The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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COMMITMENT PROFILE "I think if you saw our film throughout the year, he played ex- tremely well as a drop-back passer," Valor Christian head coach Rod Sher- man said. "Then just he just has a great feel in the pocket, I think he's got a great feeling for that piece of it. "Especially in the playoffs, we relied a little bit more on his legs, and he ended up being our leading rusher. He was able to get us three to five first downs a game with his legs in addition to what he could do with his arm. "The other thing that a lot of peo- ple didn't notice, he got us into the right play so much with kills and alerts at the line of scrimmage, that really allowed us to be in the right play against the defense. The combi- nation of those three things are going to make him a really special quar- terback at the next level. He will be awesome." McCaffrey led his team to a 12-2 re- cord and state championship in Colo- rado's largest division. For the sea- son, he completed 207 of 320 passes (64.7 percent) for 2,800 yards (8.8 yards per attempt) with 27 touch- downs and just four interceptions. The Denver Post preps editor Neil Devlin has seen plenty of football in the area in his 36 years on the beat. By the time his senior year is completed next fall, McCaffrey has a chance to be the best Devlin has witnessed in the Centennial State. "Our football is OK here, but usu- ally we're a state that produces line- men more than anything, as opposed to skill players," Devlin explained. "We just don't have the population base that other states do: we're not that dense. "After his senior year, I'll probably say that he's about as good as I've seen here, for sure." For Michigan to close on McCaf- frey was no small feat. With both parents former Stanford student-ath- letes, and older brothers who played in Palo Alto and for Duke (where ma- ternal grandfather Dave Sime once held the world record in the 100-yard dash and won the silver medal in the 100 meters at the 1960 Olympics), there were plenty of ties to other pro- grams. Despite that — and perhaps thanks in part to not receiving an offer from the Cardinal — U-M got its man. "Coach Harbaugh is such a great coach," McCaffrey said. "That's espe- cially true for the quarterback posi- tion. They're a program that's on the rise, and it's really going to pick back up to the historic program it's been in the past. Things are headed in a good direction with great coaching and great recruiting classes." The 6-4, 185-pound McCaffrey is the latest sign of that outstanding re- cruiting momentum. After signing the nation's No. 4 class in 2016, Harbaugh has taken another step in the right di- rection, landing the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback and No. 39 overall pros- pect in the nation. The task for McCaf- frey and his future coaches becomes surrounding him (and his four fellow commitments) with more champion- ship-caliber talent. — Tim Sullivan