Dominick James / submitted
Michigan Offers Four-Star Defensive Tackle Dominick James
After missing out at defensive tackle in the 2020 recruiting class, Michigan has a need to fill at the position, and the U-M staff is looking to address that moving forward. Along that same line, the Wolverines extended an offer to 2022 prospect Dominick James on Friday.
James is a prospect who stands at 6-3 and 275 pounds heading into his junior season and already sports offers from Auburn, Florida State, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Texas A&M and USC, so he's already etched his path as a national recruit. Now Michigan can be added to that list.
“I was pretty excited because at my old school, Prattville, there were a couple guys that went to Michigan,” James told Wolverine Digest. “Coach [Aashon] Larkin was talking about how he recruited in Prattville for a long time. Some of the best players that came through Prattville, he recruited them and it was pretty exciting.”
Over the offseason, James is moving from Prattville (Ala.) High to IMG Academy and will be driving to his new school over the weekend to begin training for the summer. Over the past several years, the Michigan staff has developed strong relationships at each location, but now the 2022 defensive lineman will be surrounded by a host of other players with U-M offers.
“I know they are all about grades, and I really like that,” James said. “My parents like that too about the school. They are really about the grades. That is a focus for them.”
Additionally, James mentioned that he knows how Kingston Davis and Keith Washington both spent time at Michigan, so he acknowledged the possibility of following in their footsteps and confirmed that he would “definitely” like to take a visit to Ann Arbor.
“My recruiting took off in the summer time, right when I left to go to IMG, and that's right when the corona took off so I didn't really have a chance to visit any of the schools,” James said. “I want to learn more about the up north schools just being from the south. It's normally Bama an Auburn here, but now since I've moved from Alabama I need to open my horizons and learn more about other schools.”
Last season, James had a productive sophomore year in what was his first full season at the varsity level. In 2019, James produced 48 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, nine quarterback hits, three sacks, two pass breakups and also logged a safety. Though he is listed as a defensive end on Rivals.com, James is a four-star defensive tackle according to 247Sports.com, a site that lists him as the No. 8 player at his position in the country. And right now, many schools could see him playing at either spot at the collegiate level.
“They talk to me about both,” James said. “Me and my coach really haven't figured out if I'm going to play tackle or end.”
James is only the eighth defensive tackle in the 2022 class to land an offer from the Wolverines, so he will be an important recruit to monitor moving forward.
What should the distribution of offers in the 2022 class look like for defensive lineman? More defensive tackle heavy or more catered to bigger defensive ends? Let us know!
