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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.

