The Wolverine

March 2017 Recruiting Issue

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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64 THE WOLVERINE MARCH 2017 2017 FOOTBALL RECRUITING ISSUE BY BRANDON BROWN Coralville, Iowa, four-star wide re- ceiver Oliver Martin went through the recruiting process like a lot of other prospects but his recruit- ment was a bit more condensed. The hometown Hawkeyes, Michi- gan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State and several others were all involved with the 6-1, 189-pounder, but no one cov- ering or following Martin's recruitment from the outside could ever get a solid bead on him. Martin's father, Jeff, didn't notice it from the family's perspective, but did admit to his son keeping things pretty close to the vest. "I guess I don't know what it looked like from [the out- side] perspective, but I didn't feel like there were ups and downs with any of it from our end," Martin said. "Oliver 's kind of a low-key kid. He likes to have fun, but he keeps to himself and he doesn't really like to put himself out there. "I know that the commu- nication from this summer through this fall all the way up until signing day was pretty even. The month of January was absolutely crazy, but the rest of it was pretty even." Once January hit, it did get crazy. Scheduled, rescheduled and cancelled visits, an impending decision and ultimately a declaration for Michigan all took place in the first stanza of 2017 and the elder Martin explained just how much Oliver and the family packed in. "Naively we thought that maybe he could see some of these schools during the course of the senior sea- son," the father said. "We did that during his junior year a little bit more. We went to some Iowa games, Minnesota had us up and Michigan State had us over. But it wasn't like we were trying to investigate the schools and what we found was that it wasn't really possible during his senior season. "He's playing his senior season and that's pretty darn important to him. Making sure that he's at school for Saturday practices and Sunday workouts was tough. He'd miss those when we'd try to go to these schools for game days. Actually the last game-day visit we took was to Michigan for the Wisconsin game, and after that we just shut it down and planned to deal with it after the season was over." That Michigan visit must have left a solid impression because Martin is now a Wolverine. The athletic re- ceiver named several reasons for why U-M was the perfect choice for him. "I had a number of criteria that I evaluated each school against," Martin said. "Not only did Michi- gan come out on top, it was the one that I felt very comfortable with the coaches, existing players and the other 2017 commits. It was the best overall fit for my future and me." It turns out his bond with the other commits in his class might've been the biggest factor of them all. "Dylan [McCaffrey] and I became friends at The Opening Finals in Ore- gon this summer," Martin explained. "He and I have been messaging back and forth since then. Having a friend — as well as a great quarterback — committed to Michigan was defi- nitely one my deciding factors. "[Being a part of the outstanding receiver class] was another big reason that I wanted to go to Michigan. I consider these guys my friends after play- ing with them at The Opening and the Army All-American Game. I wanted to join them at Michigan and be a part of this group. We are going to make each other better." Martin's father said he no- ticed that connection from the beginning as well. "He had a strong connec- tion with Dylan, Donovan [Peoples-Jones], Nico [Col- lins], Ambry [Thomas] and, at the time, AJ [Dillon, who was then a U-M pledge]," the elder Martin said. "He felt like a part of that group from this summer. I think that kind of carried him through the whole process. "He wasn't going to tell anyone or mislead anyone by saying he's leaning one way or the other — or really at all — but I think that sense of be- ing a part of that Michigan re- cruiting class just kind of stuck with him all along. That was some- thing that was a strong presence. Those guys wanted to play together. "There wasn't another set of re- cruits that would actively reach out to Oliver and recruit him from within like that. I know that he had con- tact with Dylan all the way through the season and after the season at the Army game. Tarik [Black], too. I know he didn't get to play with Tarik at The Opening, but he met him at the barbeque and they stayed in touch. Tarik, from what Oliver said, made him feel really comfortable." The team effort from the coaches, current players and especially in- coming freshmen made Michigan the right choice for Martin, and he's ready to excel in Ann Arbor. ❏ Hard-To-Track Recruitment Leads Oliver Martin To Ann Arbor Martin is listed by Rivals.com as a four-star prospect, the top player in Iowa, and the No. 35 wide receiver and No. 206 overall senior nationally. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM

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