The Wolverine

June-July 2017

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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JUNE/JULY 2017 THE WOLVERINE 51 2017 BASKETBALL RECRUITING ISSUE Eric Bossi — but he currently has no leaders and is in no hurry. At the same time, playing in the Big Ten — and for Michigan — is intriguing. "I really like the conference," he said. "It's a great stage where I can showcase my talents, and I like the coaching staff, Coach Beilein and Coach [Jeff] Meyer who are recruiting me right now. "I watched them this year, and they played really well." JEROME HUNTER (OFFERED) 6-7 • 185 • SF Pickerington (Ohio) North Rivals.com's No. 80 Junior Nationally Hunter earned his offer last year and continues to im- press, with Indiana the latest to get in- volved under new head coach Archie Miller. A number of college coaches were in attendance watch- ing Hunter in Fort Worth, Texas, for the adidas Gauntlet event over the weekend of April 21-23, including Miller, Michigan assistant Saddi Washington, Xavier head coach Chris Mack and Butler head coach Chris Holtmann, plus coaches from North Carolina State and Clemson. He appears to be as high on Michi- gan as anyone at this point. "I talk to them basically every day," Hunter said. "I've talked to them a lot since I've been down here. They talk to me after games to tell me how they think I played. I talk to Coach Beilein. He texts me almost every day, and I talk to Coach Washington almost ev- ery day. "Coach Beilein is real cool, real chill … a good coach. I've been watching some of his games early in the year. He's just a real cool dude." Hunter, a four-star forward, aver- aged 19 points and 10 rebounds per game while leading Pickerington North to a 22-7 overall record this sea- son. He's a scorer and more. "Coaches like how I'm versatile and can do anything on the court they want me to do," he said. "I can bring the ball up the court, post up, play on the wing, rebound. I'll score if they need me to score." Hunter is working on his shooting form and his moves off the dribble this spring, though he's ahead of the curve on both. He plans to take academics, coaching style and roster into account when he makes a decision, and he's not naming leaders. "It's still real early for me right now," he said. "There are a lot of them." He has no timetable, but plans to pare his list at the end of his summer AAU season. BRANDON JOHNS (OFFERED) 6-9 • 180 • PF East Lansing (Mich.) High Rivals.com's No. 43 Junior Nationally Michigan continues to enter enemy territory in pursuit of Johns and appears to have made some in- roads. Johns has had a very good early spring playing with Spiece Indy Heat, including a 29-point game in In- dianapolis EYBL play on the Nike cir- cuit April 29. He shot 10 of 12 from the floor and 3 of 4 from long range. More and more schools have started to show interest, and most want him as a shooting forward. "They're just telling me how I fit in their program, like being a stretch four in college, and what it would take to get to the level I want to be at," he said. "… They say it's about doing what's best for me." Missouri, Maryland, Memphis, Florida State and Xavier are among those that have shown recent interest, and he's held offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Alabama and others. Many close to him want him to stay in state, and he might be leaning that way. He has been to MSU a number of times, being that it's five minutes from his house — "They've always been there," he said — and most schools talk to him about the same things, he noted. Michigan and MSU, in particular, are somewhat similar in their ap- proaches. "Kind of … but it's more so like the atmosphere at Michigan," Johns said. "The only things different about it are the atmosphere, the coaches and the coaching style." Johns earned CBS MaxPreps All- America honors and was named Class A Player of the Year by the As- sociated Press and Prep Hoops Mich- igan. He averaged 20.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game while helping East Lansing to a 24-1 record that included CAAC Blue and district championships. East Lansing has gone 47-2 the last two years with Johns leading the way. Education, coaching staff and style of play will all factor into where he ends up. He plans on taking a tour of schools this summer before making a commitment. "I don't have any scheduled vis- its right now, but I definitely will be scheduling some soon, before the summer ends, and I definitely will be scheduling some visits to schools I haven't been to yet," he said. "That will be a big part of my decision." CORMAC RYAN (OFFERED) 6-5 • 190 • SG Milton (Mass.) Academy Rivals.com's No. 64 Junior Nationally Ryan has been a Michigan prior- ity almost since the coaches first saw him play. While other schools have gotten involved, the Wol- verines are still in the mix. Where they stand, however, is still tough to discern. The Chicago Tribune recently ran a story and listed Northwestern and Stanford as his potential leaders, but admitted it was more a guess than anything. Since then, however, there's been more and more buzz about the Wildcats. Ryan has moved to The Rens AAU out of New York and is now playing on the Nike EYBL circuit. "I was fortunate enough last year to get some recruiting attention play- ing with the Middlesex Magic," he said. "The end of July was a really good time for me. I've been fortunate enough to take some visits early on and not have to wait until the end of my junior year, senior year. "That's part of the reason people write about favorites and all that, be- cause I've just been visiting schools." Better competition has helped him elevate his game this spring. "These events are top notch, the best in the world for exposure and competition," he said. "I think it's been a great move for me personally, in terms of getting ready for the col- lege game.

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