We all know that the #1 recruit for 2014, Da'Shawn Hand, spent the entire weekend in Ann Arbor with the trip culminating today. His first day on campus was spent attending the first spring practice of the season. Hand was able to see first-hand how Coach Greg Mattison runs individual defensive line drills. Once practice was over Da'Shawn was able to interact with Coach Mattison, head coach Brady Hoke, and Hand's area recruiter and new linebackers coach, Roy Manning. Da'Shawn has already taken a liking to Coach Manning which is good for their relationship moving forward. Hand is a relatively quiet kid that doesn't go for all the attention but even he tweeted a few times while on campus just how much he was enjoying himself.
Couple those with the fact that he was escorted around Ann Arbor with Blake Countess, who is from the same DC-Maryland-Virginia area of the country, and Taco Charlton, a current freshman playing the same position that Hand will play, and it becomes clear that he had a great time. Countess and Charlton weren't the only Wolverines enlisted to help court Mr. Hand. Denard Robinson also got in the mix to make Hand feel welcome. Denard spoke at length with Da'Shawn about playing in The Big House and just the recruiting process in general. I obviously don't know exactly what was said, but I'm sure we'd all agree that Denard said the right things, the right way. Hand also has family in the Detroit area which provided him and his father a homey place to stay Friday night. The entire visit was very enjoyable for Da'Shawn and his father putting Michigan in a great position with the consensus #1 player in the nation. As you might expect Da'Shawn wasn't ready to declare Michigan his leader at this juncture but the Wolverines definitely helped themselves in his mind. Da'Shawn thoroughly enjoyed the environment which means when he comes back during the summer and for the Notre Dame game, that environment should only improve. I strongly believe Michigan will be in the mix until the very end for Hand's services which will make for an entertaining recruiting cycle throughout the season.
This great news. Thanks for the update Coach.
ReplyDeleteSidenote: I would love to have Denard come back to Michigan as a recruiter or in some other form. The guy is just like about. And I bet he could have the Bobby Bowden effect with parents.
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ReplyDeleteLot of positives. Good to hear that academics are important to Da'Shawn, that gives us a big edge. And the weather only gets better.
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