Tuesday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: No. 1 DE gets a visit and another DT transfer candidate emerges

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Michigan Recruiting Roundup! Now that the dead period has lifted, the coaches have been able to head out on the road and see some of their top prospects. Let’s see who they’ve visited on the trail.

Michigan visits No. 1 DE for 2022 class

Unsurprisingly, one of the first stops by members of the staff was to the Northeast, home of an elite 2022 prospect. Per The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich, Director of Recruiting Matt Dudek got to go out on the road ($) to meet with five-star defensive end Wilfredo Aybar.

Aybar is ranked No. 4 in the country in 247Sports’ preliminary rankings for the 2022 class, making him the top defensive end. While Aybar is from Massachusetts, he attends school at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, the school Michigan landed Tarik Black from in 2017.

Dudek was able to head out on the road this weekend because Michigan had not yet announced their hires of Bob Shoop and Brian Jean-Mary, and the program didn’t want to waste having two extra bodies out recruiting.

Tank Wright, who was rumored to be the favorite for linebackers coach before Jean-Mary, was also tabbed as a recruiter. He contacted 2021 in-state four-star Jamari Buddin in his short window of recruiting time, according to TMI’s Steve Lorenz ($).

Four-star ATH to receive visit from staff

Another prospect in line for some face-time with Michigan coaches this week is 2021 Virginia athlete Trenton Adkins, per TMI’s Lorenz ($).

It’s not clear which staff member will be visiting Adkins, since Virginia was Chris Partridge’s area before he left for Ole Miss. But whoever it is will be picking up a big responsibility, as the staff has really increased their presence along the Atlantic Coast for this cycle.

As for Adkins, he does not yet hold an offer from Michigan, but has received tenders from Maryland, UNC, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia so far.

While listed as an athlete, Adkins is mostly being recruited as a running back, which is probably the position where Michigan sees him as well.

Former top 100 DL could be potential transfer candidate

The latest former blue-chip defensive lineman to enter the transfer portal is Clemson’s Xavier Kelly, who was ranked No. 100 in the 2016 class. Out of high school, Kelly was a svelte 240-pound defensive end. In his time with the Clemson program, he bulked up to 305 pounds and slid inside.

Hailing from Wichita, Kansas, Kelly was a top target for Jim Harbaugh in his first full recruiting cycle, and visited campus multiple times. TMI’s Lorenz notes Harbaugh’s interest is still piqued, and the program will do a full evaluation on Kelly’s status ($).

This doesn’t mean Michigan will recruit Kelly again, as they’ll probably want to learn about how the weight change affected his game and why he couldn’t crack the rotation at Clemson. But given the roster’s relative hole at the interior of the defensive line, he would be a welcome addition.

That concludes this week’s Tuesday Recruiting Roundup. Check back in to Maize n Brew soon for your latest Michigan recruiting updates!