The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/144506
commitment profile Defensive Back Brandon Watson Earns U-M Offer And Doesn't Wait Michigan's coaching staff relishes the Wolverine Technique School sum‑ mer camp not only as an opportunity to teach youngsters the game of foot‑ ball, but also to evaluate prospects at‑ tending in hopes of earning a schol‑ arship offer. Each year, a handful of scholarship offers have been issued based on camp performances. Two class of 2014 players earned offers this summer, and both committed less than two weeks later. Elkton (Md.) Eastern Christian Academy teammates Brandon Wat‑ son and Freddy Canteen decided to pledge to Michigan within minutes of one another. "I made my decision yesterday," Wat‑ son said at the time of his commitment. "Me and Freddy talked about it — we want to go to school together. Coach [Dwayne Thomas] set everything up. We got on a conference call with me, Coach Hoke, my mom, my dad, and my coach. We were just talking, I told him that I want to go to Michigan, and I committed to Michigan." The commitment from Watson gave Michigan a second cornerback in the 2014 class and a reason to celebrate. The 6-0, 185-pounder joins five-star prospect Jabrill Peppers in forming a formidable secondary duo. Peppers is known as a physical player, and Wat‑ son sees himself in the same mold. "Physicality is my strength," he said. "I was a bigger corner than most. I'm physical at the line. "If the quarterback's looking for Watson is listed as a three-star prospect, the No. 21 player in Maryland and the No. 56 cornerback in the nation by Rivals.com. photo courtesy rivals.com a route that's deep, and the receiver can't get off the line, that's definitely noticeable. I think I'm just real physi‑ cal, but I'm fast so I can keep up with people as well." Eastern Christian Academy's stop at Michigan summer camp wasn't the only trip the Honey Badgers made over the course of the summer. They went to numerous college camps and the Rivals Five-Star Challenge in New‑ ark, N.J., to get plenty of exposure. That's a positive for the players, whose opportunities to garner college attention during the season were lim‑ ited. Eastern Christian Academy, the