The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/510942
2015 BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY CHRIS BALAS Gladstone, N.J., Gill St. Bernard School's Tyus Battle had his "Battle" plan heading into a May 8 recruiting visit weekend to Ann Arbor. The trip to Michigan was the third for the 6-6 shooting guard (Rivals.com's No. 14 junior prospect nationally). He'd al- ready seen Duke, a visit that blew his family away, and Kentucky was even added back on to his list after losing seven players to the NBA Draft. U-M head coach John Beilein and his staff essentially needed everything to go right and then some to add star power to their 2016 recruiting class. And did it ever. Battle's parents were hopeful at first that their son might choose to stay closer to home. Beilein, senior guard Caris LeVert and the rest of the Wol- verines made it too hard for Battle to say 'no.' While he was encouraged to sleep on it, the five-star prospect called Beilein Sunday night, May 10, when he got home to deliver the good news — he was going to be a Wol- verine. "It's about him," Battle's father, Gary Battle, said. "If the visit wasn't good, I would have told him he couldn't do it. But it was his choice. "I kind of wanted him to stay close to home where I could drive to the games, but he fell in love with it up there. "It's very important to him to be ac- ademically challenged and also athlet- ically taught and challenged, and he wanted a stable environment where he believes in the coaching staff. The coaches are awesome there." Five-Star Junior Shooting Guard Tyus Battle Picks Michigan Last summer, Battle averaged 3.7 points per game for the United States National Team that won the U-17 World Championship in Dubai. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM