Michigan had a big group of freshmen that arrived in the program over the summer, four in total that grew even larger with one late addition by dipping into the international talent pool.

Appearing on the latest episode for the Defend the Block podcast, U-M assistant coach Phil Martelli gave his thoughts on the freshmen class that includes Gregg Glenn, Jett Howard, Youssef Khayat, Dug McDaniel and Tarris Reed.

Below is what Martelli had to say about each player:

On Gregg Glenn

Highly competitive young guy. Still developing, which is a good thing. Developing in, is he a wing? Is he a forward? But I think the thing that jumps out is that he has the competitive edge. I didn't see him much in high school, he was hurt the summer before on the AAU circuits. The thing that jumps to me is that he competes. He competes on possessions, he competes when the ball goes off the backboard. He has a competitive streak and that showed in the three games in Europe.

On Jett Howard

Jett, again, he has a magic in his eye. He has real joy when he greets you. He's really excited about being here. In basketball, he has a wonderment despite all the basketball experiences that he's had. He's hearing some things for the first time and he's really trying hard to apply them. He has a beautiful, beautiful jumpshot. It looks great. It comes out of his hand clean. He has tremendous range. He's a work in progress defensively. What I like is that he recognizes that. He's not hiding. He's not a guy that will say, well, I made three jumpers. Yeah, you gave up three layups, sir. I can see him be a fan favorite because when that ball drops and the ease of which it comes out of his hand, I think people are going to gravitate to Jett. It starts with his eyes. The eyes always tell you what's in the heart and that kid has joy in his heart.

On Youssef Khayat

It happened quickly but it was a testament to how this staff works connected. As we were going through the process and there were some transfers involved and it didn't go our way but work continuing. If that was not going to be the path, it wasn't going to be a high school player at that point who could make a difference on a national program, or even if a reclassification of a high school kid. What other avenues were there? The international, obviously with the Michigan success, international is always something that's in the back of your mind to say we can take a look there. So the staff put together film for Juwan and he took it, which he will do, he took the lead and he made sure that we were all aware. Had a chance to watch him and I think—the thing to me was his fierceness. He came with it. He just has this presence about him. Then recognizing that this was a young kid playing against pros. No matter what the level, he runs the floor extraordinarily well. Competes—and the first thing that jumps into your mind is Franz. We've had to say to him, we don't want you to be Franz 2.0, if that's the thing. He's not coming here—he's coming here to be Youssef and be the very best that he can be. When we first met him, as soon as you see him, he has the face of a little kid. He's not this grizzled veteran, this grizzled European pro. He's a kid. Him navigating his way through the trip. A small thing, the rest of us were on traveling visas, this kid was on a student visa. If my meeting took four minutes, his meetings were taking 24 minutes. They were asking him for different passports, more letters and you're standing in line saying, yeah, that's a kid. That's an 18-year-old, or 19-year-old, just turned 19. I better get up there and make sure he's alright. He fit with our guys. Now, watching him in practice, he's a very fierce defender. He runs well, he has a pretty stroke and we're working through some nerves. Nerves away from home, in a program that—let's understand, when people say, well, what did you guys know? Well, what did he know? Right. He came here sight unseen. When he got off the bus here at 3 o'clock in the morning two Saturday's ago, it was the first time he had been on Michigan's campus. He's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful young guy.

On Dug McDaniel

Still a work in progress. I was talking to a close friend and he was asking about Dug, I reminded him that, as a ninth grader, Dug made All-WCAC along with Hunter as a junior, Terrence Williams as a junior. To make that, to be All-League as a freshman, and he didn't start, he made it because he was a defensive pest. That's what we needed to see and that's what he gave us probably two games. That will be his MO for us. He scored the ball but what I thought was really helpful for us is that he got in the lane when he wanted to get in the lane. Turned the ball over a little bit too much, a little bit careless with the ball but he has great speed, shot the ball better, even in our practices, shot the ball better than I had hoped for. His high school senior year, he scored the ball, he didn't shoot the ball. In our workouts, he shot the ball well. He's an entertaining dude. Perfect description, he doesn't carry himself like a little guy in the game. He has a big heart. He's going to be a tempo changer for us all year long.

On Tarris Reed

He plays like an old dude. He can really screen, he's a great help defender, he talks all the time. He catches the ball on rebounds. People say, well, everybody catches—no, they don't. No, they don't. They fumble the ball and they happen to get it. He can catch, his footwork is terrific coming off the ball screen, which we run a lot of. Oh, my goodness gracious, is his mind open to learning. He is a willing learner and that's not a trait a lot of young guys have today. He's a very, very willing learner. He's improved immensely. Small thing. His foul shooting. When he first got here, we put a lot of time in on our foul shooting and we chart it. His release was too high and he was shooting the ball up. You have to shoot the ball at the rim, not up. He's improved. He took that information in. It's an interesting dynamic with him at his size and Dougie. Tarris is very serious about what he eats. He's very serious about his workouts and he wants to build one on another in terms of the weight room. He's an old soul in a young body.