Michigan Football: Wolverines are trending again with George Rooks

This has been a crazy recruiting cycle for Michigan football and one of the most interesting battles the Wolverines have been apart of has been for George Rooks, the four-star defensive lineman out of New Jersey.

At one time, Michigan football looked like the clear favorite. But Rooks kept delaying his decision and didn’t sign during the early period.

There have been rumors about his committing, literally for months. However, we are now eight days away from the late signing period starting and all of a sudden, Michigan football is trending with crystal ball projections for Rooks and it’s more than just a few.

Brian Dohn, who is the top expert in the Northeast region for 247 sports, placed a crystal ball very early Tuesday morning with a confidence level of six.

Since then, the floodgates have opened. Most of the Michigan analysts, such as Sam Webb of the Michigan Insider, are projecting Rooks to the Wolverines as is Tom Loy of Irish Illustrated and also Boston College insiders.

So basically, from all angles — Michigan, Boston College, Notre Dame, national guys — Rooks is trending with picks to commit to the Wolverines.

What Rooks addition would mean

Obviously, it would be a massive get for the Wolverines, especially this late in the process. Rooks is listed as 6-foot-4, 260 pounds and is ranked 259th in 2021 according to the 247 sports composite rankings. He’s also ranked 18th among defensive tackles.

Depending on how accurate that weight is, Rooks could play defensive tackle or defensive end with the Wolverines and actually, I think he would be a perfect five technique.

We don’t know if new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald is going to want to run a 4-3 or a 3-4 defense, but be comes from the Ravens, who ran an odd front, so my guess is he would prefer to run a 3-4 scheme or something multiple.

Rooks would be a great fit for that and then if he doesn’t grow into becoming the 300-pound plus defensive tackle, he will still be an asset along the defensive line.

People often want to think about the nose tackle in a 3-4 scheme and that position is important, but so far the five techniques.

An odd front would seem to suit Michigan’s personnel and maybe that’s one reason why the Wolverines are now trending with Rooks. He must like what he’s hard from the new staff and Shaun Nua, one of his main recruiters, is back.

With Rooks, you can never say never, so I wouldn’t say it’s a sure thing until he signs, but if Michigan football does land him, it would be absolutely huge.