The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/262939
their high school classmates, miss out on senior prom and graduation, and are forced to grow up a little faster than their peers. Such was the decision facing Tar- pon Springs (Fla.) East Lake offen- sive lineman Mason Cole. The 6-5, 284-pound four-star prospect made his commitment to Michigan in Feb- ruary of his junior year, and had plenty of time to prepare himself ac- ademically to graduate early. Was he ready to give up the final semester of his life as a high schooler? Fortunately, Cole was able to strike a balance with U-M head coach Brady Hoke and his high school coach, Bob Hudson. Though the country's No. 92 overall player in the class of 2014 would enroll early at Michigan, he'd have the chance to head back down to the Sunshine State to experience the milestones of his senior year. That started with a National Signing Day trip back to his old stomping grounds. "That was awesome, because it was kind of like a last hurrah," Cole said. "The night before signing day we all had our senior football ban- quet. I was back for about 24 hours. I really enjoyed it, and me being with the other six seniors that were all signing. That was the first time Coach Hudson put on a signing day event, so that was pretty cool." East Lake head coach Bob Hudson explained what went into that pro- cess. Cole was joined by his former teammates Artavis Scott (a wide re- ceiver who has enrolled at Clem- son) and Devin Abraham (an early enrollee at South Florida who will play defensive back for the Bulls), along with a handful of outgoing seniors from East Lake who will take the next step of their journey in the summer. "Obviously, the University of Michigan and any Division I foot- ball is big time, but what we do here is big time for these kids and for us as well," the coach said. "We want to make sure we finish out their jour- ney here just like they want to do at the next level. I had conversations with all the head coaches prior to them committing early on certain things that I think are important to these kids and to our program here. We do the banquet the night before signing day. "They're going to come back when my family does a steak dinner for the seniors before they leave, and they're going to come back to walk in gradu- ation and some of that stuff. Most of the coaches realize and they under- stand that every kid can look back on their senior year of high school, and things that were really cool to be a part of. I think if possible we should try to give these kids that same time." The experience allows Cole to get the best of both worlds in the early enrollment decision, and it also gave him and Hudson a chance to swap ideas and observations about life at the next level. For his part, Cole is ad- justing well, thanks to the offensive linemen that are already in the pro- gram — including one, Kyle Bosch, who went through the growing pains of January arrival last winter. "Obviously everything's a lot dif-