2021 Michigan Commit Jaydon Hood Still Speaking With Miami

2021 4-star Michigan commit Jaydon Hood is one of the top linebackers in the country out of St. Thomas Aquinas and he is hoping to continue to produce at a high level during his senior season. This means there can be no drop off in his play even if the quarantine makes practicing and working out more difficult.

“I try to work out twice a day. I go lift weights in the gym and then at some point in the day, I’ll either go running for conditioning or I’ll go to the volleyball sand and do footwork drills out there. With my team, recently we have been doing drills on Monday and Friday working out virtually. I’ve been doing all that, staying in shape.”

Hood transferred to St. Thomas at the midpoint of last school year with the hopes of getting comfortable with his team through spring practice, but that was unable to occur. Is he still confident he can make a huge impact this season?

“I’m still confident. I transferred to St. Thomas early so I could play spring with them, get to know them better, and get that playing experience together, but that's gone. It doesn’t change anything, though. I’m still confident and I am prepared.”

Hood committed to Michigan without ever visiting the school, which was a difficult decision to make, but the coaches in Ann Arbor were able to convince him through other methods that Michigan was the best fit for him.

“I like the coaches. I like the player development, that attracted me. I like the culture and the tradition, it’s historical. That’s really why I choose Michigan. They’ve done everything they could, but what made me feel comfortable was I had a lot of player insight. Anthony Solomon is from St. Thomas and he’s there. I talk to even basketball players up there. I talked to so many people that I got insight, and so that’s what made me really comfortable.”

Despite being a Michigan commit, Hood is still being recruited by Miami, Stanford, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Maryland, Louisville, and Washington State. Miami in particular is looking to lean on their preexisting relationship with Hood.

“Miami is telling me that they are still interested. They send me little things every now and then. We have such a good relationship from the recruiting process that sometimes when they text me, it’s just ‘Hey, how's it going?’ Not really recruiting or anything like that.”

Miami defensive coordinator Blake Baker and outside linebackers coach Jon Patke are the two spearheading the recruitment of Hood, with head coach Manny Diaz chipping in as well occasionally.

“I talk to coach Baker a lot, I talk to coach Patke too. I’ve talked to coach Diaz once or twice recently. I think they are an amazing coaching staff. I love coach Baker. I love all of them really. I have a great relationship with coach Baker and coach Diaz. They are real good people over there.”

Hood is not going to make a decision on whether or not to shut down his recruitment until February because he still wants to see Michigan in person and use all five of his official visits.