Recruiting: Michigan Aiming For Splash At Tight End In 2021

After signing just one tight end in 2020, Michigan would be a safe bet to sign at least one, if not two, tight ends in the 2021 cycle as well. So far, the Wolverines have reached out to 15 junior prospects with offers, and quite a few of those players have risen to the top of the U-M recruiting board.

Take a look at five tight ends who Michigan is heavily targeting:

Name	Hometown	Height	Weight	Stars	247Sports.com Composite Ranking (by position)
Thomas Fidone	Council Bluffs, Iowa	6-5	220 lbs.	4	2
Moliki Matavao	Henderson, Nevada	6-6	240 lbs.	4	4
Miles Campbell	Douglasville, Georgia	6-3	220 lbs.	4	18
Jack Pugh	Hilliard, Ohio	6-5	235 lbs.	4	13
Louis Hansen	Needham, Massachusetts	6-5	222 lbs.	4	8

Head and shoulders ahead of his peers at tight end, Council Bluffs (Iowa) Lewis Central four-star Thomas Fidone is ranked as the No. 1 tight end in the country according to 247Sports.com. As one of the marquee offensive players in the country, Fidone is hearing from all the top programs— Notre Dame, LSU, Alabama, Nebraska and Iowa are all thoroughly in the hunt, but Michigan has made itself a serious factor as well.

Earlier this month, Fidone listed Michigan as one of his top six schools in an interview with CBS Sports Network’s Tom Lemming.

Thomas Fidone 6'5" 225 Council Bluffs Lewis Central, IA is a member of our top 100 team at TE. Class of 2021. superior athlete who has played WR in high school he can run and jump with a wide catching radius.4*+ ranks as the top player in the state of Iowa.@ThomasFidone Big-time pic.twitter.com/pd0St5cmuO
— Tom Lemming (@LemmingReport) March 17, 2020

So far, the Wolverines have made a serious push for the Iowa native. Over the winter high school sports season, U-M head coach Jim Harbaugh made a trip down to Iowa to watch Fidone play basketball, and the 6-5, 220-pound prospect would be a huge boon to the Wolverines’ 2021 class.

Not far behind Fidone, Henderson (Nev.) Liberty four-star Moliki Matavao ranks as the No. 4 tight end on 247Sports.com’s composite scale. Hailing from the west coast, the biggest battles for Michigan landing Matavao will come in two waves— first convincing the top 5 tight end to visit and secondly fending off a swarm of interested suitors from around the nation.

In an announcement from earlier in March, Matavao placed Michigan in a top group with Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, Miami, Georgia, UCLA, Penn State, Tennessee and LSU.

Top 10‼️

Edit: @Hayesfawcett3 pic.twitter.com/YfvhWmikEz
— Moliki Matavao (@MatavaoMoliki) March 6, 2020

At the beginning of March, Matavao attended a Junior Day at Oregon, and the blue-chip prospect took trips to Washington and USC last fall, so he’s had an opportunity to see a couple schools in his top group already.

So far, the only 247Sports.com crystal ball issued for Matavao is headed in Washington’s direction, so the nearby Huskies will likely be a stout opponent for Michigan in his recruitment.

With U-M in sound shape for both Fidone and Matavao, just last week the Wolverines were nearly listed as part of Douglasville (Ga.) South Paulding tight end Miles Campbell’s top 11 schools. However, the recent dead period caused by the coronavirus had an unintended side effect—Campbell would be slowing down his timeline.

Though Campbell did not list that top group of schools, he did confirm to Wolverine Digest that Michigan would have been part of that group. After talking to U-M tight ends coach Sherrone Moore on a regular basis, Campbell is quite interested in what Michigan has to offer. Chiefly, the nation’s No. 18 tight end has heard about Michigan’s rabid fan base and the support surrounding the football community and is intrigued by these two items.

In recent months, Campbell has taken trips to Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Clemson, so Michigan will have to fight tooth and nail to pull another highly coveted recruit out of the South. However, Moore is aggressively attacking the challenge.

Focusing a bit closer to home, Michigan is already gunning for the pledge of Hilliard (Ohio) Bradley four-star tight end Jack Pugh. At 6-5 and 235 pounds, Pugh is an athletic specimen that moves well enough to line up out wide or on the line of scrimmage. Moving around the formation last year, Pugh showed his receiving talent and is ranked as one of the top tight ends in the Midwest as a result.

On the recruiting front, Pugh may wind up as a Big Ten battle with Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and Wisconsin all in contention. Pugh has routinely visited OSU and Wisconsin in the past, but he also reportedly took an enjoyable trip to Ann Arbor as well, one that resulted in an offer for the athletic and agile prospect.

In the weeks since, Michigan has kept on Pugh, and the program should be in line to receive an official visit when the time comes.

Apart from those four, the Wolverines also figure to be in the hunt for Needham (Mass.) St. Sebastian’s four-star Louis Hansen. As one would expect from a tight end prospect out of the Northeast, both Moore and defensive coordinator Don Brown have been assembled to help draw Hansen to Ann Arbor.

Armed with a track record of landing other top Northeast players, Brown should play a factor here, but the 6-5, 222-pounder’s relationship with Moore will also be key in securing a commitment.

Right now, Hansen holds 25 offers from programs such as Georgia, Iowa, Michigan State, LSU, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin. Each of these programs have a history of utilizing the tight end position from a schematic standpoint, so U-M will likely have to focus on other factors to reel in the nation’s No. 8 player at the position according to 247Sports.com.

In recent seasons, Michigan has made it a point to target the tight end as Sean McKeon and Nick Eubanks both have played important roles in the Wolverines offense.

Who would you like Michigan to push hardest for at the tight end position? Should the focus at the position be on passing acumen, blocking ability or a combination of both? Let us know!