The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1451622
2022 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE 44 THE WOLVERINE MARCH 2022 DAMANI DENT DEFENSIVE BACK 6-0 • 190 TERRY PARKER H.S. JACKSONVILLE, FLA. RANKINGS STARS NAT. POS. STATE ✪ ✪ ✪ 685 63* 95 ✪ ✪ ✪ — 40* 55 ✪ ✪ ✪ — 70* 91 ✪ ✪ ✪ — — — ✪ ✪ ✪ — 62* 84 * Ranked at safety STATISTICS Year Tackles INT PD INT-TD 2021 63 4 8 2 2020 58 3 — — HONORS • Helped Terry Parker to a 7-4 record and an at-large playoff bid as a senior in 2021. RECRUITMENT • Pledged to Michigan Oct. 18, 2021, after picking up his offer from the Maize and Blue in August 2021. • Picked U-M over notable offers from Miami, Florida and Oregon. • Recruited by then-safeties coach Ron Bellamy and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale. DID YOU KNOW? • Led his team in tackles as a senior and totaled 119 interception return yards with two touchdowns. • Two-way player for Terry Parker; caught seven passes for 113 yards and a score as a senior. • Led the team in tackles as a junior and hauled in 17 receptions for 327 yards and two touchdowns. • Born Aug. 9, 2003. BY TIM VERGHESE If you ask Jacksonville (Fla.) Terry Parker defensive back Damani Dent what the biggest accomplishment of his high school career was, he won't talk about his stats, the playoff appearances he helped lead his school to, the 12 offers he landed or his selection to the Pylon All-American Game. "I would say, leaving a legacy with kids that just want to be great," Dent said. "Because at my school, no one had Power Five offers. I'm really the first one to do that. But I stayed at my school. "I could have gone to a bigger school and could have had [offers from] Florida and Miami. I got Florida and Miami late. I could have had all that [earlier] but I stayed solid." Loyalty is important to Dent. It's why he stuck with Terry Parker even when his peers at more prominent high schools were landing offers and he wasn't. It's why he stuck with his commitment to Michigan even when Mario Cristobal told him he dropped defensive backs from Miami's roster to make room for him just days ahead of National Signing Day to try and get him to stay closer to home. Even more important to Dent than loyalty is hard work. In ninth grade, former Louisville standout Calvin Pryor, who was drafted by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft, invited him to his house and instilled a work ethic in him that he carries to this day. "We got to chopping it up and he was like, 'Look man, you can be better than me. So, if you do what you got to do and stay in school, I can help you out with everything. I just need you to do your end,'" Dent said. "So that's what really put me in a mindset of working out, grinding every day." That conversation with Pryor set Dent on his unprecedented path. He stayed true to his word and got to work. Day in and day out, he worked to add something to his game. For the first three years of his high school career, the work went relatively unnoticed. Loyal Damani Dent Has A Jim Harbaugh-Like Love Of Football Dent had opportunities to go to bigger and more prestigious high school football programs, but stayed at Jacksonville (Fla.) Terry Parker. He was also loyal to Michigan despite new Miami head coach Mario Cristobal telling him he dropped defensive backs from the roster to make room for Dent just days before National Signing Day. PHOTO BY EJ HOLLAND Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh on Dent "There are guys you talk to every day — they text me or I text them every day. … That's Damani Dent. It's kind of like looking in the mirror — the enthusiasm, the love of football. He just really, really stands out to me that way." consensus