2024 Recruiting: Jake Guarnera (2024)

Previously: 2023's profiles. K Dominic Zvada (Tr), S Jacob Oden, S Wesley Walker (Tr), S Jaden Mangham(Tr), CB Aamir Hall (Tr), CB Ricky Johnson (Tr), CB Jeremiah Lowe, CB Jo'Ziah Edmond, LB Jaishawn Barham (Tr), LB Jeremiah Beasley, LB Cole Sullivan, OLB Mason Curtis, DE Lugard Edokpayi, DE Devon Baxter, DE Dominic Nichols, DT Ted Hammond, DT Owen Wafle, DT/OL Manuel Beigel, NT Deyvid Palepale

This was the cycle that Michigan could have almost anyone they wanted at center. Flash a couple of Joe Moore Awards, the Outland and Rimington trophies, and two transfers coming in explicitly for the draft boosts and the only question was "okay but how are you gonna keep Sherrone after that?" One win against top-10 Penn State despite throwing one pass in the second half, one more over Ohio State in which the signature moment was the stadium chanting for a guard, and one elevation of the OL coach who was interim HC for both of those later, and you'd be forgiven for wondering if this is reality or some young interior lineman from Florida's Michigan NCAA 2025 dynasty.

Out of this primordial ooze of center recruiting Michigan selected three. In order: the taller, higher-upside generalist Jake Guarnera, the Molkishly athletic Waltclaire Flynn, and hogmollie Kyle Altuner. Together they represented the majority of ranked centers in the country to Rivals (247 and On3 combine them with guards).

At the time they were literally the top three, Zandamela being a projectable rugby player who recently picked up football after moving from Mozambique, and Chandler rising in spring mostly due to a commitment to Colorado that Prime later canceled. Around the same time Michigan set up visits from Guarnera, Flynn, and Altuner in successive weeks, planning to tell each in turn they could be the guy if they committed. Guarnera didn't give the other two a chance.

[After THE JUMP: Be like Dave.]

How can the top player at a starting-22 position be a 3-star? Mostly because "center" in recruiting terms often means "doesn't have the length, athleticism, or size to hack it at tackle." Like Guarnera himself until last year, D-I caliber athletes in high school are usually put at tackle, which is where they can do the most good. It's also hard to tell from high school tape how they'll do at line calls or sifting through the more complicated P4 fronts. Even if you could, even the top C in the class outside of the rare Cesar Ruiz freak, it's reasonable to expect the top C in the class to sit three years while figuring out how to do that for his specific system.

As such, the guys like Guarnera are mostly graded with the rest of the OL using the same camp pass-rush drills as the tackles. Those too stiff but huge are projected to guard, while the ones without tackle proportions are told to try snapping. Looking at PFF's top-10 NFL centers going into last year you find just two guys who were ranked as centers. The rest: two guards, three offensive tackles, two *defensive* tackles, and an inside linebacker. Only two were top-300 prospects, 2017 Oklahoma signee Creed Humphrey (#290 on the Composite), who blew up at the Army Bowl, and OSU's Corey Linsley, who was 2009's #11 guard and a champion shot putter.

Nevertheless, Guarnera was the ultra-rare non-quarterback Michigan recruit to get ESPN's Craig Haubert or Tom Luginbill to write about him when they broke down the national OL class.

Three-star sleeper: The Wolverines addressed center via the portal in 2023, but Guarnera could be the future. He is a regular competitor on the spring camp circuit and always performed well and posted good numbers. He effortlessly transitioned to center this season and shows the ability to snap and reach defensive linemen, as well as work up to second-level defenders.

Of course ESPN always comes in higher for guys in the SEC footprint. 247's scouting director Andrew Ivins doesn't rate guys 100 spots higher just because they're from Florida, but is based there, and thought Guarnera was more of a B+ at everything kind of guy.

Interior offensive line prospect that blends technique, feel, and power all together.

EJ Holland said he "won’t wow anyone, but he checks a lot of boxes," then started describing Goldilocks the Center:

Flynn had a high ceiling with a low floor. Altuner had a high ceiling with a high floor. Guarnera offered the right blend of ceiling and floor. … While he’s not as physical as Altuner, he does display adequate power. While he’s not as athletic as Flynn, he does have more athleticism than Altuner.

Though "nothing pops out about his game," EJ argued for Guarnera as the "best center in the country," a better Greg Crippen…

While I didn’t love Crippen as a recruit, I praised his technique and high floor at the center position. Guarnera also checks those boxes but [is] more athletic, more physical and has more of a captain mentality.

…who's "as safe of a take as you can get at the center position."

It might be a boring take … you're gonna be happy that you have when Guarnera on the on the roster years from now.

We have a word for this. Guarnera is Dave.

Won't wow anyone? Here again it's a question of whether we're grading him against all OL or as a center, but there does seem to be an athletic ceiling on Guarnera that led him to center in the first place. For a center, EJ thought Guarnera good feet he has good bend, and Charles Power thought the agility was excellent.

Strengths: “It’s his movement skills. I think Jake Guarnera has very good agility and plays with good leverage. He has good functional strength and you can see that with his shot put number. He’s one who’s a pure center but he projects pretty well at the position because of his movement skills and play strength. He’s a pretty well-rounded prospect without a ton of weakness. He has a high floor.”

Guarnera's Hudl page reports a 2023-vintage 5.28 forty, 4.79 shuttle, 23.5 vertical, 330 bench, 500 squat, which I'm told are good to elite for an interior OL at that stage. Ivins also brought up the shot put number (52'3.5") when moving Guarnera up from an 87 (meh 3-star) to 89 (almost-4-star) in April 2023, but specified his optimism was contingent on a move or two down the line.

Plays tackle but projects as more of an interior player with his measurements, powerful punch, and effectiveness as a downhill blocker. He might even be able to emerge as a center at some point down the line.

Wait wait there's a meme for this.

The "with his measurements" bit was the major limiting factor referenced by PSU reporters like Thomas Frank Carr for why Guarnera wasn't as high on their board.

Guarnera’s lack of length jumps out. While he might have borderline tackle athleticism, his arms are entirely too short to play on the edge. In fact, his arms border on too short to play at Penn State. There are certain key metrics for an offensive lineman that you cannot ignore, and arm length is near the top of the list.

Yes, Carr was the same guy nixing Palepale's stubby arms (and now I'm picturing this dude pulling out a measuring tape on freshmen at orientation and going tsk tsk). This time he didn't take it back but 1) Guarnera canceled on PSU's BBQ equivalent to commit to Michigan, 2) Carr seems to be talking about Guarnera for tackle or guard.

Ivins also mentioned Guarnera "won’t blow many away with his measurables or testing numbers." The FanSided site GBM Wolverine was similarly two-faced about Guarnera based on whether they were projecting him to tackle:

Pass protection is where you can see why he’s a guard He doesn’t have the length to play tackle at a high caliber, and instead will need to move inside to counter that. Could be a very good center or guard, however. Athleticism looks good on film, and his footwork in protection and in run blocking is steady and reliable. Great on-field demeanor.

Shortish arms are probably what the scouts are talking about when they say he doesn't have the highest ceiling, but there are some who think Guarnera's athleticism leaves something to be desired. One was New Rivals's Lucas Reimink, who had "agility/athleticism", "flexibility/knee bending" and "pulling in zone blocking" (Ed: ?) listed as weaknesses.

Athletically, he has solid acceleration, solid foot speed, solid agility/COD, and good physical strength. He has a stocky frame but isn’t quite physically maxed out yet, as he could add 15-30 lbs. to his frame without losing his athleticism … He will need to improve on his agility/athleticism to sustain this level of dominance at the next level however as the quicker/more athletic DL types at the next level could beat him with quickness/agility/COD ability right now.

Reimink was particularly concerned in pass pro, where less lengthy players often end up leaning.

In the pass game, Guarnera shows solid acceleration to get off the ball and into his kick step quickly. His solid agility/COD is a bit of a limiting factor right now in the pass game, as he struggles to mirror opposing DL who are more athletic than he is. … He is more of a waist-bender right now, so the shorter DL types can get under him and extend their arms to get him off balance. He’ll need to work on flexibility and bending at the knees instead of the waist to maintain his balance in pass protection, but it can be easily fixed with a good S&C program and some technique work at the next level.

At least that's how I interpret Reimink. His info mostly comes from discussions with Rivals scouts, who got Guarnera for one of their showcases, saw him win 4/5 reps, and saw him lose this one:

But they weren't alone. Touch the Banner thought Guarnera "sometimes gets overextended and off balance," though he credited Guarnera for his "active feet". TTB also found "the initial movements just a hare [sic] slow right now," which I wanted to be a sneakily ironic double-entendre, but was contextually just a typo.

There are still a lot of things to work on as a center, such as speeding up his initial step and being quicker with his off (non-snapping) hand. I like the way he gets all his cleats in the ground to make contact, but the initial movements are just a hare slow right now. … I don’t love Guarnera’s pulling technique from the tackle position, but it’s consistent, so I have to believe it’s the way he’s being coached.

Holland for one disagrees, thinking Guarnera's physicality, tackle-worthy athleticism, especially his"quick feet" made Guarnera look comfortable in pass protection in a game setting, despite that being literally his first game at center. Austin Meek is another who thought Jake "has the strength and mobility" for the position.

He has shot puts for hands. So his boxing range isn't that great, but he packs a punch. Ivins:

Doesn’t carry much bad weight, which in turn makes him an effective puller as he can quickly get lateral and move people out of the way. Consistently wins with heavy hands and a robust upper half. Also will finish off assignments by rolling his hips.

TTB's emphasized the hands among Guarnera's overall center-y squatness when blocking (ellipses removed).

Does a great job of driving feet through contact. Shows advanced hand fighting technique. Has low center of gravity. Has ability to take short, choppy, controlled steps. Likes to get dirty and aggressive in the trenches. Aggressive finisher who puts people on the ground.

Reimink also saw "a mean streak that’s obvious on film."

He’s always looking to blow his defender off the ball and finishes them when he gets the chance to do so. Consistently shows good physicality and good effort throughout the full game. When defenders try and bull-rush him, they have very little luck due to his good hand use to maintain his positioning and good physical strength to withstand the push from the opposing DL. … When engaged in a double team, he can really dominate defenders in combination with his fellow OL to clear out any type of defender from the hole.

…crediting the mental processing speed, good hand use and solid hand strength for a lot of this. A lot of this is good technique, as Ivins described.

Solid combo blocker that can climb and open up running lanes. Distributes his weight well and always looks to be in control of his body. … understands how to win with leverage and placement.

Carr was even willing to overlook shoulders that went right to wrists because Guarnera knew where to put them.

He’s a good athlete who does himself plenty of favors by having a good technique for high school.

…before reiterating "but not at tackle." Holland emphasized on several occasions that Guarnera is "really technically sound," even in his first-ever game at center, and especially at handfighting.

Guarnera plays with a good base and really excelled in pass pro on Friday night, which is no surprise considering his experience at tackle. I really loved some of his hand techniques, including slapping down an extension from the nose while bull rushing and using his feet and athleticism to keep him at bay. Guarnera also has good length for an interior offensive lineman. …

THAT'S RIGHT THOMAS FRANK CARR GOOD LENGTH FOR AN INTERIOR LINEMAN WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO THAT THOMAS?

Guarnera has more to show as a pass protector than several of Penn State’s highly-touted recruits from the last several cycles. He has a very patient kick slide, plays with a good base, and uses his hands well. It’s clear to see he’s been well-coached.

…klin could use a well-coached linem—er, I mean TTB made a similar point.

For the most part, he seems like a well coached, technical player (his dad played at Rutgers) who’s a little limited athletically

Probably knows what a linebacker is going to have for his next seven meals. As Brian once said "We prefer our centers to be guys who they have to play at center because no one else can get the line calls right." Unfortunately scouts can't often tell much about the intellectual makeup of a player, or how well that translates to the field. Patrick Kugler was the son of a Lions head coach, the brother of a pretty decent Purdue center, and a brilliant student who's now an FBS offensive coordinator, but didn't work out as a player. Still, you want to know your center prospect is Glasgow-brained, which Guarnera is, according to EJ.

You always want your centers to be smart and great leaders, and that’s definitely what Guarnera is. He’s very intelligent both on and off the field and has a deep understanding of the game.

Holland also noted Guarnera excels at the team chemistry aspect of playing center, and that how well he got along with the rest of Michigan's OL class was a reason the coaches had him slightly ahead of their other two options.

but they really vibed well with Jake Guarnera. He was really involved in the group text. They really like him as a whole.

Reimink saved most of his praise for Guarnera's mental processing: "takes the proper angle," … "good communication with his fellow OL about combo blocks", … "can effectively climb to the second level with his solid agility, properly adjusting for the speed of the second/third level defender," … "good communication on twists and stunts," etc.

Lorenz said on our podcast that the schools that were after Guarnera were after him because he had the brain for center.

Can he be a guard too though? There were a few takes, mostly from Guarnera as a junior, that suggested versatility at least to guard. A Rivals guy at RCS Miami thought Jake "has the size and length to play anywhere on the line." 247's Cooper Petagna and On3's Charles Power both comped Guarnera to Mason Cole. Power:

Mason was very highly-touted and more positional versatility than Jake. But in terms of the movement skills and the technicality, Jake reminds me of Mason.

Carr of course thought Guarnera was interior-only:

…clear that Guarnera is an interior-only prospect who might only fit at center. It’s a frustrating conclusion because it’s clear that the Ponte Vedre native is clearly a great football player and would do very well at Penn State.

This is less frustrating for a school like Michigan that regularly plays blockers, one of them a center.

What about his spring? Pretty good right? Early returns from his early enrollment were positive, and not just from the Spring Game clips. Sam's insider mentioned Guarnera…

has played well for a freshman. The word inside is he's going to be really good.

I went over the Spring Game itself, and Guarnera fared well at right guard, but he was also mostly facing Enow Etta (an edge) and the deep backup DTs. He wasn't overwhelmed like Blake Frazier, or the one doing the overwhelming like Nichols. He did miss a stunt on one of the plays that Nichols got Frazier, but picked it up on the second one. The one thing that really stuck out was when Guarnera pointed out a blitz and they picked it up.