Thursday Recruiting Roundup: Four-star DB prospect ecstatic to visit for first time

In case you missed Tuesday’s roundup or our Future Brew podcast earlier this week, there hasn’t been a ton of great football recruiting news for the Michigan Wolverines over the past five days. So on today’s Recruiting Roundup, we are focusing on the positives and nothing but the positives! They are few and far between these days, but there are still some good updates nonetheless, so let’s get to it.

Four-star DB excited to visit AA for first time

Michigan is expecting a big recruiting weekend next Saturday when the Wolverines play Wisconsin under the lights at the Big House. Tons of kids in 2021 and 2022 are expected to be in Ann Arbor, watching the game somewhere off-campus. One highly-ranked prospect the Wolverines are recruiting who will be in town for the first time is 2022 four-star defensive back Isaac Thompson.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from St. Louis has Michigan in his top list, so this is going to be a big step in continuing this recruitment. Thompson recently spoke with The Michigan Insider’s Josh Newkirk ($) and he described his excitement for being able to see Ann Arbor for the first time.

“(I’m looking forward to) literally everything on campus. The coaches, (coach Jim Harbaugh), I have a great relationship with all them,” Thompson said. “Even my dad being (an MSU alumnus), it’s still a school that I love. And I’m definitely going to be down there on Nov. 14.

“I want to see just the campus since I can’t go in the football program. Just to get with the campus and the other recruits like J.J. McCarthy is going to be up there. So, I’ll be able to connect with those guys before I am able to make a decision.”

When it comes to what will factor into his final decision, Thompson said early playing time and a school that he will “have no problems just completely transitioning into college D-1 program.”

Thompson said his top schools, in no particular order, are Michigan, Florida, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas. Once he visits his top schools, he will then evaluate his options further and make a decision from there.

It sounds like the Wolverines are in a pretty good spot here. If he saw Michigan’s defensive backs on Saturday, he should be aware of the high potential for early playing time. That should be a major plus moving forward for Thompson and other highly ranked defensive backs in the 2022 class who are seriously considering Michigan.

2022 five-star RB wants to visit U-M again

Michigan is recruiting several good running backs in the 2022 class, and no one might be more talented than five-star Gavin Sawchuk. Ranked the No. 3 running back and No. 28 overall player in the class, the 5-foot-11, 175-pounder from Littleton, Colorado is right near the top of Jay Harbaugh’s wish list in this class.

247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong ($) provided a small update regarding Sawchuk’s recruitment, saying the programs really pushing for him include Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Stanford, LSU, Florida, Florida State and Auburn. He also recently did a virtual tour of USC, so there seems to be some interest there as well.

Michigan was the first school to offer Sawchuk a scholarship, all the way back on Jan. 30, 2019. He and his family visited Ann Arbor for the first time in June 2019, and Wiltfong wrote he is looking to make a return trip sometime next year. He is also hoping to visit Stanford, USC, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Washington, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida and Florida State.

During his time in Ann Arbor, Jay Harbaugh has done a good job evaluating and offering running backs early in the process. So far, it seems like Harbaugh getting in on this recruitment early has aided the Wolverines to an extent. We’ll see how far that takes them.

U-M contacts 2022 QB

The quarterback board for Michigan in 2022 is a relatively small one at this point. The Wolverines are recruiting three top 100 prospects — MJ Morris, Gavin Wimsatt and Maalik Murphy — as well as top 200 prospect Nicco Marchiol. But now, it appears a new potential target has emerged, as TMI’s Steve Lorenz ($) reports the coaching staff has been in contact with three-star Tayven Jackson.

Jackson told Lorenz he has been talking with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis and quarterbacks coach Ben McDaniels.

While the Wolverines have not offered him yet, it appears they are further evaluating Jackson and could eventually pull the trigger on an offer if the aforementioned quarterbacks end up committing somewhere else.

Jackson is a pro-style quarterback, listed at 6-foot-5 and 185 pounds. He is a native of Greenwood, Indiana and plays high school ball at Center Grove. He holds other offers from Arizona State, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Rutgers and Minnesota, among others. He is ranked the No. 28 pro-style quarterback and No. 555 overall prospect on 247Sports’ composite rankings.

That is it for now! Come back Tuesday for another edition of the roundup.