Friday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: No vacancy

Happy Friday, and welcome to another Michigan Recruiting Roundup!

The early signing period begins next Wednesday, and the staff continues to recruit some of their final targets in the 2020 class. We will get to a couple of those guys in today’s roundup, so let’s get right to it.

No room for 2020 four-star DL

Michigan gained a commitment this week from 2020 four-star defensive end Jaylen Harrell, who projects to play Josh Uche’s hybrid linebacker/defensive end position. Now with four defensive linemen committed to Michigan’s 2020 class, there can’t be any room for another, right?

The final defensive lineman the Wolverines are looking at in 2020 is four-star Van Fillinger. We have talked about him on here before, but it’s been a long time. He committed to Texas back in the summer, but recently de-committed after Longhorns’ defensive coordinator Todd Orlando was let go. Since then, Michigan defensive line coach Shaun Nua went in-home with Fillinger, so the Wolverines are at the very least interested.

So even with Harrell’s commitment, are the Wolverines going to cut ties with Fillinger once again? Brice Marich over at The Michigan Insider ($) was told by a source they will “continue to monitor” him, but there may not be a spot in the class for him.

“Personally, I think it is a smart move to not completely pull yourselves out in case anything happens. We will see if anything more comes out of it, but as of now, he looks to be on the outside due to numbers,” Marich wrote.

I honestly think it would be best if the Wolverines moved on. They have four defensive linemen committed to the 2020 class now, and the class is pretty much at max capacity as it is. To top it off, Fillinger is hard to project, so there’s no telling where he would exactly play. Because of all that, Michigan will likely move on.

Wolverines eyeing transfer portal for DL

The Wolverines may not take in Fillinger to join the defensive line room, but they could very well take in a guy from the transfer portal.

TMI’s Marich ($) reported earlier this week the Michigan coaching staff is keeping an eye on the transfer portal for defensive linemen. The names to watch, according to Marich, are former Stanford defensive linemen Michael Williams and Jovan Swann.

Williams is an interior lineman, listed at 6-foot-2 and 290 pounds, per Stanford’s athletics website. He was a four-star coming out of high school. Swann, meanwhile, is a defensive end listed at 6-foot-2 and 271 pounds. He was recruited as a three-star.

“I’ve also been told the Wolverines feel very happy about their current situation especially with the younger guys and how they’ve developed,” Marich said. “It’s not a necessity they take a guy from the transfer portal and they won’t if they don’t have to, but I’ve been told they are simply just taking a look at some potential options.”

Considering true freshman Mazi Smith has played in only one game this season, Michigan absolutely should take a look at the defensive linemen in the portal. If Carlo Kemp doesn’t come back next season, the position unit could be a huge weakness moving forward. An instant upgrade could be what Michigan needs, much like it did with Mike Danna last year.

The portal is useful for any college in America, and in my opinion, Michigan should have people devoted to scouting players in the portal — if it doesn’t already. Whether it’s Williams, Swann or someone else, I would be ecstatic if Michigan took a peek into the portal for a potential upgrade.

Warinner goes in-home with OT commit and top 2020 OT

Michigan offensive line coach Ed Warinner took a visit to Colorado to check in with 2020 four-star offensive tackle Andrew Gentry, Gentry confirmed with Maize n Brew earlier this week.

Warinner also went even further west and visited with 2020 four-star offensive tackle commit Jeffrey Persi, according to TMI’s Marich ($).

Gentry (6-foot-8, 310 pounds) remains uncommitted despite having interest in the same three schools for an extended period of time — Michigan, Virginia and BYU. He has continued to tell Maize n Brew he plans on signing during the December signing period. If that stands true, we should find out very soon where he will be going to college in two years after his Mormon mission trip.

He officially visited Ann Arbor for the Notre Dame game. According to 247’s profile of Gentry, he has not taken any other visits since.

Persi, meanwhile, has been committed since the summer. He most recently visited for the Ohio State game and has also seen quite the rankings bump since the beginning of his senior year. He was a three-star when he committed, but the composite bumped him up to a four-star within the last month.

That’s all for this week! The early signing period begins next Wednesday, Dec. 18. We will have tons of recruiting content for you all week on Maize n Brew, so be sure to come back!