Friday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: Coaches traveling ‘round the country

Hey everyone, and welcome to another Friday Michigan Recruiting Roundup!

Several of Michigan’s assistant coaches were out on the road this week visiting high schools of recruits that are high on their board in 2020. Today we will go through those players and update you on the chances they eventually give a pledge to the Wolverines.

3-star OL Noah Nelson

The 6-foot-8, 295-pounder from Gilbert, Arizona is one of the most wanted offensive linemen out west, with tenders from Michigan, Oklahoma, UCLA, Washington and more.

It’s no secret Ed Warinner and company are high on Nelson, as he stopped by his school on Tuesday.

However, it also looks like Oklahoma offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh stopped by as well.

Here is what Nelson told Maize n Brew after Warinner swung by his school: “It was cool. Glad to have them stop by. It is definitely a good feeling (to be wanted by Michigan). I feel God has done a lot for me and I continue to work hard every day.”

Oklahoma is Michigan’s biggest competition, but from what I have heard, the Wolverines could very well be at the top of his list. Nelson is looking to make a decision before his senior year, so this commitment could wrap up in the next couple months. If I had a crystal ball prediction, my pick would be for the Wolverines.

4-star QB JD Johnson and 4-star OL Tosh Baker

Warinner didn’t only visit Nelson, however. He, along with quarterbacks coach Ben McDaniels, paid a visit to Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, Arizona. In case you don’t know, Pinnacle is home to current Michigan quarterback commit JD Johnson and big-time offensive line target Tosh Baker.

There were some rumors of Johnson not being as interested in Michigan anymore due to being recruited by Pep Hamilton, but as detailed in our Recruiting Roundup on Wednesday, those rumors were put to rest after his official visit last weekend. He is completely locked in on the Maize and Blue.

Baker, meanwhile, clearly has some interest in Michigan. The only problem is he also holds interest in the best of the best across the country — most notably Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Stanford. Three crystal ball predictions are in for Notre Dame, so it seems the Fighting Irish are standing in Michigan’s way of landing another elite offensive line haul.

3-star OL Jeffrey Persi

As reported by The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich ($), Warinner also swung by San Juan Capistrano, California to visit Persi’s high school.

The 6-foot-7, 265-pounder told Marich the fact Warinner traveled so far to check up on him “is unreal.”

Much like with Nelson, Michigan is fighting off UCLA and Oklahoma for Persi’s services. He also holds offers from USC, Washington, Washington State, Utah, Indiana, Purdue, Vanderbilt and others.

There are no crystal ball predictions at this time. With so many options, and with Persi not being very talkative to the media, it’s a huge question mark who leads at this point. At the very least, Michigan holds some sort of a chance.

4-star LB Kalel Mullings

Lastly, a big recruiting name we haven’t heard of much of recently is Kalel Mullings. But it appears he is still a priority to the Wolverines, as defensive coordinator Don Brown and strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert visited his school Tuesday.

The Wolverines cooled down a bit on recruiting Mullings over the last few months, so much so that Stanford now holds 75 percent of the crystal ball predictions. But Brown and Herbert visiting his high school goes to show what they think of the 6-foot-2, 220-pounder from Boston.

With two linebackers already committed to the 2020 class, Mullings would probably be one of the last linebackers to be taken by the Wolverines in this cycle.

This will be an intriguing recruitment to watch unfold. I don’t have a clear answer as to what school leads here, but Michigan and Stanford are both high on his list. It appears those are the top two schools at the moment, but we will update you when/if anything changes.

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading and we will return with more recruiting news next week.