Michigan Football: Wolverines 2021 DT Target projected elsewhere

What a Michigan football target being projected elsewhere could mean, plus another commitment from 2021 pledges to enroll early.

While the recruiting board is narrowing due to commitments for Michigan football in 2021, some targets have also started going elsewhere.

One of those was four-star Prophet Brown. The Wolverines were targeting him as a running back but he wanted to play defensive back and committed to USC.

That was a loss for Michigan because Brown had some interesting abilities as a running back. However, if the Wolverines are able to get Donovan Edwards, it really won’t matter.

That’s sort of where things stand with defensive tackle in the 2021 cycle. The Wolverines have been down to 3-4 targets and that’s really where the focus has been.

Obviously, Rayshaun Benny, the top-200 defensive tackle in the 247 composite rankings, who also ranks in the top 100 according to Rivals, tops the wish list. But another long-term target has been George Rooks.

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Michigan has been trending, at least a little, with both Rooks and Benny as far as crystal ball projections. Both players have multiple experts projecting them to the Wolverines.

Of course, those selections aren’t always right and sometimes they are changed. But they are worth paying attention to even if they don’t involve a certain target going to Michigan.

Another target of the Wolverines, at least someone who used to be a top target, has been trending to Pittsburgh. Dorien Ford is a three-star defensive tackle from Pittsburgh. He’s 6-foot-4, 290 pounds and ranks 424th overall.

Michigan was after him for a while but Ford now has four crystal ball projections to the Panthers. That could be in part because the Wolverines didn’t seem to push too hard for him and it’s possible, that could be interpreted as a good sign with Rooks and/or Benny.

The Wolverines have also been in contact a with three-star defensive tackle Anthony Hundley who is committed to LSU, but other than that, it’s been Rooks and Benny mostly.

The fact that Michigan didn’t push incredibly hard with Ford could be a sign that the staff feels good about Benny and Rooks committing, which would take up all the spots left for 2021.

Or it could mean that Ford just had a better relationship with Pitt, but after the first offer, there wasn’t the full-court press that we have seen with others.

In other news, Christian Dixon, a four-star receiver from California, told the Detroit Free Press on Thursday that he would be graduating early, skipping his senior season and enrolling early at Michigan.

California is going to play high school football later in the year, so players will have to decide what to do. Another Michigan target, corner Ceyair Wright, said he would play spring football. Dixon and Xavier Worthy, another U-M commit from 2021, have said they will not.