Michigan Basketball Recruiting 2020-Peavy On Visit And Offer, Morton & More
Michigan extended a fourth class of 2020 offer, this one to another Texan in Micah Peavy.
Peavy joins 2020 guard pledge Zeb Jackson, Pennsylvania wing Ethan Morton and Georgia big man Walker Kessler on the short but talented 2020 offer list.
U-M has one Texan in the fold in 2019 signee Jalen Wilson and would like to add to its Lone Star State haul. Peavy visited officially this weekend and saw the Wolverines handle Northwestern, 80-60, in front of a raucous and sellout crowd.
"The visit went great," Peavy said. "I loved the atmosphere when I was at the game."
So did head coach John Beilein. Fans have consistently filled Crisler Center, even when the students were on break.
"Our fans, a Sunday night, 7:30 game … almost every seat seemed to be occupied," Beilein said. "That says a lot about our fan base, that Sunday night games when people might have that one relaxing night at home, they came to root for the Wolverines. That’s really special."
Peavy noticed.
“Cutting a list will probably happen after the live period next July, so I won’t be doing that for a while," Peavy said in December. "Then I’ll probably make my decision sometime around October next year. I’m not in a hurry and need to be sure I pick the right situation."
Many believe he'll stay in the south — LSU and Texas A&M are thought to be strong — but the U-M offer has certainly given him something to think about.
"He's the typical jumbo wing forward who can play different spots," Rivals.com's Corey Evans said. "He's got a good feel for the game and has a little [Michigan sophomore forward] Isaiah Livers to him, but more guard skills.
"He defends different spots and has gotten taller over the years. He's a good character kid ... his dad is his high school coach."
Michigan's other 2020 offerees also continue to play well. Morton told Rivals.com recently he's keeping his focus on the court for the time being.
Morton wasn’t ready to discuss favorites, but Indiana, Marquette, Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State, Pitt, Purdue and Stanford are among the group pursuing him.
"“They told me, and I visited right before (Zeb Jackson) committed, that doesn’t change anything because Coach B (John Beilein) sees me as someone that can play multiple positions in their offense with the one through three," Morton said. "And they play with a lot of guys that have similar positions but are shooters and creators, but also just basketball players, so that doesn’t deter me at all. They told me he is more of a one or two, creator type of guard, and me, as someone that can play all around and do whatever I have to do to get onto the floor.”
Michigan appears to be strong here based on what we've heard.
Morton had a huge week and continues to play well. He was Triblive.com's player of the week recently after putting up a whopping 51 points in one game and 27 in another. His 51-point game came against Pine-Richland Jan. 8. Morton made 20 of 31 shots from the field and 11 of 13 from the free-throw line in a 79-74 loss.
The 51 points from Morton set a Butler record.
“The reason Ethan is such a special kid is he would have rather have scored zero if it meant winning the game,” Butler coach Matt Clement said. “A lot of players talk that way, but few of them mean it. His personal accomplishments are the last thing he is worried about.”
Morton scored 26 of his game-high 33 points in the second half to lead Butler to a Dec. 21 win over North Allegheny, 72-65, in another big performance.
Kessler, meanwhile, recently picked up an offer from Duke.
From Rivals Jan. 8:
Kessler has now taken three of his five official visits, but maintains he’s still wide open in the process. Virginia fans should be excited about the impression Tony Bennett and his program made on the Georgia native this weekend. The Hoos have as good of a shot as anybody right now to sign Kessler in the 2020 class. Vanderbilt and Michigan also remain serious players here as Bryce Drew and John Beilein have done great work in connecting with him so far.
The offer from Duke and increased interest from North Carolina are absolutely worth monitoring here. It shouldn’t be considered a foregone conclusion he would pick one of them like it is with many recruits who get offers from bluebloods, but the interest is definitely mutual. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see both get official visits before the end of his junior year. Georgia is still in this race too given his family ties to the school.
Look for Kessler to take his last two visits at some point in the upcoming months and then it is possible he starts moving closer to a decision or at least narrowing down his focus to a few schools. Right now, he’s still open to all schools.
Finally, Jackson continues to play at an extremely high level.
He scored 30 points for Maumee Valley Country Day in a 92-37 blowout of Montpelier Jan. 12 that improved his team to 8-2 overall. He's averaging 24.5 points per game.
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