The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1544920
JUNE/JULY 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 37 2026 BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY CLAYTON SAYFIE T here are risks with bringing in a player coming off back-to-back season-ending injuries, head coach Dusty May said, but there are also po- tential rewards. LSU transfer forward Jalen Reed in- jured his ACL in December 2024 and tore his Achilles tendon in Novem- ber 2025, amounting to the 6-foot-10, 245-pounder competing in only 14 con- tests over the last two seasons. Reed needs to get fully healthy first, but he has the chance to become an underrated transfer portal pickup. The Tigers posted losing records in each of the last two seasons, but Reed was performing as one of the best players on the team when healthy, and his inju- ries played a part in the team's struggles during SEC play. In 2025-26, Reed av- eraged 9.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in six appearances. In 2024-25, he put up 11.1 points, 6.5 boards, 1.3 assists and 1 block per outing in eight games. Michigan assistant Akeem Miskdeen recruited Reed out of high school when the coach was at Florida, so there was a prior relationship. Reed spoke with May on Zoom calls during his portal recruit- ment, and the staff came away with the impression that he wanted to join Michi- gan "for all the right reasons." That feeling lines up with what LSU writer Shea Dixon of The Bengal Tiger has gleaned about Reed during his time covering him. Dixon described Reed — a team captain for LSU last season — as an "extremely high-character kid." "He's totally the type that would go to Michigan and be like, 'I don't care if I'm coming off the bench,'" Dixon con- tinued. "He's a guy who young guys can look at and follow. Even if he hasn't been in your program, he picks up the system pretty quickly." Not only that, but Reed is a "connec- tor" — something that May believes is one of the most underrated traits in to- day's game. "My guess is that Dusty May sees him as a guy who understands the game and is a guy that when he gets the ball is going to make the right read, and who keeps the offense flowing instead of sud- denly you hit a wall because he didn't see what's happening and having to re- set," Dixon said. "Your offense will keep flowing when you have him in the game, because he knows exactly what he's do- ing at all times." Though Reed has been sidelined the majority of the last two seasons, he pos- sesses a good deal of experience. Enter- ing his fifth year of college basketball, he's appeared in 79 career contests with 39 starts. "When he was getting minutes earlier in his career in the SEC, he was play- ing really good competition," Dixon said. "He's faced good basketball before." Reed, who played high school at Southern California Academy, can drib- ble, shoot, pass and score at the rim. "He's definitely a guy who can play a small ball '5' or could be that guy off the bench or starting, depending on the team — maybe not at Michigan," Dixon said. "Traditionally, he's a '4,' given his size. Definitely a great rebounder. He's the type that defensively that's a big fo- cus for him, but offensively he can get you boards. "But in his time here, he was a pretty highly efficient scorer. He was never forcing shots. Even at 6-foot-10, 240 — at least how they played him here — he was a face-up forward. So, he was put- ting the ball on the floor, he could finish and get to the line. "It was evident he's a high-IQ guy that was trying to get other people's bigs in foul trouble in the first half and didn't mind coming off the bench during his career. He stuck around after two injuries in the portal era and only left when [head coach Matt] McMahon got fired, so this was a guy who stuck around LSU and could've left, especially a year ago when they brought so many portal guys in and he was one of the guys that stayed." ❑ High Character LSU Transfer Jalen Reed Is Impressive In A Multitude Of Ways By The Numbers • Reed checked in as the No. 173 overall player and No. 47 power forward in the transfer portal this offseason, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. • Started 39 of 79 games played in the last four years at LSU, despite season-ending inju- ries the last two campaigns. • A strong scorer on the interior, Reed converted on 68.4 percent of his shots at the rim and 44.4 percent of his other in-the-paint twos in six games in 2025-26, per CBB Analytics. He was averaging 9.5 points and 5.7 rebounds at the time of his injury. • Averaged a career-best 11.1 points and 6.5 rebounds in 2024-25, starting all eight games in which he played. • In his most recent complete campaign in 2023-24, Reed averaged 7.9 points and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 54.4 percent on twos (81-of-149) and 39.4 percent on threes (13- of-33) as a sophomore. • Coming out of high school in 2022, Reed was a four-star prospect and the No. 50 player and No. 9 power forward nationally per On3. Reed suffered serious injuries for the Tigers the last two seasons, but he averaged 11.1 points and 6.5 rebounds in eight games in 2024-25, and 9.5 points and 5.7 boards in six games in 2025-26. PHOTO COURTESY LSU ATHLETICS