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Football recruiting literally never stops. Not even during the dead period.
While the 2020 recruiting has slowed down a bit, coaches all around the country have slowly turned their heads to the 2021 class, for now at the very least.
Today on the Michigan Recruiting Roundup, we’ve got some updates on — you guessed it — some 2021 prospects. But we do have one update on a 2020 recruit, so let’s get to that first.
2020 3-star DB sets U-M OV
Michigan has been recruiting several top defensive backs in the 2020 class, but they all seem to be safeties. This guy, however, can play both safety and corner.
2020 3-star defensive back Elijah Gaines will be officially visiting Ann Arbor for Michigan’s game against Ohio State in November, according to 247Sports’ Brian Dohn ($).
The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder from Alexandria, Virginia hasn’t been recruited as hard as some of the other defensive backs in his class, but is still someone Michigan would likely take in the recruiting class if something were to go wrong with the other guys being recruited.
Gaines holds other offers from Notre Dame, Penn State, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Purdue, Virginia and more.
2021 4-star ATH may visit U-M twice
One of the top athletes on the West Coast in 2021 is Ethan Calvert, a 6-foot-3, 230-pounder from Westlake Village California.
Playing his prep ball at Oak Christian (where current Wolverine Zach Charbonnet played), Calvert already holds offers from Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State, LSU, USC, Washington and more. Most of these schools are recruiting him at linebacker, including Michigan.
The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich ($) recently caught up with him to get the latest, and Calvert said he is eyeing two visits to Ann Arbor.
“Yeah (I’ll most likely take an official visit to Michigan), but I’ll probably take an unofficial first though,” Calvert said. “No, (I don’t have anything set up), but will set one up soon.”
The fact he would want to take an unofficial visit to Michigan first is big, considering the distance between Ann Arbor and Westlake Village. It also helps Michigan was the first Big Ten school to offer him, so that may have some effect on his desire to visit more than once.
U-M in it for another 2021 4-star ATH
The state of Louisiana has not been kind to the Wolverines in terms of recruiting for...well, ever. Perhaps could that change in 2021 with 4-star athlete Sage Ryan, who recently spoke to TMI’s Marich ($) about officially visiting Michigan next summer.
“No, I couldn’t visit because of track during spring, but I’ll definitely take an official visit next summer,” Ryan said. “They’re definitely one of my top schools right now.”
Of course, prying away a top Louisiana prospect from LSU will be a challenge, especially since the Tigers have already offered and have 100 percent of the crystal ball. The last time the Tigers did not sign the top recruit in the state of Louisiana was in 2012 when Landon Collins picked Alabama over LSU. There is potential for Ryan to be the top-ranked Louisiana prospect in the 2021 class when it’s all said and done, so this will be a tough pull for U-M.
But the fact he wants to officially visit in the future is a step in the right direction. An even better step would be to get him on campus before that for an unofficial visit, but we will just have to wait and see how this recruitment shakes out.