Friday Michigan Football Recruiting Roundup Sees Opportunity

Michigan the early favorite for Tate?

Earlier this week while scouring the state of Florida, the Michigan coaching staff offered 2015 3-star WR Auden Tate. Not only did Tate seem incredibly excited about the offer with the following series of tweets:

But did he hint at something greater ($) during a recent interview with Scout.com's Amy Campbell? It's still early in the process, but it appears to be a big deal.

Although Tate tweeted out that he was waiting for the day Michigan offered "for a long time," he reiterated his feelings in a more in-depth interview with Campbell.

Tate says that Michigan is a school he has watched his entire life stating, like many others, how he fell in love with the team when he was watching guys like Hart, Henne and Manningham don the winged helmet and make plays. Kids around Tate's age will have the fondest memories of Michigan football during this time. So, if they are fans, those names will be mentioned a lot.

Some more information was released in this interview that will surprise a lot of people, Michigan is his top school right now.

"They're (Michigan) the top, I'm going to try and visit them soon," he said.

Big news? I definitely think so. I think Michigan's chances to cement themselves as the "driver seat" school falls on their chances to get Tate on campus for a visit. If he feels that passionately about the offer like he says he is, that doesn't seem to be an issue.

A competitor for Tate's services is rival Ohio State. The Buckeyes have been pursuing the receiver for some time before the coaching staff decided to step in. Campbell reflects on Ohio State in the article as well:

While he wasn't as ecstatic about it (the Buckeye offer) as he was about Michigan, he was still very happy to have an offer from such a historic program.

A consolation prize, I suppose.

Tate is planning on committing sometime during the summer. However, that timeline is depending on how many offers he receives and how quickly he visits other schools.

I like Michigan's chances here, ESPECIALLY if he ends up visiting campus. The coaching staff have done a great job of coming up with a visit gameplan and knocking it out of the park. I expect nothing less if Tate decides to visit. I know Florida State would be a real contender if they decide to offer, which some people believe they will. For now, Michigan's chances at landing Tate are doing well and on the rise.

Huge, huge recruiting opportunity for Michigan this weekend

Did I mention this was HUGE?

4-star defensive end Darian Roseboro, who is wildly considered Michigan's top strong-side defensive end target, is apparently en route to Michigan (FREE). This isn't exactly a one-day stay. Oh, no. Roseboro will be staying Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and will leave Ann Arbor on Sunday. Not to mention, his parents are accompanying him on the ENTIRE trip.

Now do you see why this is a big deal?

Not only does this visit allow Michigan to pull out the "red carpet" treatment as far as a full athletic, academic and "college life" showcase for three days and nights. This will also allow Roseboro's parents to see how exactly Michigan plans to utilize their son and how he can thrive under a solid academic institution.

It also allows Roseboro to spend some time with the players and become familiar with those already on campus. I cannot stress enough how important these next few days truly are.

If Michigan doesn't come away the leader here I will be surprised. He has many, many offers with in-state school NC State appearing to be a threat for Michigan, but I feel good about this visit.

It has been rumored that he would like to announce his choice in April, but I'm not sure if that is going to happen now. Of course, if Michigan truly blows him away and this is where he wants to be, that timeline could make sense.

Two more offers

The offers have been flowing out of Ann Arbor as of late with no signs of it slowing down. Two offers that I feel are of interest come from 2015 4-star WR Preston Williams and 2015 4-star OL Matthew Burrell.

Williams, who is considered one of the best receivers in the nation, is currently committed to Tennessee. Though the chances may be slim to flip Williams to Michigan, MGoBlog's Brandon Brown does share a little bit of good news on Twitter.

More will be coming out about whether Michigan stands a shot here, so stay tuned for further updates.

Burrell, who has had Michigan interest for quite some time, finally gets his Michigan offer. He visited Michigan during the UTL II game and hasn't been back since. Now that Michigan has thrown their hat into the ring, there is a good chance that he could be back for a visit soon.

Though Michigan is "late" to enter the race, the coaching staff have been in contact with Burrell ever since his visit. The coaching staff have wanted to see him in person before extending the offer. It just took until this week for that to happen.

Is it too little too late here? Possibly. But I am not ruling anything out.

I expect Ohio State to be the destination for this one, but anything can happen.

Be sure to follow Maize n Brew's Joshua Henschke on Twitter, @JoshuaHenschke.