No. 1-ranked center Cesar Ruiz commits to Michigan

Michigan's recruiting reach into New Jersey continues.

The nation's No. 1-ranked center, Cesar Ruiz, committed to the Wolverines today. Though Ruiz (6-feet-3, 315 pounds) has played at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., the past few years, he is a native of Camden, N.J., and friends with Wolverines Rashan Gary, Michael Dwumfour and Ron Johnson. He visited U-M's satellite camp at Paramus (N.J.) Catholic to hang out with them during the summer.

“It’s all love,” he said of his buddies at the camp. “Of course they’re going to try to recruit me, of course. But it’s fun. I heard from all of them, Rashan, Ron, Brad (Hawkins), all of them, all the time. ... Any chance I get to hang out with these guys, I will, because they’re there since day one."

He had listed U-M as his No. 1 college choice in the spring and, though he later backed off that, still spoke highly of U-M. He took an official visit to Ann Arbor the weekend of Sept. 30.

Ranked as the nation's No. 58 overall player and No. 11 prospect in Florida on the 247Sports Composite, Ruiz joins a talented offensive line group in the 2017 class, including Fort Lauderdale, Fla., four-star lineman Kai-Leon Herbert and four-star Ja'Raymond Hall from Oak Park. The Wolverines missed out on five-star tackle Isaiah Wilson last week.

U-M also is targeting four-star offensive lineman Chuck Filiaga of Aledo, Texas.

Note: Flint Southwestern defensive tackle Deron Irving-Bey said today that he will make his college choice at 4 p.m. Michigan and Michigan State are in the running. (Update: Irving-Bey committed to the Wolverines.)

Full list: Michigan's recruits (with highlight videos)

Contact Mark Snyder atmsnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @mark__snyder. Download our Wolverines Xtra app on iTunes and Android!