Thursday Recruiting Roundup: Updates on 2021 in-state four-star targets

Happy Thursday, and welcome to today’s Michigan Recruiting Roundup!

We’ve got a pair of important updates from in-state 2021 targets, so let’s get right to it.

Donovan Edwards’ father gives update on son’s recruitment

Arguably the top target on Michigan’s board in 2021 is in-state four-star running back Donovan Edwards. The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder from West Bloomfield has been in constant communication with Jim Harbaugh and Josh Gattis throughout the entirety of the cycle.

And that communication continues, as 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong ($) recently caught up with Edwards’ father to get the latest news on his recruitment. The schools Edwards’ father mentioned are Michigan, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Florida and Georgia.

Regarding Michigan, Mr. Edwards said: “The proximity, and also having a new offensive coordinator, coach (Josh) Gattis,” he said. “That’s what I like about it. And coach (Jim) Harbaugh has been doing a great job as well. Coach Gattis has been communicating more lately and collaborating more and just checking in more with Donovan, and the offensive plan he has for Donovan and different positions they can use him at.”

Mr. Edwards didn’t have much to say about MSU, but did speak highly of Georgia, calling it “running back university.” He said he also speaks often with Oklahoma running backs coach DeMarco Murray.

Mr. Edwards also said Donovan wants to get out and see a couple more campuses before making his decision. I still don’t see that happening, since the in-person recruiting dead period goes through the rest of this month. The NCAA could extend that at any time, so we will have to wait and see on that. Overall, this was a positive update for Michigan’s chances.

Rayshaun Benny not rushing to commit

Another popular in-state player in the 2021 class is four-star lineman Rayshaun Benny. The 6-foot-5, 275-pounder from Oak Park is a top 200 player who is good on both sides of the line. The Wolverines are recruiting him on defense.

In a recent interview with The Detroit News ($), Benny explains how he is not in a rush to make a decision.

“I want to take officials for sure,” he said. “I’ve talked about setting up visits and what the possibilities were, hoping to take official visits to Arkansas, Penn State and Arizona State. I don’t have a date yet; trying to find out when the NCAA is going to open things up.”

Benny also said if the NCAA pushes back visits to next year, then he will push his decision back to the traditional signing period in February. If he’s allowed to take some visits in 2020, he will decide in December and sign early. As of now, he does not plan to enroll early at his future school.

Along with Michigan, Benny also has MSU, Kentucky, Arkansas, Arizona State, Penn State, LSU and Tennessee in his top eight. As of now, I still am leaning toward Michigan being the favorite to land him, but a few of his top schools could sneak up and take over the lead. As long as Shaun Nua and company are reaching out to him consistently, Michigan should have a good shot here.

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