Monday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: Gearing Up For Football

In-State Updates

Five of the ‘Pipeline 9’ are committed to Michigan. The other four - DPJ, JKP, Ambry Thomas and Deron Irving-Bey - are uncommitted and seriously considering Michigan. Here are updates on three of those - the most famous three.

Jaylen Kelly-Powell took some trips to the south and came away impressed, but he sounded more like a tourist than anything.

"Taking a visit, I was trying to see what down south was like," Kelly-Powell said. "Everybody tells me down south is beautiful, amazing. I've been to Florida so many times. I'd been there for championships in little leagues, so I wanted to go to the schools and see [what they were like]. It was really great, actually! I was amazed.

"Down south, the schools were a lot bigger, like really big. Great facilities, things I never imagined."

He also talked a lot about feeling dissed by fan comments regarding southern players being superior than northern athletes. There’s a lot of local pride there.

Meanwhile, Donovan Peoples-Jones talked to 247Sports about his relationship with Jourdan Lewis, who’s now a superstar while representing Cass Tech ($).

"He's truly a leader, truly someone I look up to," Peoples-Jones said. "I love watching him play. Being a receiver and watching him dominate other receivers, it teaches me a couple lessons, seeing the keys that he's looking for. Even talking to him, he takes the game really serious. That's something I do myself, also."

Finally, Ambry Thomas had himself a spectacular game this weekend, and 247Sports has video and commentary.

Cesar Ruiz Opens Up

Apparently, earlier intel that Alabama was not likely to accept a commitment from four-star center Cesar Ruiz appears to have merit, as Ruiz spoke about his recruitment to Scout ($).

“I’ll put it like this, I’m not really considering ‘Bama like I used to, they haven’t even sent me an official offer, so I lost a connection with them really.” said Ruiz, moments after he helped lead Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy to a 26-7 victory against Loganville (Ga.) Grayson High.

So with Alabama out, where does that put Michigan exactly?

“It puts Michigan at a tie with Oklahoma, North Carolina, and those other schools on my list, everybody is tied now” Ruiz said, further adding: “One school left (my recruitment), just waiting on my options now. Now I’m just going to take my official visits and see what I can see.”

Michigan is one of those schools that will be earning an official visit.

“Hopefully, if my schedule allows it, I play a lot of Saturday games, I’m looking at dates trying to plan officials now,” Ruiz said.

Another topic for Ruiz regarding Michigan was the departure of Ahmir Mitchell, a good friend of Cesar.

“That’s on him,” Ruiz said. “I love him, that’s like my brother. But he did what he had to do. I wish him the best of luck wherever he goes, my brother.”

Jalil Irvin Talks Decommitment

To 2018 recruiting for a second, four-star offensive guard Jalil Irvin spoke this weekend about his relationship with Michigan and why he ended up decommitting ($).

“The major reason was a lack of communication,” Irvin said. “I haven’t talked to the coaches in two months. I was thinking, ‘Why would I stay committed here, when I haven’t heard from them in two months?’ So I decommitted and I picked up two offers the same day actually.”

“I’m still going to visit,” he added. “Like I said, they are still one of my dream schools. I’m going to get up there eventually, catch a game eventually.”

Irvin said he currently does not have a leader. Best of luck to him.

Some Big House Play-By-Play

The Big House has been hosting some high school football, and one of those games featured Michigan commit Corey Malone-Hatcher (St. Joseph High School) teeing off against Kalamazoo Central. I’ll let Corey take it from here ($).

“We started out a little bit slow and we do that as a team usually sometimes, but we ended up rallying and got Griffin Beaudette back in the second half able to give us some confidence. We came out guns blazing on defense, guns blazing and they gave us an opportunity with that fumbled snap.

“Got it down to the four and capitalize on it with a safety. I think that was a really big momentum shift in the game and provided an opportunity for us to get fired up again and get our energy back and we capitalized on it for the rest of our game.”

St. Joseph won, 26-0.

Quick Heads-Up

Oh, by the way, MGoFish has a new Best Guess Recruiting Class out. Okay, carry on.