Fast-Rising Point Guard Angelo Brizzi Breaks Down Michigan Offer, Overall Recruitment
Warrenton (Va.) Highland 2021 point guard Angelo Brizzi has gotten hot on the recruiting since the beginning of April and a tender from Michigan five days ago was part of that hot streak. The 6-3, 170-pounder spoke with Wolverine Digest and broke down how the offer came about.
"I had a phone call that morning with Coach [Juwan] Howard and Coach [Phil] Martelli," Brizzi said. "We talked about a lot of things — the program at Michigan, the academics there and my season. It was probably about 30-45 minutes long. It was all good."
You can learn a lot about someone by talking on the phone with them for that long. Howard's job as a recruiter is to make good impressions on people and he's fantastic at it. He doesn't need 45 minutes to do it either.
"It was great to speak with Coach Howard and connect with him," Brizzi said. "Afterwards I was definitely excited about it and thankful that he thinks that highly of me.
"What I took from talking with him is that he's a great coach but an even better person. I think that's great for recruiting because kids know that he wants what is really best for them."
It's especially important right now to make solid connection on the phone since visits aren't allowed and everyone is stuck at home. Brizzi hasn't been to Ann Arbor and won't visit anytime soon but still feels pretty good about the Wolverines on a lot of levels.
"I know the general things about Michigan being a great athletic and academic school," Brizzi said. "I actually have a zoom call with them [today] so I’m sure I’ll know much more after. I'm not really sure what they have planned but I'm guessing it's going to include everything a recruit should know if I were visiting."
With a Michigan offer now in hand to go along with tenders from schools like California, Colorado, Georgetown, LSU, Marquette, Villanova, Virginia Tech and several others, Brizzi has a lot to think about and it's tough right now given the pandemic situation. The rising senior is still trying to approach his recruitment as normal as possible but it has been and will be tricky.
"I'm taking the same approach as before," he said. "I'm just letting it all work itself out. Obviously we all have to see how the virus situation turns out, and once that starts to happen I'll go from there.
"I don't have a list of favorites or anything right now. Every school has something good to offer so it's just a matter of continuing to speak with the coaches."
Even though the pandemic has thrown a wrench into Brizzi's travel and visit plans, he has a loose timeline for his commitment. It's subject to change for obvious reasons, but he hopes his recruitment will play out like he always hoped it would.
"Before the virus outbreak the plan was to go through the summer and then start to narrow it down and decide in the fall," he explained. "Hopefully that can still be the case, but like I said earlier, I’m going to have to see how the virus and AAU situation turns out."
Brizzi obviously has nothing planned right now, but said that a visit to Michigan is definitely a priority should things return to normal. It's obviously early in the process between him and the Wolverines with the offer being just four days old, but Brizzi's paying close attention to Howard and the maize and blue.
