5-star athlete Samuel M'Pemba locks in visit to Michigan

St. Louis (Mo.) IMG Academy five-star athlete Samuel M’Pemba has his pick of college programs.

The 6-foot-4, 245-pounder has amassed more than 30 offers, including the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Michigan and others. And it looks like he’s about to have a very busy spring visit schedule.

M’Pemba previously set a spring visit to Notre Dame. He announced this past Wednesday he will head to Gainesville to visit the Gators on March 5. He had previously mentioned he was going to also visit Ann Arbor in March. But he took to social media on Saturday to confirm the March 18 visit with the Wolverines.

Michigan on the 18th #GoBlue 〽️〽️.

— Samuel M’Pemba (@SMPEMBA5) February 26, 2022

The Wolverines have been a recent riser on M’Pemba’s list thanks to the hiring of Mike Elston from the Fighting Irish. Elston and M’Pemba developed their relationship when the defensive line coach was in South Bend, Ind., and they have continued to bond even after the move.

Samuel M’Pemba recently told On3’s Chad Simmons their relationship hasn’t changed with Elston moving to Ann Arbor, Mich., and he is excited to see the campus as a recruit.

He is most looking forward to talking about Michigan’s two stars Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo. M’Pemba wants to know how they trained and how they team helped turn them into future first-round draft picks.

“If they can put two of their outside linebackers into the first round, why can’t I be the next one?” M’Pemba told Simmons.

Notre Dame is the top team on Samuel M’Pemba’s list, according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine. The Irish are listed with a 47.3% chance of landing him. However, spring visits are expected to make this a much closer race than currently indicated.

Samuel M’Pemba has dozens of offers

Samuel M’Pemba initially planned to pull himself off the market in the fall but ultimately decided to take a step back with National Signing Day still nearly a year down the road.

Alabama and Notre Dame were the schools under strong consideration at the time, Simmons reported.

“I think I was moving a little fast,” M’Pemba said. “I had a top 12, and I was really close to committing around November. But I decided to wait.

“Now, I just want to take visits and take more time. I will probably wait until closer to December. My plan is to wait things out now. I will watch the season play out, take visits, and watch the coaches, too.”

Back in the fall, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State and Texas A&M made M’Pemba’s top 12.

Samuel M’Pemba ranks as the No. 12 player in the country, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Samuel M’Pemba currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $25,000. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time. M’Pemba ranks No. 285 in the High School Football NIL Rankings.