Saturday, March 23, 2013

Visitors: March 22-24, 2013

Olathe (KS) South offensive lineman Braden Smith is one of the top linemen in the nation
(image via MaxPreps)
Danny Burns - OT - Fairfield (OH) Fairfield: Burns is a 6'7", 308 lb. prospect with offers from Louisville, Nebraska, Pitt, and West Virginia, among others.  He lacks some of the athleticism that most Michigan offensive line offerees do, and I would be surprised if Michigan extends an offer anytime soon.*

Timothy Cason II - CB - Clarkston (MI) Clarkston: Cason is a 6'0", 185 lb. prospect with offers from Bowling Green, Toledo, and Western Michigan.  With Michigan high on the lists of Adoree' Jackson, Jabrill Peppers, and Parrker Westphal, it might be a while before Cason earns an offer.

Jalen Embry - CB - Detroit (MI) King: Embry is a 5'11", 180 lb. corner with offers from Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo, and Western Michigan.

Jonathan Hilliman - RB - Jersey City (NJ) St. Peter's Prep: I did a scouting report on Hilliman back in December.  Since then he has added offers from Arkansas and Tennessee, among others.  He's a 3-star and the #34 running back to 247 Sports. UPDATE: Hilliman is no longer planning to visit this weekend and plans to reschedule a visit for May.

Jake Johnson - QB - DeWitt (MI) DeWitt: Johnson is a 6'2", 180 lb. prospect from the class of 2015.  He currently has no offers.  As a sophomore in 2012, he had 1,250 yards passing, 16 touchdowns, 400 rushing yards, and 6 rushing touchdowns.

Roderick Johnson - OT - Florissant (MO) Hazelwood Central: Johnson is a 6'7", 310 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Florida State, Missouri, Ohio State, and Oklahoma, among others.  He's a 4-star to Rivals and the #183 overall player.

Braden Smith - OT - Olathe (KS) South: Smith is a 6'6", 280 lb. prospect with offers from Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Stanford, along with numerous others.  He's very quiet about the recruiting process, so it's tough to say who his leaders are, but it's obviously a good sign that he's taking the time to visit Ann Arbor.  He's the #1 offensive guard to 247 Sports and the #19 overall player to both Rivals and 247.*

Darius West - S - Lima (OH) Central Catholic: West is a 5'11", 197-pounder with offers from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Penn State, West Virginia, and several others.  He claims a 4.4 forty and a 275 lb. bench press.  West camped at Michigan last summer.  He's short-ish but thickly built, sort of in the mold of current Michigan safety Thomas Gordon; I would expect West also to play safety if he were to end up getting offered by and committing to Michigan, but he could play cornerback at some other schools.

*Burns and Smith are visiting midweek.

11 comments:

  1. Braden Smith is one of the top linemen in the nation, Olathe (KS) South is one of the flattest places on earth.

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  2. FYI, the picture doesn't have the kid's name on it where I believe you meant to place it.

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  3. Don't we need at least one surefire OT prospect in this class? I was hoping that Ward would be that guy. Seems like we've been landing a lot of guards and G/T types like Kalis and Braden. But not a lot of prototypical Lewan/Schofield types.

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    1. To add to the above post, Thunder who do you think/like to fill in the tackle spot? IMO we need at least one in this class. A left tackle would be great for depth. Maybe Beatty?

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    2. Yes, I do think we need at least one sure-fire blind-side tackle prospect. I like Bushell-Beatty more for the right side, but he could work there at LT. Alex Bars, Damian Prince, and Orlando Brown could all be left tackles. I liked Ward there, too, as a developmental prospect.

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    3. One thing you have to say about Braden Smith, he plays to the whistle.

      I can't tell, is he a guard or the left tackle of our dreams?

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  4. No way, IMO, Hillman is a 3 star back. Back when I scouted most of Michigan's offers/targets at RB, he was the second best and there was a pretty big drop to number 2 (Hurd was my #1 FWIW). I think Hillman is a top 150 player. His offers seem to agree with this.

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    1. Eh, I don't know about top 150. He's missing some offers that a lot of top 150 players get. I think he's better than a 3-star, but top 150 is a little high, in my opinion.

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    2. Agree to disagree I guess. This early in the process his offer sheet is probably better than any of the other backs 100-150 overall. He may not get a Bama offer (he does have a lot of interest from Bama though), but OSU, Michigan, Georgia, Miami, Stanford, Wisc, and pretty much every east coast school are solid at this point

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  5. By the way, that was some of the more recent offers (Mixon, Hood), but I stand by my statement that he is a very good back

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