The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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52 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2021 MICHIGAN RECRUITING in the Pacific Northwest. They also had a chance to get to know and eval- uate Nabou, who was on campus for an unofficial visit just a few days prior. The Rivals.com three-star prospect committed to Washington on the first day of June, but immediately began to make visits. After a south- ern swing and a low-key trip to Ann Arbor, Nabou decided to completely open his recruitment and backed out of his verbal pledge to the Huskies. Like Conerly, Nabou is looking to make a visit to Michigan for the game against Washington. U-M is high on his list along with Texas A&M, USC and others. WILL JOHNSON ENJOYS LATEST MICHIGAN VISIT Michigan hosted a number of key re- cruits for visits in June, including five- star cornerback commit Will Johnson. The Grosse Pointe (Mich.) South product was back in Ann Arbor for the second week in a row after tak- ing an unofficial visit on June 11. This time around, Johnson spent three days on campus and got an in-depth look at his future home. A legacy recruit, Johnson grew up around Michigan and is very familiar with the program, but a few parts of the trip caught his attention and helped him learn more. "I would say the player panel stuck out to me," Johnson said. "It was just the recruits, the players and the par- ents. There were no coaches. We got to ask questions. They told us how they felt — good and bad. "They talked about the new staff and how they were motivated. I liked the strength and conditioning program with Ben Herbert and what they had to say about name, image and likeness." Johnson — who is ranked as the No. 4 cornerback and No. 15 overall pros- pect nationally by Rivals.com — made an official visit to USC earlier in June and has been giving the Trojans an op- portunity to at least hang around in his recruitment. The time at U-M, however, made him feel even better about his decision to side with the Wolverines. "This visit showed me the type of class we can have at Michigan and what's building there right now," Johnson said. "It helped me real- ize that if we keep staying with it, we should be good. I spent a lot of time with [fellow 2022 recruits] Kody [Jones], Walter [Nolen], Mario [Eu- genio] and Deone [Walker]. "We all bonded. I think that helped because we can all feed off of each other." A big part of the trip for Michigan was winning over Johnson's mother. Johnson admitted after the visit to USC that his mother loved her time in Los Angeles and was high on the Trojans. Now, she seems more com- fortable with U-M. "After the USC visit, she was re- ally feeling USC," Johnson said. "She wanted to get up to Michigan and see it. I think this visit showed her why Michigan is the right place for me. She sat through the academic and branding presentations. "It was her first time meeting all the coaching staff. She also got to meet all the other recruits' moms, so it went good for her." As Johnson mentioned, he had an opportunity to hang out with several of Michigan's top targets this cycle. The group really had a chance to con- nect at a pool party at the home of head coach Jim Harbaugh. "Everybody was going to hang out at the facilities, but Coach Harbaugh wanted us to go to his house," John- son said. "It was good. Everybody connected there. All the recruits had fun in the pool. We played some games and some basketball. [Balti- more Ravens head coach] John Har- baugh was there. It was just fun." Johnson will be back for another visit later this summer. DAVONTE MILES STILL SOLID TO MICHIGAN Davonte Miles has been grinding this offseason. The three-star 2022 Michigan de- fensive tackle commit out of River Rouge (Mich.) High reshaped his body and now looks the part of a high-end versatile, athletic prospect in the trenches. Miles flashed some of his upside at June's Sound Mind Sound Body camp at Ferris State, which featured the U-M coaching staff and was where he had strong one-on-one reps against several top-tier offensive line recruits. Just a day before working out in front of the Michigan staff, Miles was in Ann Arbor for Detroit Day and enjoyed his time on campus. "It was fun," Miles said. "I met Coach [Shaun] Nua, Coach [Jim] Harbaugh, Coach [Sherrone] Moore, Coach [Steve] Clinkscale and Coach [Ron] Bellamy. I got to hang out with some of my buddies that go there like [freshman] Rayshaun [Benny]. "Everything was great. I really liked the facilities and all of that." Miles spent extended time with Nua, Michigan's defensive line coach, dur- ing his trip and spoke in-depth about preparing to get to the next level. "We talked about how I can de- velop my body before college," Miles said. "We also talked about working on my hip mobility and doing chin- ups. It was more about preparing myself for college. It was fun per- forming in front of him at the camp." Miles added that he also had posi- tive interactions with Harbaugh. "It was really cool getting to know him," Miles said. "He's really enthu- siastic. He was funny. I like his energy a lot." The 6-5, 265-pound Miles — who is listed as the No. 25 prospect in Michi- gan — is fully locked in with Michigan and has no plans to visit other schools. His focus is on luring more top tal- ent to Ann Arbor. And that starts with friend and four-star defensive tackle Deone Walker of Detroit Cass Tech. "I'm trying to recruit Deone Walker," Miles said. "He's an all- around good player. It would be fun to play with him. We could have a three-headed dragon with me, Deone and Rayshaun [Benny]." ❏ Michigan cornerback commit Will Johnson visited Ann Arbor on back-to-back week- ends in June, including a three-day trip that gave him an in-depth look at his future home. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM