There’s been a flurry of activity over the last week with announcement dates, top lists and the like being released. With the pandemic still in full swing, these sort of abrupt recruitments are going to become the new normal. Your weekly rundown below. 

Jalen Warley Set to Announce Sunday

I will be committing August 9th via Instagram and CBS sports pic.twitter.com/1caPMWRgTL

— Jalen Warley (@jjwarley) August 1, 2020

4-star wing Jalen Warley will make his commitment on August 9th from a final 6 of Michigan, Florida State, Memphis, Virginia, Miami and Oregon.

As one of the few people that have a direct line of communication with Warley, I’m not confident the Wolverines will be the pick this weekend. Jalen sent out a “Not So Fast” tweet last night that provided a glimmer of hope, but I wouldn’t read much into that. 

It was a tough decision that he went back and forth with between 3 schools, one of which was Michigan, but I think he’ll spend his college years elsewhere barring a last minute change of heart.

Making The Cut

Final 6? pic.twitter.com/knDisCktjA

— Harrison Ingram (@Harrisoniingram) August 1, 2020

5-star forward Harrison Ingram included Michigan in his final 6 along with Stanford, Purdue, Howard, North Carolina and Harvard.

Ingram plays things close to the vest so getting a proper read on things has proven difficult. Visits are generally indicative of interest level to a certain extent, but the health crisis has precluded that method of discernment. 

What we can say is that academics appear to be a serious factor in this recruitment. While Ingram is probably a bit overrated as a top 20 prospect, he’s certainly valuable enough to have his pick of schools in the South. No slight to any of the following programs, but the fact that schools such as LSU, Alabama and Memphis aren’t involved likely translates to Harrison placing a higher premium on education in relation to his peers. 

In terms of a timeline, Ingram isn’t showing his hand. He essentially told Rivals and 247 that a timeline doesn’t exist and a decision could come at any time. 

[After THE JUMP: Update on Jaden Akins and bigs.]

Holding Pattern

4star guard Jaden Akins is down to a final 6 of Michigan, DePaul, Michigan State, Northwestern, Florida and Mississippi State. 

I hinted last week that a decision could come soon and at one point it looked as if an announcement was on track for this week. That no longer appears to be the case, as things have slowed down here a bit and the deliberation process will continue.

Of the final 6, Michigan State, DePaul and Michigan are the realistic options here. The Spartans have been in the hunt the longest and are absolutely strong in this recruitment, but the depth chart gives some pause and that’s where the Wolverines have the advantage. I’ll say this again, do not discount DePaul in this race. The Blue Demons are coming on very strong as we get close to the finish line as I mentioned a few weeks back. 

While it doesn’t appear a decision will come within the next few days, we’re definitely heading down the home stretch and I wouldn’t be surprised if things wrap-up within a week or two. 

Best Bet for A Big?

Top-30 prospect Efton Reid is a more traditional big that Michigan is heavily pursuing for either 2020 or 2021. Reid himself confirmed as much with Sam Webb back in May:

"I talked about it in the Zoom call with Coach Howard, my mom, Coach Martelli, and the other coaches,” Reid recalled. “Coach Juwan was like, ‘whatever decision you make, we want you in both classes. I could go potentially in ‘20, but I don’t know right now. So, I’m still in the ‘21 class, but they definitely want me for both classes basically."

Corey Evans of Rivals has been a bit sporadic of late, and you can probably attribute some of that to a need for clicks with a lack of actual basketball for the most part. That said, Evans did rank Michigan the number one contender for Efton a few weeks back. Just a few days later, Evans’ colleague at Rivals, Eric Bossi, cast some doubt when he published this:

Corey Evans handled the "Ranking the Contenders" for Reid and tabbed Michigan as the team to beat for the 7-footer. The Wolverines are definitely in there, but from what I can tell Reid's true intentions are about as clear as mud at this point. Florida State does great with big guys like him, Ohio State has been on him hard and it is hard to bet against Virginia. To me, it just too early to proclaim any definitive team to beat.

In the ongoing battle for Rivals legitimacy, Corey delivered a counter-punch today when he doubled-down on Michigan being strong in this recruitment:

He has decided to remain in the 2021 class and will prep in the fall. Florida State was seen as a heavy suitor but it is likely out, which leads things to a battle between Michigan, Ohio State, Virginia and a few others.

I have no inside information on Reid, but he has former AAU teammates Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams already on campus. That should keep the Wolverines squarely in the mix in tandem with Martelli’s connections to that area.

4-star big Charles Bediako has Michigan in a top 10 that also features Alabama, Memphis, Texas, Baylor, Maryland, Duke, Tennessee, Ohio State and USC. 

Corey Evans has the Wolverines running third in the race for Bediako right now, behind Alabama and Duke:

The Wolverines are another program that many recruiting Bediako believe to be in good shape. He’s going to need to be sold on the idea of playing alongside a true center like Hunter Dickinson, but the chance to expand his game and play more facing the basket could be appealing. The real sell here is Juwan Howard and his years of success in the NBA playing the same position as Bediako.

Duke has long been rumored to be at the forefront of this recruitment, with Alabama coming on strong recently. It helps that his former teammate at ISA, Keon Ambrose is a 2020 signee for Nate Oats and crew. 

Charles will take a post-grad year at IMG, and normally that wouldn’t be a good sign for Michigan. But we must remember that Jett Howard is also at IMG, although he’s on the national team rather than the post-grad team. Still, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a top 50-ish type prospect in Howard making a strong pitch to come to Ann Arbor.

Happy Trails

3-star guard Angelo Brizzi committed to Villanova last week. Brizzi is probably going to be a productive college player as an upperclassmen that hits perimeter shots and can facilitate some offense, but this isn’t a huge blow in my opinion. He has some physical limitations that made it likely he’d be recruited over at some point with Juwan Howard’s preferences.