Friday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: The Long Game

Nicholas Petit-Frère visit reaction

The hype train is still in the station for the 6’6”, 260-pound Florida tackle (and 2018 four-star) Nicholas Petit-Frère, and it would be unreasonable to say the Wolverines have any more than a good puncher’s chance at this stage of the game.

But Michigan had a good visit with Nicholas this past week, and he spoke highly about it with Scout ($) - and in an almost identical way as his other visits to Ohio State, Duke, and UNC.

Ultimately, he said, he’s not focused on recruiting.

“I'm still in football mode now. We're starting up our workouts for Berkeley football and trying to make a run back at the state semifinals. (We’re going to) try to overcome that and get all the way to the state championship and try to find a way to win the first championship at Berkeley.

“That's my main priority right now. Once we get through that then I might try to go ahead and think about schools, but I really don't know at this point. It's just kind of working out, getting bigger, faster and stronger, the entire team is trying to do that."

He called all four programs he visited solid programs with great academics. So, to be continued.

As an addendum, Michigan football is continuing to extend its net for possible candidates, and one candidate that’s worth mentioning here is 2018 three-star offensive lineman Jalen Goss out of Georgia. He said Michigan is currently in his top five: "They are a great school. I haven't thought out all my Top 5, but Michigan is in it."

Michigan already has three offensive line recruits in this cycle, and while one might presume that they’d take one more in this cycle and be done after landing five in 2017, the way they’re going gives me the impression that they’re okay with adding two more for a total of five again this year.

Then again, Michigan always recruits aggressively so it’s set up well in case of class attrition in the fall and winter. But the numbers will be interesting to watch.

Shayne Simon update

Reports of Shayne Simon’s and Michigan’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. The four-star Jersey City kid visited this past weekend, and had a really good time ($).

The Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter’s Prep standout spent the majority of his time around Rashan Gary, Devin Bush Jr. and Josh Metellus.

“I liked how the players operate and go about things,” he said. “They go about business and they’re cool to be around and it’s comfortable to be over there.

“All in all it was a good trip.”

Simon is a name you’ve probably heard a lot, and it would be interesting to see how he potentially fits in with current Michigan commit Otis Reese, who’s also been tagged at that VIPER spot.

Busy Thursday

Thursday was a big day for visits, with 2019 RB Noah Cain starting his four-day visit, as well as 2018 prospects Jamien Sherwood and Cameron McGrone. McGrone spoke to 247Sports about his visit and had this to say ($).

"I absolutely loved my time up here in Ann Arbor," McGrone told 247Sports. "Definitely one of my best visits. I got to sit down and talk football with Coach (Don) Brown and talk Xs and Os. Also got to talk with Coach (Jim) Harbaugh some. Great man."

"I got real comfortable up there with all the staff and players. Felt like another home."

As I’ve said before, Noah Cain is really similar to a Saquon Barkley-type running back, and safety Jamien Sherwood and linebacker Cameron McGrone are two other guys who’d look really good blitzing the quarterback. The staff sees McGrone as a middle linebacker, while 247Sports officially ranks him as an outside linebacker. Oh, and he’s 6’1”, 215. It seems that this defense will have a lot of Viper look alikes going forward.

Oh, a second addendum - on Friday, Michigan will be hosting ($) a 2019 four-star in-state kid, Julian Barnett. Barnett is a 6’1” corner out of Belleville, Michigan.

News & Notes: A J.T. Daniels sighting!

Alright, Facebook guy, you’ve been heard. 247Sports is saying that 2019 four-star quarterback J.T. Daniels will be rescheduling his previously cancelled trip to the A4 camp, and will instead come to Ann Arbor sometime in July ($).

Meanwhile, here was a great and interesting piece by 247Sports about Michigan’s lack of superstar guest coaches at its various stops this year.

Steve Lorenz is reporting that Michigan made a big move ($) on 2019 four-star offensive lineman Michael Tarquin, who’s a Michigan/Miami battle at the moment.

Also, Michigan made the top seven for Tre’shaun Harrison on Tuesday - Harrison is a 2018 four-star athlete out of Washington state. He’s kind of a bigger Chris Evans who could also play cornerback, and, like Evans, I kind of like him best outside catching passes. Goes to show what I know.