Michigan Football: What 4-star Raheem Anderson will bring to Wolverines

Michigan football landed a four-star center from Detroit Cass Tech in Raheem Anderson and here’s what he will bring to the Wolverines.

The last few weeks have been pretty good to Michigan football in terms of recruiting and that positive run continued Sunday with the commitment of four-star center Raheem Anderson.

Anderson joins the long line of commits to join the Michigan football team from Detroit Cass Tech. He’s also the third four-star along the offensive line for the Wolverines and coach Ed Warriner.

While there has been a lot of concern this week about Penn State landing a trio of top players from the state of Michigan, Anderson is the No. 7 player in the state of Michigan according to the 247 sports composite rankings and No. 211 overall in the 2020 class. He’s also the third-ranked center. He announced his commitment to U-M via his Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/espn_heem/status/1249396979312066562

That’s a big deal and the addition of Anderson, along with Giovanni El-Hadi gives the Wolverines two of the top-7 players in the state, with a solid chance at others like Donovan Edwards, Rocco Spindler and Garrett Dellinger.

But with Anderson, Michigan football is getting a classic center that should be capable of being a multi-year starter for the Wolverines. He’s not in the same class as Cesar Ruiz, who has some unique abilities, but Anderson has great size at 6-foot-3 and around 300 pounds. He’s also a very effective run blocker.

Anderson also does a solid job in pass protection but he might have an easier time in that area as a center than he would potentially as a guard, which is another position he could play, depending on how things work out.

While he certainly has the look of a future starter at center, a year in Michigan football’s program could help him get stronger, more explosive and help him take that big jump from year one to year two.

The nice thing is that if someone like Zach Carpenter doesn’t emerge as the starter, it’s not far-fetched to have Anderson come in right away and compete for the job or at least be on the two-deep.

Anderson is the second four-star addition in a few weeks along the offensive line. Michigan football also got the commitment of four-star Greg Crippen, however, he appears to be more of a guard, yet, like Anderson, he offers some position versatility.

The Wolverines are still in the mix for a few other offensive lineman like Spindler, Dellinger and David Davidkov, but as of now, with three guys ranked 222nd or higher committed, they are off to a very promising start.