Indianapolis Cathedral offensive lineman Emil Ekiyor
Michigan picked up their second verbal commitment of the 2018 class today when Indianapolis Cathedral four-star Emil Ekiyor chose the Wolverines over Tennessee, Auburn, Florida State, Michigan State and a host of others.
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The commitment continued Michigan’s recruiting momentum in the Indy area, as the Wolverines signed four-stars Brandon Peters (QB) and Chris Evans (RB) in the 2016 class. The staff remains after Ekiyor’s teammate, 2018 four-star running back Markese Stepp, who is committed to Notre Dame but visited U-M on Saturday with Ekiyor.
The decision was a slight surprise, as Ekiyor didn’t mention much of publicly committing, but the Wolverines were always believed to be at or near the top of his leader board.
“Michigan was my first offer and that always meant a lot to me,” he told 247Sports today. Michigan offered Ekiyor a scholarship in the summer of 2015 at Jim Harbaugh’s first ever satellite camp, held in Indianapolis. “The timing felt right, and it felt like home to me.”
Ekiyor, who projects to the interior of the offensive line at the next level, is a road-grader in the run game, who consistently punishes defensive tackles and clears lanes for Stepp and Cathedral’s other running backs. At Michigan, he will have an opportunity to play in an offense that will showcase his strong suits, and that was another major draw for the Wolverines.
“I like to play a physical style,” he said. “That’s what Coach Harbaugh is all about. I am excited to see what he can do at Michigan and excited to see what he can build. It’s a great situation for me.”
The four-star joins Georgia safety/linebacker Otis Reese in Michigan’s 2018 class and gives them their first offensive line commitment of the cycle. He is currently ranked 110th overall in the country according to the 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2018 cycle.
Steve Lorenz is the editor and publisher of Wolverine247 of the 247Sports Network. You can follow him on Twitter @TremendousUM and sign up for our FREE newsletter today!
Michigan Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh throws the ball during pregame warm-ups prior to the start of the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Michigan Stadium on October 1, 2016 in Ann Arbor.