The latest edition of INSIDE THE FORT, including plenty of football, basketball and recruiting information.
Starting this week’s edition with football and recruiting …
One of the most commonly asked questions asked here on The Fort is, ‘why isn’t Michigan looking for help in the transfer portal, especially at defensive tackle and linebacker?’
The answer — they absolutely are, but just as recruiting is cutthroat, so is trying to sign help from the portal. Teams have identified what they need, and while there are hundreds of kids transferring, only so many are capable of playing for the upper echelon teams.
We’ve explained what happened with Lance Dixon (PSU, now at WVU) … the same thing happened with another former highly rated linebacker who transferred to a Big Ten school. He wanted Michigan and U-M was certainly at least interested, but even the coaches knew they had no shot when they saw his transcripts.
It wasn’t about grades, but the ‘classes’ he was taking. There was nothing close to equivalent at U-M, and while there have been complaints that the academic side has made it tougher to land some of these kids (and that’s true) … well, not in this case.
Another highly sought-after defender really loved Michigan and told the coaches that repeatedly, saying he wanted to come. He couldn’t convince his entourage to let him go, though, and he ended up at an SEC school.
On a positive note, the Wolverines are the heavy favorite at this point to land 6-1, 358-pound defensive tackle Jordan Whittley from Oregon State out of the portal. He didn’t play in 2020 and recorded only 13 tackles and three tackles for loss for the Beavers in 2019, but the former running back (yes, really) is big and agile, hard to move and takes up a lot of space.
The Richmond, California native played two seasons at Laney College in California, notching 35 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in helping lead the school to California's JUCO championship and an 11-2 record in 2018. The transcripts look good, and again, so do Michigan’s chances.
A final word on Steve Clinkscale …
This one was a no-brainer, and as much as we talked about Michigan trying to make it happen, we’ve heard it was Clinkscale who reached out to U-M this time around. Two years ago, ‘Clink’ parlayed Jim Harbaugh’s interest into a raise; this time, he made it clear from the get-go he was interested.
The former Kentucky DBs coach is expected to make what Maurice Linguist was making ($680.000 or so), which is a hefty raise for him. Our Kentucky sources tell us he’s close to people in Detroit, which makes sense that he’d want to move closer.
But as noted, this hire is huge for recruiting and for the program. He was candidate No. 1 and 1a on the list, and it worked out.
****
To basketball and recruiting now …
Rivals.com updated its class of 2021 player rankings for the final time yesterday, and bumped Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy power forward Moussa Diabate from a four-star to a five-star prospect.
First, some quick background from his coach, Sean McAloon, on an interesting backstory…
“Moussa came to us at IMG in the spring of his sophomore year, so I had him for his junior and senior seasons,” McAloon recalled. “He had a guy in France [where he’s originally from] who called me and said they were interested in coming over. Moussa came over for a visit and checked us out, and that’s when he decided to come here. He actually first came to the United States from France during his eighth-grade year.”
Diabate only moved up four spots numerically from No. 26 overall to No. 22 in Rivals’ rankings, but the ascension from a four-star to five-star player was significant nonetheless in the eyes of Rivals.com national basketball recruiting analyst Rob Cassidy.
“When you see other guys at his position with his size, it’s oftentimes hard to tell how they’ll translate to college,” Cassidy explained after the rankings update. “With Diabate, we already have a good idea of how his game will carry over to the next level.
“Sometimes you have to guess with certain guys, but that’s not the case with him. It’s because he plays at IMG Academy and goes up against the likes of [powerhouses] Montverde and Sunrise Christian Academy on a regular basis.
“Any time we watched him play in the past year, he was playing against guys who will be high-level Division 1 players. There’s no guessing in what he’ll do against that level of competition in college, because he’s already seen some of it.
“Diabate had a great season at IMG this year and turned into an incredible defender, which is another big reason we moved him up. I don’t know if I’d call him the best defender in this class; that nod has to go to [Minneapolis Minnehaha five-star center and 7-foot Gonzaga signee] Chet Holmgren — there’s never been a shot that kid hasn’t blocked.
“Diabate probably isn’t the best, but he’s in the top five. What’s special about him is that he can step out defensively a little bit as well — he’s not just a rim protector. He moves well enough to match up with a three or even a two sometimes, and he can stay in front of them because of how well he moves.”
It’s well-known Diabate’s offensive game has a ways to go, though fortunately for Juwan Howard, next year’s Wolverine team isn’t likely to need him to produce significantly on the offensive end from the get-go.
“That’ll be the job for Juwan,” Cassidy admitted, when asked about the development of Diabate’s offensive skill set. “He can almost be streaky on offense at times. He doesn’t have a lot of high post moves or anything yet, but he catches it deep in the post and can score when he does.
“He doesn’t have much range and isn’t someone who will step outside and shoot it. He’s not like Shaq or anything, but can knock down shots in the mid-range if he’s open.”
“When you get a chance to get someone who works at the level in which Moussa works, you’ll have an opportunity to put him wherever you want,” McAloon added. “There’s no question Juwan will find the right position to use him at.”
Diabate’s commitment to Michigan last November was out of the blue and caught basketball observers off guard, thanks to the way he chose to stay out of the spotlight and under the radar during his recruitment. McAloon admitted he took a step back during the recruiting process and let Diabate make the decision for himself.
“I wasn’t that involved because I want the coach to build a relationship with the recruit and then foster it,” McAloon said. “I had some conversations with Juwan, but most of them were just simple talks involving Moussa and how he was doing.”
“Juwan is really doing something special,” Cassidy added. “This feels like it’s the start of something big. Things can compound in recruiting and when you’re good, everyone wants to be a part of it. That’s kind of what we’re seeing now with Michigan.”
The culture Howard has built at U-M is already “special,” and the recruits he signed in 2021 understand what playing for Michigan means. It’s about competing for their teammates, checking their egos at the door and doing everything they can for the success of the team.
“Moussa just likes to hang out with others off the court, joke around and have a good time,” McAloon explained. “He’s such a good teammate, but is actually very humble as well.”
Grand Rapids (Mich.) Christian four-star Michigan signee Kobe Bufkin, meanwhile, rose one spot — from No. 49 to No. 48 — in Rivals.com’s final update for its 2021 recruiting rankings. He would’ve had a chance to prove himself even more as a senior, but a fractured wrist just six games into the campaign held him out of the rest of the slate.
We can report good news on that front, though, after fielding some questions on it over the last couple months — we spoke to Bufkin last week, and he’s back to 100 percent. He was out on the west coast two weeks back for The Ball Dawgs National High School All-Star Game in Las Vegas, before he spent a few days in Los Angeles working out with former NBA guard Darren Collison.
While he hadn’t seen game action in some time, Bufkin shined, scoring 24 points and earning co-MVP honors.
“It was exciting. It was my first time playing organized basketball since my injury, so it was fun to get back out there,” he said. “I feel like I played pretty well.”
Bufkin told us back in January that he spent a great deal of the last offseason working on his defense, making sure he would be up to speed once he got to Michigan. That’s still an emphasis, and when we asked him to describe his game for our magazine feature on him, he was adamant on talking about that end of the floor first. He said especially after watching the Wolverines, who finished fourth in Kenpom’s defensive efficiency last season, he knew that being able to defend would be a prerequisite in order to receive playing time.
The two things he’s working on the most right now, with just six weeks until he moves into his new home at U-M — three-point shooting and ball-handling, specifically with his off hand (right).
“Being a higher percentage shooter from specifically the three ball,” he said when asked of his training focus. “Continuing to work on the things that I feel like are strong but could be stronger.
“For instance, my off hand, my right hand. Obviously, your dominant will always be your dominant, but you want your non-dominant to be as good as your dominant. Although it might not ever get there, my right hand is something that I’ve been working on for years.
“Just continuing to do that, and shooting. Getting more consistent with the things that I do, whether that be taking care of the ball or shooting, something I always focus on, just my all-around game.”
At 6-4, 185 pounds, Bufkin is an option at both the shooting guard and small forward positions, and he said he doesn’t have a preference, nor has the coaching staff expressed where they want him to start out at.
Regardless, he’s highly anticipating his June 25 move in.
“I’m very excited to come down,” Bufkin said. “I’ll be ready to go.”
Another anecdote from our story that we found interesting … Bufkin is about to graduate from the same high school that Ohio State junior guard Duane Washington Jr. attended, with the latter having been a thorn in Michigan’s side over the last couple seasons.
Washington entered his name into the NBA Draft in April without signing an agent, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that he’ll return, Bufkin revealed, despite his name not appearing on mock drafts or best available prospect lists.
The reason why we asked about Washington and Ohio State is because we wanted to know if Bufkin will have a similar mentality against the Buckeyes that Washington, who says the game ‘means more’ to him because of where he grew up, has when going up against the Wolverines.
The short answer — it will, and Bufkin added that it’ll be the same thing when Michigan takes on in-state rival Michigan State.
“I actually used to train with Duane’s dad, Duane Washington Sr., so I know Duane on a personal level,” Bufkin explained. “When I do get to be on the same court with him, that would just be fun to go at him. It’s a guy that I’ve been training with. He’s been there to show me different stuff. Obviously, he’s older than me, so he’s experienced a little more than I have, but I’ll just be ready to go at him if we meet each other on the court. We’ve been doing it for years.”
The lone in-state signee in 2021, Bufkin understands the rivalry games and what’s at stake, and he said he’s going to make sure his classmates feel the same way as he does once they get to Ann Arbor.
More hoops recruiting …
Michigan feels it’s in “good shape” with Donovan Clingan, four-star center, and the fact that he’s playing so well on the AAU circuit is a positive sign. One analyst we spoke to a few weeks ago said many coaches were concerned he didn’t go to a bigger prep school to play better competition.
“They felt it was hurting his development because he’s now gotten a bit chubby. He hasn’t really developed as much as he could have the last two years,” the analyst said. “If he had gone to Brewster Academy, IMG or even a bigger area high school, it could have served him well.
“Much bigger AAU programs and high schools have tried to recruit him for like three years, and he wouldn’t leave. The first year he was still working through the loss of his mother (cancer), but it hasn’t done much for him to dominate 6-1 centers.”
Again, Howard and Co. didn’t care at all. They love him, and he’s proving them right by playing extremely well. This is a legit UConn – Michigan battle for the Bristol (Conn.) Central standout, and as we noted previously, he told the U-M staff on a Zoom call that he “grew up a Michigan fan.”
Finally, this gem from Michigan assistant Phil Martelli about the recruitment of the 2023s (sophomores) …
He was on the phone recently with an elite prospect’s coach, when the coach offered this:
“He said, ‘you know what the kid told me? He said, ‘man, if I could ever get on the phone with Juwan Howard, that would be the ultimate.,’” Martelli said. “I was like, ‘wow.’”
That’s where this program is right now, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Starting this week’s edition with football and recruiting …
One of the most commonly asked questions asked here on The Fort is, ‘why isn’t Michigan looking for help in the transfer portal, especially at defensive tackle and linebacker?’
The answer — they absolutely are, but just as recruiting is cutthroat, so is trying to sign help from the portal. Teams have identified what they need, and while there are hundreds of kids transferring, only so many are capable of playing for the upper echelon teams.
We’ve explained what happened with Lance Dixon (PSU, now at WVU) … the same thing happened with another former highly rated linebacker who transferred to a Big Ten school. He wanted Michigan and U-M was certainly at least interested, but even the coaches knew they had no shot when they saw his transcripts.
It wasn’t about grades, but the ‘classes’ he was taking. There was nothing close to equivalent at U-M, and while there have been complaints that the academic side has made it tougher to land some of these kids (and that’s true) … well, not in this case.
Another highly sought-after defender really loved Michigan and told the coaches that repeatedly, saying he wanted to come. He couldn’t convince his entourage to let him go, though, and he ended up at an SEC school.
On a positive note, the Wolverines are the heavy favorite at this point to land 6-1, 358-pound defensive tackle Jordan Whittley from Oregon State out of the portal. He didn’t play in 2020 and recorded only 13 tackles and three tackles for loss for the Beavers in 2019, but the former running back (yes, really) is big and agile, hard to move and takes up a lot of space.
The Richmond, California native played two seasons at Laney College in California, notching 35 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks in helping lead the school to California's JUCO championship and an 11-2 record in 2018. The transcripts look good, and again, so do Michigan’s chances.
A final word on Steve Clinkscale …
This one was a no-brainer, and as much as we talked about Michigan trying to make it happen, we’ve heard it was Clinkscale who reached out to U-M this time around. Two years ago, ‘Clink’ parlayed Jim Harbaugh’s interest into a raise; this time, he made it clear from the get-go he was interested.
The former Kentucky DBs coach is expected to make what Maurice Linguist was making ($680.000 or so), which is a hefty raise for him. Our Kentucky sources tell us he’s close to people in Detroit, which makes sense that he’d want to move closer.
But as noted, this hire is huge for recruiting and for the program. He was candidate No. 1 and 1a on the list, and it worked out.
****
To basketball and recruiting now …
Rivals.com updated its class of 2021 player rankings for the final time yesterday, and bumped Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy power forward Moussa Diabate from a four-star to a five-star prospect.
First, some quick background from his coach, Sean McAloon, on an interesting backstory…
“Moussa came to us at IMG in the spring of his sophomore year, so I had him for his junior and senior seasons,” McAloon recalled. “He had a guy in France [where he’s originally from] who called me and said they were interested in coming over. Moussa came over for a visit and checked us out, and that’s when he decided to come here. He actually first came to the United States from France during his eighth-grade year.”
Diabate only moved up four spots numerically from No. 26 overall to No. 22 in Rivals’ rankings, but the ascension from a four-star to five-star player was significant nonetheless in the eyes of Rivals.com national basketball recruiting analyst Rob Cassidy.
“When you see other guys at his position with his size, it’s oftentimes hard to tell how they’ll translate to college,” Cassidy explained after the rankings update. “With Diabate, we already have a good idea of how his game will carry over to the next level.
“Sometimes you have to guess with certain guys, but that’s not the case with him. It’s because he plays at IMG Academy and goes up against the likes of [powerhouses] Montverde and Sunrise Christian Academy on a regular basis.
“Any time we watched him play in the past year, he was playing against guys who will be high-level Division 1 players. There’s no guessing in what he’ll do against that level of competition in college, because he’s already seen some of it.
“Diabate had a great season at IMG this year and turned into an incredible defender, which is another big reason we moved him up. I don’t know if I’d call him the best defender in this class; that nod has to go to [Minneapolis Minnehaha five-star center and 7-foot Gonzaga signee] Chet Holmgren — there’s never been a shot that kid hasn’t blocked.
“Diabate probably isn’t the best, but he’s in the top five. What’s special about him is that he can step out defensively a little bit as well — he’s not just a rim protector. He moves well enough to match up with a three or even a two sometimes, and he can stay in front of them because of how well he moves.”
It’s well-known Diabate’s offensive game has a ways to go, though fortunately for Juwan Howard, next year’s Wolverine team isn’t likely to need him to produce significantly on the offensive end from the get-go.
“That’ll be the job for Juwan,” Cassidy admitted, when asked about the development of Diabate’s offensive skill set. “He can almost be streaky on offense at times. He doesn’t have a lot of high post moves or anything yet, but he catches it deep in the post and can score when he does.
“He doesn’t have much range and isn’t someone who will step outside and shoot it. He’s not like Shaq or anything, but can knock down shots in the mid-range if he’s open.”
“When you get a chance to get someone who works at the level in which Moussa works, you’ll have an opportunity to put him wherever you want,” McAloon added. “There’s no question Juwan will find the right position to use him at.”
Diabate’s commitment to Michigan last November was out of the blue and caught basketball observers off guard, thanks to the way he chose to stay out of the spotlight and under the radar during his recruitment. McAloon admitted he took a step back during the recruiting process and let Diabate make the decision for himself.
“I wasn’t that involved because I want the coach to build a relationship with the recruit and then foster it,” McAloon said. “I had some conversations with Juwan, but most of them were just simple talks involving Moussa and how he was doing.”
“Juwan is really doing something special,” Cassidy added. “This feels like it’s the start of something big. Things can compound in recruiting and when you’re good, everyone wants to be a part of it. That’s kind of what we’re seeing now with Michigan.”
The culture Howard has built at U-M is already “special,” and the recruits he signed in 2021 understand what playing for Michigan means. It’s about competing for their teammates, checking their egos at the door and doing everything they can for the success of the team.
“Moussa just likes to hang out with others off the court, joke around and have a good time,” McAloon explained. “He’s such a good teammate, but is actually very humble as well.”
Grand Rapids (Mich.) Christian four-star Michigan signee Kobe Bufkin, meanwhile, rose one spot — from No. 49 to No. 48 — in Rivals.com’s final update for its 2021 recruiting rankings. He would’ve had a chance to prove himself even more as a senior, but a fractured wrist just six games into the campaign held him out of the rest of the slate.
We can report good news on that front, though, after fielding some questions on it over the last couple months — we spoke to Bufkin last week, and he’s back to 100 percent. He was out on the west coast two weeks back for The Ball Dawgs National High School All-Star Game in Las Vegas, before he spent a few days in Los Angeles working out with former NBA guard Darren Collison.
While he hadn’t seen game action in some time, Bufkin shined, scoring 24 points and earning co-MVP honors.
“It was exciting. It was my first time playing organized basketball since my injury, so it was fun to get back out there,” he said. “I feel like I played pretty well.”
Bufkin told us back in January that he spent a great deal of the last offseason working on his defense, making sure he would be up to speed once he got to Michigan. That’s still an emphasis, and when we asked him to describe his game for our magazine feature on him, he was adamant on talking about that end of the floor first. He said especially after watching the Wolverines, who finished fourth in Kenpom’s defensive efficiency last season, he knew that being able to defend would be a prerequisite in order to receive playing time.
The two things he’s working on the most right now, with just six weeks until he moves into his new home at U-M — three-point shooting and ball-handling, specifically with his off hand (right).
“Being a higher percentage shooter from specifically the three ball,” he said when asked of his training focus. “Continuing to work on the things that I feel like are strong but could be stronger.
“For instance, my off hand, my right hand. Obviously, your dominant will always be your dominant, but you want your non-dominant to be as good as your dominant. Although it might not ever get there, my right hand is something that I’ve been working on for years.
“Just continuing to do that, and shooting. Getting more consistent with the things that I do, whether that be taking care of the ball or shooting, something I always focus on, just my all-around game.”
At 6-4, 185 pounds, Bufkin is an option at both the shooting guard and small forward positions, and he said he doesn’t have a preference, nor has the coaching staff expressed where they want him to start out at.
Regardless, he’s highly anticipating his June 25 move in.
“I’m very excited to come down,” Bufkin said. “I’ll be ready to go.”
Another anecdote from our story that we found interesting … Bufkin is about to graduate from the same high school that Ohio State junior guard Duane Washington Jr. attended, with the latter having been a thorn in Michigan’s side over the last couple seasons.
Washington entered his name into the NBA Draft in April without signing an agent, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that he’ll return, Bufkin revealed, despite his name not appearing on mock drafts or best available prospect lists.
The reason why we asked about Washington and Ohio State is because we wanted to know if Bufkin will have a similar mentality against the Buckeyes that Washington, who says the game ‘means more’ to him because of where he grew up, has when going up against the Wolverines.
The short answer — it will, and Bufkin added that it’ll be the same thing when Michigan takes on in-state rival Michigan State.
“I actually used to train with Duane’s dad, Duane Washington Sr., so I know Duane on a personal level,” Bufkin explained. “When I do get to be on the same court with him, that would just be fun to go at him. It’s a guy that I’ve been training with. He’s been there to show me different stuff. Obviously, he’s older than me, so he’s experienced a little more than I have, but I’ll just be ready to go at him if we meet each other on the court. We’ve been doing it for years.”
The lone in-state signee in 2021, Bufkin understands the rivalry games and what’s at stake, and he said he’s going to make sure his classmates feel the same way as he does once they get to Ann Arbor.
More hoops recruiting …
Michigan feels it’s in “good shape” with Donovan Clingan, four-star center, and the fact that he’s playing so well on the AAU circuit is a positive sign. One analyst we spoke to a few weeks ago said many coaches were concerned he didn’t go to a bigger prep school to play better competition.
“They felt it was hurting his development because he’s now gotten a bit chubby. He hasn’t really developed as much as he could have the last two years,” the analyst said. “If he had gone to Brewster Academy, IMG or even a bigger area high school, it could have served him well.
“Much bigger AAU programs and high schools have tried to recruit him for like three years, and he wouldn’t leave. The first year he was still working through the loss of his mother (cancer), but it hasn’t done much for him to dominate 6-1 centers.”
Again, Howard and Co. didn’t care at all. They love him, and he’s proving them right by playing extremely well. This is a legit UConn – Michigan battle for the Bristol (Conn.) Central standout, and as we noted previously, he told the U-M staff on a Zoom call that he “grew up a Michigan fan.”
Finally, this gem from Michigan assistant Phil Martelli about the recruitment of the 2023s (sophomores) …
He was on the phone recently with an elite prospect’s coach, when the coach offered this:
“He said, ‘you know what the kid told me? He said, ‘man, if I could ever get on the phone with Juwan Howard, that would be the ultimate.,’” Martelli said. “I was like, ‘wow.’”
That’s where this program is right now, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon.
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