Michigan Football: Latest contact with Rocco Spindler, more on 2021

The latest news and notes on the 2021 Michigan football recruiting class, including some tidbits on Rocco Spindler.

The push by Michigan football in the recruitment of 2021 four-star Rocco Spindler continued Monday as the Wolverines hope to land one of the top players in their home state.

Spidler is ranked third in the state of Michigan and 50th overall in the 247 sports composite rankings. He is expected to announce his decision between the Wolverines and Notre Dame on Aug. 8.

247 sports confirmed ($) that Spindler took part in a zoom call with offensive line coach Ed Warinner Monday. That was after communication between Michigan and Spindler on Sunday.

There seems to be a pretty broad consensus that Spindler hasn’t decided yet but is down to Michigan football and Notre Dame. Both sides appear to feel good in this one, so we’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

Kamonte Grimes decision timeline

Another that’s developed into a key target for Michigan football this cycle is three-star athlete Kamonte Grimes. Last week, we argued that the Wolverines led for Grimes after EJ Holland of Rivals projected the recruit to the Wolverines.

Grimes, a kid out of Florida, spoke with Andrew Ivins of 247 sports ($) recently and narrowed down the timeline for his decision.

"“I haven’t been to any of these schools. I’m thinking late August or mid-September. It’s coming up quick. I want to commit before the season, if we have a season. I wanted to take my visits, but this whole pandemic has messed things up. If I had to make a decision now though, I think I would be comfortable.”"

The interesting thing is the other finalists for Grimes are Miami, Maryland, Nebraska and Kentucky. All those teams are recruiting him as a wide receiver and he expressed interest in the spread system under Scott Frost at Nebraska. He also spoke favorably of Miami.

But Michigan football is right there and with him saying he’d be comfortable making a decision right now, that bodes well for the Wolverines, who have been recruiting him as a corner/safety/viper.

Grimes is 6-foot-3, 200 pounds and while he hasn’t been told he could play both ways at Michigan, it’s always a possibility. More than anything, the Wolverines need another defensive back and Grimes appears receptive to that selling point.

Will Michigan football take a fourth WR?

Another key question looming for the 2021 recruiting class is how many wide receivers will Michigan take? This is especially pertinent after the commitment of Xavier Worthy last week.

Worthy is a top-100 recruit according to 247 sports and along with four-star Christian Dixon and three-star Markus Allen, who is just 16 years old, Michigan has an impressive receiver haul.

But the Wolverines are also in a good position for Jayden Thomas, another big, four-star wide receiver.  He also tweeted this sweet Michigan edit Monday.

https://twitter.com/jgpt333/status/1282675391665233920

Thomas is 6-foot-1,198 pounds and he’s a physical specimen. He also being recruited to play baseball at Michigan and has been offered the ability to play both sports.

He’s similar to Dixon in build and speed, so you wonder if Michigan really needs him in this class. But he is ranked 218th overall and 39th among wide receivers, so the talent is there. Michigan does appear to lead early with some 2022 wideouts, so you wonder about numbers.

But landing Thomas would give offensive coordinator Josh Gattis a nice array of big wideouts, as well as slot types, so Michigan could really just focus on finding the most dynamic guys in 2022. Not that U-M didn’t in 2021, but size definitely was a priority too.

In my opinion though, Thomas feels like a luxury at this point. Michigan is likely down to about 5-6 spots in the 2021 class and it looks like Donovan Edwards, Rayshaun Benny and George Rooks will eventually join, along, hopefully, with Spindler. Drew Kendall could commit any day too.

The Wolverines are also in the mix for safety Daymond David, corner Ceyair Wright and running back Tavierre Dunlap. Not to mention Grimes and also running back/corner Prophet Brown.

I’m all for adding Thomas if Michigan wins his recruitment, but depending on how the numbers crunch, it could force another good player off the board.