Michigan strength coach Jon Sanderson breaks down development of newcomers

Michigan Wolverines basketball had several returning players stick around in the spring to work with strength coach Jon Sanderson, whose offseason workout cycle has long been dubbed “Camp Sanderson.” The unique challenge of this season, and a growing trend in college basketball, though, is that Michigan has seven newcomers on the roster.

With so many new faces, Sanderson and Co. don’t have much time to work with its new players before the Nov. 7 start to the season. At the same time, Sanderson reported on the Defend The Block podcast with host and radio play-by-play commentator Brian Boesch, Michigan’s newcomers have made big strides this offseason.

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Sanderson, who’s in his 21st year as a strength coach and entering his 14th season at Michigan, is confident the 2022-23 version of Michigan basketball can have success, but admitted that it’s truly hard to tell how a team will come together until the season begins.

“Every year during the fall going into the winter time, you’re always curious like, how good is this team?” Sanderson said. “And it’s funny, I’ve been a part of three Final Four teams in my career — one as a player at Ohio State and two here. And even going back to ‘13 or our ‘18 teams, I didn’t necessarily say, ‘This is for sure a Final Four team that can win it all.’ So you just never know. 

“Having said all of that, I feel really good about this team. I think that this team is really solid. I think we have  a lot of really talented players, a lot of nice pieces. Obviously, having a [junior center] Hunter Dickinson back is invaluable. A dominant player that I love his competitive spirit, I love that he gets after guys and just competes. I love that about him.

“I think he’s got enough shooting and pieces around him for this to be a very good team. But again, it’s early. You don’t really know until you get into it, but I think that this team has everything we need to be a special team, and we’ll see how the chemistry, the camaraderie of the team and how we develop, the culture, everything about this team. All signs are looking good. I can’t wait to see.”

Jett Howard

Michigan junior guard Jace Howard has made tremendous progress with his body since arriving in Ann Arbor to play for his father. The 6-7 guard who also plays down low at times has put on 15 pounds, per the U-M roster, and added explosiveness. Freshman guard Jett Howard is also coming along, but in a different way.

“Jett’s different. He’s a little bit bigger,” Sanderson explained. “I think Jace came in at 205, somewhere around the 205 window. Jett is at the 214, 215 window. With Jett, there’s more of a need to develop explosiveness, but not gain weight. Jace had to get 15 to 20 pounds on him to compete at this level. A little bit different type of player — more of a physical, kind of a banger, more of a motor guy, great perimeter defender. So they are very different, so their training needs are different.

“With Jett, I find myself maybe depleting the upper-body development because I don’t want to get him too big, and really being all in on jump training. He had a long history of ankle sprains and ankle injuries through high school, so we do an obscene amount of extra shoes-off work with him, every day. He’s the last one to leave every day. His shoes are off, we’re working on his ankles, his feet, just to build stability and restore the function of his ankles. So there are not guarantees with that, so I know that’s what he needs.”

Dug McDaniel

Michigan freshman point guard Dug McDaniel is diminutive in size but is turning heads in the preseason. He’ll play a role this winter and see time early and often.

“Dug is in that 5-10, 5-10.5 range, obviously the smaller end of point guards that we’ve had here, next to [former Michigan point guard] Mike Smith,” Sanderson said. “We’ve had a lot of those 5-11.5 to 6-1 guys, so he’s a little shorter.

“But his burst and his explosiveness on the floor is special. Our fan base is going to really enjoy watching him. He’s just a fun player to watch. He does things that very few can do.

“Dug came in at 158 pounds. His day one weigh in with me was 158. I looked at him and I was like, ‘We’ve got some work to do.’ We made a short-term goal of, we gotta get to 165. I’m a big fan of smaller, incremental goals. And I want guys to have a vision for what they can become, because I’ve done this long enough, I see what they can become. Early, they have to see it. I told him, I said, ‘I think your body type can get into that 180, 185 range, all day, and when you do, you’re going to be really hard to guard, you’re going to be a force on the floor, even in spite of your 5-10.5 frame.’ So he’s currently right in that 168-169 window.

“He’s gained 10, 11 pounds, just knocking on the door of 170. He’s already close to that secondary goal — it was 165 first, 170 was second. And honestly, we’re going to do the same thing. Once he sustains 170 for a week or two and achieves that goal, we’ll move on to 175 until we get to that 180 or 185 range. He’s a guy that’s really tight.

“We have to get him bigger and stronger. He’s super explosive, but he’s a guy that needs to move better. He’s very tight through his hips, through his ankles, and he’s a guy that had a history of some tight back and things that are just a product of being tight. So we’re working through all of those things right now, but his body is blossoming. He’s developing really nicely for such a short time. To already gain 10, 11 pounds — you can see he’s stronger. Again, our fan base is going to enjoy watching him for years to come.”

Tarris Reed Jr. and Gregg Glenn III

Michigan brought in two big bodies in forwards Tarris Reed Jr. and Gregg Glenn III. Their body types are different, and so are their positions and playing styles, but Sanderson has them doing some similar things off the court.

“They’re similar in that they’re both big, physical bodies,” Sanderson said. “Obviously, Tarris is more of a ‘5’ and Gregg is more of a ‘4,’ just based on height. One is 6-7, one is 6-10-and-change. They both are going to really develop a lot, and efficiency is the word that stands out to me. Losing some of that baby fat, just gaining some lean mass and just getting leaner and more explosive, and all around improving their motors. 

“Guys like that spend a lot more time doing things like our Versaclimber, one of those things that we do for conditioning. It’s non-impact. I love it. It’s a great way to get them in great shape, lose some of that fat mass, but it doesn’t wear out joints. Their knees feel good, and their backs feel good, versus just running them on the court.

“They are very similar in that they both need to be more efficient with their bodies and lean out a little bit. Guys like that will always jump a little higher, run a little faster. Their ability to decelerate, reaccelerate — we call it agility. All of the movements on the court are a product of decelerating and reaccelerating.

“They’re different than a Dug McDaniel. They don’t need 20, 25 pounds to be elite in this league. They technically don’t need to gain a pound. They just need to reorganize, if you will, their composition.”

Youssef Khayat

Michigan freshman forward Youssef Khayat was plucked right out of Lebanon and the French youth league. He joined the team on its trip to Europe in August, came to U-M around the beginning of September and is physically impressive.

“He really impressed me early on,” the Michigan strength coach revealed. “He participated in our conditioning test with minimal preparation. It was probably four or five days from October 1st — maybe the 25th, 26th, 27th, I don’t know, somewhere in there. And he got here in early September. 

“The rest of the team, the other 15 guys, were here at the end of June prepping and developing and getting ready — not just for the conditioning test, but getting their bodies prepared for the season. But he stepped right in with minimal preparation, passed our test convincingly. Wasn’t a problem for him.

“He’s got length, he’s got a skill set. I see a kid that knows how to play, but he’s also a kid that there’s a big developmental portion of Youssef. He’s a kid that came in at 190 pounds, and he’s just shy of 6-8 with his shoes on. He’s just shy of 6-7 with his shoes off. He’s a kid that will have to gain 20, 25 pounds to really maximize his abilities. He will need to get in that 215, 220 range, is what I see from him, because he’s got the length to carry it.”

Jaelin Llewellyn and Joey Baker

Michigan added two graduate transfers in point guard Jaelin Llewellyn (Princeton) and guard Joey Baker (Duke). The latter had hip surgery at the end of last season with the Blue Devils but is nearing 100 percent even though Michigan has given him some rest during preseason practices. Sanderson said it’s been a different process for him since Baker was combining training with his rehab process.

Llewellyn, though, has made a major jump — and it was intentional due to the rise in competition from the Ivy League to the Big Ten.

“Jaelin played a lot at Princeton, came in here, had tremendous length for his position at 6-2 and change, 6-2-and-a-half or so,” Sanderson began of the Michigan point guard. “He weighed 178 when he got here. And I remember on his visit, ‘We gotta get you to 190. We gotta get you bigger, more physical. The Big Ten’s a little different. You see a different breed of point guards and guards in this league, and the physicality is very different than the mid-major level.’ But he has a frame to carry it, so he developed nicely.

“He got up to 190 within, I want to say it took two months. He went from 178 to 190. The hard thing is, getting them to gain 10 or 12 pounds oftentimes isn’t crazy difficult — it’s sustaining it. You get a flu bug or you get something and then you lose it, and then you gotta fight to get it back. So we’re kinda in that window right now where we’re trying to sustain that upper 180s and 190 range.

“He’s done very nicely with his development all through the summer. He’s done a great job. He’ll be a nice addition.”