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12:37 pm
March 9, 2016
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2017 5-Star QB and current Michigan commit Dylan McCaffrey was one of four passers from last weekend’s Oakland Elite 11 regional to earn an invite to the Elite 11 Finals next month.
EL SOBRANTE, California — One of the main attractions at the Oakland Nike Elite 11 Regional camp over the weekend was 5-star quarterback and current Michigan pledge Dylan McCaffrey.
He certainly didn’t disappoint in delivering a strong performance that resulted in earning an invitation to the Elite 11 Finals in Los Angeles next month.
“I feel like I did pretty well. Of course, I think there are a lot of areas for improvement. One of the things I did pretty well was just taking the coaching I was getting,” McCaffrey told Bleacher Report. “When they told me something to work on, I did my best to change it and I think that helped me. I just want to improve every day from now and go out there and do my best against these other top guys.”
Of course, most fans will recognize the name given that the 6’5”, 200-pounder out of Valor Christian High School in Littleton, Colorado is the son of former NFL receiver Ed McCaffrey and the younger brother of Stanford All-American running back Christian McCaffrey.
McCaffrey lets it rip https://t.co/Xuq224YRME
— Sanjay Kirpalani (@SanjayKirpalani) May 22, 2016
Despite the connections to the Stanford program, Dylan opted to commit to Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and his staff back in March.
According to McCaffrey, the combination of education plus his comfort level with Harbaugh and quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch played a huge role in helping him select the Wolverines.
“The biggest factor was that Michigan is a great academic institution. It’s one of the top five public schools out there,” McCaffrey said. “Another big factor was Coach Harbaugh, Coach Fisch and that entire coaching staff. They are all going to put me in the best position to succeed.”
McCaffrey admits that Harbaugh’s history with developing quarterbacks and the job he did with the Wolverines last year going 10-3 caught his attention.
“It was impressive what he did this past year. He didn’t have his own recruiting class and he pushed Michigan up to Top 20 in the country,” McCaffrey said. “That’s pretty incredible. He just used the talent he had and made them a lot better team in one year.”
McCaffrey, who rates as the nation’s top pro-style passer and the No. 19 player overall in the 2017 class, said he never felt pressured to follow in their footsteps in attending Stanford or Duke—where his oldest brother Max just finished a four-year career playing receiver for the Blue Devils.
Instead, he leaned on them to help him navigate the process and help him find the best fit of the eight schools who had offered and were pursuing him.
“Their advice was mainly to just look at the school and mainly focus on the guys you are going to go to school with. Those are the guys you will be hanging out with,” McCaffrey explained. “Coaches are great to you during recruiting, but once you get there, it’s all business and they are your bosses. You really have to go somewhere where you will enjoy hanging out with your teammates.”
He may be joining his father and elder siblings in giving out similar advice to his youngest brother, Luke, who will enter his sophomore season at Valor Christian this fall as the team’s backup quarterback and as a starter at corner.
“[Luke is] going to go wherever fits him best. My brothers did that with me. They wanted me to go wherever was best for me, even if it wasn’t Duke or Stanford if that wasn’t the right fit,” Dylan said. “I think it will be the same thing with Luke. We will support him wherever he decides to go.”
Just spoke with Dylan McCaffrey (@dcaf20). Plans to put on recruiter cap for #Michigan today #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/Aw4oUi3apD
— Sanjay Kirpalani (@SanjayKirpalani) May 22, 2016
For now, Dylan is turning his focus toward his future and helping recruit top talent to Ann Arbor.
“There are a bunch of guys [I want to talk to]. I just want to put Michigan out there and spark everybody’s interest in Michigan,” McCaffrey said. “I want to let the top guys know we are going to be doing something special up there in the next couple of years.”
McCaffrey, who reports a 3.97 GPA, is also working on picking out his major in college.
While that is still to be determined, he does have one career in mind that he could see himself pursuing whenever his playing days conclude.
“Oh gosh, my dream career would be to become an architect. I like geometry and kind of the art side of things and I would like to get into being able to design some things myself,” McCaffrey said. “I would love to design and build houses. That’s a great part in everyone’s life that not a lot of people get to take time and appreciate. That’s a big part of everyone’s life.”
Sanjay Kirpalani is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained firsthand and all recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
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