Peppers talks Michigan, visits state title

He started his high school career at Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco and finished it at Paramus (N.J.) Paramus Catholic but it didn't seem to matter what jersey he was wearing, all four seasons of high school football for Jabrill Peppers ended with a state title. The five-star defensive back helped Paramus Catholic beat Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter's Prep for the Paladins second straight state title.

"I just wanted to let the game come to me," said the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Peppers. "I just didn't want to press and let it happen. I tend to press in big games. My teammates made big plays when we needed them. I think they keyed a little too much on me because we have a lot of great athletes."

Michigan assistants Roy Manning and Darrell Funk spoke with Peppers on Friday and attended the championship game at MetLife Stadium. Peppers will visit with both coaches and coach Brady Hoke on Saturday.

"We just had regular conversations," he said. "We talked about recruits, who is coming and who is going. We didn't talk about me taking visits or anything like that. Coach Manning, coach Funk and coach Hoke, I love those guys. It was just a great experience. Coach Manning and coach Funk answer most of my specific questions."

The elephant in the room is whether or not Peppers will take official visits to any school other than Michigan.

"Right now my only planned official visit is Michigan," Peppers said. "It might stay that way and it may not. My mom, my coach and I have more time now to talk about it.

"UCLA and Penn State are probably the main two candidates for visits if I take any," he said. "Penn State, Alabama, UCLA and some other schools along those lines have been reaching out. I haven't really been bombarded."

A few weeks ago Peppers failed to convince Rivals100 No. 1 Da'Shawn Hand to join him as a Michigan commit. Now the tables have turned and Hand is recruiting Peppers to Alabama.

"Da'Shawn is trying to get me to flip but I think I'm going to go blue," Peppers said.

Peppers is scheduled to take his official visit to Michigan on December 13.