Where Michigan Football coaches visited during second week of the evaluation period

The second week of the evaluation period was very busy, with Michigan coaches still out on the road, evaluating prospects in person and handing out offers left and right after speaking to coaches.

I’m going to switch up the format of the breakdown this week, splitting it up by coach instead of date. Let’s start with the emerging star recruiter of the staff, Ron Bellamy.

Ron Bellamy

At the beginning of the week, Bellamy visited Archbishop Carroll where five-star Nyckoles Harbor and three-star Joseph Mupoyi play. This is the second visit to the school by the staff after Mike Elston stopped by the week before. Michigan is coming around to having Harbor play on offense since he prefers that side of the ball better, which is why Bellamy went to check in on him.

Bellamy was in Texas on Tuesday the 26th, hitting up some traditional powerhouses.

Bellamy made a stop at Austin Westlake, where former Edge commit Ethan Burke played before flipping to Texas late last cycle. The priority here is four-star WR Jaden Greathouse, who is a top target for Bellamy. Typical of this year though, he just started picking up Crystal Balls to Notre Dame.

The other prospect at Westlake with a Michigan offer is four-star Edge Colton Vasek. At 6-foot-6, 230 pounds he’s in the same mold as Burke and would be someone that I wouldn’t mind Michigan making a run at.

Another top WR prospect that Bellamy visited in Texas was 2024 Lake Belton five-star Micah Hudson. Bellamy will shoot his shot with Hudson who will obviously be a tough pull from the Lone Star State.

On Wednesday Bellamy traveled to Chicago to check out a couple of schools there. He visited Kenwood Academy, which has a few prospects of interest. The only one with an offer is 2023 three-star CB Kahlil Tate. Michigan hasn’t pushed much for Tate, who is considering Iowa and Wisconsin heavily.

Also in 2023 is three-star LB K’Vion Thunderbird, who should get an offer from his name alone. He has a smattering of P5 offers with a bunch of G5 offers thrown in. 2024 three-star Edge Marquise Lightfoot has a similar level of offers with a lot of interest from the Big Ten that eventually could pull the trigger.

Glenbard South received its second visit from a Michigan coach after Sherrone Moore stopped by last week. Bellamy was there to see 2024 four-star WR Cam Williams, who Michigan is off to a great start with so far.

It’s also strongly likely that Bellamy was the coach who visited Mount Carmel since he was already in the Chicago area. The school’s biggest prospect there is 2024 four-star RB Darrion Dupree, who does not yet hold a Michigan offer.

Later in the week, Bellamy was back down in Texas to see four-star WR Noble Johnson at Rockwall High School, who is quickly moving up the board.

George Helow

Linebackers coach George Helow was down in Florida once again for the week. On Monday he visited Cardinal Mooney, which doesn’t have any prospects that Michigan is involved with right now but usually produces talent.

On Tuesday the 26th, Helow stopped by Osceola High School, where four-star DLs John Walker and Derrick LeBlanc play. The duo has visited Michigan in the past, making it up this winter. Michigan is resonating more with Walker, who has scheduled an official visit to Ann Arbor on June 17th.

This isn’t confirmed, but I’m also fairly certain that Helow and Jesse Minter went to IMG Academy that day as well since they offered two recruits at the school, both in the 2025 class. Michigan was the first to offer Edge Dylon Worthen, who is originally from Georgia, and the fifth to offer LB Gavin Nix.

IMG has way too many other prospects to list here, but I’ll spotlight five-star Edge Samuel M’Pemba, who visited Ann Arbor this spring, and four-star DL Will Norman, who just included Michigan in his top five.

On Wednesday, Helow stopped by Golden Gate High School in Naples, which doesn’t have any prospects that stand out right now.

The next day, Helow visited Palm Bay High School. Four-star ATH Daniel Harris doesn’t hold a Michigan offer, but had to sit out last year with a knee injury and could earn one with his play this season. He could play WR or Edge at the next level.

Someone on the coaching staff visited John Carroll High School on April 28th and it’s likely Helow since it’s so close to Palm Bay High School. Four-star DL Wilky Denaud plays there but doesn’t hold a Michigan offer yet.

Finally, we know that Helow visited Riverdale High School at some point during the week. Three-star S Jaheim Clarke is the highest profile recruit there, but he doesn’t seem to quite be a Michigan-caliber player.

Steve Clinkscale

First off, it should be mentioned that Clinkscale visited Trinity Christian School in Georgia on Friday, April 22nd, but the info didn’t come out until after the last visit recap was posted. Clinkscale was there to visit four-star CB Aaron Gates, the one-time Florida commit that made a surprise visit to Michigan for their spring game.

It was a busy day on Tuesday for Clinkscale, who started the day in Louisiana visiting Woodlawn High School. That’s the home of four-star CB Jordan Matthews, a top target but someone that will be tough to pry away from LSU, Texas A&M, and Texas.

Clinkscale then flew to Tennessee to recruit the Nashville area. He stopped by Lipscomb Academy, which has two big-time 2024 prospects. Four-star LB Edwin Spillman recently visited Michigan and will be a priority. His older brother is committed to Tennessee in the 2023 class, so they’ll be tough to beat. The other guy with a Michigan offer is four-star CB Kaleb Beasley, though there’s less traction there.

The next day, Clinkscale offered two players from Ensworth High School which makes me think he visited the school. The two beneficiaries were 2024 four-star LB Mason Curtis and 2025 DL Ethan Utley.

Clinkscale traveled a bit out of town to Murfreesboro, where he stopped by Blackman High School. There, he offered 2023 three-star ATH Demitrius Bell. The school also has 2023 three-star WR Justin Brown who doesn’t have a Michigan offer but holds several others.

On Friday, Clinkscale was still in Murfreesboro, visiting Oakland High School, which doesn’t have any notable guys on its roster.

Matt Weiss

While he’s not considered a great recruiter, Weiss had a busy couple of days on the trail last week in New England.

It started on Tuesday when Weiss stopped by Plymouth South in Massachusetts. In the 2024 class, three-star RB Casious Johnson has an early UMass offer but that’s it so far.

On Wednesday Weiss went down to Connecticut to hit a few schools and evaluate some quarterbacks. The Loomis Chaffee School is where Michigan landed Alessandro Lorenzetti from last cycle and is pretty loaded with talent for a Northeast school.

Weiss was there to evaluate 2024 four-star QB Dante Reno. Reno doesn’t hold a Michigan offer yet and already has a Crystal Ball pick in for South Carolina. In 2023, four-star OL Olaus Alinen is on the fringe of the top-100, but has already set his official visit schedule and it doesn’t include Michigan. Three-star TE Jackson Carver was committed to Notre Dame for lacrosse but decided to switch to playing football. He visited campus in March but doesn’t have an offer yet. Expect Grant Newsome to stop by for an evaluation at some point.

Twins Jacob Smith and Jerod Smith are both high four-stars in the 2024 class. Jacob is listed as an Edge, while Jerod is listed as a DL. Strangely, Michigan has only offered Jacob, though they’re basically guaranteed to be a package deal. Kentucky is the leader for the duo at this juncture.

Wrapping up the Loomis Chaffee School is three-star S Jaiden Spearman, who is originally from North Carolina. He was offered last year and visited for the BBQ in July, but not much has been heard about him and Michigan since.

Weiss also visited Avon Old Farms to see 2024 three-star QB Ryan Puglisi. Like Reno, Puglisi has not yet picked up an offer from Michigan.

The Taft School has 2023 QB Nicholas Brown who has some P5 interest, but none have offered him yet. 2023 three-star OT Charlie Symonds protects Brown and has some P5 offers that are mostly high academic schools, with Michigan being a notable absence.

Finally, Weiss made the trip to Cheshire Academy, where the biggest prospect is Drew Hall, an unranked athlete in the 2023 class who holds offers from Texas Tech and Vanderbilt

Mike Elston

Like Bellamy, Elston started off his week on Tuesday in Texas, although he was in the Dallas area. He stopped by Covenant Christian Academy to see four-star DL Enow Etta, who Michigan is in a fierce battle with Michigan State for.

Cedar Hill High School is nearby and tweeted that day about a Michigan coach visiting them, so in all likelihood it was Elston. Michigan hasn’t offered anybody on the team there but they do have three-star LB Kylan Salter in the 2023 class.

Elston stayed in Texas on Wednesday, hitting up Naaman Forest High School to see four-star Markis Deal. Sherrone Moore wants Deal on the offensive line, but Deal prefers defense and Michigan is open to letting him choose, which is why Elston stopped by.

Elsewhere in the Dallas suburbs, Elston visited Argyle High School, where he liked what he saw from Riley Van Poppel enough to offer him. The 2023 three-star DL is the son of former MLB pitcher Todd Van Poppel.

On Thursday, Elston left Texas to hit up some schools in Georgia. He visited Schley County, where he offered 2025 LB Zayden Walker. 2024 WR Jalewis Solomon also plays for the school and holds a Michigan offer. He’s unranked currently but has offers from a bunch of SEC schools.

Elston also stopped by Cedar Grove High School to see Louisville commit Adonijah Green, a three-star Edge that is a bit lower on the board but would be open to flipping. Cedar Grove also has four-star CB Kayin Lee, who appears to be an Ohio State lean right now.

On the way back to Michigan on Friday, Elston stopped in to Friendship Collegiate Academy in Washington DC, where he offered 2024 four-star Edge Dylan Stewart.

Sherrone Moore, Jay Harbuagh, Grant Newsome

There’s not much information on where these next three coaches were last week so I’m throwing them all in together.

Sherrone Moore visited Iowa on Tuesday to see five-star OT Kadyn Proctor at Southeast Polk High School. While Michigan made Proctor’s top group, they’re still a long shot in this race.

The next day, Moore was back in Illinois to stop by St. Charles East for the second time already, seeing 2023 OT Austin Barrett. This is a lot of interest for a three-star OT who doesn’t even have an offer from Michigan yet.

Jay Harbaugh headed out West to California. On Tuesday he was at Millikan High School, which is where 2024 four-star WR Ryan Pellum plays. Pellum was recently in Ann Arbor for a visit and Harbaugh was returning the favor. The school actually has another top-100 WR in the 2024 class in Jordan Anderson, who also holds a Michigan offer.

There’s no other available information about Harbaugh’s activity until Friday, even though he was likely hitting up plenty of schools. Friday is when Harbaugh visited Warren High School, who doesn’t have any players with Michigan offers. They do have four-star ATH Jordan Ross in the 2024 class though, who could project to the secondary.

Grant Newsome was down in Georgia on Wednesday to see some elite tight ends in the 2024 class. Colquitt County has Landen Thomas, the No. 1 TE in his class. They also have four-star WR Ny Carr who holds a Michigan offer as well.

Newsome also went to Calvary Day School, where he evaluated four-star TE and top target Michael Smith. Throwing him the ball is four-star QB Jake Merklinger who is also in the 2024 class but doesn’t have a Michigan offer. Also in the backfield is 2025 RB Donovan Johnson who looks like he’ll be an elite prospect with offers from Arkansas, Florida State, Georgia, Ohio State, and more so far.

We also know that someone from Michigan’s staff visited Peachtree Ridge that day and it would make sense it was Newsome since he was in the area. The school doesn’t have any notable prospects right now, though.

Finally, to wrap up another long breakdown, we have a couple of miscellaneous in-state schools that tweeted that Michigan coaches stopped by but didn’t specify which coach. I’d guess it was Mike Hart since there were no updates about him and he has recruiting responsibilities in the state of Michigan.

The easiest stop out of the whole week was to Ann Arbor Huron, home of current K commit Adam Samaha. They also have three-star DL Bruce Williams who is a Michigan legacy and has visited before, but would probably be a walk-on if he wanted to commit.

A coach also visited Portage Northern on the West side of the state, though they don’t have any prospects on interest.