Michigan football has some top targets left on the board, but what about some dark-horse candidates to commit in 2021? Here are the top three.
With 20 commitments already, Michigan football has built a really strong 2021 recruiting class and the Wolverines have already checked quite a few boxes.
Michigan football landed its quarterback of the future very early in the 2021 cylce as five-star J.J. McCarthy set the tone with his commitment, along with that of four-star offensive tackle Giovani El-Hadi, who is the top in-state commit in the class right now.
Yet, as we know, Michigan is hoping to change that soon. While the Wolverines have 11 recruits committed who are rated as four-star prospects by the 247 sports composite rankings, the Wolverines are looking to add even more, including a pair of top-100 guys in Donovan Edwards and Rocco Spindler.
Edwards and Spindler, along with Rayshaun Benny are the big prizes for Michigan left in the 2021 class. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other key targets.
There are such as four-star guard Drew Kendall, four-star defensive lineman George Rooks, as well as four-star wide receiver Jayden Thomas, who just put the Wolverines in his top five Friday.
It’d be hard to pass on any of those guys if they wanted to commit. But the Wolverines are down to about 5-6 spots, maybe 6-7 if they want to use the opening created by Aaron Lewis entering the transfer portal.
There are clearly spots available for Spindler, Edwards, Benny, Kendall and Rooks. Things seem a little more up in the air with Kendall, but that’s more on his side. If he wants to commit, Michigan feels ready to take him after Jim Harbaugh and Ed Warinner spoke to him again this week.
Say U-M lands Spindler, Benny, Edwards and Kendall/Rooks, that would still leave a couple of spots open and here are three dark-horse candidates to fill them.
4-star Ceyair Wright
One player who continues to go under-the-radar for some reason is four-star corner Ceyair Wright, who is a legit top-100 kid. He’s out of LA and is ranked as the fifth-best cornerback prospect in the 247 composite rankings.
Wright is 6-foot-1 and is 70th overall but doesn’t have any crystal ball projections right now. You’d think he would be a home run for USC, since he is right in the Trojans back yard but they don’t seem to be pushing super hard for him right now.
Oregon and Arizona State have both been in on Wright for a while now but Michigan has been working to catch up but a relationship is building between Wright and Mike Zordich.
The Wolverines entered the mix later, but this recruitment doesn’t seem close to ending, which would be a good thing for Michigan.
U-M needs to get Wright on campus and if he was able to take a visit sometime this fall, the Wolverines could have a real shot at a late addition here a la Darion Green-Warren in 2020.
3-star DT Anthony Hundley
One position that Michigan football hasn’t addressed yet in the 2021 class is defensive tackle and as we come down the stretch, there are three prime targets to watch.
Two of them have already been covered. Benny is the top guy on the board at defensive tackle and he’s really the guy Michigan needs to get. After that, Rooks, who is ranked 197th in the 247 composite rankings, is a priority.
Both of Rooks’ crystal ball predictions are going to Michigan but he’s not someone who talks to the media much, so there has been some hesitation.
And while he did take a visit recently to Michigan, without staff contact, he also did the same to Penn State according to the Michigan Insider Podcast.
So Rooks may not be as close to being done as some think and Michigan recently offered three-star defensive tackle Anthony Hundley, an LSU commit.
He’s a recruit the staff likes and if Rooks doesn’t come on board, Hundley, who de-committed from Miami before committing to LSU, is another prime target.
He was offered back in June and seems to like Shaun Nua. If he ends up visiting, I’d say there’s a real possibility of flipping him. But that’s only if Michigan misses on Rooks.
3-star corner Maxwell Hairston
You often hear that you can’t coach speed which is what makes three-star cornerback Maxwell Hairston appealing.
If you haven’t heard about Hairston, it wouldn’t be shocking. He’s an in-state prospect from West Bloomfield, but he doesn’t have a Michigan offer — at least not yet. But he’s 6-foot-1 and according to his head coach Ron Bellamy, a former Wolverine, he has 4.4 speed.
Hairston’s team runs a similar defense to Michigan and so he specializes in man-to-man and he’s started to get more attention lately from other programs. Cincinnati, Kansas, Temple and Kentucky are some that are mentioned as “warm” on his 247 sports profile, but will Michigan offer?
He’s ranked much lower than he should be at 1,437th overall and 128th among cornerbacks. The speed is there and he’d fit due to his man-coverage skills. However, Michigan’s offer hasn’t come.
If it does, I expect Michigan to win his recruitment. And if the Wolverines strike out on Wright or even Kamonte Grimes, another three-star they see as a corner/safety or Daymon David, the backend will need another cover guy and Hairston makes a lot of sense.