basketball recruiting
jaden akins
carter whitt
frankie collins
jaden hardy
dug mcdaniel
jarace walker

Hoops Recruiting Has Bad Luck With Top 30 Guards Comment Count

Matt EM August 13th, 2020 at 1:51 PM

Michigan continues to strike out with Plan A guards for 2021, but may be on the verge of getting serious with a few highly touted alternatives. A summary of where we’re at for 2021, encouraging news in 2022 and more in the roundup below.

Jaden Akins to Announce Today

4star guard Jaden Akins will make a commitment today at 3pm from a final 6 of Michigan, DePaul, Michigan State, Florida, Northwestern and Mississippi State.

This has been a heart versus mind battle for the last 6 months or so, and in the end I anticipate the heart winning out this afternoon. Jaden is well aware the depth chart is favorable in Ann Arbor, and that is the reason this recruitment went much longer than the mainstreams projected.

Akins would’ve been my number one option for the lead guard spot among realistic options (basically everyone exclusive of Jaden Hardy), but it’s time to move on here and that’s exactly what the staff has done.

Holding Pattern

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Hair Game On Point

The Wolverines extended an offer to 4star guard Carter Whitt a few weeks back. Whitt has been quiet when it comes to his recruitment, but did tell Rivals that he was close to making an initial cut prior to landing the Michigan offer:

“Carter Whitt becomes an even bigger priority for the Wolverines. Whitt just received his Michigan offer last week, and he told Rivals.com shortly after that he was close to narrowing his school list, but he isn’t near a commitment.”

That information makes a bit more sense in tandem with my recent intel. I received word from a solid source today that Whitt isn’t necessarily a take for Juwan Howard at this very moment. That’s not to say Michigan isn’t serious with Carter, but may be indicative of where he stands on the board.

Sounds like Whitt wants to include Michigan in his final list, but is waiting on word from the Wolverines on where they stand with another option…

[After THE JUMP: The preferred guard option and 2022 news]

The New Plan A?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xD12AdiYno

 

4star guard Frankie Collins included Michigan in his final 9 last month despite that lack of an offer at the time. Juwan Howard made things more interesting by putting the offer on the table last week. Collins seemed excited by that development:

My recent intel on Collins is that he may sit atop the guard board, but there may be grade concerns here. Frankie recently transferred to Coronado HS in Las Vegas to team with up 5 star offer Jaden Hardy. This will be Collins’ third stop in as many years, starting off at Clark HS before suiting up for Arizona Compass Prep last year and now the Vegas homecoming with Coronado. While there are exceptions, kids that transfer frequently seem to correlate with academic questions to a certain extent.

The Wolverines have been in contact consistently for nearly 6 months at this point, with Juwan Howard leading the charge:

"They started recruiting me at the beginning of my junior year and then they watched me play in December," Collins told The Michigan Insider. "Ever since then we have been in touch all during the quarantine. Also, me and Juwan Howard have a relationship since I was in the 4th grade and I would always play against his son (Jace). We have a couple of pictures together as well."

Reading between the lines here, the academic situation may be on way up. Last week’s offer may be the intersection striking out with other targets and improved grades that allowed the coaching staff to get serious with this recruitment. My general rule is that a prospect is certainly serious about a program if said school hasn’t yet offered, but still makes the final X/Y/Z list for that prospect.

Another Takeover Product On The Way?

Michigan has done very well in the DMV area recently, landing two 4star prospects in 2020 with Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams. Both suited up for Nike sponsored Team Takeover, generally considered the best AAU club in the world. This is due in large part to Phil Martelli’s connections to the area.

It appears the Wolverines have once again tapped into the Takeover talent pool, as Rivals’ Corey Evans placed a Futurecast for Michigan to land 2022 4star PG Knasir “Dug” Mcdaniel last week. Clayton Sayfie of The Wolverine followed suit with an identical projection the next day.

Evans provided some context to the FutureCast pick, and while a commitment doesn’t appear imminent, Juwan Howard’s relationship with McDaniel looms large:

“My FutureCast prediction for Dug McDaniel was not, in any way, saying that he was close to committing, but I do believe Michigan is the team to beat for the four-star guard. Michigan still has more work to complete in the 2021 class as far as finding another ballhandler and a big man goes, but McDaniel is one of their early priorities in the 2022 class.

Juwan Howard and his staff have been fairly consistent with their contact with McDaniel in recent months but it does not hurt that their relationship began well before Howard was named the head coach in Ann Arbor. McDaniel played with Jett Howard, Juwan’s son, at various camps throughout the years, which allowed for him to develop strong in-roads with Howard during his pre-Michigan days.”

I viewed McDaniel live at the DC Hoopfest in December. He’s a smaller PG at around 5’9 – 5’10, but his first step-acceleration, top end speed and vision/playmaking are all at elite levels. In terms of physical profile and burst, he definitely has some Yogi Ferrell qualities, though Yogi was probably a better shotmaker at the same stage of development.

Jett Howard Putting in Work

2022 5 star wing Jarace Walker says that Michigan is among the schools recruiting him the hardest right now. His quotes to 247 yesterday make an official visit to Ann Arbor sound like a lock:

“I like how they play up and down,” Walker said. “They have a good half court offense and defensive schemes. They are definitely a school I’d seriously consider. I'm looking forward to taking an official visit there and continue to keep in contact with the coaches. I'm looking forward to being recruited by Michigan.”

IMG wouldn’t normally be fertile recruiting ground for the Wolverines, but Jett Howard’s presence certainly helps the cause:

“Jett and I have known each other for a while now so playing with him should be fun,” he said. “I like having another explosive guard and good shooter. Jett’s a real fun player to play with so it should be exciting this year.”

I just had an extensive live viewing of Walker a few weeks ago (my film above) and he is going to be in the NBA at some point in the near future, its simply a matter of whether he wants to spend a year in college or opt for the GLeague/overseas. If college is legitimately on the table, Michigan is off to a great start here.

Happy Trails

4star wing Jalen Warley committed to Florida State on Sunday. I spoke with Warley extensively prior to his commitment, and Leonard Hamilton’s “I’ll let you play your game” pitch resonated with him well enough to earn a commitment. When it came to Michigan, the staff envisioned him in a more versatile role that included more wing-ish duties. Translation, FSU pitched him on the idea of being an on-ball type whereas other programs thought of him more as a guard/wing.

5star Nate Bittle did not include Michigan is his final 4. Bittle is looking to stay closer to home and the timing of this makes things easier for the staff moving forward.