Several thoughts following a busy weekend of phone calls and preparation for the basketball recruiting and football preview issues (yes, we’re already working on it) …
Starting with hoops …
We caught up with five-star Caleb Houstan and three-star Will Tschetter for features in our hoops recruiting issue coming out next month. We’ve spoken with them before, but man, these kids are impressive.
Everyone knows about Tschetter’s story — farm boy, does his chores, literally baling hay and milking cows, etc. He’s an incredible student, too, and gets up at 5 a.m. to work out (insane). He told us to call him at 8:15 on his way to school, in fact, after he’d done about three hours of hard work outside and on the court.
A lot of folks think of him as an afterthought, someone who “won’t play” at Michigan or will be recruited over. Howard and Co. see him as a valuable program guy who gets the culture and will develop into a significant contributor. He’s got the potential to be an elite shooter at 6-9, 240 pounds, having made 44 percent of his triples last year in averaging 30.3 points and 11.8 rebounds per game
A local Minnesota reporter wrote about his experience watching Tschetter up close here: TSCHETTER
What many don’t know is that Tschetter spent two years living in China with his family and was nearly fluent in Chinese by the time he left. He’s as smart as he is skilled, and he’s exactly what Howard is talking about when he speaks of finding guys who fit the Michigan culture.
Houstan is, too. He was 18 minutes late to call at 3:00 yesterday, but we knew he was going to be because his mother, Andrea, gave us the heads up. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, there — this family is incredible. Both Houstan and his mother spoke of Howard’s genuine nature when it came time to decide on a school. There are a lot of used car salesmen and their toadies out there, and they quickly waded through them before realizing Howard was ‘different.’
But Houstan, too, is mature beyond his years. He’s incredibly respectful, was only late to the call because he was finishing up some schoolwork back home in Mississauga, Ontario (Canada). His Montverde program is structured very similarly to Michigan’s, from demanding excellence in all areas to insisting on unselfishness on the court among elite players — one of the reasons they won a national title this year — and he can’t wait to see it at U-M, too.
One more thing — his mom wasn’t aware of the student section’s affinity for Canadian players or the maize and blue Canadian flag they brought out for Nik Stauskas and Ignas Brazdeikis, but she loves it. She’s excited to see the Maize Rage bring it back out again for his son when he starts splashing triples.
Houstan believes he can fit the Franz Wagner and/or Isaiah Livers role on the team. We’ll have more with him soon.
****
Speaking of Wagner, the sophomore is as good as gone, as most know, and we confirmed that again this weekend. We thought — and have said — that if there’s anyone who might have a hard time leaving on the note he did, a really tough tourney game against UCLA, it would be a Wagner. At the same time, he’s still projected as a potential lottery pick, and you can’t expect a kid to stick around and leave that money on the table.
Some, like CBS Sports, believe he’s slid on some draft boards. They have him at No. 21 overall to the New York Knicks. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...-goes-no-2-but-margin-is-thin-among-top-five/
“Wagner is a wing with size who has great feel and is a good passer,” they wrote. “His three-point shot must improve for him to meet expectations, but the fact that he shot 83.3% from the free-throw line suggests he’s capable of being an above-average shooter in time.”
It’s all about potential now, and that’s what scouts love about him.
An elite student, Wagner’s been finishing up classes and concentrating on his studies. We expect an announcement in the near future.
****
On the football side, we’ve got plenty of question marks (as most do) for the 2021 season after a spring in which head coach Jim Harbaugh only came out of the submarine once, and that was at the beginning of practices. He’s been quiet, and while the assistant coaches met the media, there hasn’t been a ton of good news to report.
We do believe there are some guys who could make a move, however — players we didn’t include on the two-deep recently.
DEFENSE: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...tball-detailed-spring-depth-chart-the-defense
OFFENSE: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...tball-detailed-spring-depth-chart-the-offense
One — redshirt freshman offensive guard Nolan Rumler — had a great spring game, according to Jon Jansen, and was “looking for d-linemen’s ribs when he didn’t have anyone to block.”
Now, we love a lineman with a mean streak as much as anyone. That’s never been an issue with Rumler, though — it’s about the playbook and consistency. Pancaking a guy is great as long as it’s not the highlight among four plays in which you missed your assignment on two of them. In that case you’re former guard Kyle Kalis, who never seemed to live up to his lofty potential (and, frankly, wasn’t very well coached in the majority of his time in Ann Arbor).
But there’s hope here. We’ll have more on that in the days to come.
Frosh running back Donovan Edwards is an obvious one, here. He was due for a break and worn down a bit by the end of spring, but one we trust said “it will be tough to hold him off when he really gets comfortable” — he’s going to be a good one, though Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum have played really well — and frosh tight end Matthew Hibner showed some flashes, as well. He could have a role this fall with a nice summer.
Starting with hoops …
We caught up with five-star Caleb Houstan and three-star Will Tschetter for features in our hoops recruiting issue coming out next month. We’ve spoken with them before, but man, these kids are impressive.
Everyone knows about Tschetter’s story — farm boy, does his chores, literally baling hay and milking cows, etc. He’s an incredible student, too, and gets up at 5 a.m. to work out (insane). He told us to call him at 8:15 on his way to school, in fact, after he’d done about three hours of hard work outside and on the court.
A lot of folks think of him as an afterthought, someone who “won’t play” at Michigan or will be recruited over. Howard and Co. see him as a valuable program guy who gets the culture and will develop into a significant contributor. He’s got the potential to be an elite shooter at 6-9, 240 pounds, having made 44 percent of his triples last year in averaging 30.3 points and 11.8 rebounds per game
A local Minnesota reporter wrote about his experience watching Tschetter up close here: TSCHETTER
What many don’t know is that Tschetter spent two years living in China with his family and was nearly fluent in Chinese by the time he left. He’s as smart as he is skilled, and he’s exactly what Howard is talking about when he speaks of finding guys who fit the Michigan culture.
Houstan is, too. He was 18 minutes late to call at 3:00 yesterday, but we knew he was going to be because his mother, Andrea, gave us the heads up. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, there — this family is incredible. Both Houstan and his mother spoke of Howard’s genuine nature when it came time to decide on a school. There are a lot of used car salesmen and their toadies out there, and they quickly waded through them before realizing Howard was ‘different.’
But Houstan, too, is mature beyond his years. He’s incredibly respectful, was only late to the call because he was finishing up some schoolwork back home in Mississauga, Ontario (Canada). His Montverde program is structured very similarly to Michigan’s, from demanding excellence in all areas to insisting on unselfishness on the court among elite players — one of the reasons they won a national title this year — and he can’t wait to see it at U-M, too.
One more thing — his mom wasn’t aware of the student section’s affinity for Canadian players or the maize and blue Canadian flag they brought out for Nik Stauskas and Ignas Brazdeikis, but she loves it. She’s excited to see the Maize Rage bring it back out again for his son when he starts splashing triples.
Houstan believes he can fit the Franz Wagner and/or Isaiah Livers role on the team. We’ll have more with him soon.
****
Speaking of Wagner, the sophomore is as good as gone, as most know, and we confirmed that again this weekend. We thought — and have said — that if there’s anyone who might have a hard time leaving on the note he did, a really tough tourney game against UCLA, it would be a Wagner. At the same time, he’s still projected as a potential lottery pick, and you can’t expect a kid to stick around and leave that money on the table.
Some, like CBS Sports, believe he’s slid on some draft boards. They have him at No. 21 overall to the New York Knicks. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...-goes-no-2-but-margin-is-thin-among-top-five/
“Wagner is a wing with size who has great feel and is a good passer,” they wrote. “His three-point shot must improve for him to meet expectations, but the fact that he shot 83.3% from the free-throw line suggests he’s capable of being an above-average shooter in time.”
It’s all about potential now, and that’s what scouts love about him.
An elite student, Wagner’s been finishing up classes and concentrating on his studies. We expect an announcement in the near future.
****
On the football side, we’ve got plenty of question marks (as most do) for the 2021 season after a spring in which head coach Jim Harbaugh only came out of the submarine once, and that was at the beginning of practices. He’s been quiet, and while the assistant coaches met the media, there hasn’t been a ton of good news to report.
We do believe there are some guys who could make a move, however — players we didn’t include on the two-deep recently.
DEFENSE: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...tball-detailed-spring-depth-chart-the-defense
OFFENSE: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...tball-detailed-spring-depth-chart-the-offense
One — redshirt freshman offensive guard Nolan Rumler — had a great spring game, according to Jon Jansen, and was “looking for d-linemen’s ribs when he didn’t have anyone to block.”
Now, we love a lineman with a mean streak as much as anyone. That’s never been an issue with Rumler, though — it’s about the playbook and consistency. Pancaking a guy is great as long as it’s not the highlight among four plays in which you missed your assignment on two of them. In that case you’re former guard Kyle Kalis, who never seemed to live up to his lofty potential (and, frankly, wasn’t very well coached in the majority of his time in Ann Arbor).
But there’s hope here. We’ll have more on that in the days to come.
Frosh running back Donovan Edwards is an obvious one, here. He was due for a break and worn down a bit by the end of spring, but one we trust said “it will be tough to hold him off when he really gets comfortable” — he’s going to be a good one, though Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum have played really well — and frosh tight end Matthew Hibner showed some flashes, as well. He could have a role this fall with a nice summer.
