Thursday Recruiting Roundup: 2022 LB has unique family tie to U-M

Hey everybody, and welcome to today’s Michigan Recruiting Roundup.

We are getting to that part in the cycle where we begin looking ahead to the junior class, which is exactly what we are going to do in today’s roundup. Let’s get right to it.

2022 LB has huge family tie to U-M

One of the positions Michigan sits pretty well with early on in the 2022 cycle is linebacker. With an in-state kid already crystal balled to Michigan (Josh Burnham), it seems like a matter of “when” and not “if,” so it’s smart for the coaches to start looking at other guys to potentially pair up with him.

Another prospect Michigan has been in contact with recently, according to The Michigan Insider’s Steve Lorenz ($), is Sterling Lane. The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder from Westlake Village, California already has an offer from Michigan, as well as LSU, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and a few others. But Michigan is a school Lane has an interesting tie to, as his cousin was a pretty successful basketball player there back in the ‘80s.

“Michigan is one of my dream schools because of its ties to my family,” Lane said. “Glen Rice is my cousin, so my mom and my family are big fans of the school and teams. My mom is from Flint.”

With the Wolverines loading up on linebackers in 2020 and 2021, it’ll be interesting to see how many guys they take at the position in 2022. Regardless, Lane seems pretty interested in the program already, so that is certainly good news early on.

Lane is not yet ranked on the composite, but 247Sports has him ranked as a four-star and the No. 24 outside linebacker in 2022.

2022 DB includes U-M in top 10

An early top target for the Wolverines in 2022, four-star defensive back Isaac Thompson, included them in his top 10 earlier this week. Michigan was joined by USC, LSU, Arkansas, Penn State, Ole Miss, Texas, Florida, Missouri and Georgetown.

Despite his father playing at Michigan State, the Spartans were not included on his list. That’s right, Georgetown, an FCS football program, made it on his list over the legacy school. You just hate to see it...

The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from St. Louis, Missouri is being recruited by safeties coach Bob Shoop. Even though 247Sports has him listed as a cornerback, it seems the Wolverines may be recruiting him as a versatile defensive back who could play either safety or cornerback.

Michigan is in it for a ton of defensive backs early on in the 2022 class, and Thompson is just one of the many highly-regarded guys being recruited by the coaching staff. Other guys include five-star in-state corner Will Johnson, five-star corner Domani Jackson, four-star safety Myles Rowser and four-star corner Jaeden Gould, to name a few.

Thompson is ranked the No. 18 cornerback and No. 150 overall player on the composite.

2022 four-star DB wants to visit U-M

Speaking of Jaeden Gould, the four-star cornerback from Oradell, New Jersey recently told TMI’s Brice Marich ($) he spoke over the phone with cornerbacks coach Mike Zordich on Tuesday. They continue to talk weekly, and those talks are going well.

Next on Gould’s docket is visiting Ann Arbor again sometime soon. He has already done so three times, but whenever he’s able to do that next, he may not be visiting alone.

“Oh yeah, definitely for sure I’m going to talk to Jyaire (Brown) about visiting Michigan together and hopefully Domani (Jackson) as well,” Gould said.

Brown, a four-star Ohio State cornerback commit, was just offered by Michigan the other day. Gould actually tweeted at him after Brown made the announcement, which is pretty significant considering Gould isn’t even committed to Michigan.

Meanwhile, Jackson is on the record saying Michigan is his “dream school” and has been a fan of the program since he was growing up watching them. Getting one of those guys on campus with Gould would be a big win. Getting both would be absolutely huge.

At this point, even though it is pretty early on, I think Michigan leads for Gould. Zordich picked up right where Anthony Campanile and Chris Partridge left off in this recruitment when they left Ann Arbor, and it appears Zordich has done a real good job keeping Gould interested in the program.

Gould is ranked the No. 12 cornerback and No. 97 overall player on the composite.

That’s all for this week! Come back Tuesday for another Recruiting Roundup.