Senior guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman is the only member of the 2014 recruiting class that is still a member of the team — not something many people would’ve guessed given how late the three-star recruit committed to the Wolverines.
However, four years later, he is a starter and has become Michigan’s go-to man down the stretch thanks to his speed, decision making and free throw shooting ability.
His parents will both be at the game on Sunday, when No. 22 Michigan battles No. 8 Ohio State.
“I don’t really get emotional,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “I told my dad if he tears up or anything I’m not talking to him, it’s different if it’s my mom, but if my dad does I’ll be disappointed.”
He was joking — in a way. He got he own non-emotional mindset on the basketball court from his dad, who was in the military.
“If I cry, I’ll be really surprised,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “I don’t think I’m going to cry, I might laugh.”
He added that he doesn’t wear his emotions on his shoulder, at least when it comes to basketball.
All of Michigan seniors will be honored before Sunday’s game. That grad transfer guard Jaaron Simmons, fifth-year senior forward Duncan Robinson and Austin Hatch, who took a medical scholarship in 2015 after surviving two plane crashes.
Both Simmons and Robinson came to U-M as transfers, Simmons from Ohio and Robinson from Williams College. With Hatch not on the team, that makes him the only player left from his class that included Aubrey Dawkins, Kam Chatman, Ricky Doyle and D.J. Wilson.
Wilson was selected in the first round of the NBA draft last year by the Milwaukee Bucks, however, the other three players all transferred from Michigan.
Dawkins left for UCF, where his dad was named coach. He missed all of this season with an injury.
Chatman plays at Detroit Mercy, and Doyle is at Florida Gulf Coast.
“It’s rough, you come in with those guys, you’ve been through a lot together those first couple years, and then they leave, but you just want the best for them,” Abdur-Rahkman said.
He’s kept moving forward on his own, set on proving his doubters wrong. When he signed with Michigan, he says he heard people say he’d never play and would ride the bench.
“It puts a chip on your shoulder,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “You want to go out and prove that you did belong at this level, even if you knew that yourself. You want to prove you belong.”
It’s become a primary motivation for him during his time in Ann Arbor.
“You want to do well as it is, but that extra incentive when you want to prove someone wrong [is big],” Abdur-Rahkman said.
He didn’t expect to play as much as he did as a freshman, but he continued to grow within the program and now can say he proved himself to all those who doubted him.
“They were wrong,” Abdur-Rahkman said.
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @AndrewVcourt and @Balas_Wolverine
• Like us on Facebook
