10
Thursday, June 18, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Eastern transfer halted by admissions
For
the
Michigan
men’s
basketball
team,
Wednesday
delivered yet another hiccup in
an already bumpy offseason.
Just a month after his surprise
commitment to the Wolverines,
Purdue transfer guard Nojel
Eastern announced that he will
no longer be heading to Ann
Arbor.
“I was not admitted to the
University because of many
credits that weren’t transferable
because of my major,” Eastern
said in a statement released
via
Twitter
on
Wednesday.
“That is the only reason why
I was not accepted. I say this
to say that I will be reopening
my
recruitment
process
as
a transfer. I want (to) thank
Michigan and the entire staff
and organization for trying to
do everything in (their) power
to get into the University of
Michigan.”
The
program
never
acknowledged
his
initial
transfer
announcement,
and
Eastern clarified that it fell
through
due
to
academic
reasons. At Purdue, he was
working toward a major in
selling and sales management.
Michigan will no longer be
welcoming one of the Big Ten’s
best perimeter defenders to its
roster. He originally intended
to join coach Juwan Howard
for his final remaining year of
eligibility, but whether or not
he’d be immediately eligible
was unclear. He did not enter
the transfer portal as a graduate
transfer, meaning he would’ve
had to sit out the 2020-21 season
unless the NCAA granted him a
waiver.
The Evanston, Ill. native was
the 84th-ranked recruit coming
out of high school in 2017 and
while Eastern’s defense is held
in high regard, his offensive
game has never reached such
heights. He averaged just 4.9
points and 4.0 rebounds as a
junior last season, which was a
step back from his 7.5 points and
5.5 rebounds as a sophomore.
After
the
graduation
of
Zavier Simpson, the Wolverines
could’ve turned to Eastern to
help fill the void at point guard
this coming year if he was ruled
eligible. Though his shooting
woes have prevented him from
taking the next step as a college
player, Eastern was effective
as a ball handler in screen sets
during his time at Purdue.
The Boilermakers didn’t run
a
screen-heavy
offense
like
Michigan, but it would’ve been
interesting to see how Eastern’s
limited effectiveness translated
to a new system.
The
Wolverines
will
still
welcome
two
additional
backcourt
transfers
in
Columbia’s Mike Smith and
Wake Forest’s Chaundee Brown.
The latter is still going through
the admissions process, and
a decision has not yet been
reached on his eligibility status
for next season.
With Eastern no longer in
the fold, the Wolverines have
one
remaining
scholarship
available for 2020-21. Howard
can now pursue a high school
reclassification candidate, turn
back to the transfer portal or
pocket the extra scholarship
for now in order to spend it on a
2021 recruit.
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Purdue guard Nojel Eastern is not transferring to Michigan after acceptance hiccup.
‘M’ turns around recruiting in Spring
On
March
13,
when
the
NCAA
announced
a
freeze
on recruiting visits amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan
held just two commitments for
its 2021 class. By contrast, Ohio
State — holders of the year’s top-
ranked class — already held nine,
including a trio of five stars.
And stripped of the ability to
host recruits for their Spring
Game or travel for in-home visits,
the Wolverines’ late start to
2021 proceedings had suddenly
turned from intriguing to dire.
Three months later, Michigan’s
situation
is
vastly
different.
Buoyed
by
15
commitments
since late March, its 2021 class
now ranks sixth in the nation
— a mark, should it hold, that
would be the second best of the
Harbaugh era.
To get there, the Wolverines
needed to adapt their recruiting
tenets of honesty and persistence
to a fully-digitized world. In the
absence of in-person recruiting,
schools around the country have
upped their creativity, giving
recruits a virtual look at life on
campus. Notably, Michigan State
created a series of online visits
dubbed The Festival.
But while other schools have
revolutionized their recruiting
process, Michigan has stuck to
the basics. According to recruits,
players can see the campus on a
YouTube video that the program
sends
out,
while
academic
advisors are available to video
chat. If players want, they’re
linked up with assistant coaches
to show them around the team’s
facilities.
“You’re finding all creative
ways
(to
recruit),”
offensive
coordinator Josh Gattis said
in a teleconference on May 14.
“Whether
it’s
virtual
visits,
whether it’s virtual meetings,
FaceTimes, you’ve got to be as
creative as possible to be able
to showcase your university and
program in these times when
they currently can’t come visit.”
None of that, though, is why
Michigan’s class turned from
barren to loaded in the span of
three socially-distanced months.
“(The
virtual
visits)
all
accomplished the same thing,”
three-star
offensive
lineman
Tristan Bounds told The Daily
this week. “I think Michigan just
has so much to show and it’s so
impressive, that’s what separates
it. It isn’t like they did something
different really per se, it’s just
like it’s Michigan. So that’s
what’s different.”
But
to
showcase
that,
Michigan had to take advantage
of the benefits offered by the
pandemic. In place of spring
practices and recruiting visits,
the Wolverines’ coaching staff
was left with one critical benefit
over a typical spring: time.
On the recruiting trail, that
meant the ability to talk to
recruits
everyday,
something
they wouldn’t have been able to
do without the pandemic.
“They were constantly talking
to me, constantly showing me
things they had, the benefits
of
going
there,”
four-star
linebacker Jaydon Hood told
The Daily. “Just the things they
had, the tangibles they had to
get me to the next level and that
could make me a better football
player, man, academic student,
everything.”
In the end, that level of
communication — along with
everything
else
Michigan
provides — is what allowed the
Wolverines to build their 2021
class.
For Bounds, that ‘everything
else’ meant seeing four Michigan
offensive lineman drafted last
month. For Hood, it meant
the coaching staff’s ability to
mold him after Devin Bush and
Cam McGrone. “Those are two
players I watch and try to mimic
my game off anyways,” Hood
said. “So just compared to them
speaks of how highly they think
of me and the level of play that I
want to play and what they see
me playing.”
Three months ago, neither
player was close to committing
to the Wolverines. Both planned
to use the spring to see all their
top
schools.
A
commitment
without a visit would have been
unthinkable.
Instead, that’s the reality for
the vast majority of Michigan’s
2021 class.
But it’s a reality that was only
made possible by the commitment
that the Wolverines were able to
show their top targets during the
recruiting dead period.
Without that?
“My
decision
would’ve
been different,” Hood said. “It
definitely would’ve been.”
THEO MACKIE
Managing Sports Editor
RUCHITA IYER/Daily
Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis is finding success recruiting virtually.