The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1488967
JANUARY 2023 THE WOLVERINE 51 MICHIGAN RECRUITING NOTEBOOK BY EJ HOLLAND W ith December's National Signing Day in the review mirror, Michigan will now turn its attention to the late sign- ing period, which is set to begin on Feb. 1. Only a handful of uncommitted tar- gets remain on board given that most high school prospects now opt to sign during the early window. However, arguably the most important Michigan recruit is still out there — five-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor. The Washington (D.C.) Archbishop Carroll football and track star has a top grouping of Michigan, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, LSU and Miami, and he has already used official visits on the first three. That means Harbor has two remaining visits for January. U-M is working hard to get him back on campus for an unofficial visit at some point during the month, but that has yet to be scheduled. For now, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy and the rest of the staff will continue to recruit Harbor and his family every single day. "Coach Harbaugh has been saying the same thing," Harbor said. "He wants me at Michigan so bad. He's really showing it. He's a cool coach. My coach, [Carroll offensive coordinator] Joshua Morgan, played for him in the NFL and loves him. He always tells me how great of coach he was, and I'm seeing it. "Coach Bellamy and I have talked about what positions I'm going to be playing after high school. He talked about letting me eat in the Michigan offense and hope- fully being the No. 1 pick in the draft one day. We have a really great relationship." Harbor, who is the No. 1 athlete and No. 18 overall recruit nationally per the On3 Consensus, was originally listed as a pass rusher but now prefers to play on the offensive side of the ball at the next level — either at wide receiver or tight end. This will allow Harbor to preserve his body for track. Along with his football aspirations, Harbor, who boasts a blazing 10.22 speed in the 100 meters, has dreams of becoming an Olympic sprinter. Har- bor plans to play football and run track at whichever school he lands. Academics matter to him, too. Harbor's mother, Saundra, is a phar- macist, while his father, Azuka, is a con- tamination control engineer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Harbor himself is a 4.0 student, and the family has been thoroughly impressed with U- M's academic presentation. "It's top-notch," Azuka said. "That's one of the key things. They have a won- derful education. Before we went there, we found out that his two dentist doctors were Michigan alumni. His track coach, Pam [Crockett], is also a Michigan alum. "There are a lot of Michigan connec- tions around here." PAIR OF DEFENSIVE LINEMEN ALSO ON MICHIGAN'S FEBRUARY WISH LIST Aside from Harbor, Michigan has its eyes set on a pair of defensive linemen. A top Midwest target still on the board is three-star Chicago Marist defensive lineman Jamel Howard. A former team- mate of 2022 signee Jimmy Rolder, How- ard made an unofficial visit for the Wol- verines' win over Illinois and returned to Michigan for an official visit during the last weekend before the dead period. Michigan is considered the leader in this recruitment, but the Wolverines will have to fend off Big Ten bunkmates Illinois and Wisconsin as well as the SEC's LSU and Ole Miss for the mam- moth 6-foot-3, 320-pound nose tackle. "I know they are a great academic school," Howard said. "They like to re- cruit good character guys from my area. With them having Jimmy [Rolder] at their school, they were surprised that they hadn't seen me before. … I just re- spect Jimmy. I would love to play with him again." In addition to Howard, Michigan is also starting to turn up the heat on three- star Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon defensive lineman Cameron Brandt. The West Coast native has been committed to Stanford since July but the program parted ways with head coach David Shaw. Stanford hired new head man Troy Taylor from Sacramento State Dec. 12, but Brandt opted not to sign with the Cardinal on the Dec. 21 early signing day. Michigan offered Brandt before he picked Stanford and is now working to get him on campus for an official visit in January. Cal, Texas, UCLA and Washing- ton are other programs expected to make a late push to flip him. Michigan still could explore other options as well, but as things stand heading into the Christmas holiday, Harbor, Howard and Brandt are the Wolverines' big three targets for the February late signing period. ❏ Five-Star Athlete Nyckoles Harbor Tops U-M's Remaining 2023 Targets Harbor, the No. 1 athlete and No. 18 overall recruit nationally per the On3 Consensus, has said his focus will be on offense in college — either as a receiver or tight end. PHOTO COURTESY CHAD SIMMONS/ON3.COM