Tavierre Dunlap / submitted
Michigan's Academics A Selling Point For Tavierre Dunlap
Last week, Michigan further extended its search for a 2021 running back when Del Valle (Texas) High four-star Tavierre Dunlap landed an offer from the Wolverines.
Standing at 6-0 and 196 pounds, Dunlap is rated as the No. 18 running back in the nation and as a four-star recruit. Last season, Dunlap gained over 1,500 yards of total offense and 23 touchdowns, and his role is expected to expand more this fall.
After such a productive junior campaign, Dunlap has racked up over 30 offers. With Michigan recently joining that group, the highly coveted prospect had a chance to speak with multiple members of the Michigan staff when picking up his U-M offer.
Led by head coach Jim Harbaugh, Dunlap joined a group FaceTime that also included running backs coach Jay Harbaugh and director of strength and conditioning Ben Herbert. These coaches helped sell the U-M program and provided Dunlap with more information about the school as a whole before discussing how he would fit into Michigan’s offense.
“I was really excited,” Dunlap told Wolverine Digest. “Michigan is probably one of my biggest offers that I have so far, so I am blessed and very fortunate to receive one,” Dunlap said. “Their academics stands out a whole lot. Some schools are huge on football but their academics isn’t there. Now, academics is a huge priority for some schools, but not a lot of schools have academics like Michigan. I don’t even think a lot of people know how good Michigan is when it comes to academics because there are a whole lot of benefits to Michigan.”
Moving forward, the Michigan coaching staff is planning on hosting another group FaceTime chat with Dunlap, his parents and a couple members of the current football team to help sell him on the program.
Over the past couple months, Dunlap has worked to stay in shape during the quarantine. Prior to the dead period, Dunlap was slated to take a handful of unofficial visits to schools such as Arkansas, Arizona, Arizona State, USC and Cal but was unable to make those trips.
Though he does not have a schedule ironed out, Dunlap has begun to consider which schools he would like to take his five official visits to.
“I have some schools and more are coming in.,” Dunlap said. “I have a lot of schools that I want to visit unofficially, and it’s kind of hard to separate officials from unofficials. How I think I’m going to do it is pick schools that would be the most expensive [to take an] unofficial and then I might just take officials to those schools.”
In terms of what he is looking for in a school, Dunlap touched on the important factors that are going to be influential in his eventual college decision.
“I am looking for a school whose degree actually means something I want a school who is going to help me after football and build me up as a person and as an athlete and is going to help me get to my destination when it comes to football, which is the NFL,” Dunlap said. “I’m looking for a second family and a second home, basically a place that I can come back to, a place where good memories are going to be made.”
Shortly after landing an offer from Michigan, Dunlap’s head coach, Charles Burton, spoke about his skill set and described what the talented 2021 recruit is like on the field. Read the full story here.
“He is a complete back,” Burton said. “Still has room for improvement in all areas, but the speed he has with his size is special. Great vision and settle movements are great added dimensions to his game.”
While Dunlap has showed his physical talents give him a leg up at the high school level, the question surrounding each highly ranked running back is just how well that skill set will translate to college football. In that respect, Burton sees his soon-to-be senior as an every-down back at the next level.
Burton indicated that while Dunlap’s pass blocking needs to improve that he is expected to be a weapon in the passing game this fall for Del Valle.
Which two running backs in the 2021 cycle would you like to see Michigan land? Who would be the best complement for Donovan Edwards should he commit to Michigan down the line? Let us know!
