The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MICHIGAN RECRUITING Tidewater Coastal areas of Virginia — are long shots to end up at Michigan. Still, the Richmond connection can continue to pay off for the Maize and Blue. Building connections in the area have helped being five‑star Green, three‑star Speight and four‑star Tay‑ lor to the Michigan program already. In time, the returns should continue to grow, especially with ace recruiter Roy Manning (now coaching corner‑ backs after previously serving as out‑ side linebackers coach) covering that geographic area. DAELIN HAYES DELAYS DECISION Michigan's 2016 class got off to a strong start in November when Downers Grove (Ill.) South offen‑ sive lineman Erik Swenson, a 6‑5, 290‑pounder who is likely to earn an early four‑star ranking, became the first to commit. Swenson's group has come close to growing on a couple oc‑ casions, but he has yet to pick up his first future classmate. The latest sophomore with a U‑M offer to plan — then delay — a likely Michigan commitment is Or‑ chard Lake (Mich.) St. Mary's line‑ backer/athlete Daelin Hayes. The 6‑3, 225‑pounder held offers from U‑M, Michigan State and Tennessee when he set up a commitment ceremony for the Rivals Camp Series in Detroit April 27. However, in the weeks be‑ fore his planned pledge, he picked up an offer from Wisconsin and chose to delay his announcement. While Michigan is still the favorite for Hayes, he cited his preference for taking several visits around the coun‑ try before totally shutting down his recruitment. Michigan is still high on the list for the likely four‑star player, but he won't pull the trigger until he is ready to end other schools' pursuit of his services. A similar situation arose for the Wolverines in February, when Tra‑ verse City (Mich.) West offensive line‑ man Thiyo Lukusa visited campus with designs on ending his recruit‑ ing process in favor of Michigan. The 6‑5, 300‑pounder instead chose to stay open to all interested schools. Like with Hayes, Michigan is con‑ sidered the favorite to eventually land Lukusa, but he would like to see some other schools in person (coinci‑ dentally, including Wisconsin) before shutting things down with a solid ver‑ bal commitment. At this time in 2013, Michigan had picked up six commitments in Class of 2016 linebacker/athlete Daelin Hayes of Orchard Lake (Mich.) St. Mary's has received offers from U-M, Michigan State, Tennessee and Wisconsin. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM