This morning when I woke up, I had a weird feeling that I should get this over with and commit to Michigan.
I don’t know what else I could look for between the great academics and great coaching staff. I just felt like it was a great fit for me.
What made me commit to Michigan was the overall feel that I got from the coaching staff and just the players that I met. They’re all great people from the G.A.s to the head coach Brady Hoke. They all have very good core values and they also have just a great support staff. The trainers are great. The academic guy gave a 45-minute spiel about how they’re switching to iPads so you don’t have to lug around 30-pounds of books from class to class.
The football trainers are awesome. I talked to a few players on the team and they talked about how great they are. The strength and conditioning coach is very knowledgeable. My strength coach back home says he’s very respected in the industry and at the end of the day that was an important piece of the puzzle, to find a good strength coach.
At the beginning of the day, I started to hint that I was going to commit. I told Coach Borges maybe next month I could see myself commit. Then the director of player personnel Coach Singletary came over to me and I said maybe next week. I then went in the bathroom and talked to my mom on the phone and we talked about it, Michigan State and Stanford. It came down to academics. I have a ton of respect for Michigan State and Stanford. I think they’re both outstanding schools, but it came down to academics. Michigan is the right place for me.
After I got out of the bathroom, we went to the pep rally for the basketball game and they had the ESPN Gameday thing going on. I asked my grandfather about it. He said he was also crazy about Michigan State, but he said it’s your decision. Later on I went in the pressbox and I made a lot of phone calls to friends and family and they were all excited about it. They said it’s your decision and with the options you have you can’t go wrong with any of them. They said if you go to Alaska, we’ll come to see you play.
From there, I called Coach Dantonio at Michigan State and told him what I was going to do. I called Coach Bloomgren at Stanford and thanked them both for their time and said I was very blessed with the opportunity they gave me and I hope they have great success in the future and I know they will.
I think by then Coach Hoke and Coach Hecklinski had an idea what I was going to do. Coach Funk was with them when I came out. They were all waiting for me and I broke the news to Coach Hoke. He was excited as hell and everyone was happy.
My whole family is very excited, very happy and very proud. My grandfather is very happy and proud of me. I was really happy he got to be a part of it. I was happy he got to come up from Arizona and is warm paradise and share in the experience. My school has a big Michigan following. My friends have been texting me. Some of them are coming over when I get home and all the parents are having champaign.
I can’t you how excited I am that I’m a Wolverine. It’s going to be a fantastic experience being a Michigan Man at the University of Michigan
