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Friday Michigan Football Recruiting Roundup Balls Like Pops

FRR updates you on the very latest Michigan football recruiting rumblings. Who received Michigan offers this week? Is Jabrill Peppers serious about Penn State? That and more.

By Anthony Mammel
Leon Halip

Peppers Making Changes

Rumors recently surfaced that five-star corner Jabrill Peppers was cancelling his visit to Stanford. That doesn't seem to be the case:

Penn State made things even more interesting by squeezing themselves back into the picture:

Don't panic. I REPEAT: Don't panic. Peppers wants to decide in early June, and Michigan is still the heavy favorite. The renewed interest in Penn State is shallow at best, and I have a feeling that Peppers just wants to make things interesting before he pulls the trigger. The Cardinal and the Nittany Lions both have a lot of ground to make up in very little time.

New Offers Out

Ohio DE Hjalte Froholdt
6'5", 270 pounds
HUDL highlights

What separates Brady Hoke and Greg Mattison from people like me? Well, a whole lot of things, but one of them is the ability to spot talent. I see an average 3-tech/5-tech when I watch Froholdt's film, but the staff sees something else. He has average explosiveness, but he does use solid technique and has a big frame. Arkansas, Cincinnati and Louisville have offered him as well.

Ohio CB Shaun Crawford (2015)
5'9", 170 pounds
HUDL highlights

Crawford is a future nickel corner who can really pick them up and put them down. He plays much bigger than his listed size and could contribute in the return game somewhere down the line. His offer sheet is already impressive: Michigan, Michigan State, Florida State, Miami(Fl), Arkansas, Tennessee, Penn State and others have already extended offers his way.

Minnesota DE Jashon Cornell (2015)
6'4", 230 pounds

Cornell is a raw OLB/DE prospect. He reminds me of a shorter version of Taco Charlton, because of his explosiveness and raw ability. It's interesting to note that Notre Dame leads, and since they run a 3-4 he'd be playing as a rush outside linebacker.

Two Important Prospects to Visit this Weekend

WDE Lawrence Marshall - Michigan State is the presumed leader here, but many think that Michigan has made up significant ground in recent weeks. Whether or not Michigan has a real chance against the Spartans could be more clear after this weekend.

OLB Chase Winovich - Ohio State leads for Winovich, but the Buckeyes already have a commitment from outside linebacker prospect Kyle Berger, who is rated higher than Winovich by every major scouting service. This weekend could be one of the staff's final opportunities to sway the Pennsylvania product to Michigan.

Michigan commitments Drake Harris, Maurice Ways, Michael Ferns and Wilton Speight could all be in town as well. The group already has a track record on the recruiting trail, so having them on campus should help the staff's efforts to land Marshall and Winovich.

General Notes and Multimedia Items

Class of 2015 defensive lineman Tyrone Wheatley Jr. and Joshua Alabi both reside in the state of Michigan, and both will surely be top targets when their cycle comes around. They were the two best defensive lineman at this week's Midwest Elite Exposure Camp:

1. Manlius (NY.) sophomore tight end/defensive end Tyrone Wheatley Jr. - Wheatley Jr. came in with offers from Michigan, Alabama, Penn State among a few others, and didn't disappoint. At 6-6, 240-pounds there wasn't anybody who could stop this train from running through. He only participated for the linemen section of the camp, but made sure his presence was felt. In the one on one drills, he used a combination of moves to beat the offensive linemen rather than just using his size. As all the coaches of the camp said along with everyone else was that he was just purely unstoppable.


2. Cass Technical (MI.) sophomore defensive end Joshua Alabi - The state champs came ready to compete and the main man was Alabi. The 6-4, 250-pound linemen showcased his agility and footwork, but also his strength and size in this camp setting. The bullrush he displayed was devastating to every offensive linemen in his way and the end result of the offensive linemen were that they ended up on their backs most of the time. It is no secret on way colleges are paying close attention to this stud linemen.

Wheatley is the son of former Michigan great Tyrone Wheatley. His son is just a touch bigger and is capable of playing on both sides of the ball; he's a lock to get a four-star rating.

Things could get interesting with linebacker prospect Kyron Watson:

Whether or not the new interest from USC will force him to push his decision back is yet to be determined. I still think he pulls the trigger during his visit if the Trojans don't come through with an offer before it. Speaking of Kyron, he was named the #10 overall performer at this weekend's NFTC camp in Chicago:

10. Kyron Watson
East St. Louis (Ill.) East St. Louis | LB | 6-1, 210

Watson has started to see his stock rise recently, with offers coming in from Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Purdue, Syracuse and TCU.

The No. 100 ranked player in the country isn't the biggest guy on the field, but his highlight tape shows that doesn't matter. He loves to hit and loves contact, which is a necessity at the linebacker spot.

He says his top two are currently Michigan and Kansas and he plans to visit Michigan on May 20.

The distance between Michigan and Kansas is roughly 10 AU. Not familiar with astronomical units? Google it. Too lazy to Google it? It's a lot.

Keith Niebuhr of 247 Sports' North Carolina community got the unique opportunity to interview a football coach about his recruiting tactics. An interesting bit:

247SPORTS - You've always been thought of as being a QB guy. If you could, briefly explain the process that goes into determining who is worthy of an offer at that position?

FEDORA - We're a little bit different than a lot of people. We're very slow on the quarterbacks. It's very important that the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Blake Anderson, and myself, both see the film on the young man. One of us has got to see him in person throwing. We would like to have worked with him in camp. And at that point, that's when we put an offer out there.

We're not going to just throw offers out like a lot of schools are doing. If that means we lose out on a kid because of it, then we will. But we've had success doing it this way with quarterbacks in the past and we're going to continue to do it that way.

Michigan's staff takes a near identical approach to quarterback recruiting. I recommend reading the rest of the article.

An eighth grader now holds offers from Alabama, LSU, Florida, Florida State and Nebraska. He already stands at 6'1", 215 pounds, so you can put him down as a defensive lineman now.

Touch the Banner interviewed incoming defensive tackle Maurice Hurst about his game and himself in general. A quote that I found a bit comical:

Have the coaches discussed a playing weight for you, and where are you most comfortable?
"No, they haven't really discussed a weight for me to play at with the coaches but between 285 and 290 would probably be the best weight for me to maintain my speed."

Yea, I'm at my quickest when I'm just under 300 pounds. Hurst could turn into a star down the road, in all seriousness.

Incoming four-star SAM linebacker Mike McCray will keep his high school number at the next level:

I'm a fan of linebackers and defensive lineman with single-digit jersey numbers.

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Questions about Michigan recruiting? Feel free to leave them in the comments, or email me at afmammel@umich.edu. I'd like to put a monthly or even weekly mailbag post together, so any and all questions are welcome.

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