Michigan inked a very impressive 2013 recruiting class and the 2014 class in starting to take shape as well. So far the Maize and Blue have verbal commitments from Wilton Speight (3* QB – Virginia), Drake Harris (5* WR – Michigan), Juwan Bushell-Beatty (4* OT – New Jersey), Mason Cole (4* OG – Florida), Michael Ferns (4* LB – Ohio) and Brian Mone (4* DT – Utah). The Wolverines also picked-up Brady Pallante (NR DT – Florida) who received a greyshirt offer, which means he’ll count against either the 2014 class or the 2015 class depending on how the numbers shake out.

Defensive End (1-2)

Again, depth is being built especially at the SDE position. WDE is coming along as well, but a blue chop pass rusher would go a long way into solidifying this unit.

Da’Shawn Hand – 6’5” 260lbs. Woodbridge, VA. The #1 guy on my board had a great visit back in March and has Michigan in his top 5 schools along with Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Virginia Tech. Hand is a absolute beast finishing his 2012 season with with 110 tackles, 16 sacks, 40(!!!!!) tackles for loss, two pass deflections, four forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries. He’s big enough and athletic enough to play either end position, or possibly even slide inside in pass rushing situations. He’s said a few times that the Michigan staff as a whole is his favorite, but the thought right now is that Hokies may have the slight edge. There is still a ways to go, but things look pretty good with Da’Shawn as of today.

Joseph Henderson – 6’4” 220lbs. Cleveland, OH. Michigan offered him a long time ago and things seemed to be a little hot at the time. He has visited UM at least 3 times, but I haven’t heard his name in quite a long time. In my opinion he’s waiting for an Ohio offer, so we’ll kind of see how it plays out over the next few months. He’d likely end up at the WDE spot, but might have enough athleticism to play the SAM position as well.

Lawrence Marshall – 6’4” 215lbs. Southfield, MI. The former Ohio commit will soon cut his list down to a few schools and although MSU might have a slim advantage, Michigan is right there as well. I’m not as high on him as some others, but he’s be a nice addition at the WDE spot. Marshall on weighs around 215 so a red-shirt would be likely.

Defensive Tackle (2-3)

Brian Mone – 6’4” 315lbs. Salt Lake City, UT.

Brady Pallante – 6’0” 270lbs. Naples, FL.

I know I sound like a broken record, but the quality depth being build here is just awesome.

Malik McDowell – 6’6” 295lbs. Detroit, MI. Another beast of a kid who is still growing. I wonder if he’ll start being recruited as an OL down the road just because he’s so darn huge, but we’ll leave him as a DT/SDE for now. McDowell keeps his recruitment close to the vest and is pretty hard to read, but right now if I were a betting man I’d say Michigan has a pretty solid edge on teams like Notre Dame and Sparty. Last week he picked up two huge offers from Alabama and LSU so we’ll see if he visits the south in the upcoming months. I’m not sure why, but I don’t see him going too far from home.

Linebacker (2)

Michael Ferns – 6’3” 235. St. Clairsville, OH.

Maybe the deepest position on the entire team. Looking very strong for the future. With Ferns likely a MIKE, a SAM is the best case scenario for the second linebacker spot.

Noah Furbush – 6’3” 230lbs. Kenton, OH. Picked up a Michigan offer although I’m not so sure that it’s a committable one at this point. He looks like a solid player in his highlights, good at shedding blocks, good motor instinctive, not great speed. If the Wolverines lose out on Winovich he’s looking like the last feasible option at the SAM spot, at least at this point.

Kyron Watson – 6’0” 215lbs. East St. Louis, MO. A violent tackling machine. It will be interesting to see how this all goes, especially because the want of a SAM in this class. Kyron is scheduled to come on a visit on May 20th and if Winovich isn’t in the fold by then, a commitment would be quite likely. Would they take 3 LB’s?

Chase Winovich – 6’4” 205lbs. Jefferson Hills, PA. Grew up an Ohio fan and got his Buckeye offer a week before Michigan offered. He has visited UM twice and is coming up again on May 1oth for his third. Right now it seems like its 50/50 between UM and Ohio, so that final visit will be pivotal in his recruitment. He has longed claimed that Ohio is his “dream school”, but has yet to drop for the Bucks. IMO if he does not commit on that third visit in a few weeks he’ll be a Bucknut.

Cornerback (1-2)

A blue chipper who can cover half of the field would be HUGE for this team. A lock down corner could be the final piece of the puzzle for this defense.

Jalen Embry – 5’11” 180lbs. Detroit, MI. Jalen only has MAC offers at this point, but once he hits camps this summer that will likely change. Michigan could possibly jump in at some point, but if that were to happen it will probably be sometime in the fall. Just a name to keep an eye on.

Adoree Jackson – 5’10” 175lbs. Gardena, CA. Has consistently named UM as one of the schools that he is interested in. IF he does indeed make a trip to Michigan, it would likely be an official. By then, it could be too late for him.

Jabrill Peppers – 6’1” 210lbs. Paramus, NJ. Has a solid as can be top 6 of Michigan, Stanford, Alabama, LSU, Ohio and Notre Dame. Had a great time during his recent visit to AA. So much so that it catapulted the Wolverines to the top of his list. The one remaining visit that will for sure happen is a summer trip to Stanford, his former leader. After that visit happens we’ll all have a pretty good idea of where Jabrill is leaning. Peppers had long stated that he’d take a few officials and would make a later decision, but things have changed since that Michigan visit. He now says that he’s trying to bump the Stanford visit up to June and a choice could come shortly thereafter. Michigan has made a HUGE impression on him and are in great position.

Parrker Westphal – 6’1” 185lbs. Bolingbrook, IL. Ala Jordan Diamond and Laquon Treadwell, Westphal is the token Illinois kid who really likes UM, has visited Michigan 1,000 times and could potentially drop at any moment, but hasn’t for whatever reason. Apparently, his brother had a terrible recruiting experience and the family is just being cautious with the process which is understandable. Dollars to donuts Parrker ends up in the class, but I remain guarded. FWIW, neither Auburn or Ole Miss have offered.

Safety (1-2)

John “JuJu” Smith – 6’1” 185lbs. Long Beach, CA. Another very versatile athlete that UM is recruiting for safety. He has a current top five of Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio, UCLA and USC and will take his time picking his school. Smith is currently concentrating on his track season and will worry about recruiting later. IF a trip to AA is in the cards, it will be this fall.

Montae Nicholson – 6’3” 200lbs. Monroeville, PA. Nicholson has visited AA a few times already and is quite familiar with the school. Things have been quite with him recently (been hitting a lot of camps), but he is planning on taking his time and possibly narrowing things down sometime this summer and I expect Michigan to make his short list.

Athlete

Kalen Ballage – 6’2” 220lbs. Falcon, CO. Ballage is a freakish athlete who could be used at many positions on the field. I’m not sure if Michigan has decided where they want him at, but he could play running back, SAM or WDE maybe even more than that. The good news is that the Wolverines got in on him very early and kids don’t forget that. Hopefully UM can get him in on a visit in the near future.

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Michigan inked a very impressive 2013 recruiting class and the 2014 class in starting to take shape as well. So far the Maize and Blue have verbal commitments from Wilton Speight (3* QB – Virginia), Drake Harris (5* WR – Michigan), Maurice Ways (3* WR – Michigan), Ian Bunting (4* TE – Illinois), Mason Cole (4* OG – Florida), Michael Ferns (4* LB – Ohio) and Brian Mone (4* DT – Utah). The Wolverines also picked-up Brady Pallante (NR DT – Florida), who received a greyshirt offer, which means he’ll count against either the 2014 class or the 2015 class depending on how the numbers shake out. NOTE: Juwan Bushell-Beatty (3* OL – New Jersey) committed on 4/29.

Quarterback (1)

Wilton Speight – 6’6” 220lbs. Richmond, VA.

Running Backs (1)

Talented depth is being built, but it is also young and unproven depth at this point. I could see the staff taking one RB in this class, but it wouldn’t be all bad if they missed out mainly because the 2015 has a few big time prospects that love Michigan.

Dravon Henry – 5’11” 180 lbs. Aliquippa, PA. Dravon is a longish shot at this point and has a top 4 schools of Ohio State, Pitt, PSU and West Virginia. He did however say that this list could change and is somewhat fluid. IF he visits UM there’s a shot there, but I just don’t see it at this point.

Jonathan Hilliman – 6’1” 210lbs. Jersey City, NJ. Hilliman just released his list of top 10 schools, with a top 3(in order) of Ohio State, Michigan and Alabama. He had planned on visiting in the spring, but nothing has been set in stone yet. If he does indeed visit, Michigan should be there until the end.

Joe Mixon – 6’0” 195lbs. Oakley, CA. Mixon is one of the most heavily recruited kids in the country regardless of position with somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 offers. He recently cut that list to a more convenient 16 which includes Michigan. He will likely take all of his officials and wait until the all-star games in January to decide. Michigan’s chances in snagging Mixon will again come down to whether or not he makes it to Ann Arbor.

Bo Scarborough – 6’2” 215lbs. Tuscaloosa, AL. The Alabama verbal claims that he’ll visit Michigan sometime in May. Never say never in recruiting, but pulling a kid from out of the backyard of Bama will be tough. Very, very tough.

Damien Harris (2015) – 5’11” 200lbs. Madison, KY. Harris is likely to be a top 5 running back in the 2015 class and has said numerous times that he grew up a UM fan. He has made several visits and has Michigan and OSU atop his current list. Michigan is in tremendous position here.

Jaques Patrick (2015) – 6’1” 212 Orlando, FL. This kid is a beast. Having north of 24 offers already, Patrick is one of the most heavily recruited kids in the country regardless of class. He has named Florida as his leader, but had connections in Michigan and plans on visiting this summer. He’ll likely stay in the south, but with a good visit you never know.

Mike Weber (2015) – 5’9” 190lbs Detroit, MI. Will the Cass Tech pipeline continue? Michigan will be there until the end with Weber, but he does have a few other nice offers and will take a little time. Michigan did get on him early which is always a plus nowadays.

Wide Receiver (3)

Drake Harris – 6’4” 180lbs. Grand Rapids, MI.

Maurice Ways - 6’4" 185lbs. Detroit, MI.

Drew Dileo, Jeremy Gallon and Jeremy Jackson all graduate after this season so 2 or 3 seems to be the number right now. Depth is being built, and with Harris and Ways now in the fold, it will be interesting to see if Scott or Williams feel the pressure and expedite their timelines.

Mark Andrews – 6’6” 220lbs. Andrews is a really nice looking prospect and at 6’6” he’s a bit of a WR/TE tweener, but he prefers to stay at wide out. At the moment he’s pretty open and has visited a handful of schools. He made a Midwest swing last week, with visits to OSU, Michigan and Notre Dame so we’ll see where it goes from here. I just don’t see him coming to Michigan.

Brian Cole (2015) – 6’2” 190lbs. Saginaw, MI. Cole will possibly be the highest rated prospect in Michigan for the 2015 class and has early offers from Michigan, MSU and Ohio. He likes Michigan, but his recruitment is very young at this point.

Corey Holmes – 6’2” 180lbs. Fort Lauderdale, FL. In December Holmes had Michigan in his top 2 teams along with Notre Dame, but the tea leaves are leading me to believe that ND is a clear favorite at this point. He was up north last week to visit the Irish, but unfortunately did not make the drive up to AA for another visit. We’’ see how this one goes, but right now it seems to be cooling off a bit. It also doesn’t help that one of his coaches in a former Buckeye.

Artavis Scott – 6’0” 175lbs. Tarpon Springs, FL. Artavis made his visit to AA for the spring game this past weekend with teammate and UM commit Mason Cole. Recent sentiments had Scott staying in the south, but making a third unofficial trip to Michigan shows that he is at least thinking about the Wolverines as an option. In the past he and Mason Cole had stated that they’d like to go to the same school, but Scott has since backtracked on that. I still think he stays south, but him visiting once again is a good sign.

KJ Williams – 6’3” 190lbs. Bethlehem, PA. After a great visit to Michigan KJ sent out this Tweet, letting all UM fans how much he did indeed enjoy the visit. This is obviously a great sign in the short term, but prospects sometimes are super excited after visits and need a cooling off period. It will be interesting to see how he feels in a few weeks, but things look very, very good right now for the Keystone State receiver.

Juwann Winfree – 6’2” 180lbs. Englewood, NJ. Winfree says that Michigan is one of a handful of teams that is recruiting him the hardest and wants to come for a visit.

George Campbell (2015) – 6’5” 181lbs. Tarpon Springs, FL. Campbell has already visited Michigan twice unofficially and has the Wolverines near the top of his list. There’s a long way to go in this recruitment, but things look pretty good right now.

Tight End (1)

Ian Bunting – 6’6” 215lbs. Hinsdale, IL.

Like the other positions talked about so far the depth and talent at this position is building and looking very, very solid. I think we can expect one tight end per class from here on out.

Offensive Line (3)

Mason Cole – 6’5” 275lbs. Tarpon Spring, FL.

Juwan Bushell-Beatty (Committed 4/29) – 6’6” 320lbs. Paramus, NJ. Visited with 5* teammate Jabrill Peppers a few weeks ago and was blown away by the experience. Shortly after the visit he said Michigan was in fact his leader. He says he’ll take a few more visits, but Michigan is in great shape here.

Hoke has stated in the past that he wants 15ish offensive linemen on the roster, next season after the graduations of Lewan and Schofield UM will have 13 if you add in Mason Cole. So the depth (quality depth at that) is getting there. We could really use a few true tackles in this class.

Alex Bars – 6’6” 265lbs. Nashville, TN. Brother of Michigan OL Blake, Alex is possibly the most talented of the Bars clan (there is another Bars at PSU). At this point he really likes ND and might want to blaze his own trail at a differently school than his brothers. He does like Michigan a lot, so it might come down to a UM/ND battle.

Tommy Doles – 6’5” 250lbs. Grand Rapids, MI. Has visited Michigan more than any other school and is very comfortable with the school and staff, but something is holding him back. Now it seems that Northwestern is in the drivers seat, so we’ll see how it goes.

Jamarco Jones – 6’6” 285lbs. Chicago, IL. Went on a Midwest tour over his spring break visiting ND, UM, MSU, OSU and Wisconsin. He says he has an idea of who will make his short list, but is unwilling to release that info quite yet. Speculation however is that Ohio is his leader. We’ll see, but don’t hold your breath.

Damian Prince – 6’7” 310lbs. Forestville, MD. Mentioned Michigan as a possibility earlier in his recruitment, but things have slowed a bit. The coaches were in his school this week so we’ll see if anything further comes of it. Maryland might be the early leader here, mainly because of familiarity.

Bentley Spain – 6’6” 295lbs. Charlotte, NC. Spain has some Michigan ties and has the Wolverines in his top 6, but things have been quiet with him since February. We’ll need to see him back on campus to have a legit shot.

Garrett Thomas – 6’6” 295. many, LA. Michigan was the first school to offer the sleeper tackle prospect and he has talked about a possible summer visit. Just by reading some interviews, he seems pretty likely to stay in the South.

Casey Tucker – 6’6” 290lbs. Chandler, AZ. Tucker had been committed to USC since July of 2012, but decided to open things back up last week. Michigan has offered the 5 star tackle, but I haven’t been able to confirm that there has been any contact there. It’s one to keep an eye on.

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