Commit Watch: Milton Close to a Decision
Four-star FL QB Joe Milton is ready to make his decision:
With recent visits to Florida, Georgia, and Michigan in the books, Milton is looking to possibly pull the trigger and commit to a school in order to focus on his spring campaign.
“I am thinking this week one day or like the start of next week,” Milton explained. “I am not trying to put a specific date on it but sometime soon. I just am looking for the right school that fits me.”
According to the four-star passer, his finalists are Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Tennessee.
At this point, all signs point to Michigan, which has every pick on Milton's crystal ball made in the last month. Florida was the one-time favorite but Milton mentions in the article linked above that their contact with him "sometimes falls off." Georgia, the other school thought to be in seroius contention, just extended an offer to quarterback Tyler Shough, which Steve Lorenz says is indicative of where Milton's recruitment is going. Milton could drop any day now, though in a video interview with Scout's Jacquie Franciulli released today he mentioned he may think on it for a couple more weeks.
Michigan is still pushing for Shough, as well, and he told Lorenz he's not worried about any potential competition in the class:
"The coaches have talked to me about possibly taking two guys," Shough told Wolverine247 on Wednesday. "I am more than willing to compete for a job anywhere no matter how many guys I am up against."
Sounds like a Harbaugh guy.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Top Tens of Dubious Relevance
Michigan made the top ten for four-star OH ATH L'Christian Smith, though his recruitment looks like it's going to come down to Kentucky or, if they push for him, Ohio State. The Wolverines were also included in the top ten of four-star TX WR Arjei Henderson, who recently opened his recruitment back up after a brief commitment to Oklahoma. Again, it's unclear how much Michigan is really in the mix here; they've kept their WR board to a select group of targets after the bounty of the 2017 class.
Hoops: Ontario Recruit Has Stauskas Connection
UMHoops' Orion Sang caught up with Michigan's most recent 2018 offer, Ontario wing Ignas Brazdeikis, who turns out to be a close friend of one Nik Stauskas. You can guess Stauskas' reaction to his friend receiving a Michigan offer:
“It’s kinda cool being recruited by a school he went to already, and it seems like a great place for me,” Brazdeikis said. “(Stauskas) tells me it’s such a great place and he loved it. He’s trying to get me there. I told him about (the offer) and he was super pumped up for me, and he was telling me, ‘Oh, you have to go there,’ and all that.”
Brazdeikis also mentioned he really enjoyed his unofficial visit for last year's Mount St. Mary's game. Michigan should be a major player for him.
The Wolverine's Chris Balas talked to four-star OH wing Jerome Hunter, who's had an offer for about a year now and is in very consistent contact with Michigan:
"I talk to them basically every day. I’ve talked to them lot since I’ve been down here,” Hunter said. “They talk to me after games to tell me how I played, how they think I played. I talk to Coach [John] Beilein. He texts me almost every day, and I talk to Coach Washington almost every day.
“Coach Beilein is real cool, real chill … a good coach. I’ve been watching some of his games early in the year. He’s just a real cool dude.”
Hunter won't name any top schools, though when asked about it he mentioned that Purdue has been pushing hard for him lately.
Balas also chatted with four-star PA SG Robby Carmody, who also talked up Purdue, as well as Northwestern, before saying Michigan is among his top schools:
“[Michigan] is one of my favorite schools. I love Coach [John Beilein] and what the program is all about.”
Michigan, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Purdue, Butler, Pitt, Penn State and all slated to get visits, and he said Notre Dame, Michigan, Purdue, Syracuse and Butler were among those recruiting him hardest. Making a final decision will be tough, he added.
Carmody says life after basketball will play a big factor in his decision, so Michigan should hang it until the end.
Meanwhile, the future of Ohio State basketball is looking quite shaky at the moment. Four-star OH wing Darius Bazley decommitted from the Buckeyes this week after being pledged to them since last August, and he was very blunt when describing his reason for doing so to the Columbus Dispatch:
“Ohio State, they didn’t make the NCAA Tournament this year,” Bazley said. “They didn’t even make the NIT, which is unfortunate, but I looked into the recruits they have coming into next year, they didn’t look too good for the future. So I felt like when my class came in, yeah, we would’ve been OK, but good enough to make the tournament? I don’t know. I just felt as if I was to de-commit, actually take my time, figure everything out it would just be a lot better.”
Michigan, incidentally, is one of the school that's contacted Bazley since his decommitment.
Etc.
Rivals has an article on recruiting dealbreakers—dishonesty, first and foremost—that features a quote from 2018 commit Myles Sims:
“This didn’t happen to me, but it happened to a lot of my friends," said Michigan commit Myles Sims. “Coaches have told them that they want to get a look at them at another position that they have never played. That’s a turn off. That’s kind of an insult. If that happened to me, I would eliminate the school.”
The more frequently cited issues were coaches lying about their recruiting board and their depth chart.
Four-star OH OLB Dallas Gant is set to announce on May 16th, and while Notre Dame made a push, it looks like Ohio State is going to take that recruitment.