8A — Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan lands three 
recruits in two days

In the matter of just two days, 
the Michigan football team added 
two more commitments to next 
year’s already-solid recruiting class, 
as well as a commitment for the 
2020 class.
It started Sunday, when 4-star 
defensive 
end 
Mike 
Morris, 
who was previously committed 
to Florida State, announced via 
Twitter that he had flipped his 
commitment to the Wolverines.
“… I feel like GOD is guiding me 
in a different direction,” Morris said 
in his tweet. “So I would like to say 
that I’m decommitting from Florida 
State University and recommitting 
to the University of Michigan.”
Morris 
is 
the 
22nd-ranked 
strongside defensive end in the 
2019 class, and he adds depth to the 
class at that position, which already 
includes David Ojabo and Chris 
Hinton, the 19th- and 2nd-best 
strongside defensive ends in the 
class, respectively.
In addition to Morris, Michigan 
landed the commitment of 3-star, 
2020 tight end Nick Patterson, the 
brother of junior quarterback Shea 
Patterson.
Nick was visiting this weekend 
for the Wolverines’ game against 
Western Michigan, and according 

to Sam Webb of 247sports, he had 
a meeting Sunday afternoon with 
coach Jim Harbaugh in which Nick 
made his intentions known.
The next day, the reports were 
confirmed, as Nick also took to 
Twitter to make his commitment 
public.
“Thank you (Michigan football), 
(Shea Patterson) and (Harbaugh) 
for an amazing weekend in the 
Big House. I’m thrilled to make it 
official that I’ll be joining the Big 
Blue!!” Nick said.
The strong recruiting weekend 
was polished off on Monday by yet 
another 4-star commitment, as 
Giles Jackson, the No. 5 all-purpose 
back in the 2019 class, announced 
he would be coming to Ann Arbor 
as well.
Jackson joins Eric Gray, the 
No. 3 all-purpose back in the class, 
and Zach Charbonnet, the No. 9 
running back in the class, who 
committed to Michigan earlier this 
summer.
The Wolverines’ 2019 class 
was already strong, and with the 
additions of Morris and Jackson, 
it ranks 10th nationally and first in 
the Big Ten.
With that and Michigan’s win 
over the Broncos, it’s safe to say it 
was a good weekend for Harbaugh 
and company.

Peoples-Jones seeks consistency after touchdown

Donovan 
Peoples-Jones 
finally thought he had it.
Spotted 
at 
the 
Western 
Michigan 14-yard line with 
9:59 remaining in the second 
quarter, the sophomore wide 
receiver caught a pass from 
junior 
 
quarterback 
Shea 
Patterson on an underneath 
crossing route, rounded the 
corner and lunged towards the 
pylon.
“I feel like I was in the 
endzone,” Peoples-Jones said, 
“but they called it and said I 
stepped out on the three or the 
four. I didn’t even feel myself 
step out.”
The 
elusive 
receiving 
touchdown 
had 
escaped 
Peoples-Jones 
through 
the 
first 14 games of his career. It’s 
escaped the entire receiving 
corps for the past 12 contests. 
So it’s easy to understand 
Peoples-Jones’ frustration on 
the play — hitting paydirt has 
been hard to come by.
Just over three minutes later 
in the quarter, sophomore wide 
receiver Nico Collins hauled 
in a 44-yard score to snap the 
drought, lifting the weight off 
the wide receivers’ shoulders. 
But Peoples-Jones — the No. 2 
receiver in the 2017 recruiting 
class, according to 247Sports.
com — had yet to find any luck.
At the 6:21 mark of the 
third quarter, though, that 
would change. Positioned at 
the Broncos’ five-yard line 
and Collins blanketed on the 
short slant, Patterson read his 
progressions and lofted the ball 
to Peoples-Jones at the back 
of the endzone just over the 
defensive back’s outstretched 
arm.
“That throw to Donovan 
was really good,” said coach 
Jim Harbaugh. “That wasn’t 
his first read. That was a long 
throw, from one sideline to the 
back corner endzone. And that 
one required some touch on it. 
But it had to get up and down 

quick before Donovan got out 
of bounds.
“That’s 
pretty 
high-level 
stuff.”
It was six points, but it also 
ushered in a new chapter for 
Peoples-Jones’s playing career, 
one that opens speculation for 
what he could 
become in his 
sophomore 
campaign — a 
capable 
route-
runner 
that 
can 
create 
separation 
and 
high-point balls 
thrown his way.
“He’s 
way 
more 
physical 
now,” 
said 
sophomore 
defensive 
back 
Ambry Thomas. “And he knows 
that he’s not scared to use his 
strength and his speed.”
In the season opener against 
Notre Dame, his ceiling looked 

limited. Wide receivers’ coach 
Jim McElwain even thought 
his No. 1 receiver played too 
many 
snaps. 
Peoples-Jones 
gathered six receptions for 
just 38 yards, a byproduct of 
capping his routes to primarily 
comebacks and screens.
Peoples-
Jones’ 
2017 
yardage 
came 
off 
similar 
plays, 
but 
he 
occasionally 
showed 
separation 
on 
deeper 
routes 
with 
few 
results to show. 
Saturday’s 
touchdown 
against 
Western 
Michigan 
could be just as much of an 
anomaly as it could be a routine, 
but high-level performaces are 
exactly what the Wolverines 
had expected Peoples-Jones to 

do consistently.
“Donovan ran a heck of 
a route to stem that inside 
and get to the back pylon,” 
Patterson said after the game. 
“… It’s kind of a routine throw.”
If it’s routine for Patterson 
and Peoples-Jones is the go-to 
guy, it could be a connection 
that 
happens 
more 
often 
on Saturdays. But the soft-
spoken Peoples-Jones wouldn’t 
divulge what he thought his 
potential was or what kind of 
player he expects to be. He just 
knows he’s on track to answer 
the pressure that comes with 
the ballyhoo.
“More 
confidence, 
more 
focused, 
more 
experienced, 
more comfortable,” he said of 
his play.
As the No. 1 receiver with the 
toughest obstacles yet to come 
this season, it’s everything 
Michigan can hope for as it 
refines its offense.

MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor

ETHAN WOLFE
Daily Sports Writer

ALEXIS RANKIN/DAILY 
 
DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN

RECRUITING UPDATE

Michigan Football

NAME
POSITION
CLASS

POSITION RANKING

(247SPORTS)

RATING

(247SPORTS)

Mike
Morris

Giles
Jackson

COMMITMENT

DATE

Nick
Patterson

SDE

APB

TE

2019

2019

2020

22

5

20

9/9/18

9/10/18

9/9/18

FOOTBALL

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Sophomore wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones scored his first career touchdown against Western Michigan. 

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh signed three recruits on Monday and Tuesday.

“And he knows 
that he’s not 
scared to use 
his strength...”

