Florida DB Damani Dent Commits To Michigan
Damani Dent has made his decision.
The three-star safety out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Terry Parker was supposed to announce his college destination earlier this month but delayed as SEC programs continued to pull the trigger. However, Dent put an end to his recruitment on Monday as he gave Michigan a verbal commitment.
Dent picked Michigan over fellow finalists Oregon and Pitt.
For Dent, the decision to side with the Wolverines came down to U-M’s elite academics, strong football program and impressive strength and conditioning program.
“The academics stood out,” Dent said. “I want to major in sociology or get into real estate. They have someone that puts people on in real estate. I have to think about things outside of football. Distance isn’t a problem. You have to move far in the NFL. When I walked through campus, I was signing autographs. It was different. As soon as I walked in the weight room, I was already working out. They had me do pull ups, curls and stretched me out for 10 minutes.”
Michigan took command of Dent’s recruitment following his official visit in September for the game against Washington. The Wolverines took down the Huskies in a marquee night game in front of an amazing crowd at The Big House.
Dent loved the atmosphere in Ann Arbor and was also impressed with Michigan’s effort on the defensive side of the ball.
“Listen man, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” Dent said. “The atmosphere was crazy. You can’t get any better than over 100,000 people. The defense played great. It would look better with me there (laughs). I feel like I would fit in easily. They see me in that Dax Hill role. I can play corner, safety, nickel and bump into the box. I knew they were going to win. It’s Michigan.”
Of course, relationships played a big role for Dent as well.
Everybody from Director of Player Personnel Courtney Morgan to safeties coach Ron Bellamy to area recruiter George Helow was involved was involved in landing Dent. In fact, Helow made his way to Jacksonville on Friday night to see Dent in game action and was on him even before he arrived in Ann Arbor this offseason.
“Courtney is a cool coach,” Dent said. “Coach Ron is a cool coach, too. He showed me the defense. They pulled up my highlights and highlights of Dax Hill. They compared them and showed me how I would fit in. Coach Helow was in there, too. He hit me up before any Power Five school. We’ve been talking since he was at Maryland. That’s why I have a connection. He’s from Jacksonville, and he tells me how it really is.”
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was also in contact with Dent and made a strong impression on him during the official visit when the two had a long, personal meeting.
“Coach Harbaugh told me he liked my work thick and knowledge of the game,” Dent said. “He loved talking to me. We were in his office for about an hour and a half. We didn’t even talk football. We were just talking about life.”
Dent was previously committed to Akron but started to generate plenty of interest after a breakout performance at an on-campus camp at Oregon this summer. While Oregon made its push, Michigan made Dent a top overall priority and did everything right to earn his commitment.
At 6-foot-1, 179 pounds, Dent is a long, rangy safety that can also play the nickel and has experience playing cornerback at the high school level.
Michigan now has 18 commits in its 2022 recruiting class.
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