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Offensive Scheme, Family Approach Key In Michigan Landing Four-Star Tight End Louis Hansen
One of Michigan’s newest 2021 commits, Needham (Mass.) St. Sebastian’s four-star tight end Louis Hansen, made a concerted effort to round out his game last season. As a skilled pass catcher with the frame of a red zone threat, Hansen worked on adding size and strength to round out his blocking capabilities.
After adding between 20 and 25 pounds, Hansen now checks in at 6-5 and 220 pounds, and the dynamic offensive weapon produced 40 catches for 530 yards and five touchdowns while helping out as a key piece of his team’s ground game as well.
Over the years, Michigan has created a reputation as a school that uses creative schemes and play designs to target the tight end position, and this strategy helped compel Hansen to shut down his recruitment and commit to the Wolverines on Thursday.
“They kind of use tight ends everywhere— on the line, in the slot and out wide,” Hansen told Wolverine Digest. “They do a little bit of everything is what [the staff] has been telling me. Hopefully I’ll catch a lot of balls and help out in the run game too [because] I think that’s a great way to demonstrate all of the abilities you need for a tight end at the next level. That was definitely a big part of it.”
And judging from the Michigan offense in years past, Hansen, who is listed as the No. 8 player at tight end according to 247Sports.com, sees his playing style as a good fit for the Wolverines.
“I think I am a hard-nosed player that just likes to make plays, so when the ball is in the air I do whatever I can to go get it,” Hansen said. “I think that’s probably what I do best.”
Throughout the recruiting process, it became clear that the Michigan coaches felt the same way. After identifying Hansen as one of the program’s most wanted prospects for the 2021 cycle, the coaching staff made a big push for Hansen in recent weeks, one that involved bonding with his family and creating a trusted bond among his current support staff.
“I have great connections with a lot of the coaches on staff, and that definitely helped,” Hansen said. “They formed a great relationship with dad, which is big. They started working on mom a little bit the past few weeks and definitely won her over. That’s huge because I wasn’t going to go to a school that my parents weren’t comfortable with.”
As part of convincing his family that Ann Arbor would be the right place to play college football as a student athlete, Hansen recalled the trip he made to Michigan last summer, one that produced a scholarship offer for the now-U-M commit.
“I visited on the day I got the offer in July, so it was the same day, the visit and the offer,” Hansen said. “It was their big barbecue that they host every July when the dead period ends. So, I got to see all of the facilities obviously and meet a lot of the coaching staff. Everything was awesome, and got to see a little more of the campus, which was awesome as well.”
Though it is difficult to pin down a date at the moment amid the coronavirus situation, Hansen is looking at June for the timing of his return trip to Ann Arbor, which will be an official visit.
“Obviously with all this going on, hopefully I can make it for that,” Hansen said. “If not, I’ll just push it back a little bit, but I’ll get back out there.”
With a maximum of five official visits possible, Hansen does not plan on taking any of his other four trips at the moment.
“I haven’t really thought much about it, but I’ll probably shut it down,” Hansen said. “I’m very happy with my decision.”
Now in the fold as one of seven players in Michigan’s 2021 class, Hansen is already directing his current efforts towards recruiting other players to join the Wolverines.
“There is a short list of guys up here in the Northeast that I’ve already been in contact with, so I’ve definitely been helping out as much as I can with recruiting this area,” Hansen said.
One player that Hansen is already familiar with is fellow U-M linebacker commit Casey Phinney.
“He plays in our league, so I’ve played against him a few times,” Hansen said. “He’s a great player. He is definitely a tough, hard-nosed middle linebacker. He is the kind of guy when you are running a crossing route, you definitely need to find out where he is before locating the ball.”
Phinney and Hansen are part of a talented crop of recruits to select Michigan in the ’21 cycle. Right now, Michigan possesses the No. 14 class in the country and the No. 6 class in the Big Ten. However, each Big Ten program above U-M also has more commits in its class.
What are your thoughts on four-star tight end Louis Hansen selecting Michigan? Who would you like to see Hansen work on adding to U-M’s 2021 class? Let us know!
