Scout: UM’s Black, MSU’s Scott among ‘impact’ freshmen

True freshmen will play a big role for Michigan and Michigan State when the college football season begins next month.

At least two could be among the best in the Big Ten.

Michigan receiver Tarik Black and Michigan State cornerback Josiah Scott are among eight “impact” true freshmen in the Big Ten, listed Monday by Scout’s Allen Trieu, who is also a contributor for The Detroit News.

Black is part of a talented group of freshman receivers that includes five-star freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones from Detroit Cass Tech, and already has drawn raves from coach Jim Harbaugh.

“Michigan has a dynamic group of true freshman receivers coming in,” Trieu writes, “and the expectations are quickly becoming that three, if not all four of them will see the field in some capacity this fall. However, it is Black who we think is the smart money to start when the Wolverines take on Florida on Sept 2. He is not the athletic freak Donovan Peoples-Jones is, or the towering presence Nico Collins is, but he does have good size at 6-foot-3, 208 pounds, polished technical skills and has shown an ability to go up and win jump balls in camp.”

Scott, meanwhile, already has drawn comparisons to former MSU star and current Bengals cornerback Darqueze Dennard from coach Mark Dantonio. Scott is a three-star recruit from Fairfield, Ohio, while Dennard was a two-star recruit out of Georgia.

“Mark Dantonio named seven true freshmen he thinks could play this fall,” Trieu wrote. “Scott was not one of them, but that is likely because he was already there in the spring, had an excellent spring game in which he recorded an interception, and Dantonio had already said at Big Ten Media Days that Scott was established as a starter. Heady and technically sound coming out of high school, those qualities along with Scott’s competitiveness have earned him the spot.”

Michigan and Michigan State each open their season Sept. 2. Michigan takes on Florida in Arlington, Texas, while Michigan State plays host to Bowling Green in East Lansing.