The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including plenty of football, basketball and recruiting information.
Starting with football …
First, just an “out of left field” note …
Two Tennessee sources in the last day have reached out to ask if linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary was looking to leave Michigan, noting there was “smoke” D.C. Tim Banks wanted him to join him in Knoxville. It wouldn’t be all that surprising given how many times Jean-Mary’s name has surfaced this year, including an interview with new NFL Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer.
Remember, another report surfaced a few months back that Florida linebackers coach Christian Robinson had an offer to join the Michigan staff. We’re still waiting for more information here, but this one’s been a soap opera the last several weeks.
EDITED: Confirmed - Jean-Mary will be the next linebackers coach at Tennessee. Mike Macdonald will likely help coach linebackers, but it remains to be seen who they bring in as coach. Maybe they make another run at Robinson.
Meanwhile, the Joe Milton transfer news shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone on the board. We’re glad he got his degree, and he’ll have three years to play somewhere else.
But as noted several times, Milton essentially checked out after Cade McNamara took his job and replaced him in the Rutgers comeback in which McNamara was outstanding. McNamara had a few good series against Wisconsin the week before and was given an opportunity the week before the Rutgers game, in fact, to show he had it in him to start.
He had a really bad week of practice, but he shined in the game replacing Milton. Go figure.
Milton did earn the job and had played well in practice, much better than the two other quarterbacks (and McNamara was at least as good as Dylan McCaffrey, to be clear). But you can’t predict how it will translate in games, and how players will respond to adversity.
Milton’s initial response, as many have reported — and yes, it’s true — was to handle it poorly. He essentially checked out after that one, to the point that many wondered what took him so long to enter the transfer portal. He wanted to graduate, it appears. And yes, some close to him were upset he played through a thumb injury, one for which he had offseason surgery.
Bottom line — he was given a shot, it didn’t work out and he apparently wanted no part of competing for the job again. Now it’s Cade McNamara and frosh J.J. McCarthy who will battle it out, and while both are talented, we’re in full “believe it when we see it” mode when it comes to predicting how they’ll do in the fall, no matter how well they might play in practice.
We will say that one MAC coach with Michigan ties believes McCarthy was one of the two best prep quarterbacks in the country last year, so that’s encouraging.
Speaking of McCarthy, he’s continued to be an outstanding recruiter and leader in getting other recruits to join him in Ann Arbor.
“Michigan always does well here in Chicago, goes after a handful of top kids,” Rivals analyst Tim O’Halloran noted. “I know they’re already in well with (2022) Tyler Morris (LaGrange Park (Ill. Nazareth Academy receiver, No. 74 junior nationally) and Kaleb Brown (Chicago St. Rita, No. 67, Receiver).
“At least from an Illinois perspective, J.J. is kind of a pied piper, that kind of personality. Kids are going to follow him. It’s like that, and it’s going to benefit Michigan down the road. I know he’s already close with Tyler, but he’s the kind of guy every gets along with and has that personality they definitely get along with.”
More football recruiting …
The dust has finally settled on Michigan’s 2021 recruiting class, with all its prospects having signed and the early enrollees having made it to campus. There has been talk of a bit of a shift in recruiting philosophy for Jim Harbaugh over the past year or two, with more of a focus on bringing in prospects who want to be at U-M and who aren’t simply viewing it as a quick stepping stone to the NFL.
That sentiment was put on full display over the last several weeks while speaking with the recruits themselves, their head coaches, trainers, and recruiting analysts who are close to the players the Wolverines signed.
We found the chip on the shoulder mentality — one that has been lacking all too often on the team in recent seasons — was especially evident with some of the local prospects U-M signed … ones who want to see Michigan great again.
Sterling Heights (Mich.) Stevenson four-star offensive tackle Giovanni El-Hadi fits the bill. His high school head coach, Justin Newcomb, revealed it was a fairly easy choice for El-Hadi to sign with Michigan, because he wanted to be somewhat of a “hometown hero.”
“He’s a tough and scrappy player, and is one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached,” Newcomb said. “Giovanni gives 100 percent effort on both sides of the football on every play. The recent two-week shutdown was especially hard on him, because they finally had some momentum going and then the pause obviously put a halt on things.
“Giovanni called me during it and said he cannot wait to get going again. I laughed a little bit and just preached patience to him, because he’ll have four years there.”
East Lansing (Mich.) High three-star wideout Andrel Anthony was in a similar situation, his personal trainer told us. Nate Schafer, who has been training Anthony since he was in seventh grade, said Anthony arrived at Michigan as an early enrollee, but was then sent home again after the shutdown.
Schafer said Anthony immediately began training with him again upon returning home, however, a luxury not all the signees had. The Lansing area trainer explained Anthony has always had incredibly high goals for himself, with the young wideout saying how he would someday play in the NFL or NBA when he was in seventh grade already.
With that in mind, Schafer also noted Anthony has learned how to be patient and take each progression one step at a time.
“Andrel’s No. 1 goal is to do well with where he’s at right now — and that’s obviously Michigan,” Schafer said.
Clayton (Ohio) Northmont three-star safety Rod Moore and Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas three-star cornerback Ja’Den McBurrows, meanwhile, are not early enrollees at U-M, but have nevertheless taken an interesting approach to get their own training in while their future teammates are going through spring practices.
“I’m actually heading down to Florida so Ja’Den and I can get our work in on the beach this spring,” Moore revealed. “After that, it’ll be go time once I get to Ann Arbor. I’m so excited to get to know my fellow classmates who are coming in with me.
“I also want to prove to the defensive coaches I can ball, because they’re new to the staff just like the players coming in. I haven’t been able to play since November so I can’t wait to get back out on that field.”
Moore got to play a senior season at Northmont High School, but unfortunately saw the campaign come to an end when the club was forced to forfeit its final postseason game. One of several Wolverine signees whose senior season was canceled altogether though was Suffield (Conn.) Academy four-star defensive end KeChaun Bennett.
His head coach, Drew Gamere, told us Bennett wasn’t necessarily most bummed simply by the fact the season was canceled, but instead the leadership role he was set to take on for those around him.
“There was a class ahead of KeChaun during his junior year who went 9-0 and had a lot of guys help mentor him,” Gamere recalled. “He was really looking forward to now being that leader this past year to all his teammates as a senior, but unfortunately never got that opportunity.”
Finally, the last word on Rayshaun Benny …
As you have probably seen, we got the chance to conduct an exclusive interview with new four-star Michigan defensive tackle signee Rayshaun Benny after he inked with the Maize and Blue. You can find our story on him from earlier this week right here
michigan.rivals.com
Here’s a postscript on the late stages of his recruitment …
Michigan State fans were coming at our EJ Holland for continuing to share the latest on Michigan’s push for Benny throughout the winter. “There’s nothing there,” they said.
They were wrong.
Benny revealed to us that he had his mind made up on flipping to Michigan “sometime in January,” and that he kept things close to the vest until just days before signing day. The credit for closing with Benny falls on the shoulders of defensive line coach Shaun Nua, co-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore and head coach Jim Harbaugh. They did a great job the whole way and down the stretch.
So where did Ron Bellamy come into play?
Bellamy, Michigan’s new wide receivers coach and the former head coach at West Bloomfield (Mich.) High, joining U-M’s staff didn’t hurt one bit and actually helped keep Benny in the fold once he had made his decision but before he actually signrd.
If this doesn’t tell you what kind of connector and mentor Bellamy is, we don’t know what will: He had been periodically checking in on Benny for months — before the U-M job was ever an option — knowing he was struggling a bit through the process and with his injury.
“Coach Bellamy, he was hitting me up before that, just to like help me with the process or just get my opinion on it, since he knows I was kind of down at the beginning of the season since I wasn’t able to play,” Benny said. “He was just there to help me along with that. I appreciated that.”
The two already have a bond, and Benny is glad Bellamy is back in Ann Arbor.
As we mentioned, Benny dealt with a partially torn meniscus that held him out of Oak Park’s first five games. We talked to him a couple times while he was out, and it was evident how frustrated he was to not be on the field. His squad lost all five outings.
He just about called his shot, telling us he was going to return late in the year in hopes to make a state title run (every team made the playoffs this year in Michigan). Sure enough, he came back and led his winless team to four-straight playoff victories and a state semifinals appearance.
Why we think this kid can be special with this mentality: He didn’t come back for himself — he was a lock to end up at essentially whatever school he wanted — he did it so his teammates could get more college looks.
“The whole point of me coming back was not to just play a couple games, I wanted to go all the way,” Benny said. “I wanted to go far enough to where we could get some guys some looks. I wanted to make sure my teammates were able to play as much as they could — you never know.”
He’s doing the same thing now, filming Oak Park basketball games to help his classmates get exposure and attention from colleges.
One of the reasons why Benny chose Michigan is because the 2021 class and guys on the team he knows remind him of his high school teammates. He’s going to be a leader for Michigan right away and is all about ‘The Team.’
“He really is a player that other players gravitate to, that they look up to,” Rivals.com Midewst recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt said. “I think he’s going to be an excellent addition to Michigan’s locker room, let alone their defensive line room.
“He’s just that kind of a guy. When you speak to him, you can tell he thinks on a deeper level than most 18-year-old kids. He’s a guy other kids want to be around and other kids follow, so I think his impact was not just what he did on the field, but what he meant to the team and being back on the field, what that meant to his team.”
****
Finishing with hoops …
Michigan is moving up for a number of 2022 prospects, one in particular. As reported the other day, Gregg Glenn III, a friend of 2022 standout (and, we predict with confidence, future Wolverine) Jett Howard, is very intrigued at the thought of playing for Juwan Howard. He considers him family, one of the reasons this one is trending toward U-M.
The 6-7, 210-pounder, Rivals.com’s No. 52 nationally out of Pompano Beach (Fla.) Calvary Christian, is a worker, one NBA scout told us recently.
“Gregg is a super-versatile, across-the-board defender that has length and a motor,” he said. “His ball skills and jumper are a work in progress, but he’s more of a utility knife that every team needs to win.”
Michigan remains in the hunt with 2021 big man Charles Bediako, a four-star center, but the interest is really dependent on frosh center Hunter Dickinson’s next move. What we’ve heard for weeks now is that Dickinson isn’t going anywhere after this season; that he loves it on campus and is enjoying his experience and learning from Juwan Howard.
Will he explore his options? Of course … as he should. But unlike Ignas Brazdeikis, whose family was really intent on him making money right away, Dickinson is of a different mindset.
We also continue to hear point guard Mike Smith is seriously considering a return for one more season at U-M to continue his education. That would be huge given that the Wolverines will lose Isaiah Livers and probably Franz Wagner to the pros, leaving a void of senior upperclassman leadership.
Watch for more on these developments in the weeks to come. There’s a season to finish, first, and that’s where all their attention is focused at the present time.
Starting with football …
First, just an “out of left field” note …
Two Tennessee sources in the last day have reached out to ask if linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary was looking to leave Michigan, noting there was “smoke” D.C. Tim Banks wanted him to join him in Knoxville. It wouldn’t be all that surprising given how many times Jean-Mary’s name has surfaced this year, including an interview with new NFL Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer.
Remember, another report surfaced a few months back that Florida linebackers coach Christian Robinson had an offer to join the Michigan staff. We’re still waiting for more information here, but this one’s been a soap opera the last several weeks.
EDITED: Confirmed - Jean-Mary will be the next linebackers coach at Tennessee. Mike Macdonald will likely help coach linebackers, but it remains to be seen who they bring in as coach. Maybe they make another run at Robinson.
Meanwhile, the Joe Milton transfer news shouldn’t have been surprising to anyone on the board. We’re glad he got his degree, and he’ll have three years to play somewhere else.
But as noted several times, Milton essentially checked out after Cade McNamara took his job and replaced him in the Rutgers comeback in which McNamara was outstanding. McNamara had a few good series against Wisconsin the week before and was given an opportunity the week before the Rutgers game, in fact, to show he had it in him to start.
He had a really bad week of practice, but he shined in the game replacing Milton. Go figure.
Milton did earn the job and had played well in practice, much better than the two other quarterbacks (and McNamara was at least as good as Dylan McCaffrey, to be clear). But you can’t predict how it will translate in games, and how players will respond to adversity.
Milton’s initial response, as many have reported — and yes, it’s true — was to handle it poorly. He essentially checked out after that one, to the point that many wondered what took him so long to enter the transfer portal. He wanted to graduate, it appears. And yes, some close to him were upset he played through a thumb injury, one for which he had offseason surgery.
Bottom line — he was given a shot, it didn’t work out and he apparently wanted no part of competing for the job again. Now it’s Cade McNamara and frosh J.J. McCarthy who will battle it out, and while both are talented, we’re in full “believe it when we see it” mode when it comes to predicting how they’ll do in the fall, no matter how well they might play in practice.
We will say that one MAC coach with Michigan ties believes McCarthy was one of the two best prep quarterbacks in the country last year, so that’s encouraging.
Speaking of McCarthy, he’s continued to be an outstanding recruiter and leader in getting other recruits to join him in Ann Arbor.
“Michigan always does well here in Chicago, goes after a handful of top kids,” Rivals analyst Tim O’Halloran noted. “I know they’re already in well with (2022) Tyler Morris (LaGrange Park (Ill. Nazareth Academy receiver, No. 74 junior nationally) and Kaleb Brown (Chicago St. Rita, No. 67, Receiver).
“At least from an Illinois perspective, J.J. is kind of a pied piper, that kind of personality. Kids are going to follow him. It’s like that, and it’s going to benefit Michigan down the road. I know he’s already close with Tyler, but he’s the kind of guy every gets along with and has that personality they definitely get along with.”
More football recruiting …
The dust has finally settled on Michigan’s 2021 recruiting class, with all its prospects having signed and the early enrollees having made it to campus. There has been talk of a bit of a shift in recruiting philosophy for Jim Harbaugh over the past year or two, with more of a focus on bringing in prospects who want to be at U-M and who aren’t simply viewing it as a quick stepping stone to the NFL.
That sentiment was put on full display over the last several weeks while speaking with the recruits themselves, their head coaches, trainers, and recruiting analysts who are close to the players the Wolverines signed.
We found the chip on the shoulder mentality — one that has been lacking all too often on the team in recent seasons — was especially evident with some of the local prospects U-M signed … ones who want to see Michigan great again.
Sterling Heights (Mich.) Stevenson four-star offensive tackle Giovanni El-Hadi fits the bill. His high school head coach, Justin Newcomb, revealed it was a fairly easy choice for El-Hadi to sign with Michigan, because he wanted to be somewhat of a “hometown hero.”
“He’s a tough and scrappy player, and is one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached,” Newcomb said. “Giovanni gives 100 percent effort on both sides of the football on every play. The recent two-week shutdown was especially hard on him, because they finally had some momentum going and then the pause obviously put a halt on things.
“Giovanni called me during it and said he cannot wait to get going again. I laughed a little bit and just preached patience to him, because he’ll have four years there.”
East Lansing (Mich.) High three-star wideout Andrel Anthony was in a similar situation, his personal trainer told us. Nate Schafer, who has been training Anthony since he was in seventh grade, said Anthony arrived at Michigan as an early enrollee, but was then sent home again after the shutdown.
Schafer said Anthony immediately began training with him again upon returning home, however, a luxury not all the signees had. The Lansing area trainer explained Anthony has always had incredibly high goals for himself, with the young wideout saying how he would someday play in the NFL or NBA when he was in seventh grade already.
With that in mind, Schafer also noted Anthony has learned how to be patient and take each progression one step at a time.
“Andrel’s No. 1 goal is to do well with where he’s at right now — and that’s obviously Michigan,” Schafer said.
Clayton (Ohio) Northmont three-star safety Rod Moore and Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas three-star cornerback Ja’Den McBurrows, meanwhile, are not early enrollees at U-M, but have nevertheless taken an interesting approach to get their own training in while their future teammates are going through spring practices.
“I’m actually heading down to Florida so Ja’Den and I can get our work in on the beach this spring,” Moore revealed. “After that, it’ll be go time once I get to Ann Arbor. I’m so excited to get to know my fellow classmates who are coming in with me.
“I also want to prove to the defensive coaches I can ball, because they’re new to the staff just like the players coming in. I haven’t been able to play since November so I can’t wait to get back out on that field.”
Moore got to play a senior season at Northmont High School, but unfortunately saw the campaign come to an end when the club was forced to forfeit its final postseason game. One of several Wolverine signees whose senior season was canceled altogether though was Suffield (Conn.) Academy four-star defensive end KeChaun Bennett.
His head coach, Drew Gamere, told us Bennett wasn’t necessarily most bummed simply by the fact the season was canceled, but instead the leadership role he was set to take on for those around him.
“There was a class ahead of KeChaun during his junior year who went 9-0 and had a lot of guys help mentor him,” Gamere recalled. “He was really looking forward to now being that leader this past year to all his teammates as a senior, but unfortunately never got that opportunity.”
Finally, the last word on Rayshaun Benny …
As you have probably seen, we got the chance to conduct an exclusive interview with new four-star Michigan defensive tackle signee Rayshaun Benny after he inked with the Maize and Blue. You can find our story on him from earlier this week right here
Maize&BlueReview - Inside Rayshaun Benny's Flip To Michigan: 'It Feels Like Home'
Rayshaun Benny takes you through his decision to flip to Michigan.
michigan.rivals.com
Here’s a postscript on the late stages of his recruitment …
Michigan State fans were coming at our EJ Holland for continuing to share the latest on Michigan’s push for Benny throughout the winter. “There’s nothing there,” they said.
They were wrong.
Benny revealed to us that he had his mind made up on flipping to Michigan “sometime in January,” and that he kept things close to the vest until just days before signing day. The credit for closing with Benny falls on the shoulders of defensive line coach Shaun Nua, co-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore and head coach Jim Harbaugh. They did a great job the whole way and down the stretch.
So where did Ron Bellamy come into play?
Bellamy, Michigan’s new wide receivers coach and the former head coach at West Bloomfield (Mich.) High, joining U-M’s staff didn’t hurt one bit and actually helped keep Benny in the fold once he had made his decision but before he actually signrd.
If this doesn’t tell you what kind of connector and mentor Bellamy is, we don’t know what will: He had been periodically checking in on Benny for months — before the U-M job was ever an option — knowing he was struggling a bit through the process and with his injury.
“Coach Bellamy, he was hitting me up before that, just to like help me with the process or just get my opinion on it, since he knows I was kind of down at the beginning of the season since I wasn’t able to play,” Benny said. “He was just there to help me along with that. I appreciated that.”
The two already have a bond, and Benny is glad Bellamy is back in Ann Arbor.
As we mentioned, Benny dealt with a partially torn meniscus that held him out of Oak Park’s first five games. We talked to him a couple times while he was out, and it was evident how frustrated he was to not be on the field. His squad lost all five outings.
He just about called his shot, telling us he was going to return late in the year in hopes to make a state title run (every team made the playoffs this year in Michigan). Sure enough, he came back and led his winless team to four-straight playoff victories and a state semifinals appearance.
Why we think this kid can be special with this mentality: He didn’t come back for himself — he was a lock to end up at essentially whatever school he wanted — he did it so his teammates could get more college looks.
“The whole point of me coming back was not to just play a couple games, I wanted to go all the way,” Benny said. “I wanted to go far enough to where we could get some guys some looks. I wanted to make sure my teammates were able to play as much as they could — you never know.”
He’s doing the same thing now, filming Oak Park basketball games to help his classmates get exposure and attention from colleges.
One of the reasons why Benny chose Michigan is because the 2021 class and guys on the team he knows remind him of his high school teammates. He’s going to be a leader for Michigan right away and is all about ‘The Team.’
“He really is a player that other players gravitate to, that they look up to,” Rivals.com Midewst recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt said. “I think he’s going to be an excellent addition to Michigan’s locker room, let alone their defensive line room.
“He’s just that kind of a guy. When you speak to him, you can tell he thinks on a deeper level than most 18-year-old kids. He’s a guy other kids want to be around and other kids follow, so I think his impact was not just what he did on the field, but what he meant to the team and being back on the field, what that meant to his team.”
****
Finishing with hoops …
Michigan is moving up for a number of 2022 prospects, one in particular. As reported the other day, Gregg Glenn III, a friend of 2022 standout (and, we predict with confidence, future Wolverine) Jett Howard, is very intrigued at the thought of playing for Juwan Howard. He considers him family, one of the reasons this one is trending toward U-M.
The 6-7, 210-pounder, Rivals.com’s No. 52 nationally out of Pompano Beach (Fla.) Calvary Christian, is a worker, one NBA scout told us recently.
“Gregg is a super-versatile, across-the-board defender that has length and a motor,” he said. “His ball skills and jumper are a work in progress, but he’s more of a utility knife that every team needs to win.”
Michigan remains in the hunt with 2021 big man Charles Bediako, a four-star center, but the interest is really dependent on frosh center Hunter Dickinson’s next move. What we’ve heard for weeks now is that Dickinson isn’t going anywhere after this season; that he loves it on campus and is enjoying his experience and learning from Juwan Howard.
Will he explore his options? Of course … as he should. But unlike Ignas Brazdeikis, whose family was really intent on him making money right away, Dickinson is of a different mindset.
We also continue to hear point guard Mike Smith is seriously considering a return for one more season at U-M to continue his education. That would be huge given that the Wolverines will lose Isaiah Livers and probably Franz Wagner to the pros, leaving a void of senior upperclassman leadership.
Watch for more on these developments in the weeks to come. There’s a season to finish, first, and that’s where all their attention is focused at the present time.
Last edited:
