Michigan Football: Is Penn State fading with 4-star Rayshaun Benny?

Michigan football has a glaring need at defensive tackle in the 2021 recruiting class and Rayshaun Benny is the ideal recruit to fill it.

Michigan football is involved in some interesting recruitments right now, but one of the most important is that of four-star defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny.

Not only is Benny highly-ranked at 188th overall in the 247 composite rankings, but he’s also one of the top players in the state of Michigan out of Oak Park.

Obviously that hasn’t been a great pipeline in recent years and Justin Rogers, the top recruit in the state in the last cycle, went to Kentucky, one school which is pushing for Benny.

Like Donovan Edwards and now George Rooks, Benny seemingly wants to wait to make his decision and he could wait until after the early signing period. He genuinely wants to take visits, which makes you wonder, outside of Michigan football, who are the top contenders?

Who is Michigan’s top competition to land Benny?

Benny released a top list in July and it included Michigan football, as well as Penn State, Kentucky, Michigan State, LSU, Arkansas and Arizona State.

It’s an interesting collection of teams, especially when you realize Benny hasn’t visited most of them. Kentucky has been in the mix — same with Michigan State and Penn State. But some others have come on late, which makes me a little worried if he holds out for visits.

The Wolverines own all of his crystal ball projections and all of his Futurecast picks and here’s the latest from Chris Balas of the Wolverine ($) on one contender that may be fading away:

"“He really wants to see schools,” one who spoke with him recently told us. “I think it’s Michigan, but Penn State, Michigan State and Kentucky are in there. His former Oak Park (Mich.) teammate, Justin Rogers, is at Kentucky, and he talks to him a lot. ‘I don’t think Penn State is really pushing that hard,’ the same source said.”"

If the Benny recruitment is really down to Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Kentucky and the Nittany Lions aren’t pushing that hard, you can see why all the experts favor the Wolverines.

On the other hand, another four-star defensive line target, George Rooks, might be favoring Penn State, although he pushed his decision until December now, so there is still time for U-M.

I feel much less confident than I once did about Rooks and it’s possible that confidence was totally misplaced anyway. There haven’t been many expert picks with regards to the New Jersey prospect and it’s because he’s quiet and doesn’t share much.

He has said he doesn’t want his decision to be a distraction. With Benny, the delay seems all about visits, but that being said, Michigan football still feels like the solid favorite.

That was once thought to be the case with Rooks too, now at his best, his recruitment is a 50/50 battle and if the Wolverines lose it, they will need to look seriously at expanding the DT board.