The Michigan Wolverines' football program received a pleasant surprise tonight when Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas four-star athlete Jaydon Hood signed his Letter of Intent with the Maize and Blue.
Hood was not expected to sign with anybody today, and there were legitimate questions as to whether or not he'd remain in the Wolverines' class at all after pledging to head coach Jim Harbaugh this past spring.
Though Hood is listed by Rivals.com as an 'athlete,' he's fully expected to play linebacker at U-M. The 6-1, 212-pounder is a prospect on the rise … literally. He skyrocketed all the way from a three-star to the No. 223 overall player nationally in the most recent Rivals.com rankings update.
Hood's signing continues a very pleasant Signing Day so far for the Wolverines. It started out on a rough note when the club lost a pair of four-star commits in linebacker Branden Jennings and defensive end Quintin Somerville to Maryland and UCLA, respectively, but things were all uphill after that.
The Maize and Blue landed their top remaining target on the board at 1:30 when West Bloomfield (Mich.) High four-star running back Donovan Edwards signed, and continued that momentum at 5:00 when they held onto Fresno (Calif.) Central four-star wideout Xavier Worthy, who many thought would flip to Alabama.
Below is what TheWolverine's EJ Holland wrote about Hood after evaluating him…
"Hood is a bit of an enigma. His junior film screams four-star prospect. He’s an athletic inside linebacker with a ton of speed and fires through gaps like a missile. However, his senior season has left a lot to be desired for. Hood transferred to national powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas this offseason and has been a rotational player. My in-game evaluation saw him show no gap integrity, get walled off on several plays and basically no production.
"He was benched for the remainder of the game after halftime. On the surface, Hood looks like the perfect attacking MIKE linebacker in Don Brown’s scheme. Was the transition to STA just difficult or did Hood regress? That’s something he’ll have to answer at the next level. Right now, ranking him is extremely difficult, and I can’t get that in-game eval out of my head. I would like to see more senior film when his season comes to an end, but he obviously did not look the part of a Rivals250 prospect."
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Sign up for our daily newsletter and breaking news alerts
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett
• Like us on Facebook
