Thursday Recruiting Roundup: Morgan hire helping with West Coast five-star

He’s only been on the job for a couple weeks, but Director of Player Personnel Courtney Morgan is already making up ground on a few prospects out west. We begin today’s Michigan Recruiting Roundup detailing one of the more important prospects on the West Coast who Morgan will be recruiting vigorously throughout this 2022 cycle.

Morgan, U-M fighting for five-star OL

It’s no secret Morgan has ties to the West Coast from his days at UCLA, Fresno State and San Jose State. It was at one of his previous employers where he first connected with 2022 five-star offensive lineman Josh Conerly Jr, and now he is fighting for his services at U-M.

The 6-foot-5, 275-pounder from Seattle already had a bond with Sherrone Moore, so Morgan will be assisting to try and get Michigan over the top. The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb ($) recently caught up with Josh’s dad to get more details on Morgan’s involvement.

“(Morgan) thought Joshua wouldn’t be interested in Fresno State,” Conerly Sr. said. “He thought it was too small of a school, but they were in contact. But once he got to Michigan, that’s when he felt like that was a good fit for my son.

“Michigan, they’re definitely on the map. I can tell you that.”

U-M has also a potential feather in its cap thanks to former Michigan basketball player Jamal Crawford, who also went to the same high school Conerly currently attends. Mr. Conerly said Conerly Jr. speaks with him “quite a bit,” and he will be asking him some questions about Michigan at some point.

It will be a challenge to get Conerly Jr. away from the West Coast, but Morgan can only help Michigan’s chances with the No. 2 offensive tackle and No. 15 player on the composite.

Harbaugh compares three-star DE to Hutchinson, McGregor

A prospect who is set to officially visit Michigan the weekend of June 11 is 2022 three-star defensive end Beau Atkinson. A relatively new target, the 6-foot-6, 240-pounder from Raleigh, North Carolina was offered by defensive analyst Ryan Osborn back in March.

Not much has been said regarding this recruitment, but speaking with 247Sports’ Andrew Ivins ($), Atkinson broke down what he likes regarding the Wolverines.

“Coach Harbaugh actually said that I’m a lovechild (of) Braiden McGregor and Aidan Hutchinson. So that would be a very good fit for me scheme-wise,” Atkinson said. ”They would basically have me everywhere on the edge, which would be huge. And then coach Nua is an awesome guy. Coach Harbaugh, I like him a lot. Michigan is legit. Their facilities are crazy, too. They got the biggest stadium in the country and the biggest weight room in the country.”

Atkinson also has an unofficial visit set up for Miami on June 1 and an official visit scheduled for Virginia the weekend of June 18. But the school he may hold the most interest in is Clemson, who has yet to offer him. He plans to camp at Clemson from June 9-10, right before his official to Michigan. If he receives that offer, it appears the Tigers would instantly become the favorite to land him.

Michigan has a lot of edge guys on its board in 2022, but Atkinson is squarely in there for the Wolverines. If he doesn’t get a Clemson offer, I could see Michigan as one of the teams to beat. Stay tuned for developments regarding that Clemson offer; I’d imagine we will know a lot more fairly soon.

U-M appears out for four-star S

Ending the roundup on a downer, it appears the Wolverines are out of the running for 2022 four-star safety Sherrod Covil. He recently spoke with 247Sports’ Ivins ($) and said the schools still in the mix include Clemson, Penn State, Virginia, Notre Dame and USC.

Michigan was one of the very first offers for the 6-foot, 185-pounder from Chesapeake, Virginia. At the time Michigan offered him, he didn’t even hold a composite score. But now he is a near top 200 player in the entire class and the No. 11 safety.

This is certainly a bummer, as Covil was among the first safeties Michigan really started to target in this class. Even when he didn’t have a ranking, he flashed on his tape. He would have been a good piece to the Wolverines’ class, but they will now have to shift their attention to other top targets at the position. Among those targets are four-star Chace Biddle, in-state four-star Dillon Tatum and three-star Jake Pope.

That’s all for now! Come back next Tuesday for another Recruiting Roundup.