The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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can build your offense around him. I do see Raheem becoming a starter at Michigan. I do see Raheem being a great player there. I see Raheem becoming an Academic All-Big Ten player as well. He's a very smart kid. He's been a great leader for us. He'll be a great leader there, too." Ranked as the No. 2 center and No. 166 overall pros- pect in the country by Rivals.com, An- derson was named to the Detroit Free Press' state of Michi- gan Dream Team as a senior, and is ex- pected to make an early impact in Ann Arbor. He was recruited as a center with guard flexibility, but Wilcher believes the touted prospect should stick to the former. After all, Anderson has been Cass Tech's starting center since he was just a freshman — the school's first four-year starter along the offensive line — and helped lead the team on several deep playoff runs. "He's a center," Wilcher noted. "I'll say this, if you're an offensive line coach, it's very hard to teach someone to snap the ball and block. He has to do two things before he can come off and block. He has to learn the snap count and snap it. Those are the first two things. Then you have to deliver a push and block. Now that's four things. If you can find somebody that can do four things and be successful at it, it's a plus. "If you have a quarterback on the of- fensive line, that's another plus. If you have someone that will always get the blocking schemes right, that's another big plus. Those are all the values that he brings to the field. He's going to understand the blocking schemes, how to teach block- ing schemes and set the path." Anderson is al- ready on campus as an early enrollee and has a set of goals for his first se- mester with the program. "I'm expecting to come in and do what I have to do in the weight room," Anderson said. "I want to improve my body and improve my health. I want to improve my diet. I also want to get ac- climated to the academics. That's what I'm looking to do my first semester." Beyond that, well, Anderson has some pretty lofty expectations. "I think we're going to be a national championship contender by the time we're seniors," he said. "We're going to be in that top four." ❑ Anderson was a leader on and off the field at Detroit Cass Tech, where he was coached by former Wolverine running back Thomas Wilcher. PHOTO BY EJ HOLLAND RAHEEM ANDERSON OFFENSIVE LINEMAN 6-3 • 298 CASS TECHNICAL H.S. DETROIT RANKINGS STARS NAT. POS. STATE ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ 166 2* 7 ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ — 4* 11 ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ 241 3* 6 * Ranked at center HONORS • Selected to the Detroit Free Press 2020 state of Michigan Dream Team. • Tabbed first-team All-State by the Associated Press. • Landed on The Detroit News' 'Blue Chip Recruit' list as a senior. • Named to the Detroit Public School League (PSL) All-City and All-PSL Divi- sion 1-2 teams as a senior. RECRUITMENT • Committed to Michigan April 12, 2020. • Also had offers from Kentucky, LSU, Michigan State, Nebraska, Notre Dame and others. • Recruited by former offensive line coach Ed Warinner. DID YOU KNOW? • Was coached at Cass Tech by Thomas Wilcher, a former Michigan running back and college teammate of U-M head coach Jim Harbaugh. • The Technicians enjoyed a perfect regular season (6-0), before advancing to the regional finals his senior year. • Four-year starter and three-year team captain that was a key piece to an offense that averaged 38.2 points per game in 2020 (not including the one win by forfeit). • Also lettered as a member of the track and field team, and ranked top 15 in school history for both the dis- cus and shot put. • Enrolled early at U-M and con- tinues the school's strong pipe- line from Cass Tech. THEY SAID IT • Rivals.com Midwest recruit- ing analyst Josh Helmholdt: "You look at those guys who are true offensive centers, like [former U-M center] Cesar Ruiz, like Raheem An- derson, and what coaches have to see out of those guys is there's a threshold they all have to cross. The snap to set or that snap to first step has to be instantaneous. You have to have a guy who can snap the football almost like he's chewing gum. It has to be second nature to him, and from the very beginning, Raheem Anderson has been able to do that." MARCH 2021 THE WOLVERINE 35 2021 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE