The Wolverine

June-July 2015

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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2015 BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY CHRIS BALAS Michigan seemed set with junior big man recruiting when Medina (Ohio) High seven-footer Jon Teske, Rivals.com's No. 96 overall prospect in the class of 2016, pledged to U-M last summer. Then, out of nowhere, came Onsted (Mich.) High three-star big man Austin Davis. Davis went from one of the big- gest (literally, at 6-10) under-the- radar recruits to U-M pledge after an outstanding ending to his junior season and impressive beginning to his spring AAU campaign with the Michigan Mustangs. Michigan head coach John Beilein saw Davis, Michigan's Class B Player of the Year, in a state regional win over Eaton Rapids. Davis put up 25 points and 20 rebounds that game, and earned an invite to Ann Arbor with his family for an unofficial visit. Beilein took them around campus and then issued Davis a challenge — "Prove you can run with the big boys and you've got a shot at a schol- arship." "Coach Beilein told me before Dallas he wanted to see me run the floor," Davis said of the adidas Up- rising AAU event with the Michigan Mustangs April 10, one in which he averaged 12 points and six rebounds in four games. "He liked a lot of other aspects of my game, but he wanted me to be able to get up and down, so I concentrated on that part of my game to show I could do it." He's still no gazelle, but the trans- formation from 300-pound eighth grader to 260-pounder able to hold his own with some of the nation's best impressed many college coaches. It wasn't a matter of if, but when the first high major offer came in, Onsted head coach Brad Maska said. Davis spent his season running ev- ery chance he got and also put in plenty of time in the weight room. His mindset was to prove he was more than a half-court guy, and he did it. H e s h i n e d m o s t b r i g h t l y i n the paint in the state tournament, though, averaging 26.2 points a game, while shooting 71.2 percent Class Of 2016 Big Man Austin Davis Pledges To Michigan Davis, who was named Michigan's Class B Player of the Year, averaged 26.2 points 17.3 rebounds and 4.8 blocked shots per game in the state tournament. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM

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