*** With the Drew Kendall saga appearing to be over (you never know in recruiting), we can now turn our attention to yet another weird recruitment. Michigan is still pushing hard for Rivals250 Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter's Prep defensive lineman George Rooks. In fact, Rooks' birthday was this weekend, and the Michigan staff had a group call with him and wished him well on his big day. Michigan has kept in consistent contact with Rooks throughout the dead period, and the Wolverines remain a favorite in this recruitment.
*** This has been an entire staff effort. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has been on several calls with Rooks over the last couple of months. Position coach Shaun Nua is in regular contact with him. And ace recruiter Sherrone Moore has been involved as of late, too. That's a positive as Moore should provide a boost in this recruitment. From talking to a source this weekend, there still seems to be optimism with Rooks in Ann Arbor, but a source close to the program also described this recruitment as 'weird' and added that 'anything can happen.' While I have my pick in for Michigan, I definitely agree.
*** Rooks was supposed to make his decision in August. But much like the aforementioned Kendall, he has remained almost silent and has continued to push back his timeline. Also like Kendall, Rooks is a legacy recruit, and there is some pressure for him to stay closer to home and play at Syracuse. Penn State has made a late surge and is also a major player in this recruitment. Overall, I still like where Michigan stands, but Rooks is perhaps the biggest wildcard left on the board.
*** Lastly, on the topic of 2021 recruiting, I recently moved my FutureCast pick from Penn State to Wisconsin for Rivals100 Lititz (Pa.) Warwick offensive tackle Nolan Rucci. He was always a long shot for Michigan, but I did recently mentioned that the Wolverines were still working on him. It will be interesting to see if Michigan simply closes up shop with offensive line recruiting this cycle or, dare I say it, the Kendall recruitment gets a revival.
*** This has been an entire staff effort. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has been on several calls with Rooks over the last couple of months. Position coach Shaun Nua is in regular contact with him. And ace recruiter Sherrone Moore has been involved as of late, too. That's a positive as Moore should provide a boost in this recruitment. From talking to a source this weekend, there still seems to be optimism with Rooks in Ann Arbor, but a source close to the program also described this recruitment as 'weird' and added that 'anything can happen.' While I have my pick in for Michigan, I definitely agree.
*** Rooks was supposed to make his decision in August. But much like the aforementioned Kendall, he has remained almost silent and has continued to push back his timeline. Also like Kendall, Rooks is a legacy recruit, and there is some pressure for him to stay closer to home and play at Syracuse. Penn State has made a late surge and is also a major player in this recruitment. Overall, I still like where Michigan stands, but Rooks is perhaps the biggest wildcard left on the board.
*** Lastly, on the topic of 2021 recruiting, I recently moved my FutureCast pick from Penn State to Wisconsin for Rivals100 Lititz (Pa.) Warwick offensive tackle Nolan Rucci. He was always a long shot for Michigan, but I did recently mentioned that the Wolverines were still working on him. It will be interesting to see if Michigan simply closes up shop with offensive line recruiting this cycle or, dare I say it, the Kendall recruitment gets a revival.
