The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including plenty of football, basketball and recruiting news.
Starting with football …
The season obviously didn’t end as hoped, and the Peach Bowl went as some feared it might. Four guys chose not to play, of course, but some in Ann Arbor who interacted with the players said there were several who weren’t overly thrilled about a trip to Atlanta … and it certainly seemed like it on the field.
Some have compared it to Georgia’s situation in the Sugar Bowl. For schools like that who are close to their goals of reaching the very top, anything else is like playing in a consolation game.
Folks with a vested interest in the program, meanwhile, have been calling for the Michigan offense to evolve, and while many point to the passing game coordinator, etc., they’re also aware the buck stops at the top and insist head coach Jim Harbaugh needs to follow Nick Saban’s lead at Alabama.
What’s that entail, exactly? Not fully abandoning the run, of course. And nothing cliché like “using the pass to set up the run,” etc., a popular message boardism.
You can set the tone and run, they note, but coaches must also be willing to adapt and implement new things.
“Nick Saban’s the best coach to do it and has won multiple national titles over the last handful of years. He had the best team in the country year in and year out, so what did he do? He adapted and changed his offense,” our source noted. “You’re seeing more spread concepts and a lot more of the zone read stuff, especially before Tua took over.
“If you’re the best at what you do in any arena, why would you change? Because you want to continue being the best. I think more of that needs to happen at Michigan. Harbaugh is doing a really good job, but he could be doing better, and hopefully he’ll realize that.”
They strongly believe Harbaugh is the one designing the scheme and running the offensive show on game day. Would he be willing to relinquish control and let someone else take the keys? Time will tell, but we expect there will be some new blood on the staff this spring.
We also continue to hear that Michigan’s coaches remain in demand. Alabama and Ed Warinner rumors have continued to pick up, and while U-M is working on a new contract for him, we all know ‘Bama has a pile of money to spend on whoever it wants.
We believe that’s one to watch, and we also believe the Al Washington to Ohio State “rumors” have legs. There are some who believe it’s going to happen, and they’re well connected. Others think he’ll stay at U-M.
As mentioned, Harbaugh has been talking to a number of people, as he always does in the offseason, including some familiar faces he’s worked with in the past. If Warinner were to leave (which we don’t expect), for example, we think he’d fill his spot quickly.
We haven’t heard anything on D.C. Don Brown and Temple, meanwhile, other than they want to wrap their search up quickly (as in maybe this weekend) and he’s still a candidate.
****
To football recruiting now …
Starting with the signees … in case you hadn’t heard, four-star running back Zach Charbonnet did not participate this week at UA Game due to an undisclosed injury.
As for the others, Michigan has been making a statement on the field, and off. We alluded to this, for those of you who haven’t seen it… The Michigan guys are just different character wise, according to our guy on scene, Adam Ghabour. They’re not too soft or too nice … just good dudes and very hungry players, and it’s showed on the field this week.
It was 80 degrees and sunny this week at practice, but that hasn’t stopped northerners like Mazi Smith and Nolan Rumler showing out. Rumler did have a good overall week despite a reported slow start, and Smith completely dominated. Smith is doing all of this at 320 pounds and he said he isn’t in his greatest shape. He’d like to play at 305 at Michigan.
As for Trente Jones, national recruiting director Mike Farrell and southeast analyst Chad Simmons commented a lot this week and they couldn’t stop raving about his performance. We’d be shocked, given how he’s played and been reviewed, if Jones doesn’t make a massive jump in the rankings, quite possibly into the Rivals100. Jones said that he and Warinner already have a plan in place for him to play right tackle at Michigan.
Quinten Johnson’s reps have been limited due to a bit of a right foot injury, he reported. It’s definitely not serious and not really noticeable, and he still looked very fast and was locking down receivers. He had his best day on day three and had a big thick build with good speed.
Last thing about the signees … they’re definitely bonding down here. Linebacker Anthony Solomon has made a real effort to get to know the guys, and they’re enjoying each others presence. Johnson said he’s noticed some of the other guys dominating, and he’s really happy to see it.
On to recruiting, a couple notes on 2020 prospects.
On the rumors swirling that Michigan linebackers coach Al Washington could be on his way to Ohio State … this would leave a big dent in Michigan’s ability to recruit the state of Ohio, since Washington was a big part of that for them.
Dublin (Ohio) Coffman athlete Mike Drennen is among them. Drennen said that Washington's message to him is to just “be different” and not be afraid to leave the state. That message obviously takes a hit if Washington is no longer there. Right now U-M is looking good for Drennen, but we’ll see if a potential coaching change has a large effect on his recruitment. He does like running backs coach Jay Harbaugh, and that relationship is working for Michigan too.
He also plans to be in Ann Arbor in “early January for a basketball game” accompanied by Andre Seldon, a Michigan commit. The two of them seem to have had this in the plans for at least a little while now.
As for Virginia athlete Chris Tyree, Michigan is still recruiting him but it doesn’t seem like he’s at the top of the board at this point. He said contact is about once every two weeks from coach Jay Harbaugh, and while that’s not nothing, that’s usually not indicative of a top of the board target, where he once looked like he may have been. On top of that, he didn’t mention Michigan with about five other schools that are doing the best job with him.
Part of this is because Michigan is recruiting a lot of guys in 2020 that have similar skill sets, so the board has to take shape one way or another. Ohio ATH JuTahn McClain, Drennen, Missouri ATH Mookie Cooper, California ATH Daniyel Ngata as well as Tyree are all being looked at as players who can run from the backfield and split out and catch passes in the slot.
Speaking of Cooper, he knows a good bit about Michigan at this point with having teammates like Marcus Washington in high school. Washington, a Texas signee, once seemed poised to go to Michigan but for one reason or another that fell through. But Cooper has heard good things about the school from Washington, has visited himself and U-M also won over his mother thus far. He’s definitely a name to keep an eye on.
The last couple notable recruiting notes from the Future 50 event are pertaining to wide receivers.
Five-Star Julian Fleming is as well spoken and respectful a kid as there is, and while many see the Pennsylvania product as a heavy Penn State lean, he has a top 10 and will visit schools. His sentiment of “definitely” visiting Michigan seems legit, and it seems Michigan’s recruiting of him is just starting to pick up with new wide receivers coach Ben McDaniels leading the way.
Fleming could become a player to keep an eye on, and at a very legit 6-3, 210 pounds he’s exactly what U-M is looking for at the position.
Michael Redding, a 6-2, 190 pound receiver from IMG is another guy with legit interest. We’re not saying Michigan leads, and he’ll have to visit before anything could happen, but he’s solid with Michigan signee DJ Turner and he’ll liley make it up to campus at some point. He’s born and raised in Florida, but he knows a ton about Michigan, which says he’s been paying attention. He even noted that he knows that Michigan signed five wide receivers in 2019, and he said that shows him that guys are liking what they see when they go up there.
As for five-star Justin Rogers, a lot has been made of his recruitment, but we don’t think anyone out there really knows what he’s feeling, including him. He’s got a good amount of legit interest out there, and Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan and maybe a few others are all in the race.
The not so good news is that he’s very opinionated, very set on playing early, and 100 percent set on playing… right tackle in college. At least that’s what he’s saying. He even clarified it and doubled down by saying he will NOT play guard in college.
The good news … he’s going to be back at Michigan soon, he says. He just recently visited for a basketball game a couple of weeks ago and coming back again soon is a good sign for U-M.
Future 50 update: Rogers actually competed at defensive tackle today and looked good. Could a school like Michigan, especially with the need at the position, convince him to play there? He’s a good prospect at 6-4, 300-plus and athletic. We’ll see.
One last note on Washington … not only would him leaving Michigan, if he does, affect Drennen’s recruitment, it’s a hit in Ohio in general. A notable player that it could affect would be Princeton (Ohio) High LB/DE Jaheim Thomas. Thomas has a long 6-4 frame and is being recruited to play in the same role as current Michigan LB Josh Uche. Michigan is in a good spot for Thomas as things stand, but in the event that Washington leave, that could change.
On five-star 2020 offensive lineman Myles Hinton …
Our Brandon Brown caught up with Chris Hinton Sr to discuss his recruitment.
Michigan’s second highest ranked signee in the 2019 class is Norcross (Ga.) Greater Atlanta Christian four-star strongside defensive end Christopher Hinton. Now that he’s officially a Wolverine, U-M fans are hopeful that Christopher’s “little” brother, five-star offensive tackle Myles Hinton who goes 6-6, 310 pounds, will follow big bro to Ann Arbor.
There’s a very good chance that it could happen, but the boys’ father, Chris Hinton Sr., isn’t really sure what his youngest son will do. Chris Jr. also isn’t sure because the brothers are just that to each other — brothers. They don’t sit around and discuss recruiting plans very often.
“They really don’t talk about it a lot,” Chris Sr. said. “We’re approaching it with Myles the same way we did with Christopher. There’s a handful of schools that we feel comfortable with him going to and he’s vetting them. It’s the same process.”
Sometimes younger siblings want to link up with their older siblings at the next level if possible. Other times they’d rather step out from the shadow. Hinton Sr. doesn’t think either scenario applies to Myles, but also doesn’t really know as much this time around because the brothers’ personalities are quite different.
“I actually don’t think it’s either of the above,” Chris Sr. said. “Myles is just his own dude. It’s funny because he’s very different from Christopher with his recruitment. Christopher always showed his hand with us. We always knew what he was thinking. If he was wavering even a little bit he’d tell us and we knew. With Myles, I have no idea. I’ll ask, ‘What do you think Myles?’ and he’ll say, ‘Eh, I don’t know.’
He just says that when it hits him, he’ll know and he’ll definitely know when it’s the right decision.”
Both Hintons are the kinds of players that everyone wants but only one school will get. With Christopher, it was Michigan. With Myles, it looks like it’ll be either Michigan or Stanford but right now, he’s not letting anyone, including his parents, know much about what he’s thinking.
More recruiting …
Michigan’s 41-15 Peach Bowl loss to Florida obviously wasn’t good for recruiting, but how significant its impact was in the eyes of high school prospects is up for debate.
Class of 2020 Detroit Martin Luther King four-star wide receiver Rashawn Williams — who is rated No. 35 nationally and No. 2 in the state — appears to be a top target by both Michigan and Ohio State in the early going, and he recently gave his take on U-M’s bowl game performance, and whether or not it was a turn-off for him.
“I didn’t think anything really went wrong for them in that game — they just didn’t make that many plays,” he explained. “I didn’t have any bad thoughts or anything like that about the game. Michigan definitely could have played a lot better, but they were also missing a lot of their key guys, so I wasn’t surprised with the way they looked. I knew they’d have at least some fall off, but I didn’t think there’d be that much of one. Those guys who sat out based their decisions on their futures and not just a college game, so I can’t really base my opinion on what they did.”
The argument has arisen that sophomore wideouts Nico Collins and Donovan Peoples-Jones were both underused in Michigan’s final two games this year, and Williams was asked if that was concerning to him.
“It is,” he admitted. “At the same time, though, it’s not in a way, because I’m just going to go to a school where I feel comfortable with both my future and the days after my football career. It’ll be about getting a job after football, so that’s the main thing I’m going to base my final decision around.
“I don’t have a timeline in mind though. My next step is to take some visits, and I should know where they’ll be by the end of January. Michigan will probably get one.”
Williams admitted there hasn’t been much change in his recruitment as of late, but did single out three schools he’s keeping a close eye on at the moment.
“I don’t have a top group or anything like that yet, but the schools I’m very interested in right now are Syracuse, Michigan and Washington State,” he revealed. I still communicate with Ohio State a lot too, and they’re one of the schools who talks to me about potentially playing as a freshman. Michigan mentions that to me too.”
U-M receivers coach Jim McElwain left U-M for Central Michigan in December after a one-year stint in Ann Arbor, and Jim Harbaugh revealed that Ben McDaniels would become the permanent position coach prior to the bowl game.
“I’ve talked to him a couple times,” Williams said when asked about McDaniels. “I spoke with him before the bowl week, and he actually just texted me the other day. I actually speak with both he and Coach Roy Roundtree. They’re both cool guys — we talk about a little bit of everything, even though I haven’t met them face-to-face yet. I had spoken with Jim McElwain when I was up there on my visit but that was pretty much the only time, so him leaving doesn’t really an impact on me.”
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting …
Starting with power forward Isaiah Livers’ injury …
Head coach John Beilein said today he didn’t think this was going to be a long term deal, and folks close to it today said they expect the sophomore to play against Indiana. Backs are no joke, and spasms can be tricky, but Livers wants to return and is getting the treatment needed.
We believe he’ll play against Indiana Sunday, and he’ll be needed.
On the recruiting trail, five-star Walker Kessler out of Georgia recently picked up a Duke offer, and some are worried about what that means for Michigan.
Not much, according to analysts who have been tracking this one closely.
“I think they are in as good a spot as they could hope to be at this point,” one close to it told us. “He really likes Beilein and likes the igs he’s developed like Moe Wagner. I think distance from home is going to be their biggest challenge, but it can be overcome, in my opinion.
“Vandy and Virginia are also in deep. I don’t think Duke is a dealbreaker offer. They’ll be in the mix, but I don’t think he’s dead set on a blueblood.”
Some believe cold weather could be a factor, but it’s clear Kessler and his family really like U-M. He may or may not reclassify to 2019 and will have his grades in order if he chooses to do it, but it would be better for Michigan if he didn’t.
Starting with football …
The season obviously didn’t end as hoped, and the Peach Bowl went as some feared it might. Four guys chose not to play, of course, but some in Ann Arbor who interacted with the players said there were several who weren’t overly thrilled about a trip to Atlanta … and it certainly seemed like it on the field.
Some have compared it to Georgia’s situation in the Sugar Bowl. For schools like that who are close to their goals of reaching the very top, anything else is like playing in a consolation game.
Folks with a vested interest in the program, meanwhile, have been calling for the Michigan offense to evolve, and while many point to the passing game coordinator, etc., they’re also aware the buck stops at the top and insist head coach Jim Harbaugh needs to follow Nick Saban’s lead at Alabama.
What’s that entail, exactly? Not fully abandoning the run, of course. And nothing cliché like “using the pass to set up the run,” etc., a popular message boardism.
You can set the tone and run, they note, but coaches must also be willing to adapt and implement new things.
“Nick Saban’s the best coach to do it and has won multiple national titles over the last handful of years. He had the best team in the country year in and year out, so what did he do? He adapted and changed his offense,” our source noted. “You’re seeing more spread concepts and a lot more of the zone read stuff, especially before Tua took over.
“If you’re the best at what you do in any arena, why would you change? Because you want to continue being the best. I think more of that needs to happen at Michigan. Harbaugh is doing a really good job, but he could be doing better, and hopefully he’ll realize that.”
They strongly believe Harbaugh is the one designing the scheme and running the offensive show on game day. Would he be willing to relinquish control and let someone else take the keys? Time will tell, but we expect there will be some new blood on the staff this spring.
We also continue to hear that Michigan’s coaches remain in demand. Alabama and Ed Warinner rumors have continued to pick up, and while U-M is working on a new contract for him, we all know ‘Bama has a pile of money to spend on whoever it wants.
We believe that’s one to watch, and we also believe the Al Washington to Ohio State “rumors” have legs. There are some who believe it’s going to happen, and they’re well connected. Others think he’ll stay at U-M.
As mentioned, Harbaugh has been talking to a number of people, as he always does in the offseason, including some familiar faces he’s worked with in the past. If Warinner were to leave (which we don’t expect), for example, we think he’d fill his spot quickly.
We haven’t heard anything on D.C. Don Brown and Temple, meanwhile, other than they want to wrap their search up quickly (as in maybe this weekend) and he’s still a candidate.
****
To football recruiting now …
Starting with the signees … in case you hadn’t heard, four-star running back Zach Charbonnet did not participate this week at UA Game due to an undisclosed injury.
As for the others, Michigan has been making a statement on the field, and off. We alluded to this, for those of you who haven’t seen it… The Michigan guys are just different character wise, according to our guy on scene, Adam Ghabour. They’re not too soft or too nice … just good dudes and very hungry players, and it’s showed on the field this week.
It was 80 degrees and sunny this week at practice, but that hasn’t stopped northerners like Mazi Smith and Nolan Rumler showing out. Rumler did have a good overall week despite a reported slow start, and Smith completely dominated. Smith is doing all of this at 320 pounds and he said he isn’t in his greatest shape. He’d like to play at 305 at Michigan.
As for Trente Jones, national recruiting director Mike Farrell and southeast analyst Chad Simmons commented a lot this week and they couldn’t stop raving about his performance. We’d be shocked, given how he’s played and been reviewed, if Jones doesn’t make a massive jump in the rankings, quite possibly into the Rivals100. Jones said that he and Warinner already have a plan in place for him to play right tackle at Michigan.
Quinten Johnson’s reps have been limited due to a bit of a right foot injury, he reported. It’s definitely not serious and not really noticeable, and he still looked very fast and was locking down receivers. He had his best day on day three and had a big thick build with good speed.
Last thing about the signees … they’re definitely bonding down here. Linebacker Anthony Solomon has made a real effort to get to know the guys, and they’re enjoying each others presence. Johnson said he’s noticed some of the other guys dominating, and he’s really happy to see it.
On to recruiting, a couple notes on 2020 prospects.
On the rumors swirling that Michigan linebackers coach Al Washington could be on his way to Ohio State … this would leave a big dent in Michigan’s ability to recruit the state of Ohio, since Washington was a big part of that for them.
Dublin (Ohio) Coffman athlete Mike Drennen is among them. Drennen said that Washington's message to him is to just “be different” and not be afraid to leave the state. That message obviously takes a hit if Washington is no longer there. Right now U-M is looking good for Drennen, but we’ll see if a potential coaching change has a large effect on his recruitment. He does like running backs coach Jay Harbaugh, and that relationship is working for Michigan too.
He also plans to be in Ann Arbor in “early January for a basketball game” accompanied by Andre Seldon, a Michigan commit. The two of them seem to have had this in the plans for at least a little while now.
As for Virginia athlete Chris Tyree, Michigan is still recruiting him but it doesn’t seem like he’s at the top of the board at this point. He said contact is about once every two weeks from coach Jay Harbaugh, and while that’s not nothing, that’s usually not indicative of a top of the board target, where he once looked like he may have been. On top of that, he didn’t mention Michigan with about five other schools that are doing the best job with him.
Part of this is because Michigan is recruiting a lot of guys in 2020 that have similar skill sets, so the board has to take shape one way or another. Ohio ATH JuTahn McClain, Drennen, Missouri ATH Mookie Cooper, California ATH Daniyel Ngata as well as Tyree are all being looked at as players who can run from the backfield and split out and catch passes in the slot.
Speaking of Cooper, he knows a good bit about Michigan at this point with having teammates like Marcus Washington in high school. Washington, a Texas signee, once seemed poised to go to Michigan but for one reason or another that fell through. But Cooper has heard good things about the school from Washington, has visited himself and U-M also won over his mother thus far. He’s definitely a name to keep an eye on.
The last couple notable recruiting notes from the Future 50 event are pertaining to wide receivers.
Five-Star Julian Fleming is as well spoken and respectful a kid as there is, and while many see the Pennsylvania product as a heavy Penn State lean, he has a top 10 and will visit schools. His sentiment of “definitely” visiting Michigan seems legit, and it seems Michigan’s recruiting of him is just starting to pick up with new wide receivers coach Ben McDaniels leading the way.
Fleming could become a player to keep an eye on, and at a very legit 6-3, 210 pounds he’s exactly what U-M is looking for at the position.
Michael Redding, a 6-2, 190 pound receiver from IMG is another guy with legit interest. We’re not saying Michigan leads, and he’ll have to visit before anything could happen, but he’s solid with Michigan signee DJ Turner and he’ll liley make it up to campus at some point. He’s born and raised in Florida, but he knows a ton about Michigan, which says he’s been paying attention. He even noted that he knows that Michigan signed five wide receivers in 2019, and he said that shows him that guys are liking what they see when they go up there.
As for five-star Justin Rogers, a lot has been made of his recruitment, but we don’t think anyone out there really knows what he’s feeling, including him. He’s got a good amount of legit interest out there, and Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan and maybe a few others are all in the race.
The not so good news is that he’s very opinionated, very set on playing early, and 100 percent set on playing… right tackle in college. At least that’s what he’s saying. He even clarified it and doubled down by saying he will NOT play guard in college.
The good news … he’s going to be back at Michigan soon, he says. He just recently visited for a basketball game a couple of weeks ago and coming back again soon is a good sign for U-M.
Future 50 update: Rogers actually competed at defensive tackle today and looked good. Could a school like Michigan, especially with the need at the position, convince him to play there? He’s a good prospect at 6-4, 300-plus and athletic. We’ll see.
One last note on Washington … not only would him leaving Michigan, if he does, affect Drennen’s recruitment, it’s a hit in Ohio in general. A notable player that it could affect would be Princeton (Ohio) High LB/DE Jaheim Thomas. Thomas has a long 6-4 frame and is being recruited to play in the same role as current Michigan LB Josh Uche. Michigan is in a good spot for Thomas as things stand, but in the event that Washington leave, that could change.
On five-star 2020 offensive lineman Myles Hinton …
Our Brandon Brown caught up with Chris Hinton Sr to discuss his recruitment.
Michigan’s second highest ranked signee in the 2019 class is Norcross (Ga.) Greater Atlanta Christian four-star strongside defensive end Christopher Hinton. Now that he’s officially a Wolverine, U-M fans are hopeful that Christopher’s “little” brother, five-star offensive tackle Myles Hinton who goes 6-6, 310 pounds, will follow big bro to Ann Arbor.
There’s a very good chance that it could happen, but the boys’ father, Chris Hinton Sr., isn’t really sure what his youngest son will do. Chris Jr. also isn’t sure because the brothers are just that to each other — brothers. They don’t sit around and discuss recruiting plans very often.
“They really don’t talk about it a lot,” Chris Sr. said. “We’re approaching it with Myles the same way we did with Christopher. There’s a handful of schools that we feel comfortable with him going to and he’s vetting them. It’s the same process.”
Sometimes younger siblings want to link up with their older siblings at the next level if possible. Other times they’d rather step out from the shadow. Hinton Sr. doesn’t think either scenario applies to Myles, but also doesn’t really know as much this time around because the brothers’ personalities are quite different.
“I actually don’t think it’s either of the above,” Chris Sr. said. “Myles is just his own dude. It’s funny because he’s very different from Christopher with his recruitment. Christopher always showed his hand with us. We always knew what he was thinking. If he was wavering even a little bit he’d tell us and we knew. With Myles, I have no idea. I’ll ask, ‘What do you think Myles?’ and he’ll say, ‘Eh, I don’t know.’
He just says that when it hits him, he’ll know and he’ll definitely know when it’s the right decision.”
Both Hintons are the kinds of players that everyone wants but only one school will get. With Christopher, it was Michigan. With Myles, it looks like it’ll be either Michigan or Stanford but right now, he’s not letting anyone, including his parents, know much about what he’s thinking.
More recruiting …
Michigan’s 41-15 Peach Bowl loss to Florida obviously wasn’t good for recruiting, but how significant its impact was in the eyes of high school prospects is up for debate.
Class of 2020 Detroit Martin Luther King four-star wide receiver Rashawn Williams — who is rated No. 35 nationally and No. 2 in the state — appears to be a top target by both Michigan and Ohio State in the early going, and he recently gave his take on U-M’s bowl game performance, and whether or not it was a turn-off for him.
“I didn’t think anything really went wrong for them in that game — they just didn’t make that many plays,” he explained. “I didn’t have any bad thoughts or anything like that about the game. Michigan definitely could have played a lot better, but they were also missing a lot of their key guys, so I wasn’t surprised with the way they looked. I knew they’d have at least some fall off, but I didn’t think there’d be that much of one. Those guys who sat out based their decisions on their futures and not just a college game, so I can’t really base my opinion on what they did.”
The argument has arisen that sophomore wideouts Nico Collins and Donovan Peoples-Jones were both underused in Michigan’s final two games this year, and Williams was asked if that was concerning to him.
“It is,” he admitted. “At the same time, though, it’s not in a way, because I’m just going to go to a school where I feel comfortable with both my future and the days after my football career. It’ll be about getting a job after football, so that’s the main thing I’m going to base my final decision around.
“I don’t have a timeline in mind though. My next step is to take some visits, and I should know where they’ll be by the end of January. Michigan will probably get one.”
Williams admitted there hasn’t been much change in his recruitment as of late, but did single out three schools he’s keeping a close eye on at the moment.
“I don’t have a top group or anything like that yet, but the schools I’m very interested in right now are Syracuse, Michigan and Washington State,” he revealed. I still communicate with Ohio State a lot too, and they’re one of the schools who talks to me about potentially playing as a freshman. Michigan mentions that to me too.”
U-M receivers coach Jim McElwain left U-M for Central Michigan in December after a one-year stint in Ann Arbor, and Jim Harbaugh revealed that Ben McDaniels would become the permanent position coach prior to the bowl game.
“I’ve talked to him a couple times,” Williams said when asked about McDaniels. “I spoke with him before the bowl week, and he actually just texted me the other day. I actually speak with both he and Coach Roy Roundtree. They’re both cool guys — we talk about a little bit of everything, even though I haven’t met them face-to-face yet. I had spoken with Jim McElwain when I was up there on my visit but that was pretty much the only time, so him leaving doesn’t really an impact on me.”
****
Finishing with basketball and recruiting …
Starting with power forward Isaiah Livers’ injury …
Head coach John Beilein said today he didn’t think this was going to be a long term deal, and folks close to it today said they expect the sophomore to play against Indiana. Backs are no joke, and spasms can be tricky, but Livers wants to return and is getting the treatment needed.
We believe he’ll play against Indiana Sunday, and he’ll be needed.
On the recruiting trail, five-star Walker Kessler out of Georgia recently picked up a Duke offer, and some are worried about what that means for Michigan.
Not much, according to analysts who have been tracking this one closely.
“I think they are in as good a spot as they could hope to be at this point,” one close to it told us. “He really likes Beilein and likes the igs he’s developed like Moe Wagner. I think distance from home is going to be their biggest challenge, but it can be overcome, in my opinion.
“Vandy and Virginia are also in deep. I don’t think Duke is a dealbreaker offer. They’ll be in the mix, but I don’t think he’s dead set on a blueblood.”
Some believe cold weather could be a factor, but it’s clear Kessler and his family really like U-M. He may or may not reclassify to 2019 and will have his grades in order if he chooses to do it, but it would be better for Michigan if he didn’t.
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