Former Michigan star Caris LeVert came to Ann Arbor as an overlooked prospect.
According to Rivals, he was only a three-star recruit, but blossomed into an NBA player over the course of his career as a Wolverine. LeVert recently joined ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski’s podcast and detailed how he ended up playing for John Beilein.
LeVert grew up near Columbus, Ohio, and initially signed with Ohio University. However, Ohio’s coach John Groce took the Illinois job before LeVert arrived on campus.
“I honestly didn’t know he was going to get the job to be honest with you,” LeVert said on the podcast. “So, in high school, my team had won the state championship in late March and I think Ohio U had just beaten Michigan, very ironically, in the tournament. So, I was hearing some rumors that Coach Groce may take the job at Illinois. He might not be there next year so be ready for it.
“I was actually just watching ESPN by myself on the couch and it came across the bottom, ‘John Groce takes Illinois job’ and I’m like, ‘What?’”
LeVert hadn’t been in contact with Groce for a little while leading up to his departure and he said he still has not heard what happened. He never called him to talk.
“It’s not bad blood between us,” LeVert said. “Obviously, I ended up going to Michigan and I played against him for four years. There was no blood. He always asked about my family and stuff like that. He never really explained what happened.”
After Groce left, LeVert opened up his recruitment and that’s when Michigan was able to land him.
“I ended up taking other visits,” he said. “It was between Dayton and Michigan actually. I went to Dayton and I loved the school. My high school coach and my mom, we ended up going to Michigan right after that and it was totally different. I loved Dayton, but Michigan was another level.”
LeVert also visited Purdue but said the visit was almost like a tryout where he had to prove his worth.
“When I went to Michigan it was the exact opposite,” LeVert said. “I didn’t have any workout, they actually had film of me and they had film of their guys and how I could fit into the system. I was able to hang out with some of their guys. I obviously knew Trey Burke because we’re both from Columbus. It was totally different. It felt like they wanted me there."
Over the course of a short time, he developed a close relationship with the coaches at Michigan.
“It was crazy because they had only been recruiting me for a week or two, but it felt like I had known them for months or year,” LeVert said. “It was an immediate connection.”
Coming to Michigan wasn’t too difficult for LeVert even though he was coming from Buckeye country.
“For me it wasn’t like that,” he said. “I don’t think it was like that for Trey either because when we were coming up, Ohio State didn’t really recruit the Columbus area for basketball. They got Jared Sullinger who was a couple years before us and they got DeShaun Tate. Trey was Mr. Basketball and they didn’t offer him.”
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