Michigan favorite to add 4* 2023 athlete and former ND commit

Submitted by Magic_Fan on March 13th, 2023 at 1:26 PM

Brandyn Hillman is a 2023 4* and the #214 player nationally. He is 6-foot-1, 191 pounds and projected to play safety. He was committed to ND and was recently granted a release. 

Tom Loy claims Michigan is his likely destination. 

https://www.maizenbrew.com/michigan-football-recruiting/2023/3/13/23637542/michigan-wolverines-football-recruiting-offers-2023-class-brandyn-hillman-notre-dame

njvictor

March 13th, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^

Notre Dame probably has the most annoying fans/analysts when it comes to recruiting. They will brag nonstop and make fun of us when they beat us for a prospect, but as soon as we beat them for a prospect, all of the sudden there was "academic issues" or they cooled on them

mackbru

March 13th, 2023 at 6:02 PM ^

I'm always surprised by how great ND's academic reputation is. I've livedand work in a bunch of big cities and I've never seen top-level HS kids listing ND among their dream schools. It's always ranked so high but I honestly don't know anyone who's gone there or wants to. I'm sure it's a good school, but it's reputation seems inflated. Am I wrong?

Rendezvous

March 13th, 2023 at 8:09 PM ^

Did any of your students' parents attend ND? Their admissions policy favors legacies (it used to be that if your parent went there, you were almost automatically granted admission, may not be that way now). If you taught at a parochial school, I would guess that you would have more applicants to ND, even if their parents were not true alums, just wannabe alums. My nephew attended a prominent Jesuit HS in the midwest, and many of his peers applied to South Bend, whether or not they actually wanted to attend there, due to peer, parent, and teacher pressure.

rc90

March 13th, 2023 at 7:57 PM ^

As a Catholic kid growing up in the midwest, a lot of kids identified with the school in some way. My parents lapsed before I got to high school, so not sure how well that translated to 'dream college' for kids in the parish, but the school's status was more obviously elevated among Catholics than non-Catholics.

Sam1863

March 14th, 2023 at 5:33 AM ^

As a lapsed Catholic growing up in the 70's, I'll second this. There were many kids I knew who were raised to think that getting into Notre Dame (genuflect when you say that) was the ultimate goal. One actually did.

I never saw the attraction. Going to a college that was basically an extension of church? Hard pass.

TrueBlue2003

March 13th, 2023 at 9:59 PM ^

It's don't think it's big city liberal kids that typically want to go ND.

I worked with a few ND grads when I started my consulting career.  One was my boss.  Smart people.

And one of my best friends in CA went to ND.  Really smart engineer.

Small sample but they were all white suburban kids, and I think all Catholic.  My assumption is that's mostly the pool from which ND students come.

My brothers kids go to Grand Rapids Catholic Central and he makes it sound like going to ND is the dream for a lot of those kids, moreso than going to UofM (albeit slightly and it's family dependent).

MadGatter

March 13th, 2023 at 2:02 PM ^

Michigan has been pretty good about admitting high school kids even without the best academic history (besides those times the recruiting director doesn't submit transcripts in time and we lose a top 100 reciever - Damn you Dudek!). 

It's been accepting undergraduate transfer credits that has been the issue. 

Leatherstocking Blue

March 13th, 2023 at 2:37 PM ^

It could be something benign like not having 2 years of a foreign language (I don't know if that's a requirement), or enough high school science or art credits. 

I recall a recruit at Wisconsin having a similar issue that was a "Wisconsin specific" issue, and the kid went someplace like Northwestern or Stanford.

Hell, I think Notre Dame still makes you pass a swim test to graduate.

Don

March 13th, 2023 at 2:49 PM ^

Notre Dame has an unwritten policy against admitting kids whose names use a "y" instead of an "o" or other sensible vowel. 

TeslaRedVictorBlue

March 13th, 2023 at 4:51 PM ^

Yes - its the holiday to celebrate a bunch of alternative weirdos with terrible food in the building, but fantastic proximity to good food on south u.

unrelated - when i visited last fall for the Co State game.. my.. god... South U is a giant mess for the construction, and on top of that everything is a giant douchey chain. nothing like i remember at all. yeah, im a little old, but wtf...