Michigan football or Michigan State? Stars Donovan Edwards, Rayshaun Benny weigh options

The football recruiting landscape has been altered significantly as two of Michigan football and Michigan State football's recruiting targets navigated their way back to the same high school field on Friday night.

Running back Donovan Edwards’ West Bloomfield team certainly got the best of two-way lineman Rayshaun Benny’s Oak Park team in a lopsided 39-0 season-opening victory.

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Edwards, the No. 2 player in the state according to 247Sports Composite and coveted by U-M, MSU and numerous Power Five schools, scored three touchdowns in the win.

Oak Park's top player, the 6-5, 275-pound Benny, watched from the sideline after undergoing knee surgery six weeks ago.

[ Michigan high school football scores: Week 1 ]

The NCAA extended its recruiting dead period until Jan. 1, which means on-campus or off-campus contacts are not permitted. There are also no on-campus or off-campus evaluations and no official or unofficial visits allowed, rather only general correspondence, including emails, text messages and phone calls.

Edwards, who had a light workload (nine carries for 41 yards) against Oak Park, indicated after the game that he’s going to wait until after the season is over before he commits.

“I got the season going now, I’m not even thinking about my recruitment as of right now,” said the four-star recruit, who has had as many as 43 offers, according to 247 Sports.

Edwards said he reached out to Michigan running backs coach and special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh before Friday’s opener.

[ U-M commit Giovanni El-Hadi excited to learn OL play from Ed Warriner ]

“What makes him unique is that he’s just a very great guy,” Edwards said of Harbaugh. “Over the four years he’s been recruiting me every single year we’ve been just going up and up and up as the relationship has gone on. I actually called him myself personally just to kick it with him before the first game. He gave me a couple of pointers and tips. From my freshman and sophomore year to today, I actually talked to him about how to do this, this and this.”

Edwards, however, nodded when asked by a group of reporters that Michigan State and Notre Dame “are still in there,” and he’s open visiting schools like Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma to name a few.

“I was thinking about going to the Oklahoma game they played last week, but I couldn’t,” he said. “I’m just too focused right now, just winning and playing. With the season being back, I just want to be the best leader I can be for my team.”

As he has done the previous three seasons at West Bloomfield, Edwards showed his versatility by taking direct snaps out of the Wildcat formation, which is how he scored all three of his TDs.

“It was cool, I’ve actually been doing it for three years now,” Edwards said. “My ability to be able to run up the field and score a touchdown, I feel those are a match.”

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He also played slot receiver in the Lakers’ spread formation and caught a pass from quarterback Alex Scott for an apparent first-half TD, but it was negated by a penalty.

“I came to high school wanting to be a receiver, so therefore I just kept working on my craft,” Edwards said. “I had Tre Mosley (now at MSU) here, who guided me along the way. I had Taj Mustapha (Wisconsin) here as well. So that being said, I just became a very good receiver in high school.”

Whatever school Edwards chooses, there’s one main criteria that will factor into his final decision.

“The players for sure, the people I’m going to be around every single day, the coaching personalities, just being around a great atmosphere, an atmosphere that just feels like home,” he said.

Benny, another four-star recruit and the No. 6 player in the state, mentioned that his top eight are Tennessee, Kentucky, LSU, U-M, MSU, Penn State, Arkansas and Arizona State.

“With the hold, the dead period has been extended to January 1, I just don’t know what I’m going to do for real,” Benny said. “But I hope the NCAA lets us know something so I know how I’m going to go about it with my family and everything.”

Benny’s criteria is strikingly similar to Edwards when it comes down to making a final choice.

“My biggest thing is family,” Benny said. “Like Oak Park ... I’ve been going here since the second grade. So, these coaches, they watched me grow up and they’ve helped me grow up. They helped my mom and everything. So, they’re a big part of my decision, too. So, wherever the family feels at, that’s where I want to go. I’m pretty open minded right now.”

By the time the MHSAA decided to give football a reprieve, Benny had already undergone surgery.

And he feels like he has been given a second chance as well. And he’s itching to play.

“I had gotten into a car accident like about a month-and-a-half ago (in Detroit) and I had slight tears to my knee,” Benny said, “and I’d just rather get it fixed than deal with it when I got to college, so it was just a couple week recovery and I’ll be back Week 3 (Oct. 2 at Oxford). I had some slight tears, they recovered it and cut something out.

“I’ve actually been going to physical therapy three times a week. Every week I’m getting better and better and stronger, and they can tell. They really have let me know that I’m really doing good with it.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan, MSU targets Donovan Edwards, Rayshaun Benny weigh options