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Rivals Recap: Detroit

DETROIT -- The 2015 season continues in several states across the country, but
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in Detroit it is camp time. The off-season kicked off Friday night at the Adidas
Invitational and continued Saturday at the DGA Training and Media Day.
Rivals.com was on hand for both events.
TOP FIVE
1. OG Marquan McCall, Oak Park, Mich. (2018)
It is hard to believe the 6-foot-3, 323-pound McCall is still early in his
sophomore year because he looks like he could step onto an FBS field right now.
Although he is over 300 pounds, McCall does not carry a lot of bad weight. He is
just a big, strong kid with plenty of power in his game. Saturday's work out was
mostly drills and technique, but that did give us the opportunity to see that
the class of 2018 prospect is a very good athlete for his size and worthy of the
half dozen offers already in-hand.
2. CB Donovan Johnson, Detroit (Mich.) Cass Tech (2017)
A four-star prospect ranked in the Rivals250, Johnson is coming off a strong
junior campaign in which he excelled on both sides of the football at running
back and cornerback. Defense definitely looks to be his future, however, as
Johnson is a lock-down cornerback with loose hips and a great break on the
football. We saw him time and again stick his foot in the ground and explode to
break up passes Friday night. At just 5-foot-10, height may be the one thing
holding more teams back from offering right now, but he is a solidly built
cornerback with an exceptional skill set.
3. LB Antjuan Simmons, Ann Arbor (Mich.) Pioneer (2017)
The one remaining question with the 6-foot-1, 199-pound Simmons is what position
he best projects to at the college level. His offer list exploded this fall
after a tremendous junior season in which he flew around the field and made a
wealth of highlight reel hits on ball carriers. But, Simmons is also a talented
running back and has the athleticism that could project to safety. Saturday's
event did not answer the position question for us, but did reaffirm that the
four-star is a special athlete with an outstanding work ethic and excellent
leadership qualities.
4. LB Ovie Oghoufo, Farmington Hills (Mich.) Harrison (2018)
Oghoufo has already jumped out with early offers from Mid-American Conference
schools Akron and Eastern Michigan, and it was easy to see why on Friday night.
The 6-foot-2, 194-pound linebacker has a great football frame with plenty of
room to add bulk in the coming years and excellent athleticism for the position.
As a sophomore he tallied 66 tackles and an impressive eight sacks from the
linebacker position. He also has the ability to play in space and could grow
into a linebacker in the style of Notre Dame's Jaylon Smith.
5. DB Reggie Pearson, River Rouge, Mich. (2018)
Pearson was the only player who attended both Friday night's Adidas Invitational
and Saturday's DGA Training. What immediately caught our attention was that the
sophomore looks bigger than the 5-foot-10, 180-pound he was measured last
spring, and may be closing in on the 6-foot mark. Pearson is listed as a safety,
but showed the fluidity and quickness that may allow him to play cornerback at
the next level. He already hold four offers from Mid-American Conference schools
and it will be interesting to see where his future development takes him.
TOP VIDEO
2017 Oak Park, Mich. OT Ja'Raymond Hall announcing his #Michigan commitment https://t.co/nnPT6Fumj9- Josh Helmholdt (@JoshHelmholdt) December 5, 2015
NEWCOMER TO KNOW
CB Robert Daniel, Oak Park, Mich. (2018)
Saturday was the first good look I have had at Daniel and he definitely
impressed. Listed at 5-foot-11 and 176 pounds, the sophomore has good length for
the position and may not be done growing. It was the proficiency he showed in
footwork and position drills that caught my attention most, though. Daniel has
natural athleticism and is able to make the difficult look easy. Akron and Miami
(Ohio) have jumped out with early offers, and they certainly will not be the
last.
RECRUITING NOTES
The DGA
Training and Media Day was capped with an announcement by three-star Oak Park,
Mich., offensive tackle Ja'Raymond Hall that he was making a commitment
to Michigan. Hall attended the Wolverines' home finale the previous
weekend and has had them at the top of his list since he received their offer
last April. This was the school most pundits had Hall pegged for, but the
three-star prospect was did surprise with the timing of his commitment as he had
not suggested a decision may be at-hand.
While he has
watched fellow Detroit-area defensive backs reel in offer after offer this fall,
four-star cornerback Donovan Johnson remains at just three and they are
from Cincinnati, Tennessee and Toledo. In the last
few weeks, though, Johnson said he has seen the interest pick up from schools
like Indiana, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin. He picked up
the Tennessee offer after camping with the Volunteers last summer, and said that
relationship is very strong and communication between the two parties happens
weekly.
Meanwhile,
Johnson's teammate at Cass Tech, three-star 2017 safety Jaylen
Kelly-Powell, is flush with scholarship offers after adding three more in a
three-day stretch. Kelly-Powell had already surpassed 20 scholarship offers by
the time Tennessee joined the mix on Thursday. Then, on Saturday, two additional
offers came through from Iowa State and Nebraska. Kelly-Powell
remains wide open and will start planning off-season visits soon.
Another state
of Michigan class of 2017 prospect who is swimming in offers is Ann Arbor
(Mich.) Pioneer's Antjuan Simmons. Iowa State became offer No. 33 for
the four-star prospect earlier in the week. Simmons has already visited many of
the Midwest schools that have offered and said his strongest relationships right
now are with Michigan State, Notre Dame and Penn State. He has a desire to explore schools outside the Midwest as well, and
plans to see as many as 10 schools down south and out west this off-season,
including LSU and UCLA.
Class of 2018
athlete Kalon Gervin of Detroit Cass Tech was one of the recipients of
offers Iowa State coaches dished out across southeast Michigan in the last week.
He had previously been offered by new Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell's staff at Toledo, so he already had a good relationship with the
staff, particularly cornerbacks coach D.K. McDonald. As for Iowa State,
Gervin does not know much about the school, but plans to give them a strong
look.
There is some
good, young quarterback talent in the state of Michigan, but one to watch in the
2017 class is Detroit East English Village's Delvin Washington.
Physically he resembles a young Daunte Culpepper or Ben Roethlisberger and he's
big enough to be a defensive end. What stood out watching him Friday night,
though, was how crisp his arm mechanics were and the beautiful football he
threw. Quarterback recruiting in 2017 is already well underway, but Washington
is going to get some looks from top teams before too long.
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