Wednesday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: Top targets impressed on their first visits

Welcome back to another edition of the Wednesday Michigan Recruiting Roundup. The staff has been hosting a ton of prospects for visits and camps this month, with the biggest weekend still yet to come. Let’s check in on how those visits have been going for the targets on Michigan’s board.

Top 100 OL enjoys first trip to Ann Arbor

One of the prospects Michigan had been pursuing for a long time, but hadn’t been able to get onto campus until recently, is Oklahoma 4-star guard Andrew Raym. That finally changed this weekend when he made the trip to campus to check out the school.

The visit went very well, and may have vaulted Michigan even higher on Raym’s list. The Wolverines are already in Raym’s top five schools, which he released in April, but according to The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich, it may now be down to Oklahoma, Georgia and Michigan ($).

I don’t have to tell you how hard recruiting against those schools will be, especially the local Sooners, but Michigan scooped up the top prospect in the state last cycle, and Sherrone Moore could pull it off again.

Raym will be returning very soon, as he scheduled his official visit from June 21-23. The momentum from these two closely-scheduled trips will be a big factor in his recruitment.

4-star RB makes surprise visit to campus

One of the most unexpected visitors last weekend was Florida 4-star running back Lawrance Toafili. Toafili wasn’t announced to be traveling north beforehand, but Michigan has been pursuing him hard for a few months now.

According to TMI’s Steve Lorenz, Michigan will be a “major factor” moving ahead in this recruitment ($). The other main schools in this race are Florida State, Ohio State and Auburn, with the Seminoles holding all of the crystal balls.

Toafili is ranked No. 172 in the country and the No. 15 player at his position. With Michigan looking to take multiple backs in 2020, Toafili would make a good complement to Blake Corum as a more traditional bell-cow back.

Add another visitor to June 21

One of the speedy wide receivers Michigan has been targeting recently is 3-star Brenden Rice. The Arizona native talked with 247Sports’ Blair Angulo about his upcoming summer visit plans ($).

”I know I’m visiting Colorado, Michigan and Oregon so far. I’ll be at Colorado on June 14-16, then Michigan on the June 21 weekend, then Oregon on July 27,” said Rice.

Oregon is probably the main competition for Rice, considering he is planning on a late July decision and has already been to campus a few times. But Michigan will get a crack during one of the best weekends to get him to change his mind.

In-state WR trending towards Michigan

After a strong camp performance last weekend, 2021 wide receiver Andrel Anthony picked up a scholarship offer from Michigan that carries a lot of weight with him. He described how he received the offer to TMI’s Marich ($).

“After they handed out the awards for the camp, coach Gattis, coach Moore, coach Roundtree, and coach Harbaugh all said make sure I talk to them before I leave,” he said. “They then said the University of Michigan is going to offer me a full scholarship.”

After getting the offer, Michigan received two crystal ball picks for Anthony, who has yet to be ranked. Landing the 6-foot-2, 165-pound receiver would be especially great for in-state recruiting, given he is from East Lansing.

That’s everything for this week’s Recruiting Roundup! Check back soon for all of the updates coming from the Michigan recruiting trail.