A Saturday to Remember

What an incredible day and night we enjoyed yesterday.  This was to be a huge recruiting weekend with several big names on campus; little did we know how big it would be.  There were also a pair of pretty big games on campus that Michigan really needed to win.  As the dust settled on February 18th, 2012, the Wolverines had secured SIX four-star commitments for the class of 2013, the hockey team won in overtime on Senior Night, and the basketball team beat Ohio.  Let's recap, shall we?

Shortly after noon (ET) came the first commitment of the day in the form of 6'5" 285 pound Offensive Tackle Kyle Bosch.  I think Bosch will end up playing Guard for the Wolverines, but he plays Tackle for his high school.  He is considered by Rivals to be four stars, the #60 overall player in the country, and comes to us from Wheaton, IL (St. Francis).  Bosch picked Michigan over offers from Alabama, Arizona, ASU, BC, Illinois, Iowa, Miami, MSU, Ole Miss, Mizzou, Nebraska, UNC, ND, Stanford, Tennessee, and West Virginia among others.

Bosch had this to say to EDGYTIM about why he chose the Maize and Blue over his other impressive offers ($):

I think I talked to everyone at Michigan and it's just a great school and a great football program. I just always felt at home at Michigan and they just care about me as a person. I thought about making my decision last night but I decided to sleep on it. I got up this morning and knew I wanted to commit.

Less than 30 minutes later, another four star pledged to the Wolverines, this time it was 6'3" 255 pound athlete Wyatt Shallman out of Detroit Catholic Central (teammate of 2012 DL Matt Godin).  Shallman is a power back/FB/U-back/TE/DE.  Michigan has told him they were recruiting him to be a bruising tailback, but he is athletic enough (and big enough) to be used in quite a few different ways and there has already been significant speculation that he will outgrow the RB spot and end up at DE before long.  For now, he is a RB/FB and he kind of reminds me of a more athletic Aaron Shea.

Shallman is ranked the #160 prospect overall and his other offers include Cincinnati, MSU, and Syracuse.  Several other big programs were interested in him but had not yet offered.  Wyatt himself on becoming a Wolverine ($):

 "There are a lot of things that sold me, but [mainly] it's just their consistency and hard work," Shallman said. "There were people in there during free gym today running routes, so that's what I want to be a part of."

In keeping with the Hoke Era tradition, the next commitments came as a pair as well.  About an hour and a half after Shallman, the Cass Tech pipeline was extended for another year as teammates David Dawson and Jourdan Lewis announced they too were Blue.

Dawson is a 6'5" 305 pound OL that I also think will end up at Guard in college.  He spent his first two years at Cass, then moved with his family just outside Houston for this past year, and has now moved back to Cass.  He actually didn't have an offer from Michigan until he got to campus yesterday.  Dawson is also rated four stars, the #199 overall player, and committed over offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida State, Mizzou, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and West Virginia among a handful of others.

Lewis carries on the tradition of CBs to come to Ann Arbor from Cass Tech, most recently from class of 2012 standout Terry Richardson.  Lewis is a bit different than his predecessors in that he's a bit less diminutive.  He is listed at 5'11" 170 pounds and that seems to be fairly accurate from some of the people that have seen him in person and interviewed him.  Jourdan is another four star, the #167 player in the country, and had his only other offer from Toledo.  He was hearing from Alabama, MSU, and OSU but I kind of suspect that his lack of other offers comes from other schools conceding him to U-M and not because of a lack of interest.

The Cass Tech duo brought a temporary end to the focus on future Wolverines and shifted it to present ones.  The hockey team was hosting Northern Michigan at Yost last night and it was Senior Night.  Box score goes here.  In a nutshell, Shawn Hunwick got his 20th win of the season in dramatic fashion as A.J. Treais scored his 15th goal of the season 1:20 into overtime.  A quick muppet sponsored  note from MGo tell us that win moves the Wolverines up to #2 in the PWR.

All of this makes for a huge Saturday by itself, but the biggest event on campus yesterday was a showdown with the Buckeyes on the hardwood.  College Gameday was even in town for the event and broadcast from the Crisler Center floor yesterday morning.  With the Bucks (and Sparty) a game ahead of the Wolverines in the Big Ten standings, this was as big as they get if Michigan is going to win the conference regular season crown.  Trey Burke's weaving runner off the backboard in the final minute put away what was a tough and emotional win for John Beilein's group.  My favorite stat from last night's game?  Ohio State never led in the game.  Great job by the whole team on both ends of the floor and give it up for this coaching staff too.  BTN highlights:

As if all this weren't enough, Brady Hoke would get in the last words of the night with two more commitments.  As the basketball game was winding down, the Wolverines welcomed in another huge lineman, this time Colorado OT Chris Fox.  Fox is a 6'6" 297 pound mauler ranked #46 overall by Rivals.  He was not actually on campus this weekend but was out in Ann Arbor last weekend.

Chris is a true Tackle and will play there in college.  He also seems to have all but wrapped up the honors for the top player in the state of Colorado for this class.  There isn't a lot of film on him out there but from what I have seen, he has the long arms and athleticism to potentially play the coveted blind side Tackle spot.  Fox has apparently been leaning toward Michigan "all the way" and upon seeing the commitment party yesterday felt the time was right to join in.  His other offers include Colorado, Iowa, Ohio State, and Purdue.

Again with the pairs, someone had to join Chris to make things right and that someone turned out to be Pickerington, OH DE Taco Charlton.  Charlton was on campus yesterday with the rest of the guys and took in the game last night as well.  He tweeted something about sitting in the first row right next to Greg Mattison and I should have known that with Mattison in his ear it was only a matter of time.  After the game, he made it official.

Taco is the #183 player in the country (and just a spectacular name).  A 6'6" 240 pound Strongside DE, he commits to Michigan over Cincinnati, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Notre Dame, and Pitt among others.  He is the first defensive lineman to commit for the class of 2013 and the last of a memorable day for Michigan fans.

And thus ends one of the greatest sporting days the University of Michigan has seen in some time.  Six four-star recruits, all in the top 200 in the country, a huge hockey win in OT, and a national TV win over Ohio State to vault the basketball team into the league championship hunt.  I would also like to take a second to toot my own horn a bit.  I would like to point out that all six of yesterday's commits were on my initial class of 2013 projection that I posted last Monday.  And yes, I bought Lotto tickets last night.

What a day.  One I know I won't forget for a long, long time.  The best way I can think to wrap it up is with a hearty HAIL! and of course a GO BLUE!!