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Come Sept. 1, the day that college coaches from all around the country could initiate contact with 2022 recruits, it was obvious that Jaleel Skinner would be on the receiving end of calls and texts from much of the FBS-level.
And it sure was as the Greer (SC) four-star tight end — rated as the top TE in the 2022 class and the No. 82 player regardless of position, according to the 247Sports Composite — received calls from a veritable ‘who’s who’ in the college football landscape.
Among them was Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who Skinner absolutely raved about after talking to him.
Harbaugh, who usually shies away from comparisons, found one that he saw as apt between Skinner and a current Michigan football player. Needless to say, based on Skinner’s reaction, he was a fan of Harbaugh and his comparison.
“Coach Harbaugh was one of the coolest coaches I ever talked to in my life!” Skinner told WolverinesWire. “He was really down to earth — I just loved everything he was talking to me about. He compared me to another tight end (at Michigan), Erick All.
“He said me and Erick – we both have the same play style and we both have the same character on and off the field.”
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Why does Skinner like the Erick All comparison? After all, All has played just one season and only has one catch to his name for 10 yards at this juncture.
But if you hear Skinner’s description of himself as a football player, it sounds like nearly every Erick All description we’ve heard since his recruitment.
“I see myself as a go-getter,” Skinner said. “I told my high school coach and I told all the coaches I talk to, if you need me to play a position, I’ll do it. You just tell me where to go and you tell me what to do and I’ll try my best.”
Skinner has offers from many of the top schools in the country, particularly in the SEC East region from where he hails. Whether it be Georgia, South Carolina, Florida State or Clemson — the latter of which has started to come on strong, despite not offering just yet — he’s hearing from all of the schools he grew up rooting for.
And that also includes Michigan.
“When I was growing up I used to watch – I wasn’t really a die-hard fan,” Skinner said. “My dad used to call me ‘bandwagon’ all the time! I used to watch Clemson play, Florida State. I used to love to watch Georgia play and Michigan.”
So how did a kid in South Carolina come to be a Michigan fan?
It’s a relatively recent development, he says, and it started when he got a taste of what a former five-star was doing on the field.
“I didn’t really grow up watching them, but I started watching Michigan in the Jabrill Peppers era,” Skinner said. “I really signed up with Michigan because one day I was on YouTube and I saw Jabrill Peppers’ highlights – and he went to a school called Michigan, so I’m gonna have to start paying attention to them on Saturdays.”
The Harbaugh conversation aside, Skinner has been building a strong bond between himself and Michigan tight ends coach Sherrone Moore — his primary recruiter in Ann Arbor.
For him, that’s the most important thing, building a bond with his future staff. He’s not picking a school in a traditional sense as much as he’s looking to pick a future family and a place that feels like home in both the figurative and literal sense — once he can start getting back onto college campuses.
“I mean it’s important to me, because I don’t wanna just go anywhere based on what school it is, the name,” Skinner said. “I want to go somewhere where I built a relationship with the coaches, have gotten to know the coaches, gotten onto the campus and gotten to know how the feel is over there.
“I’m looking for a coaching staff that’s not just gonna butter me up. I’m looking for a real place that’s gonna give me an opportunity to get to the league.”
There’s still a long ways to go in his recruitment, however. Naturally, as the top-rated tight end in the 2022 class, he’s not done courting suitors.
Come the new year, he’s hoping that he can take the list of offers and start whittling them down and start paring it down from there.
“Hopefully by December, December-January I’ll be allowed to get back on some visits, hopefully pick up some offers,” Skinner said. “Hopefully get to drop a Top 10 or something like that, Top 15.”
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