lack of resources.
I am trusting the coaches although Bluey will tell you otherwise.
Edit. #5 in Ohio overall. I would bet a lot of money the 5th best player in Ohio is at least a 4 Star. The rankings are less accurate and behind schedule than they used to be.
Ohio supposed to be pretty deep this year so I agree. I think 247 just kinda tends to give everyone a 3* ranking until they do further scouting
I know nothing about this particular kid, or really football recruiting in general, but what seems crazy to me is the #5 player in Ohio being ranked outside the top-300 nationally. Even with an even distribution among every state, 5th in Ohio should be top-250, and obviously that's not the case since like half of the states are worthless, whereas Ohio is pretty talent rich. I know these services tend to overrate The South because that's where their bread is buttered, but geez.
The more I learn the more I really like this recruit. The kid seems like a freak athlete that works hard and has confidence. His film is good.
Very good speed and quickness. Nice hands. Strong, willing blocker. I guess he's not higher rated because he's not 6-4? Can even throw a nice pass. Love this commitment.
Welcome to the family, Kalil. GO BLUE!
Gotta like his confidence.
In that pic he looks like Gary Coleman's face pasted on Usain Bolt's body.
Probably a better recruit than the guy who is Usain Bolt's face pasted on Gary Coleman's body.
Blocks with a low center of gravity
I wonder if he clinks and jingles when he walks.
How does he go to the bathroom with all that gold on?
Lol, yo just reminded me of a funny joke in a great movie that I haven’t thought of in a loooong time....
Write up has me hype. Stars will soon follow.
Sounds like a two year starter type.
This kid is going to be Harbaugh's favorite player on the entire team. Harbaugh honestly probably sees a lot of himself in this kid....
2700 is nothing to invest to insure your kids can leave Columbus and never have to come back.
Any chance we offer his brother? He looks like a manchild in his 247 profile pic. Also I'm sure he is a workout warrior/Michigan man like his little brother.
Baller
That 51" box jump is impressive, and the work ethic and attitude is awesome.
Welcome to the good guys! GO BLUE!
21.08 200m as a freshman in high school is world class.
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