Monday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: Commit prediction, JD Johnson on Netflix, more

Happy Monday fine MnB readers! We’re beginning a stretch run of having recruiting roundups on Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s from now until well into 2020. Jonathon Simmons has you covered on Wednesday, Von Lozon is our reliable closer on Friday, and I’ll be here to get your week started on the recruiting front every Monday.

With that said, let’s get to the roundup!

El Hadi recruiting elite players for Michigan

2021 OL Michigan commit Giovanni El-Hadi told 247Sports that he feels good about Michigan’s chances of landing 2021’s top rated center Ryan Linthicum and ‘21 4-star OT/DT Rocco Spindler. ($)

Linthicum, a 6-foot-4, 275 pounder out of Damascus (Maryland), put Michigan in his top 8 at the end of June, along with Ohio State and Clemson. Linthicum isn’t in a rush to commit and plans on announcing his decision in the spring of 2020.

Spindler, the son of former Detroit Lions defensive lineman Marc Spindler, is the No. 1 offensive tackle in the state of Michigan (Clarkston) and is being recruited at OT by the Wolverines. Spindler was a BBQ at The Big House attending and walked away from the weekend impressed, saying “This campus, the brotherhood, the camaraderie with all the commits and recruits, it’s unbelievable, you can’t get that anywhere else.” Spindler also called offensive line coach Ed Warinner “the coolest coach ever.”

There are a few crystal balls in for Spindler to Michigan on 247Sports currently, and one for Notre Dame.

JD Johnson featured on Netflix series

2020 Michigan QB commit JD Johnson makes appearances on the new season of the Netflix series “QB 1: Beyond the Lights”.

A good portion of the show features the competitive relationship Johnson and fellow teammate, QB Spencer Rattler had as members of the Pinnacle high school team in Phoenix, AZ.

As the No. 1 pro style QB in the 2019 class, Rattler committed to Oklahoma, and because of his five-star ranking he displays a high level of confidence in himself. The three-star Johnson and Rattler go after each other a lot on the show and has been considered one of the most intriguing parts of QB 1.

Johnson started games for Pinnacle in 2018, including the state semifinals, so you’ll get glimpses of his on the field play and sideline demeanor throughout the series. Rattler is the focal point of QB 1, but there’s enough Johnson for a Michigan fan bored and scrolling through Netflix to give it a look.

Brenden Rice announcement soon(ish)?

For a good chunk of the summer 3-star 2020 WR Brenden Rice had a picture wearing a Michigan uniform as his profile photo on Twitter. Rice has since changed the photo to one of him in a Oregon Ducks uniform, Cool uniform pics aside, Rice recently hinted that he may be announcing where he’s headed to play college ball in the near future.

The 6-foot-2 and 204 pound son of legendary NFL WR Jerry Rice is widely considered to be Michigan bound. All 9 crystal balls on 247Sports have Rice headed to Michigan. Along with the 9 crystal balls, I also suspect and predict Rice will ultimately announce he’ll be spending his falls playing football in Ann Arbor.

Rice is currently ranked as the No. 69 WR in his class and at No. 397 overall. Watching film of Rice leads me to believe Michigan would be getting a high end 3-star recruit with Rice. The upside is there, along with good height, decent speed, hall of fame pedigree.

On Twitter at the beginning of the month Rice said “Not trying to make the wrong decision. I’ve seen so many transfers lately and I won’t become one of them. Commitment set next month.” Either way, it sounds like we’ll be hearing from Rice again real soon.