Muskegon's Recarder Kitchen 'blessed' to receive offer from Michigan

Allen Trieu
| Special to The Detroit News

Michigan offered Muskegon sophomore Recarder Kitchen a scholarship when he came to the Wolverines’ home game against Texas.

Kitchen’s high school coaches, college coaches and national recruiting site evaluators all agree on his talents. At 6’6″ and 230 pounds, he doesn’t look like your average sophomore, and that imposing frame was already there last season when he made an impact on the varsity team as a freshman.

On top of that, he has a wrestling background. While schools view him as a defensive lineman, he plays both sides of the ball and, by all accounts, has the work ethic to capitalize on those tools.

“The first thing that stands out about Kitchen is his 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame,” said 247Sports national scout Hudson Standish. “When it comes to our initial Top 100 rankings heading into sophomore seasons, you rarely find a prospect with the combination of size, traits and production that Kitchen displayed in helping Muskegon win a state championship.”

Last season, Kitchen rotated older players and still had 50 tackles (19 for loss), 7.5 sacks, 38 pressures, two pass breakups, five forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

At the beginning of his video, he runs after one of Warren De La Salle’s ball carriers. It’s an unusual sight to see a player that big, that young, with that kind of foot speed but also determination to make the play.

“He has all the physical attributes, but he also plays with a fanatical effort,” Standish said. “Kitchen can come off the line of scrimmage with his excellent snap anticipation, but he can just as easily chase the ball 40 yards down the field to save a touchdown if needed. Kitchen’s athletic profile, which includes encouraging track and field scoring and wrestling experience, also provides significant value to his evaluation.”

Michigan’s recruiting history in Muskegon has been pretty lackluster lately. The Wolverines signed defensive tackle Terrance Taylor in the 2005 class. He ended up being an All-Big Ten selection and a fourth-round pick in the NFL draft.

Muskegon’s most famous recruit of the era was star wide receiver/defensive back Ronald Johnson, who was leaning toward Michigan but ultimately chose USC. The Wolverines recruited Cameron Martinez, who signed with Ohio State and then transferred to Boston College.

Kitchen will have plenty of options to leave the state, with Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Iowa State and Indiana all having already offered, but he was impressed from the start by the crowd at Michigan Stadium and his first encounter with defensive line coach Lou Esposito.

“At that point, I was really happy and humbled to have received an offer from a big school like that,” he said. “Coach Esposito had come over to talk to me and my other teammates and that’s when he pulled me aside and told me he liked what I was doing and that he offered it to me.”

Kitchen is in no rush and is focused on helping Muskegon become state champions again.

That said, he added that he hopes to be able to return to more Michigan games this season.

247Sports rates him as the No. 5 edge defender in the 2027 class and the No. 1 sophomore in Michigan.

Wolverines offer 4-star defensive back

Four-star junior at Toledo Central Catholic School Victor Singleton was given to him by Michigan after his visit for the game against Texas.

Singleton (5-11, 165 pounds) has offers from Ohio State, Texas A&M, Wisconsin and others.

It was his first visit to Michigan, but he has already booked a return trip for the Sept. 21 showdown against USC.

More information

Kitchen Profile Recarder

Victor Singleton Profile

Allen Trieu covers Midwest football recruiting for 247Sports. He has been featured on the Big Ten Network’s annual Signing Day Show. His Michigan and Michigan State recruiting columns appear weekly on detroitnews.com.