Comp's Recruiting Briefing
A couple of things occurred to me while being around Devontae Dobbs at the Under Armor regional camp in Cincinnati earlier this week.
1. The 6-foot-4, 270-pound, four-star offensive tackle prospect from Belleville (Mich.) High School has improved since his late-winter showing at the Elite Big Man Camp in Wixom.
Dobbs, a rising junior for the class of 2019, offers a winning combination of frame, strength, foot quickness and lateral movement. He used his hands better in Cincinnati than he did in Wixom.
2. He’s a good, thoughtful quote.
I was more intrigued with the latter.
I think he’s the first recruit I’ve ever talked to who said the schools he is considering do not offer the major he wants to pursue.
“I want to study oneirology, the study of sleep science,” Dobbs said. “But most big universities don’t have the major that I’m interesting in. So I might have to pursue a new major or come back to get my degree in sleep study (later, somewhere else).”
That’s probably the coolest quote I’ve ever heard at a recruiting camp.
Dobbs isn’t listing his favorite schools at this time, but Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame are schools on his radar.
Dobbs visited Ohio State, Iowa and Iowa State in April. He visited Alabama in March.
He visited Kentucky and Notre Dame in February.
He visited Michigan State twice in late January.
Last fall, he visited Michigan State and Clemson.
I asked Dobbs about Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan at the Under Armour camp. He had insightful things to say about each of them while I interviewed him on camera.
However, that portion of the video interview became damaged. So that portion of the interview doesn’t appear in the video in this story. But click on the video to get a sense for his personality and his thoughts about the progress he’s making.
When I spoke with him later about recruiting, he said, “I just want to say that each university has great facilities, great programs but my decision will be based off the people that make the university what it is: players, coaches, students, fans and the community.”
Pretty good quote, this guy Dobbs.
RISING JUNIOR DT, JOVON BRIGGS
As for other four-star 2019s with Michigan State interest, Jowon Briggs turned in a standout performance at the Cincinnati Under Armour Camp (see a quick highlight and short interview with him in the video above).
Briggs, 6-3, 274 of Cincinnati Walnut Hills, visited Michigan State in March to watch spring practice. Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State have already offered him.
“I just wanted to compete,” Briggs said of his showing at the Under Armour camp, “I don’t want to sound pretentious but (I wanted to) show people how quote-unquote ‘good’ I am.”
He accomplished that. He plays low, strong and quick with long arms and good hands.
Briggs said he won’t be attending university camps this summer.
A 2020 TO REMEMBER
Going a year younger, to the rising sophomore class, Michigan State is in early with rising star Miquan Grace, a defensive back from Cincinnati Winton Woods. Grace is listed at 5-9, 165 and growing.
Grace was able to hang with WRs two years his elder at the Cincinnati camp, backing up what he did at Ohio State’s Friday Night Lights camp last summer, as well as the 2016 Michigan State Elite Camp.
“If you look him up on the recruiting sites,” said his father, Michael Grace, “it says Ohio State as his top school, 100 percent. But I don’t know why. Right now, he’s just a big Michigan State guy.”
Mr. Grace was saying this while wearing an Ohio State baseball cap.
“Me, personally, I love Ohio State,” said Mr. Grace. “But it’s not up to me.”
Miquan Grace is on the recruiting radar for several programs. He has visited Michigan State and Michigan in recent months. More trips north are in the works.
What does he like about Michigan State?
“Harlon Barnett,” said Mr. Grace. “He likes Harlon and the defense they run. He feels like he can excel at it.
“He has a good relationship with Kerry Coombs at Ohio State, too. It’s back and forth.
“He loves Harlon. There’s a connection there. I don’t know why, it’s just one of those things. He said he gets a good vibe from Michigan State.”
Mr. Grace said Miquan will likely cut down on the number of camps he attends this summer.
“We’ll be taking some visits, going down to Miami and Florida State early in the summer,” he said, “and also hit Auburn and Alabama.”
ONE THAT GOT AWAY
I spoke with recent Cincinnati four-star commitment d-end Malik Vann after the camp. He committed to Cincinnati over Michigan State a couple of weeks earlier. I wanted to ask him more about his decision, and where Michigan State stood. I was trying to get an idea if his recruitment could open back up.
I came away thinking he’s locked strong with Cincinnati, and that Michigan State indeed ran strong for him.
Many regarded MSU as the leader for Vann. But things turned around at some point and he committed to the Bearcats, surprising a lot of recruiting observers, and even surprising those close to Vann.
I asked if Michigan State was close in the running.
“They were,” Vann said with a tone of sincerity. “They were second. It was a tough decision. Having a chance to play Big Ten ball and having a chance to play with my old teammate again (Josiah Scott).”
But he had a calling to the University of Cincinnati.
“Just choosing to stay home and play for my city,” he said, “and having the chance to build something with the guys in the city for UC, taking UC somewhere that they haven’t been in awhile.”
SUMMER RISERS?
The camp circuits always yield a smattering of players who go from mid-major offers to major conference offers, based on their performances in the shirts and shorts events.
Camps such as the Chicago and Cincinnati Under Armour events, and next week’s Three Stripes Adidas Rivals.com Camp in Columbus, often provide a preview of which players are likely to make noise at the college camps in June.
At SpartanMag.com, we’ve reported about Canton (Mich.) Salem offensive lineman Alex Howie. He will camp at Michigan State in June. Michigan State has kept tabs with him. He received an offer from Indiana last week.
“They (Indiana coaches) said I have good feet, good size,” Howie said. “They said they feel like they could use me throughout the line, inside or out.”
Michigan State is planning to sign only one offensive guard in this class. Three-star prospect Jacob Isaia of Las Vegas Bishop Gorman ranks atop MSU’s target list. But a strong MSU camp performance from Howie could cause some war room conversations.
* Also keep an eye on Western Michigan defensive end commitment Andre Carter. The 6-foot-4, 237-pound Carter will play at Detroit Cass Tech next fall after transferring from Southfield High.
He committed to Western Michigan on April 16, and received an offer from Purdue last week.
Carter plans to camp at Tennessee and Michigan State this summer, likely as part of a Cass Tech contingent.
He visited Michigan State for a practice in March, along with some Cass Tech teammates, and he continues to maintain dialogue with the Spartans.
“Their new d-end coach (Mark Snyder) says they like my size,” Carter said. “Me and him have been kicking it. Me and Brad Salem have been close.”
Carter is ranked the No. 22 player in Michigan by Rivals.com.
What does he want to demonstrate at the camps?
“I’d like to show that I can use my hands and speed as well,” he said.
As for Howie, he made the Final Five group of top offensive linemen at last week’s Cincinnati Under Armour Camp. He beat the other o-linemen in the agility race, and then lost to four-star defensive end Tyreke Smith in the Big Man Challenge final race.
“It’s definitely a good confidence-booster that I can hang with anybody,” Howie said of his performance in Cincinnati.
He’s hearing from Purdue, Air Force, Navy, Illinois, Michigan State and others. He’ll have an interesting assortment of camp invitations to choose from, but MSU will get one of them. His father graduated from Michigan State.
* Also, a pair of twins - Jacob Slade and Zachary Slade - performed well at the Cincinnati Under Armour Camp. It wouldn’t be a major surprise if they lit up some major conference camps this summer.
The two defensive linemen, who are nearly identical, each have offers from Ball State and Toledo.
Jacob Slade was a captain at Lewis Center (Ohio) Olentangy High School last fall - serving as the first underclassman captain ever for venerable head coach Mark Solis, who has more than 100 wins and several playoff berths at Olentangy, Lorain, Elyria, Twinsburg and Ashland Crestview.
Jacob Slade has a strong upper body and the ability to run his feet with quickness, as shown at the camp. But Zachary edged him when the two squared off in the agility race near the end of the Big Man Challenge.
Then Smith beat Slade and Howie to win the overall Big Man Challenge award.
But the Slades proved to be an interesting tag team.
“Over the spring we visited MSU twice, PSU, Purdue, Indiana, Kentucky, Ball State, Toledo, Northwestern and Cincinnati,” Jacob Slade said. “Me and my brother both attended the Elite DL/OL camp at MSU last year, we plan on camping again in June 17 and we continue to hear from Coach Tressel. He stopped by our school two weeks ago to observe a lifting session. We definitely have MSU as one of our top schools of interest.”
* Sleeper defensive tackle Elijah Ratliff (6-3, 270, Reynoldsburg, Ohio) holds an offer from Miami of Ohio and other MAC schools, but will work out at the Michigan State and Pittsburgh camps. If he plays like he did at the Elite Big Man Camp in Wixom, Mich., in February, he might get into the war room conversation at those schools. But he’ll need to perform better than he did at the Cincinnati Under Armour Camp. He didn’t make the Final Five, and allowed Aaron Ervin (6-5, 285, Springboro, Ohio) to win a couple of reps against him.
Ratliff said he needs to play lower and quicker.
A closer look at the Slade twins below, including the Slade vs. Smith agility race: