TheWolverine.com CHAT: Michigan football, hoops, recruiting, more
Our weekly noon chat in which we answer all your questions related to Michigan Wolverines football, basketball, recruiting and more.
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RELATED: INSIDE THE FORT, PART I – Michigan basketball intel
There have been several articles written about Michigan players this spring. Virginia center transfer Olu Oluwatimi, however, has gotten as much attention as anyone.
There are high hopes for the Michigan man in the middle, and he’s lived up to all expectations in the early going. The next step — doing it in a game when he’s got more on his plate.
Virginia didn’t ask the big center to do as much last year in terms of responsibility. It will be different at Michigan. Andrew Vastardis shined in that role last year, and offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore believes Oluwatimi will get it down, too.
“The rules and the base scheme of what we do in the offense has to fit whoever we plug in,” Moore told Jon Jansen on the recent Michigan football In the Trenches podcast. “We have to adjust to them. I think he’s going to have the ability to do that, and be as effective as we were last year doing it.”
In addition, Michigan coaches will have to figure out play calling responsibilities. Josh Gattis has moved on to Miami, and now it’s up to the ‘by committee’ approach. Moore, Matt Weiss and Jim Harbaugh, of course will be involved.
“It’s been awesome,” Moore said. “I’m excited for the opportunity coach gave me to help lead this offense. I had that title last year, but Josh really had the reins, so I was really trying to be as much of a supporter and helper to him, control the O-line and make sure we were good from that standpoint. Kudos to what he did and happy for him.
“But I’m excited for the future and where we’re going. I’ve really just been helping lead the offense, helping day to day, make sure we’re on task and organized and giving the kids the vision of what we’re going to be and how we do things and continue to be successful.”
We talk about that and more possible potential portal movement in our chat.
Michigan basketball — what’s next?
Juwan Howard added Princeton guard Jaelin Llewellyn from the transfer portal. Is that it for Michigan basketball?
The answer — maybe. It depends on what happens with Michigan freshmen Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate and the NBA Draft.
We talk about their possible returns in chat.
Howard is putting out more offers, too, to class of 2023 standouts. The Wolverines seem to lead for big man Papa Kante, who will visit in June, and several others are emerging as serious candidates.
Isaiah Collier wants to see more of Michigan, too. The five-star guard is planning visits and USC, UCLA and U-M are on his list.
“There are definitely a lot of good guards going to Michigan right now,” he said. “I like how they play and their play style, and I’m looking forward to learning more about them.”
Michigan really seems to like him.
We talk about him and other Michigan targets …
