The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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50 THE WOLVERINE SEPTEMBER 2018 to hang out with them. I wasn't allowed to communicate with Rashan and his mom, so I just was there to support them," Partridge said. "I knew that it deflated those guys because I could see the wind drop out of their sail because I was there. And Rashan was going to Clemson right after that award, and I didn't want Clemson to have four days of communicating with him." It was another plan that paid off because none of the other coaches spoke with Gary — at least publicly — at the event. Following that event Gary and his mother made their way to Clemson, and the trip started off in an unusual way. An anonymous person left a voice- mail on the Paramus Catholic president's phone posing as a Clemson fan and mentioned the Ku Klux Klan. The voice- mail said that Gary better be serious about his Clemson visit, but neither Gary nor Shepherd took the voicemail as threatening, and it didn't play a part in his school choice. Kanoc was not on the visit with Gary and his mother, which was something that caused con- cern for Michigan. Gary's uncle lived very close to the Clemson campus, so there was family nearby, which also concerned the Mich- igan coaches. "The last visit was Clem- son, and Clemson put on a full-court press. I thought it was Michigan be- fore that visit, but I also thought there was a chance there was a Clemson hat coming out because of how that visit went," Kanoc said. "Brent Venables [Clemson's defensive coordinator] is probably one of the best coaches in col- lege — period — and probably one of the nicest guys you'll meet. Recruiting- wise, he was very influential." Because Gary was very quiet through- out the process, none of the coaches really knew if they had a real shot or not. Everything seemed up in the air. Once his visits were over, there were only a couple of days left until Sign- ing Day, when Gary would announce his decision live on SportsCenter. Two days prior to the announcement, Gary and his mother went on a lockdown to figure out where he wanted to go and what school would win out. Coaches called Kanoc to ask if he had heard anything, but Kanoc had promised the family that he would keep everything they talked about be- tween them. That meant he didn't even reveal information to Partridge, his for- mer head coach, because that would have betrayed the family's trust. Before the Clemson visit — nearly two weeks before Signing Day — Gary and his mother told Kanoc that they believed he would choose Mich- igan. But the Clemson visit threw a wrench in that decision and made Gary think twice about which school would be the best. USC had been dropped because of the distance. So it was down to these two schools. Gary and his mother prayed dur- ing their two-day lockdown and had conversations about the pros and cons of each school. They came out of the couple of days silence with some clarity but still some uncertainty. During the last minute that Par- tridge was allowed to contact the family, he made his last pitch as to what Michigan had to offer. "I sent Rashan a long message stating why I believe it's the right choice for him and then I let it be. I wasn't going to push it or be overbearing," Partridge said. "When you don't push a recruit and it's at the last hour, you get ner- vous about what the other schools are doing. Are they pushing him? Are they saying really good stuff? Later I found out that they were just send- ing him pictures of the dorm. So they weren't, but I just said something from the heart and left it alone." Once Signing Day arrived, Gary was set to travel to Bristol, Connecti- cut, to announce his final decision on ESPN's broadcast. The nearly two- hour drive was quiet as Gary had grown nervous about the decision. He arrived on ESPN's campus with a blank stare and obvious concerns. He stayed quiet throughout the day, which was normal for him, but this was a different kind of quiet. "I told Rashan, 'You're going to have to go and pray. Don't feel rushed because you don't have to sign on Signing Day,'" Shep- herd said. "'Just because we're here doesn't mean we have to commit.' He said, 'No, Mom, I'm going to do it today because I want it to be over with.' So we had two hats. We had a Clem- son hat and a Michigan hat." Gary went off on his own to gather his thoughts. When he rejoined his family and friends, he looked at his mother and said he was sure he knew where he was going. She asked him which school it was, and he answered Michigan. The family stepped on the set to broadcast his announcement live, and as the camera panned to Gary, he announced that the Wolverines were his choice and made it official. "I didn't tell Partridge a thing, and if you watch the commitment, you can see me in the back, texting Partridge about 20 seconds before Rashan announces," Kanoc said. "I said, 'I just want to let you know, Go Blue.' I didn't leak it to anybody. I didn't even tell my dad." The weight had been lifted off of Gary's shoulders. While being inter- viewed about why he chose Michigan, Gary choked up and said he knew it was the right place for him. The deci- sion didn't come easy, but now that it was over, Gary knew he had made the right choice. "It was very close," he said. "Those are schools that I love, and it was very hard to pick be- tween them, but I feel like I did what was best for me. I was talking to the coaches the night before and I just had a feeling before I announced it." ❏ This excerpt from The Road to Ann Ar- bor, by Tom VanHaaren, is presented with permission from Triumph Books. For more information and to order a copy please visit www.triumphbooks.com/roadtoannarbor. Current Michigan safeties coach and special teams coordinator Chris Partridge, Gary's head coach at Paramus Catholic for a year, played an integral role in landing the No. 1 recruit, thanks to his knowledge of what Gary and his mother would be looking for in a college. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN