Wrestling vs. Minnesota * Friday 6 p.m. Crisler Arena The Michigan Daily SPORTS Thursday, February 2, 1989 Hockey vs. Western Michigan Friday 7:30 p.m. Yost Arena Page 9 Bo adds two for next season BY MICHAEL SALINSKY The Michigan football team may have landed the top players from both Michigan and Ohio yesterday. Joel (Tony) Blankenship, considered by many the best football recruit in the state of Michigan, made a verbal commitment Wednesday to attend Michigan next fall. Sylvester Stanley, an imposing defensive lineman from Youngstown East High School also committed verbally to the Wolverines in a much-delayed decision. Blankenship, a 6-foot-1, 185 pound defensive back had narrowed down his choices to Michigan, Michigan State, Colorado, Syracuse and Minnesota. He intercepted six passes for Detroit Murray-Wright this season, returning four for touchdowns. He also threw eight touchdowns as his team's quarterback. Blankenship, along with Tony McGee, an All- American tight end who committed last Thursday, should prove to be a potent 'Tony' combination on offense and defense. Great might be a word to describe Michigan's recruiting class as all the pieces begin to fall into place one week before the official signing period begins. Monday, the Wolverines landed their second prep All- American from the state of Colorado when running back Burnie Legette announced his intent to sign with Michigan. Leggett, from Colorado Springs, joins quarterback Doug Musgrave as the first preps from the Rocky Mountain State 80's. to come to Ann Arbor in the Francissus Mills, an offensive lineman from Detroit St. Martin dePorres, reportedly committed to Michigan Monday, although the Detroit News claims that Mills' mother called them earlier that day to tell them her son had decided in favor of Indiana. ONES THAT GOT AWAY - Although Michigan's recruiting class will probably be one of the best in the land, it could have been in the very upper echelons if not for three who got away on Tuesday. While the Wolverines pulled Stanley from Ohio, they could not do the same with highly-recruited center Rod Smith from Cleveland St. Joseph High who committed to Ohio State. Running back Wagner Lester from Racine, Wisconsin had told the Daily that he was leaning to Michigan, but Tuesday agreed to attend Illinois. Bob Whitfield, an offensive lineman from Wilmington, California, who Michigan had made an exhaustive effort for, decided on Stanford RECRUIT SHOT - Meanwhile, losing a recruit almost took on a different - and tragic meaning - when Michael Lewis, an offe'Siva lineman from Brockton, Massachusets, was shot thre@ times after a traffic altercation. Brockton polico paid two cars were involved in an on-road dispute. The two cars stopped and a man in the other car shot Lewis and his brother. Lewis is in stable condition. LIZ STEKETEEmaiiy Michigan diver Lee Michaud had an outstanding high school and college career and now looks to the future. 'M'diver hopes to go out with bang BY JODI LEICHTMAN Commitment. To anyone involved in athletics this word is quite familiar. For Lee Michaud it means morning, day, and night. Michaud, a senior diver gave up other sports during high school to dedicate his time to diving. "I had to make a choice and I didn't think I could make it in Big-10 football or basketball," Michaud said. "Diving just seemed the obvious choice." He left his family behind and moved from his hometown in Oregon at age 14 to attend school in Mission Viejo, California. IN ADDITION to the eight varsity letters he earned in high school, Michaud participated in age-group diving which earned him many honors. "Age-group diving is everyone- up to the age of 18," Michaud said. "It's basically a junior program to promote divers for possible world championships, Pan-Am teams or Olympic teams." Early in his diving career, Michaud dove with '88 Olympian Mark Bradshaw. Michaud idolized Bradshaw until he saw Bruce Kimball dive. "It was (Kimball's) last age-group nationals," Michaud said. "I had 'never seen him dive before, but I knew who he was. He's one of the best divers. I said to myself, 'That's how I want to dive. That's how I want to be."' Michigan recruited Michaud, who entered college at 17. He had no trouble diving, but it took some effort to adapt to schoolwork. "I came in and I was really cocky. I thought I could do everything and get away with everything, not really have.-to work at anything. Just kind of cruise through because that's what I had always just done before," he said. "I found out you can't do that. Whether it's competition in classes or in sports, everybody's good at this level. You really have to work at it." ' THIS SEASON, Michaud has placed first for the one-meter and three-meter dives in meets against Michigan State, Stanford, and Berkeley. He's been a Big-10 finalist for three years and competed at the NCAA's twice. This summer, he missed qualifying for the 1988 Olympic trials by one place. Michaud's teammates view him not only as a good diver, but as a leader. "He's really smart," teammate Tim Petche said. "He's an extremely qualified diver, and if he dives well, so will the rest of the team. He's really inspirational." One example his teammates did not follow was last year against MSU when Michaud's knees buckled under him. "I just lost it for a second. I flew back, landed on the board and bounced off it into the water. It was embarrassing and I get a lot of flack about it sometimes," he said. The Schef's Specialty Blankenship's big day in Is one he'll never forget 4. . : BY ADAM SCHEFTER DETROIT - He strutted confidently down the high school hallway yesterday, his clenched fists moving up and down like a corporate executive. As the 6-1, 185 pound boy passed each student, everyone had some- thing to say. "Everybody's talking about it." "What's up big fella?" "Today's the big day, right?" THEY all wanted a piece of the star, the way they would want a piece of their grandmother's best homemade pie. It was Joel Blankenship's day. He was on the way to the library in Detroit's Murray-Wright High School to announce which school he was going to attend next fall. To tell the world where he would offer his outstanding football talents. Already the ladies in the office working behind their desks were as excited as a teenager who gets a date with someone they thought was untouchable. The media was beginning to enter the office to find out where the press conference was going to be held and the ladies were only too happy to an- swer all their questions. Even have a few answered themself. "Is Joe going to be as big as Magic Johnson?" asked one older lady with glasses, dressed in a red sweater and black skirt. "Joel is the nicest boy," said another, like a doting mother. "He always walks into the office and gives me a big kiss and says, 'Good morning Mrs. Poll.' I just adore him." So did college football coaches. Like the ladies in the office, they too wanted Blankenship walking into their offices to wish them good morning. HE WAS a standout quarterback and defensive back. On offense last season, Blankenship completed 60- of-108 passes for 948 yards and eight touchdowns. His coach, Earl Moore, remem- bers one game when Murray-Wright was down 20 points at the half to Cass Tech. Blankenship got all his teammates together in the locker- room, gave a pep-talk, and led his team back on to the field for the second half. They came back to score three touchdowns to win the game. As good as Blankenship was on offense, however, he was more im- pressive on defense. Playing corner- back, he made 58 tackles, including 40 solos. He intercepted six passes and returned four for touchdowns. He was labeled by the Detroit Free Press, who polled the recruiting experts across the country, as the best defensive player in the Midwest. Now, he was about to announce his decision. Two rectangular tables were set up at the library, in the short stories section, for the large story. Blank- enship sat down between his mother and father, Laverne and Rev. Joseph T. Blankenship, and across from the press. With all the students trying to hear what was being said from the other side of the room, Blankenship began to speak. "This is something," Blankenship said with a smile, looking at all the people waiting for his revealing words. "I.never dreamed-of this., I never thought I'd have my own press conference." He told about the schools he con- sidered. Colorado was the prettiest place he had ever seen. Michigan and Michigan State were close to home. Syracuse had the Carrier Dome. It was like being in a candy store and having to chose between a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and a Kit Kat. BUT he made the choice. It was time to rejoice. Michigan. He cited numerous factors. He said that Michigan had the academic tradition, which meant a lot to Blankenship since he has made honor roll each semester in high school. He said that he knew that he would get to go to a bowl game each year. He said he was influenced when his friend, tight end Tony McGee (Terre Haute, Ind.), gave Michigan a verbal committment last week. He said Michigan had Bo. "I said to Joel, if coach (George) Perles was at Michigan and coach Schembechler was at Michigan St., which school would you go to?" Joel's father said. "He told me he would go to Michigan State." So Blankenship called his new coach in his office on Monday to let him know of his intentions. And in that famous tone of voice, where words are stretched out to accentuate their significance, Bo told Blank- enship, "'You're a Michigan man now." When the conference ended, ten of Blankenship's teammates, as well as his coach, were waiting to con- gratulate him. They ran over to him, exchanged high-fives and hand- shakes. The photographer asked everyone to pose for a picture. They squished into a circle and smiled. Blankenship's father gazed at his son and mumbled to his wife, "He's going to be grinning for days now." Sure. He made the choice. He's a Michigan man. THE DAILY CLASSIFIEDS ARE A GREAT WAY TO GET FAST RESULTS CALL 764-0557 CLASSIFIED ADS! 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