Michigan Cleans Up With A Litany Of MaxPreps Preseason All-Americans

As the preseason accolades for high school football prospects continue to roll in, MaxPreps is one of the latest companies to publish its All-American squad, and the outlet was quite kind to Michigan commits when doing so.

When doling out the national All-American honors that cover all 50 states and prospects of any age, Michigan commit Tommy Doman Jr. received a first-team nod at the punter position, while U-M quarterback pledge J.J. McCarthy was listed as the second-team's signal caller.

Elsewhere on the national first-team was Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy offensive tackle J.C. Latham. Though he is now committed to Alabama, the Wolverines and particularly offensive line coach Ed Warinner kept in close contact with Latham and were pushing hard for his services. Michigan also was a finalist for Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas edge rusher Dallas Turner, who is projected by many to be a defensive but was listed as a linebacker on this list. Turner also committed to Alabama.

In addition to that national All-American squad, MaxPreps also went state-by-state and rattled off preseason All-State honorees on that level as well. For Michigan, several well known prospects were clear selections, such as West Bloomfield (Mich.) High running back Donovan Edwards landing on the first-team. Joining Edwards was top Michigan target and Clarkston (Mich.) High offensive guard Rocco Spindler, who will be announcing his college commitment on August 8. On the O-Line, Spindler was accompanied by Michigan commits Giovanni El-Hadi and Raheem Anderson with U-M target Rayshaun Benny rounding out the group. However, Benny is interested in playing defensive line in college, and that is where the Wolverines are recruiting the Oak Park (Mich.) High lineman.

While it is well known that the 2021 class in Michigan is quite strong, 2022 prospect and Michigan defensive line commit Alex VanSuemren was a first-team selection as well with Doman rounding out the group. 2023 Michigan quarterback target Dante Moore, who already holds an offer, was a second-team pick as well.

Moving south to Ohio, a pair of Michigan commits earned All-State honors with Clayton (Ohio) Northmont safety Rod Moore on the first-team and his teammate, wide receiver Markus Allen, on the second-team squad.

Heading to the deep south, the Wolverines hold pledges from four recruits in the state of Florida. Since he was a second-team All-American, McCarthy was an obvious pick for first-team All-State. Moving to Florida's second-team, IMG Academy center Greg Crippen was selected along with Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas linebacker Jaydon Hood and fellow teammate cornerback Ja'Den McBurrows, all Michigan commits.

Heading west, Michigan only holds verbal commitments from a pair of California prospects in Fresno (Calif.) Central East wide receiver Xavier Worthy and Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei wideout Cristian Dixon, but it was the former that earned a second-team All-State nod as the golden state is rather deep at the receiver position for the 2021 class.

At this point, MaxPreps has only issued All-State teams for a handful of states, so several Michigan commits will likely find themselves on similar lists as the offseason progresses. But not long before the MaxPreps preseason teams came out, one of their writers, Eric Frantz, ranked the top high school players in each Midwest state, which yielded quite a few U-M commits as part of the series.

Regarding the state of Illinois, U-M only has one commit in the state now that McCarthy transferred down to IMG Academy. However, Bolingbrook (Ill.) High linebacker Tyler McLaurin acquitted himself well with a ranking of the No. 10 player in the state entering the 2020 season.

Bouncing over to Connecticut, both of the Wolverines' commits made the state's top 10 with Suffield (Conn.) Academy defensive end Kechaun Bennett at the No. 1 position and Choate Rosemary Hall offensive tackle Tristan Bounds as the No. 3 player in the state.

From a surface standpoint, Michigan cleaned up when it came to U-M pledges earning preseason honors from MaxPreps, but more are sure to follow as the outlet continues to highlight the rest of the country.

Do you agree or disagree with any of the selections? Should Cristian Dixon have been included as a second-teamer for California? Let us know!