Recruiting Roundup: Five-star OL expands on recent official visit

Plus, Michigan hosts a South Carolina commit, and a top-200 safety sheds light on his official visit.

This past weekend was a busy recruiting weekend for the Michigan Wolverines , who hosted a plethora of targets in Ann Arbor .

We’ll dive into a few of those visits in today’s Recruiting Roundup, starting with a five-star offensive lineman.

Five-star OL expands on official visit

The highest-ranked recruit to visit this past weekend was Andrew Babalola, who is ranked as the 25th-best player and the fourth-best offensive tackle in his class on the 247Sports composite .

He recently spoke with On3’s Steve Wiltfong about the visit, and went more in-depth with The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich ($) , saying the main highlight of his trip were his interactions with offensive line coach Grant Newsome, specifically how Newsome can help shape him into an NFL lineman.

“He talked a lot about how much I fit into the scheme and what they want to do on offense,” Babaloa said. “We also went through my film and he showed me what I did well and what I need to improve on, and how he’s going to help me get to where I want to go. He kind of just laid out for me my fit. Obviously, Michigan is a place where they want to run the ball and that’s what they want their identity to be, so he told me how I fit into the scheme. It’s very similar to what my high school runs now and how he wants to improve my game and how he plans if I go there to improve it and really develop and get to me to the next level.”

In the interview, Babalola said Stanford was a top contender and that he was visiting Oklahoma this coming weekend, but it sounds like the lineman factory that is Michigan is creeping towards the top of the list for the recruit that was born in Bloomfield Township.

“I definitely view Michigan in a high light,” Babalola said. “I obviously held Michigan to a really high standard before coming into the visit with just me visiting last time in the spring, but they definitely meet all my expectations on my visit and I had a really good time there.”

Michigan hosts South Carolina CB commit

You can never have too many good defensive backs in college football, which is one reason why Michigan has been pursuing 2025 four-star South Carolina commit Shamari Earls, who ranks just outside the top 100 on the 247Sports composite .

Earls is coming off an unofficial visit to Michigan, and by all accounts it sounds like he left impressed.

“It was amazing,” Earls said of the multi-day visit to EJ Holland with The Wolverine ($) . “I’m already close to the whole staff. They really got to know me. I feel like I hung out with coach (Sherrone) Moore equally as much as I did with coach (LaMar) Morgan. coach Moore was really cool. We talked about shoes. I hung out with coach Wink (Martindale), who is a really cool guy, too. He has a lot of NFL knowledge. I really like coach Morgan. He has a lot of ball knowledge, being a defensive coordinator at UL (Louisiana). The way the guys have trust it him is what made me believe in him more.”

On the visit, Earls got the chance to interact with Will Johnson, projected to be one of Michigan’s top defenders.

“They had player-led practices, and I really liked the way they work together,” Earls said. “Will is a very humble guy. We talked to his dad (Deon) on Saturday at breakfast. He’s a little bigger than me muscle wise, but I’m taller by like an inch (laughs). Coach Morgan expects me to take over Will’s spot. I want to take on that role. That defense is set up for turnovers and success.”

Earls is hoping to return to Michigan for an official visit in September when the Wolverines host the Texas Longhorns . He will officially visit Georgia this weekend, but Michigan may have set the pace in this recruitment.

“They set the bar high,” Earls said. “That’s all I can say. I really enjoyed it. They set the bar really high.”

Michigan hosts four-star S on OV

Earls wasn’t the only defensive back Michigan hosted this weekend. JaDon Blair, rated just outside the top-150 on the 247Sports composite , was also in Ann Arbor.

Blair is set to commit on July 5 , and has made visits to Virginia Tech (April 12), Louisville (April 17), South Carolina (May 31), Notre Dame (June 7), and Florida State (June 18). He also plans to visit Penn State later this week.

Blair was excited to meet with head coach Sherrone Moore, secondary coach LaMar Morgan, and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, breaking down schemes with Morgan and Martindale while in town.

“We went over their defensive schemes and how well they disguise their defense,” Blair said to The Wolverine’s Holland ($) . “We talked about how I could potentially do a lot of different things in their defense. Coach Wink is the designer of the defense that a lot of teams in the NFL and in college actually use. He told me that I could be a phenomenal player in that defense.”

We’ll keep an eye out for Blair’s commitment news next month.

Quick hits

-Jahmari DeLoatch, a cornerback recruit pursued by Michigan football’s previous regime, committed to Cincinnati .

-Camdin Portis, the son of former NFL running back Clinton Portis, picked up an offer from Michigan, he announced earlier this week. He’s currently unranked, but that’s certain to change in the future.

–Holland at On3 logged a few recent predictions in favor of Michigan — four-star offensive lineman Hardy Watts, three-star wide receiver Phillip Wright, and three-star offensive lineman Kaden Strayhorn. Holland is about as plugged in as anyone when it comes to Michigan recruiting, so those are certainly names to keep an eye on.