Friday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: Is a commitment in the works?

Welcome in to another Friday Michigan Recruiting Roundup! The Wolverines are expecting a couple top-tier visitors this weekend — one in the 2020 class and one in 2021. Along with that, a couple targets update their recruitment in terms of where Michigan stands.

2020 4-star WR, 2021 4-star QB visiting U-M this weekend

According to 247Sports (FREE), Michigan is expecting a visit from 2020 4-star receiver A.J. Henning and 2021 quarterback J.J. McCarthy. The two are both Illinois natives and live just a mere 45 minutes away from each other. McCarthy plays his high school ball in La Grange Park while Henning plays in Frankfort.

It is being strongly insinuated on other platforms that McCarthy MAY commit this weekend, which would obviously be great news for the Wolverines. With all nine crystal ball predictions locked into Michigan right now, the commitment could happen sooner rather than later.

Henning, meanwhile, is a longer shot than McCarthy. All six of the crystal ball predictions are on Notre Dame at the moment, and seems to be pretty open to anything at this point.

But having Henning on campus is a step in the right direction for Michigan. This will be his second visit to Ann Arbor — his first being in January — and is very close with McCarthy. If McCarthy does commit this weekend, maybe Henning will start to trend toward Michigan.

At this point, Michigan will take any help it can get, and it would surely help if McCarthy committed this weekend.

2020 in-state 4-star OG includes ‘Bama and new top list

After naming Michigan in his top five list two days ago, 4-star Oak Park offensive lineman Justin Rogers had “an amazing conversation” with Nick Saban from Alabama and put them in his brand new top six.

This recruitment is just getting tiring. Let’s move on.

2020 3-star DE discusses putting U-M on top list

On Wednesday, 2020 3-star defensive end Deontae Craig put Michigan on his top eight list, along with Ohio State, Michigan State, Purdue, Tennessee, Indiana, Iowa and Northwestern. After releasing his list, he explained his decision to The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich ($).

“They are a really good program and the academics there are incredible,” Craig said. “It’s kind of close to home, and I’ve been up there a lot and the vibe is incredible.”

The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder from Culver, Indiana has a much better offer sheet than his ranking suggests. but may never get much higher due to the level of competition. Regardless, Michigan is in need of defensive ends in this class, so getting any chance at another guy the coaching staff is high on is solid news.

2020 4-star OL wants to visit U-M again

We have been talking a bit more about 4-star offensive lineman Olu Fashanu in recent weeks, and it seems like his interest in Michigan keeps increasing.

The 6-foot-5, 320-pounder from Washington D.C. was at The Opening Regional last week, which is where he caught up with TMI’s Josh Newkirk ($), specifically about the academics Michigan has to provide.

“Something about (Michigan), there is not a lot of schools out there, again, that can offer top tier academics and top tier football,” Fashanu said. “So again, that’s going to play a big factor in what I do.”

The current plan is for Fashanu to visit Ann Arbor again in June so he can “see more.” He said the first visit was “amazing” and he wants to “see what else they can do.” He also plans to visit Ohio State and Penn State this summer.

Fashanu also spoke about Michigan offensive line coach Ed Warinner, who he calls a “great guy.”

“We talk almost every day,” Fashanu said. “I can tell he cares for his guys. Like all the intensity they put into practice, just flows directly off of him. So, he’s a really good guy.”

That’s all for this week! Have a great weekend, everybody.