Michigan targets rise, commits fall in new 247Sports 2020 recruiting rankings

On Wednesday, 247Sports released their new Top 247 rankings of the 2020 class. This update was well overdue, as it was the first update in more than a year. With so much time between evaluations, there was understandably a lot of movement, and consensus opinions about players have changed.

This wasn’t a great update for Michigan’s commits, with five of the seven dropping spots. The latest commit, 3-star offensive lineman Micah Mazzccua, made his first appearance in the rankings.

On the positive side, several of Michigan’s targets rose, most of them significantly. The staff has identified some quality players early, especially at offensive line and safety. Four offensive lineman and three safeties Michigan is targeting jumped into the top 100 from the outside.

Let’s run down where Michigan’s commits and targets now rank. Given it’s early in the process and the staff’s board is still large, I’ll only throw in some comments when there’s significant news.

These will be 247’s rankings only, not the composite.

DE Braiden McGregor - 27th (up 253 spots)

McGregor’s ascension has been teased for a while, and it’s finally come to fruition. He shot up to the No. 1 player in the state of Michigan with a bullet. He’s just outside the top 200 in the composite now.

OT Andrew Raym - 39th (down 12 spots)

OG Justin Rogers - 40th (down 22 spots)

Rogers had a not-insignificant drop, falling to No. 2 in the state of Michigan. He’s still well above McGregor in the composite rankings and rated as a 5-star overall, though.

S Jordan Morant - 41st (up 107 spots)

Morant is a player the new staff members have been targeting hard, and he will be heading to Ann Arbor at the end of March for a three-day unofficial visit.

S Lathan Ransom - 50th (up 252 spots)

A big move for the safety from Arizona, but not the biggest mover in the state, who we’ll get to in a second…

OT Myles Hinton - 52nd (down 37 spots)

Hinton dropped further than Rogers, which may be due to a couple of factors. He was injured partially during his junior season, and like his older brother, doesn’t attend many camps and showcases. Chris Hinton took a similar fall in the rankings, only to rebound once he showed his talent at the All-America Game.

OT Tosh Baker - 54th (up 503 spots)

Baker had the biggest jump out of any player connected to Michigan by far. The Arizona native was offered by the staff when he was barely ranked back in late December. Since then, Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Texas A&M and a bunch of others have jumped in as well. Baker responded well to Michigan’s offer when it happened, so hopefully the staff has kept that feeling consistent while he’s been blowing up.

CB Myles Slusher - 58th (up 64 spots)

ATH Daniyel Ngata - 71st (up 83 spots)

OT Andrew Gentry - 77th (up 147 spots)

Gentry got a very nice bump into the top 100. He’ll be visiting at the end of March.

RB Lawrance Toafili - 83rd (down 16 spots)

OT Roger Rosengarten - 84th (up 352 spots)

Another offensive tackle who got a major upgrade is Rosengarten, who plays at the same high school Dylan McCaffrey did.

OT Michael Carmody - 88th (up 88 spots)

S Brian Branch - 92nd (up 314 spots)

Another guy the staff saw the potential in early, Branch will be on campus next month for a visit.

WR AJ Henning - 123rd (down 99 spots)

This drop hurts for Henning because he was just outside 5-star range and is trending way up with the Wolverines. He sustained a significant injury during his junior year, which hampered his potential to rise.

S Xavian Alford - 128th (up 157 spots)

ATH Enzo Jennings - 141st (up 59 spots)

WR Traeshon Holden - 161st (down 31 spots)

Holden goes to St. Frances Academy and visited with the big group of teammates last week.

OLB Kalel Mullings - 179th (down 35 spots)

This continues the disappointing slide of Mullings, who was around 5-star territory in the initial rankings.

OG Geirean Hatchett - 190th (down 26 spots)

S Makari Paige - 194th (up 4 spots)

OLB DeaMonte Trayanum - 208th (down 27 spots)

WR Javian Hester - 210th (down 75 spots)

SDE Aaron Lewis - 217th (up 100 spots)

S Malcolm Greene - 219th (down 50 spots)

TE Theo Johnson - 224th (up 194 spots)

Johnson keeps rising after big bumps from both 247 and Rivals. He just visited for the fourth time for the Michigan/Michigan State basketball game last weekend.

OT Reece Atteberry - 245th (down 137 spots)

WR Rashawn Williams - 287th (down 26 spots)

QB JD Johnson - 300th (up 263 spots)

Johnson got the biggest bump of any Michigan commit, and is the highest ranked in 247’s opinion. He’s now in 4-star territory, around where Cade McNamara ranked last cycle.

OT Zak Zinter - 316th (1st ranking)

Zinter finally debuts in the rankings after Michigan has been after him for months. He’s a solid 4-star in the composite now.

ATH Cameron Martinez - 331st (down 10 spots)

It’s weird Martinez would drop after getting offers from Ohio State and Notre Dame in addition to Michigan, but what are you gonna do?

WR Khalil Branham - 341st (down 33 spots)

Branham fell a bit, but this was likely caused by players shooting up past him rather than 247’s rating of him changing.

CB Andre Seldon - 368th (down 45 spots)

Seldon is probably in a similar position to Branham, but I think he deserves to be actively moved up. He’s always a top performer at any camp he goes to. His size will always hold back his ranking.

RB Blake Corum - 396th (down 50 spots)

Yet another St. Frances Panther with which Michigan is in good position.

OLB Osman Savage - 422nd (down 57 spots)

A tough fall for Savage, who’s considered a 3-star to 247.

TE Elijah Yelverton - 514th (down 60 spots)

WDE Antwaun Powell - 578th (1st ranking)

ILB Cornell Wheeler - 730th (down 99 spots)

A significant fall for Wheeler, who had actually been slowing climbing up the rankings before this drop.

OT Micah Mazzccua - 837th (1st ranking)

Mazzccua’s still considered a bit of an unknown to the services, but his composite has risen since he committed, so that’s good news.

TE Nick Patterson - 1010th (down 109 spots)

This fall is in stark contrast to Rivals, who just put Patterson in their top 250. It’s odd for the two services to have such differing opinions, but we’ll see which opinion proves correct.

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It’s disappointing to see Michigan’s commits so far down on this list, but it’s still early and there’s a lot of time left for shuffling. A bunch of Michigan’s targets made considerable rises, though, so it may not be long until more blue-chips are added to the fold.