Michigan landed its first commitment of the 2025 cycle on Friday, when four-star wing Winters Grady announced his intentions to sign with Dusty May’s Wolverines. Michigan beat out schools such as Iowa, Oregon and Oklahoma to land the Napa (Calif.) Prolific Prep standoutBelow, Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy explores what Michigan is getting in the versatile Grady as well as what could be next for May and company on the recruiting trail.
WHAT MICHIGAN IS GETTING
The 6-foot-5 Grady does a lot of things well, even if he isn’t going to blow you away in one particular area. His biggest strength is the ability to function as a Swiss Army knife of sorts and make plays on both ends of the floor thanks to his motor, adequate length, impressive efficiency numbers and decent athleticism. Grady, who is a reliable finisher at the rim, has also shown the ability to create shots off the bounce and thrives as a mid-range scorer, a skill that helped him average nearly 20 PPG on the adidas 3SSB circuit this summer. His solid size and willingness to sacrifice his body for loose balls allow him to be a well-above-average positional rebounder as well. Grady is a capable long-range shooter and can hurt opponents from deep when left open, even if nobody will describe him as a certified 3-point sniper. Defensively, his effort pops off the page even if he is a little bit limited due to his lack of truly elite athleticism and just decent length for the position. That said, he’s as motivated and intense a defender as there is in the class.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR MICHIGAN
The Wolverines beat out not just one, but two Big Ten rivals to snag Grady’s pledge, as both Oregon and Iowa made serious pushes to land the four-star forward. Both the Hawkeyes and Ducks were seen as the slight leaders to land Grady at different times throughout the process, but the Wolverines began to surge quickly following Grady’s Aug 31 visit to Ann Arbor. Grady represents the Wolverines’ first commitment of the 2025 class, and head coach Dusty May hopes he’s just the start of a haul that includes multiple top-100 prospects. The big fish still on the board for UM is obviously Michigan-born forward Trey McKenney, the No. 19 prospect in the Rivals150. How Grady’s commitment impacts that recrutiment is yet to be seen, however. The other schools on McKenney’s list of finalists are Georgetown and USC, both of which hope to benefit from Grady choosing the Wolverines just weeks before McKenney’s Nov. 9 commitment date.
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