Michigan Football: How new commit Casey Phinney fits with Wolverines

Michigan football added yet another commitment Friday morning as three-star linebacker Casey Phinney announced he was joining the Wolverines.

While it wouldn’t have been shocking to anyone to hear that a linebacker committed to Michigan football Friday, the first one announced wasn’t necessarily what some expected.

After four-star, in-state linebacker Jamari Buddin teased an announcement Friday, which sort of put Michigan football fans on commitment watch, another Wolverines target announced his decision Friday and that was three-star Casey Phinney, an inside linebacker out of the state of Massachusetts.

Of course, Michigan has done well in that state recently, thanks to Don Brown and the Wolverines can credit the commitment of Phinney to Brown too. The linebacker announced his pledge to Michigan via Twitter.

https://twitter.com/caseyphinney/status/1246082588885815297

According to the 247 sports composite rankings, Phinney isn’t what you would call a highly-rated recruit, he’s ranked 998th overall in the 2021 class and is the No. 40 inside linebacker.

He’s a classic inside linebacker that is exactly the kind of hard-nosed player you’d expect in the middle of a defense. He’s 6-foot-1 and 225 pounds and while he’s not a huge name or anything, Michigan did offer him back in 2018, so the Wolverines have been on his radar for a while now.

He also had offers from Army, Georgetown and Massachusetts, while Boston College and the new staff were also interested.

Obviously, Phinney isn’t the kind of commitment that’s going to turn heads among the fanbase, but he is the fifth addition to the 2021 class in the past week.

More from GBMWolverine

Phinney is also the second commitment from the state of Massachusetts in two days as four-star tight end, also of 2021, Louis Hansen committed Thursday.

Phinney isn’t necessarily the kind of guy you’d expect to make an early impact, but he should have a chance to develop and earn some time on special teams. Jordan Glasgow was a walk-on and he turned into a starting linebacker last season.

Depending on what happens with Buddin, Phinney could be the first of two commitments for Michigan football Friday, although Buddin could just be releasing a top five or something along those lines, although in a recent interview, he sounded ready to commit.

Stayed tuned for that, but for now, here’s how you can catch a glimpse with your own eyes of Michigan football’s newest commit.

Home/Michigan Football