The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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72 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2019 COMMITMENT PROFILE C ollege football recruiting can be unpredictable. Sometimes kids get offered really early and take a long time to make a decision. Other instances result in a kid getting an offer and committing a week later. Michigan has examples of both in its 2020 class, with Milton (Mass.) Academy four-star outside line- backer Kalel Mullings being a prime example of the first scenario. The 6-2, 220-pounder — a four-star talent, the No. 2 recruit in Massachusetts, and the No. 11 outside linebacker and No. 106 overall player in the country according to Rivals — picked up his Michigan offer as he was heading into high school and always kept the Wol- verines in the forefront of his mind. "Michigan was my first offer, and when I went up to visit that March, I hadn't really seen anything yet," Mullings explained. "I had been to Boston College once and that was about it, but I loved Michigan from the jump." Once Michigan hit on a lot of points for Mullings, he started doing more research and asking as many people as he could about their re- cruitments in order to avoid pitfalls during his own process. "I talked to a lot of college football players and ex-players," Mullings said. "They told me that you have to want it and know that it's right and really love it. There can't be any doubts in your head about where you're going to be. "That was really my goal through- out the whole process. As I went out to all of these other schools, Michi- gan always stayed at or near the top. Schools rotated a little bit, but Mich- igan was always a constant. They were always in the conversation. "I didn't want to miss out on that or move away from something that was always in the mix." Michigan defensive coordinator and New England legend Don Brown is a big reason for that in Mullings' case. The rising senior linebacker has had a long-standing relationship with Brown, and at the end of the day he loved the idea of playing for a coach like "Donny." "At a camp, I got a chance to see Coach Brown in action and feel what it's like, and that was great," Mullings explained. "I feel like that pushed me toward my decision a little bit. It feels great knowing I'm going to play for him. "Being able to play for that de- fense, that team and that school un- der Coach Brown is a dream come true. Both Coach Brown and Coach [Jim] Harbaugh — it doesn't get any better than that. "There's no way I could be any happier anywhere else." Mullings' coach vouches for Brown as well. Like many high school coaches in the Northeast, Milton Academy head coach Kevin Mac- Donald really holds Brown in high regard. "Don has big-time New England roots," MacDonald said. "I've known Don since the mid or early '80s. He started building a relationship with Kalel when he was right on the cusp of turning 14. Don has been all over him for years, and Don is a great recruiter." Mullings played the majority of his sophomore and junior seasons with pretty significant injuries, so postseason awards and noteworthy statistics are hard to come by. Still, he is billed as the best to ever come out of Milton Academy and has all of the tools to be great at U-M if he can remain healthy. — Brandon Brown Michigan Never Faded For Kalel Mullings Rivals rates Mullings as a four-star prospect, the No. 2 player in Massachusetts, and the No. 11 outside linebacker and No. 106 overall recruit in the class of 2020. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM FILM EVALUATION Strengths: Kalel Mullings runs well, is aggressive, makes a lot of tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage and plays with a high level of intelligence. He is not the biggest or the fastest linebacker, but he has good speed, is naturally athletic and just does everything well. He is also a great kid who will thrive both on and off the field at a place like Michigan. Areas Of Improvement: Durability has been somewhat of an issue for Mull- ings. Even his high school coach talked about him getting hurt the last few years so that's cause for concern. When he's on the field and healthy, Mullings is ab- solutely a difference maker on defense. Hopefully, he can buck the injury trend and stay healthy as a Wolverine. Michigan Player Comparison: Because Mullings has the athleticism and versa- tility to play a couple of different linebacker spots and even shines as a running back in high school, he compares favorably to former Wolverine Ian Gold. Mull- ings (6-2, 220) is already a little bigger than Gold (6-1, 213) was when he finished at Michigan, but they're built similarly and seem to have pretty comparable skills that include good speed, aggressiveness and solid tackling ability. — Analysis from TheWolverine.com