Michigan Football: Drew Kendall talks timeline, more on 5-star target

Michigan football target Drew Kendall revealed more details about his timeline and a five-star recruit the Wolverines still have a shot with.

If you follow Michigan football recruiting at all, you will be very familiar with the name of Drew Kendall, a four-star offensive lineman out of the 2021 class.

We have covered his recruitment quite a bit over the past few months and since about April, Michigan football has established itself as the favorite. The Wolverines own all of his crystal ball projections from 247 sports and Futurecasts from Rivals, which has Kendall ranked as the 65th overall prospect in 2021.

While expert predictions have flooded in for Kendall, he hasn’t committed quite yet but in a recent conversation with EJ Holland of Rivals ($), Kendall said he hope to commit before August.

This is important because Michigan realistically has about 8-9 spots available left in the 2021 class and with 17 players already pledged, including four offensive lineman, Kendall doesn’t want to wait forever.

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Michigan is also in good position with four-star guard Rocco Spindler, who plays the same position as Kendall but is ranked higher. He’s also from the state of Michigan. But Spindler indicated earlier this week he won’t be deciding until he takes all his visits this fall.

The Wolverines have also expressed strong interest in Thomas Cole and reportedly, want to add him to the 2021 class too. So you have to wonder how is there room for so many O-lineman?

You wouldn’t think Michigan football would take more than six. If you take the four commits, plus Kendall and Spindler, that gets you to that number. Certainly, you don’t want to pass up on a top-100 offensive lineman, that’s lunacy, but taking seven offensive lineman in a 26-man class seems excessive.

Three interior guys and three tackles does make some sense, which brings me to another point, could Kendall possibly commit as a guard and eventually move over to defense? The 6-foot-4, 255-pounder has been recruited by some as a defensive lineman and while he may prefer offense, the thought has crossed my mind.

For instance, Eamonn Dennis wanted to play receiver and was recruited by Michigan football as a wideout. But last week, it was announced he was switching to corner. So these things do happen and depending on what Michigan lands at defensive tackle in 2021, it’s something that could happen down the road to ease the logjam.

Michigan football still talking to five-star DE

While the Wolverines have added three defensive ends already for the 2021 class and appear poised to add another in Quintin Somerville later this week, Holland reports that Michigan is still actively pursuing ($) five-star J.T. Tuimoloau.

Simply put, Tuimoloau is one of the best players in the class ranking second in the 247 sports composite rankings. He seems headed to Ohio State and Holland said he felt good about his pick of the Buckeyes, but Shaun Nua is still talking to Tuimoloau and who knows, if he could be convinced to take a visit, Michigan might have an outside shot.

Like with Dallas Turner, it’s probably more of a long shot but at this point, the Wolverines are smart to swing for the fences.