Michigan Wolverines basketball coach Juwan Howard has done well on the recruiting trail since he arrived at U-M, but he's still looking for a premium point guard pledge. Grad transfer Mike Smith (Columbia) will likely share duty with senior Eli Brooks, frosh Zeb Jackson and others this year, but Howard has been looking for his 2021 and '22 point guards.
Michigan will take one in 2021, whether it's a freshman or a grad transfer. They'll also look in 2022, and they're in good shape with one in particular — four-star Dug McDaniel.
"Despite just standing at 5-foot-10, McDaniel is one of the most skilled prospects in the 2022 class," Rivals.com's Corey Evans said. "His feel and IQ for the game is elite, and his ability to make others better but also defend the basketball is a premium.
"Likely to start all four years at Paul VI Catholic, McDaniel’s pedigree will be second to none once he graduates and should have the chance to impact a high-major program immediately once his college clock begins in the fall of 2022."
McDaniel played with Team Takeover AAU, the same program that produced U-M freshmen Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams and 2021 target Efton Reid.
There have been rumblings that Michigan leads for both Reid and McDaniel, and Evans recently put in a futurecast for McDaniel. He explained it August 12.
"My FutureCast prediction for Dug McDaniel was not, in any way, saying that he was close to committing, but I do believe Michigan is the team to beat for the four-star guard," Evans wrote. "Michigan still has more work to complete in the 2021 class as far as finding another ballhandler and a big man goes, but McDaniel is one of their early priorities in the 2022 class.
"Juwan Howard and his staff have been fairly consistent with their contact with McDaniel in recent months but it does not hurt that their relationship began well before Howard was named the head coach in Ann Arbor. McDaniel played with Jett Howard, Juwan’s son, at various camps throughout the years, which allowed for him to develop strong in-roads with Howard during his pre-Michigan days.
Throw in the fact that he plays for the Team Takeover travel program, one that Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams played for, and the connections between the Big Ten program and McDaniel may be too difficult to overcome by whoever else tries to enter the mix."
Georgetown, Kentucky, Florida and several others have offered, but McDaniel admitted several weeks back the U-M offer intrigued him.
"I am close with their coach (Juwan Howard). I played with his son (Jett Howard) and I like their style of play because he plays fast and I really like get up the floor," he said. "They use a lot of screens and he really pumps his guys up.
They are going to be a winning program, and I really like what they are doing over there.”
Sources close to McDaniel have said he could decide as early as January 2021.
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