Michigan Football: Clock is ticking on Drew Kendall, more safety targets

Michigan football landed its fourth offensive lineman of the 2021 recruiting class Monday and here’s a look at the O-line board, as well as another safety.

No matter how you slice it, Michigan football is going to have a really good offensive line group as part of the 2021 recruiting class.

I mean it’s already very solid. The process of building this group started more than a year ago when four-star tackle Giovanni El-Hadi committed to the Wolverines. Four-star additions of Greg Crippen and Raheem Anderson solidified things inside and Monday, Michigan football landed a left tackle for 2021 in three-star Tristan Bounds, who just happens to be 6-foot-8, 280-pounds.

That gives Michigan two solid prospects at each tackle position as well as Crippen and Anderson, two interior guys both capable of starting at guard or center. Now, the Wolverines just need to close and the next man up should be Massachusetts four-star guard Drew Kendall.

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In the 247 sports composite rankings, Kendall is just ranked outside the top 100, but in their own rankings, both 247 and Rivals have him as a top-100 guy. He’s 6-foot-4 and the Wolverines have really locked down the pole position in his recruitment over the past few months.

All six of the crystal ball projections lodged for him by 247 sports have him going to Michigan and the confidence is a six or higher in the four of the fix picks, although Sam Webb and Brice March of the Michigan Insider are a bit lower at five and four respectively, on a scale of 1-10. Rivals is also 100-percent projecting Kendall to U-M with its FutureCasts.

Kendall is rated 65th overall by Rivals, but incredibly, there’s talk that if he doesn’t decide soon, he might not be part of the 2021 class, just because of the offensive line numbers. Here’s what Michigan recruiting expert EJ Holland wrote ($):

"“Kendall has long been considered a Michigan lean, but his time is running out. If Kendall wants to be a part of this class, he needs to go ahead and make that decision in the near future.”"

Essentially, Kendall could possibly risk his spot if he waits too long and Rocco Spindler pulls the trigger and commits. Michigan football is already at 17 commitments for 2021 and probably can’t take more than nine or 10 more tops. So it will boil down to a numbers game.

U-M still needs to add a running back or two, a wide receiver or two, at least one or two guys in the secondary and couple more on the defensive line. Kendall is a solid Michigan lean right now, so unless there’s something major holding him back, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him join next or very soon.

Another target for Michigan at safety

We broke down the board at safety following Michigan’s miss on Donovan McMillon. Daymon David is a target the Wolverines are going after, as coaches contacted him yesterday, but Holland reports that safeties coach Bob Shoop also really likes Jaden Slocum, another three-star safety.

Slocum is a really interesting prospect. He’s 6-foot-2 and is ranked 20th among safeties by Rivals. He’s also ranked as the 29th-best prospect in the state of Georgia. 247 sports has him ranked 550 overall and no school is currently listed as warm.

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The Wolverines have already extended an offer and if Michigan football really makes him a priority, there is room to establish itself as a favorite. Just another recruitment to keep a close eye on.

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