The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including plenty of football, basketball and recruiting news.
Starting this week’s edition with football …
Texas Tech transfer quarterback Alan Bowman arrived on campus this week with little fanfare, and that’s the way he wanted it. Bowman refused to do interviews, wanting his play to do the talking for him, but did come in prepared, having been in the playbook.
We’ve heard — not surprisingly — mixed results on what he’s brought to the table in informal workouts.
“He is on campus, and he doesn’t look bad at all,” one source said. “It should be interesting.”
Another said Bowman will be behind Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy, who continues to work on learning the playbook but has all the skills you’re looking for in a high-level quarterback, as our E.J. Holland has said repeatedly. He’s been told he’s going to play this year — how much and in what situations we don’t know — but we strongly believe he’s the future.
At the same time, we’d expect McNamara to start the opener with Western Michigan at this point, noting there are still several weeks to go before the game.
We do like what we’ve heard about the new coaching additions. Defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale was a no-brainer, fellow DBs coach Ron Bellamy told us this summer, and he’s been an outstanding fit.
“Clink was a great hire,” our source above said. “He’s really clicking with the staff, and the players really like him, also.”
The youth movement is bringing out the best in head coach Jim Harbaugh, who realized he needed to hit the reset button and did. No, that’s not ideal in Year 7 (as we hear every day on The Fort), but he seems to be more the “Jim of old” according to folks around him.
We can only hope. Another source said quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss is “really smart,” and that he loves his coaching style. The players really like the new staff’s energy, and Courtney Morgan has been a home run hire as recruiting coordinator. He’s really on top of it and has done an incredible job.
As E.J. reported last week, Morgan is tight with big 2022 offensive lineman Mark Nabou’s people. The Seattle native has become a priority, and he’s very likely to get a rankings boost soon. Michigan and Texas A&M are his two front runners after he de-committed from Washington, and he’s fine to leave the state.
The Nabous told folks we know they would be back twice this fall — for the Washington and Ohio State games — and that they absolutely loved Ann Arbor. We like how this one is trending for the Wolverines.
More football, and a quick update on new Michigan wide receiver transfer commit Daylen Baldwin …
The Southfield, Mich., native is at home with his family right now and will arrive on campus July 9. He just finished up his spring season at Jackson State and led the conference in receiving yards (540), while scoring seven touchdowns and earning the SWAC’s Newcomer of the Year title.
When he originally entered the transfer portal several weeks back, he didn’t expect to blow up as much as he did, earning offers from both Ohio State and Michigan. He told us he thought he would’ve ended up at a MAC school, but he was confident in his abilities and obviously impressed during his private workouts in front of the Buckeyes’ and Wolverines’ staffs.
Baldwin knew Bellamy from growing up in the Detroit area, and it was Bellamy who called him to see if he wanted to work out with the staff. Michigan didn’t have a big pitch for Baldwin, who was growing tired of the transfer recruiting process as it was, other than to offer the opportunity to earn playing time right away as a big receiver on the outside.
The 6-3, 210-pounder clicked with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis right away, liked the family atmosphere within the program and was quickly sold on the idea of playing in Ann Arbor. It made the decision easier after his mother was all in on Michigan following a quick trip there before he committed.
When he straps on the Maize and Blue for his first game Sept. 4, Baldwin said he may get emotional, given the long journey he’s had to get to this point. He admitted it is somewhat of an accomplishment to even play at this level, considering Morgan State (where he began his collegiate career) was his only offer out of high school, but made it abundantly clear that he wants to make a name for himself on the biggest stage in college football.
A former offensive lineman as a youth, he loves run blocking, is detail oriented and prides himself on being an all-around wide receiver. Head coach Jim Harbaugh and Co. can win with that, and once he joins the team, he’ll have the license and ability to carve out a role for himself.
Even more football …
The spring was really good for a lot of the early enrollees, McCarthy included, but a couple in particular. Linebacker Junior Colson is “killing it,” according to people with direct knowledge, and is on the Devin Bush path to being a star in year two. Coupled with the news we’ve shared about Nikhai Hill-Green, the second-year frosh (he’s also a future stud), the inside linebacker position seems to be in good shape going forward.
This year is the question mark. Josh Ross had a really good spring and continues to get in great shape, as we’ve said, and Michael Barrett is the guy who really needs to step up after moving from Viper.
Wide receiver Andrel Anthony continues to impress. He’s the best of the freshmen receivers and is going to play. Donovan Edwards will get some run at running back, and fellow frosh RB Tavierre Dunlap has “surprised.” That room could be pretty good.
****
To basketball and recruiting now …
From “Michigan is the offer I wanted most” to North Carolina commitment … that was point guard Seth Trimble’s last several months. But to be clear, the Rivals.com top 40 standout had every opportunity to pledge to U-M on what was an outstanding visit.
We can promise you that Juwan Howard did not think of Dug McDaniel as a consolation prize. On the contrary, he liked McDaniel most, and he made it clear how much he wanted him. Though some think he’s too small, Howard loves his speed and the way he pushes it in transition. He's also much more pure point guard than Trimble, who is a great athlete but not much of a passer.
As reported, U-M hosted three 2022 point guards on official visits this month. Of course, the third of three — Fairfax (Va.) Paul VI four-star McDaniel — made his pledge last week, becoming the first commitment for Juwan Howard and Co. in the class.
Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy five-star Jaden Bradley is still undecided, but highly unlikely to end up at Michigan now, of course, and Menomonee Falls (Wisc.) four-star Trimble committed to North Carolina, where his older brother (JP Tokoto) played.
Point guard recruiting has been one of the hot topics on The Fort over the last several months — rightfully so, considering how important it is — and many wanted Trimble over McDaniel. But as former Michigan head coach John Beilein has said many times, ‘You can’t worry about the guys you don’t get; you can only worry about the guys you get.’ That philosophy, along with his mentality of building a ‘five-star team’ as opposed to star chasing, has worked for many years, and it looks like Howard is intending on keeping the train rolling in that regard.
We’re here to tell you that you shouldn’t ‘worry’ much about McDaniel, who is still a highly ranked recruit at No. 75 nationally according to Rivals.com. Howard loves his game and his personality, and he appears to be an outstanding fit in all areas.
Despite being a bit undersized at around 5-10 (iso), McDaniel is crafty and athletic, and plays at a high level on both ends of the floor. Howard is looking for two-way players and point guards who can get out and run.
McDaniel fits the bill, and is rounding out his game, too, only improving, Team Takeover coach Doug Martin told us.
“I think [the best part of his game is] his burst in transition, getting all the way to the rim,” Martin said, noting McDaniel is elite at finishing at the bucket. “He has become really, really good at reading the pick and roll and knowing when to take his shot, when to shoot his floater, when to get all the way to the rim. And to me, the better he becomes as a shooter, the more deadly his transition game, him seeing the floor will be.
“I always said with Dug, the defender in front of him has never mattered, because he can break down his guy. It’s that second or third line guy that I felt like, at times, he struggled with because of the lack of size.
“But now with his floater and his creativity around the rim — because he’s sneaky athletic, too — he’s punched a few in transition, he’s punched a few in splitting pick and rolls and getting all the way to the rim. Now, I just think it’s good to see his game has truly evolved from where he was as a sixth, seventh, eighth grader when I first saw him and it was like, he’s just a dynamic passer. Now he’s just a really, really good point guard.”
McDaniel has said he wants to improve his leadership — along with different aspects of his all-around game, such as shooting — so that he can hit the ground running when he gets to Ann Arbor next summer.
He’s relieved to have the recruiting process over with so he can focus on his actual game as a future collegiate player.
“The biggest thing is him feeling comfortable with leading, being verbal with older guys on the floor,” Martin said of McDaniel. “He played with [2021 Duke signee] Trevor Keels, he played with [Duke freshman] Jeremy Roach at PVI, so they took that burden of leading that he didn’t have to do it. And then for a couple years, he played up in our program at Takeover, so he’s always had older guys around him to kind of show him the way.
“I’d like to see him walk on campus and feel like he may not know everything that’s going on, but he can still be a leader. And I think that’s the No. 1 thing for me, off the court, that I would like to see him take with him.
“The other thing is, from an on-the-court standpoint … he’s a really good three-point shooter from the high school line. Now, he has to become a really good shooter from the college three-point line. That’s the on-the-court thing that he has to pay the most attention to improving.”
Throughout the process, McDaniel has been open about the fact that potentially having both Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams on the team at Michigan has been a big factor when it comes to his interest in the Wolverines. After all, they all three hail from the DMV, are friends and products of Team Takeover.
When we first spoke to Martin shortly after Dickinson and Williams committed, he told us he didn’t think they’d be the last two who Howard and Co. would snatch up from the elite Nike EYBL program. Two classes later, it turns out Martin was right on the money.
Howard’s genuine nature resonates with kids from the area — and all over the country, really.
“I feel like this is who Juwan is to his core, just being a genuine, good person, and knowing that his success in basketball lends itself to being able to say, ‘Hey, this is what it is.’ And you having to have complete trust in what he says and what he’s planning to execute to help you get to where you want to get to,” Martin said.
“Or, if you’re not living up to expectations, you respect him enough to say, ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’m not holding up my end of the bargain, and I’m not doing what I’m supposed to do to get the team better or to get myself better.’
“Juwan’s still relatively young in the college game, so he also hasn’t been jaded by having to sell something that he doesn’t have at Michigan. I think a lot of college coaches fall into that, ‘I’ve got to sell more than what I have to offer to get people to come here.’ Juwan doesn’t have to do that, and I hope he never has to do that — I don’t foresee it, but I also hope he never has to do that at Michigan.
“‘I’ve been to the highest of the high,’ [he can say to recruits]. The fortunate part for this for Juwan — and I’ve had this conversation with [Maryland assistant coach] Danny Manning in the past — all the guys that you’re recruiting haven’t been, or never will be, as good as you. So, it’s easier. It’s easier.
“Juwan stayed at Michigan three years, and he probably could’ve left after his sophomore year and still been a top-five pick. It’s easier to say to these guys, ‘Hey man, look. This is what it takes. This is what you need to do.’ And it has teeth.”
That’s the message he’s been giving to all of his players, but he’s also told them he’s behind them when they’re ready to go. He didn’t hesitate when Hunter Dickinson told him he wanted to give the NBA a shot — same with DeVante’ Jones. Both tried, and in speaking with folks close to it this week following interviews, etc., we strongly believe each will be wearing a Michigan uniform next year. They played well, but not "he's going to be drafted" well.
As for the rest of the 2022 class and recruiting — we know Jett Howard will be in, and Donovan Clingan (4-star center) had a great visit. Ohio State could be one to watch there, as well. Chris Holtmann does a great job during visits.
There are still rumblings about four-star Gregg Glenn, too, and a potential summer pledge. We’ll have more on that one in the days to come.
As always, thanks for visiting TheWolverine.com!
Starting this week’s edition with football …
Texas Tech transfer quarterback Alan Bowman arrived on campus this week with little fanfare, and that’s the way he wanted it. Bowman refused to do interviews, wanting his play to do the talking for him, but did come in prepared, having been in the playbook.
We’ve heard — not surprisingly — mixed results on what he’s brought to the table in informal workouts.
“He is on campus, and he doesn’t look bad at all,” one source said. “It should be interesting.”
Another said Bowman will be behind Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy, who continues to work on learning the playbook but has all the skills you’re looking for in a high-level quarterback, as our E.J. Holland has said repeatedly. He’s been told he’s going to play this year — how much and in what situations we don’t know — but we strongly believe he’s the future.
At the same time, we’d expect McNamara to start the opener with Western Michigan at this point, noting there are still several weeks to go before the game.
We do like what we’ve heard about the new coaching additions. Defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale was a no-brainer, fellow DBs coach Ron Bellamy told us this summer, and he’s been an outstanding fit.
“Clink was a great hire,” our source above said. “He’s really clicking with the staff, and the players really like him, also.”
The youth movement is bringing out the best in head coach Jim Harbaugh, who realized he needed to hit the reset button and did. No, that’s not ideal in Year 7 (as we hear every day on The Fort), but he seems to be more the “Jim of old” according to folks around him.
We can only hope. Another source said quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss is “really smart,” and that he loves his coaching style. The players really like the new staff’s energy, and Courtney Morgan has been a home run hire as recruiting coordinator. He’s really on top of it and has done an incredible job.
As E.J. reported last week, Morgan is tight with big 2022 offensive lineman Mark Nabou’s people. The Seattle native has become a priority, and he’s very likely to get a rankings boost soon. Michigan and Texas A&M are his two front runners after he de-committed from Washington, and he’s fine to leave the state.
The Nabous told folks we know they would be back twice this fall — for the Washington and Ohio State games — and that they absolutely loved Ann Arbor. We like how this one is trending for the Wolverines.
More football, and a quick update on new Michigan wide receiver transfer commit Daylen Baldwin …
The Southfield, Mich., native is at home with his family right now and will arrive on campus July 9. He just finished up his spring season at Jackson State and led the conference in receiving yards (540), while scoring seven touchdowns and earning the SWAC’s Newcomer of the Year title.
When he originally entered the transfer portal several weeks back, he didn’t expect to blow up as much as he did, earning offers from both Ohio State and Michigan. He told us he thought he would’ve ended up at a MAC school, but he was confident in his abilities and obviously impressed during his private workouts in front of the Buckeyes’ and Wolverines’ staffs.
Baldwin knew Bellamy from growing up in the Detroit area, and it was Bellamy who called him to see if he wanted to work out with the staff. Michigan didn’t have a big pitch for Baldwin, who was growing tired of the transfer recruiting process as it was, other than to offer the opportunity to earn playing time right away as a big receiver on the outside.
The 6-3, 210-pounder clicked with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis right away, liked the family atmosphere within the program and was quickly sold on the idea of playing in Ann Arbor. It made the decision easier after his mother was all in on Michigan following a quick trip there before he committed.
When he straps on the Maize and Blue for his first game Sept. 4, Baldwin said he may get emotional, given the long journey he’s had to get to this point. He admitted it is somewhat of an accomplishment to even play at this level, considering Morgan State (where he began his collegiate career) was his only offer out of high school, but made it abundantly clear that he wants to make a name for himself on the biggest stage in college football.
A former offensive lineman as a youth, he loves run blocking, is detail oriented and prides himself on being an all-around wide receiver. Head coach Jim Harbaugh and Co. can win with that, and once he joins the team, he’ll have the license and ability to carve out a role for himself.
Even more football …
The spring was really good for a lot of the early enrollees, McCarthy included, but a couple in particular. Linebacker Junior Colson is “killing it,” according to people with direct knowledge, and is on the Devin Bush path to being a star in year two. Coupled with the news we’ve shared about Nikhai Hill-Green, the second-year frosh (he’s also a future stud), the inside linebacker position seems to be in good shape going forward.
This year is the question mark. Josh Ross had a really good spring and continues to get in great shape, as we’ve said, and Michael Barrett is the guy who really needs to step up after moving from Viper.
Wide receiver Andrel Anthony continues to impress. He’s the best of the freshmen receivers and is going to play. Donovan Edwards will get some run at running back, and fellow frosh RB Tavierre Dunlap has “surprised.” That room could be pretty good.
****
To basketball and recruiting now …
From “Michigan is the offer I wanted most” to North Carolina commitment … that was point guard Seth Trimble’s last several months. But to be clear, the Rivals.com top 40 standout had every opportunity to pledge to U-M on what was an outstanding visit.
We can promise you that Juwan Howard did not think of Dug McDaniel as a consolation prize. On the contrary, he liked McDaniel most, and he made it clear how much he wanted him. Though some think he’s too small, Howard loves his speed and the way he pushes it in transition. He's also much more pure point guard than Trimble, who is a great athlete but not much of a passer.
As reported, U-M hosted three 2022 point guards on official visits this month. Of course, the third of three — Fairfax (Va.) Paul VI four-star McDaniel — made his pledge last week, becoming the first commitment for Juwan Howard and Co. in the class.
Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy five-star Jaden Bradley is still undecided, but highly unlikely to end up at Michigan now, of course, and Menomonee Falls (Wisc.) four-star Trimble committed to North Carolina, where his older brother (JP Tokoto) played.
Point guard recruiting has been one of the hot topics on The Fort over the last several months — rightfully so, considering how important it is — and many wanted Trimble over McDaniel. But as former Michigan head coach John Beilein has said many times, ‘You can’t worry about the guys you don’t get; you can only worry about the guys you get.’ That philosophy, along with his mentality of building a ‘five-star team’ as opposed to star chasing, has worked for many years, and it looks like Howard is intending on keeping the train rolling in that regard.
We’re here to tell you that you shouldn’t ‘worry’ much about McDaniel, who is still a highly ranked recruit at No. 75 nationally according to Rivals.com. Howard loves his game and his personality, and he appears to be an outstanding fit in all areas.
Despite being a bit undersized at around 5-10 (iso), McDaniel is crafty and athletic, and plays at a high level on both ends of the floor. Howard is looking for two-way players and point guards who can get out and run.
McDaniel fits the bill, and is rounding out his game, too, only improving, Team Takeover coach Doug Martin told us.
“I think [the best part of his game is] his burst in transition, getting all the way to the rim,” Martin said, noting McDaniel is elite at finishing at the bucket. “He has become really, really good at reading the pick and roll and knowing when to take his shot, when to shoot his floater, when to get all the way to the rim. And to me, the better he becomes as a shooter, the more deadly his transition game, him seeing the floor will be.
“I always said with Dug, the defender in front of him has never mattered, because he can break down his guy. It’s that second or third line guy that I felt like, at times, he struggled with because of the lack of size.
“But now with his floater and his creativity around the rim — because he’s sneaky athletic, too — he’s punched a few in transition, he’s punched a few in splitting pick and rolls and getting all the way to the rim. Now, I just think it’s good to see his game has truly evolved from where he was as a sixth, seventh, eighth grader when I first saw him and it was like, he’s just a dynamic passer. Now he’s just a really, really good point guard.”
McDaniel has said he wants to improve his leadership — along with different aspects of his all-around game, such as shooting — so that he can hit the ground running when he gets to Ann Arbor next summer.
He’s relieved to have the recruiting process over with so he can focus on his actual game as a future collegiate player.
“The biggest thing is him feeling comfortable with leading, being verbal with older guys on the floor,” Martin said of McDaniel. “He played with [2021 Duke signee] Trevor Keels, he played with [Duke freshman] Jeremy Roach at PVI, so they took that burden of leading that he didn’t have to do it. And then for a couple years, he played up in our program at Takeover, so he’s always had older guys around him to kind of show him the way.
“I’d like to see him walk on campus and feel like he may not know everything that’s going on, but he can still be a leader. And I think that’s the No. 1 thing for me, off the court, that I would like to see him take with him.
“The other thing is, from an on-the-court standpoint … he’s a really good three-point shooter from the high school line. Now, he has to become a really good shooter from the college three-point line. That’s the on-the-court thing that he has to pay the most attention to improving.”
Throughout the process, McDaniel has been open about the fact that potentially having both Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams on the team at Michigan has been a big factor when it comes to his interest in the Wolverines. After all, they all three hail from the DMV, are friends and products of Team Takeover.
When we first spoke to Martin shortly after Dickinson and Williams committed, he told us he didn’t think they’d be the last two who Howard and Co. would snatch up from the elite Nike EYBL program. Two classes later, it turns out Martin was right on the money.
Howard’s genuine nature resonates with kids from the area — and all over the country, really.
“I feel like this is who Juwan is to his core, just being a genuine, good person, and knowing that his success in basketball lends itself to being able to say, ‘Hey, this is what it is.’ And you having to have complete trust in what he says and what he’s planning to execute to help you get to where you want to get to,” Martin said.
“Or, if you’re not living up to expectations, you respect him enough to say, ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’m not holding up my end of the bargain, and I’m not doing what I’m supposed to do to get the team better or to get myself better.’
“Juwan’s still relatively young in the college game, so he also hasn’t been jaded by having to sell something that he doesn’t have at Michigan. I think a lot of college coaches fall into that, ‘I’ve got to sell more than what I have to offer to get people to come here.’ Juwan doesn’t have to do that, and I hope he never has to do that — I don’t foresee it, but I also hope he never has to do that at Michigan.
“‘I’ve been to the highest of the high,’ [he can say to recruits]. The fortunate part for this for Juwan — and I’ve had this conversation with [Maryland assistant coach] Danny Manning in the past — all the guys that you’re recruiting haven’t been, or never will be, as good as you. So, it’s easier. It’s easier.
“Juwan stayed at Michigan three years, and he probably could’ve left after his sophomore year and still been a top-five pick. It’s easier to say to these guys, ‘Hey man, look. This is what it takes. This is what you need to do.’ And it has teeth.”
That’s the message he’s been giving to all of his players, but he’s also told them he’s behind them when they’re ready to go. He didn’t hesitate when Hunter Dickinson told him he wanted to give the NBA a shot — same with DeVante’ Jones. Both tried, and in speaking with folks close to it this week following interviews, etc., we strongly believe each will be wearing a Michigan uniform next year. They played well, but not "he's going to be drafted" well.
As for the rest of the 2022 class and recruiting — we know Jett Howard will be in, and Donovan Clingan (4-star center) had a great visit. Ohio State could be one to watch there, as well. Chris Holtmann does a great job during visits.
There are still rumblings about four-star Gregg Glenn, too, and a potential summer pledge. We’ll have more on that one in the days to come.
As always, thanks for visiting TheWolverine.com!
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