Michigan Football: Latest on 2021 OT Tristan Bounds, plus a new target

Michigan football is scrambling a bit at offensive tackle in the 2021 class and here’s the latest on target Tristan Bounds, along with a new name to watch.

With a top-100 left tackle already in toe, Michigan football isn’t in bad shape when it comes to offensive tackle and the 2021 recruiting class. But all along, it has seemed like the Wolverines wanted to come away with two.

And that line of thinking makes sense. Giovanni El-Hadi, who committed to Michigan football in the Spring of 2019, gives the Wolverines a potential left tackle of the future to protect what they hope is their quarterback of the future in five-star commit J.J. McCarthy.

In fact, if you look at the offensive line haul as a whole for 2021, Michigan football is off to a really good start. In addition to El-Hadi, the Wolverines have commitments from Greg Crippen, an offensive guard and Raheem Anderson, a top center. Both are ranked in the top 222 according to the 247 sports composite rankings, giving U-M three solid four-star commitments already.

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But up until recently, Michigan look to be closing in on another with four-star David Davidkov, the No. 2 player in the state of Illinois. U-M owned all of his crystal ball projections until a few days ago, when things started trending for Iowa.

Then on Tuesday, Davidkov pulled the trigger and committed to Iowa, taking a key offensive target off the board. While the Wolverines will continue to push for Garrett Dellinger, a more realistic target is three-star Tristan Bounds.

Bounds is 6-foot-7 and a half, as well as 285 pounds. However, the Connecticut prospect ranks 62nd among offensive tackles and 696th overall according to 247 sports composite rankings.

Yet, those rankings shouldn’t confuse you, because Bounds is a sought-after commodity. Not only is Virginia pushing hard, along with Boston College, but Texas has also gotten in the mix recently and has added more competition for Michigan.

According to Brian Dohn of 247 sports ($), Bounds has a visit schedule for June, it just may not happen. Here’s what he told Dohn about his recruitment:

"“During the beginning of the quarantine, I scheduled one (official visit) to Michigan. Previously, on my visit to Virginia in early March, I had told them I was taking an official but I hadn’t scheduled it, although it would have probably been in the spring. I hear a lot from Texas, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Boston College. There are a ton of them.”"

Bounds, who is listed as the No. 39 offensive tackle via 247 sports own rankings, doesn’t have any crystal ball predictions yet, but it sounds like Michigan, Texas and Virginia are all right in the mix.

Another name Michigan football fans should keep an eye on in the offensive tackle market in 2021 is unraked Enrique Cruz. Cruz is 6-foot-6 and even though he isn’t ranked yet, he does have multiple Big Ten offers, including from Indiana. Some Michigan coaches are now following him on Twitter, so it will be interesting to see if the Wolverines jump into the mix.