With the AAU season in effect, Dusty May and his staff have extended dozens of offers to recruits in the 2025 and 2026 classes. 2026 four-star TJ Crumble who previously had been offered by former coach, Juwan Howard, recently had the offer re-affirmed by Coach May.
Crumble, a 6-foot-7 forward, plays for Richmond Heights out of Cleveland, Ohio, and is teammates with another Michigan target, 2025 four-star Dorian Jones.
It is clear that Michigan is prioritizing recruiting the midwest, especially Ohio.
Crumble joined me at The Michigan Insider to discuss his recent offer from Michigan and his recruitment as a whole.
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“I’ll definitely be visiting Michigan in the near future,” Crumble said. “Most likely after the college dead period I’ll be coming up.”
Crumble’s recruitment appears to be a collective effort as when asked, Crumble mentions having relationships with May, Kyle Church and Akeem Miskdeen.
“I’ve had most of my conversations with the staff with Coach Church and Coach (Akeem),” Crumble said. “Coach Keem was at a lot of my games last weekend in Indiana for Session 3 of EYBL.”
“The staff sees me playing more of the wing/forward,” Crumble said. “I play like the new generation of NBA players, and have been compared to former UM player Isaiah Livers.”
Michigan is one of many schools in the mix for Crumble, who was a priority for several schools at this past AAU session. Holding more than 15 offers, Crumble is destined to pick up several more in the coming weeks and months. Crumble however mentioned five schools as standing out the most to him as of now.
“The schools who I have been in contact the most I would say are Ohio State, Michigan, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and Wisconsin,” Crumble said.
Crumble is one of the instances where he truly puts the “student” in student-athlete. While being a top forty recruit nationally, Crumble boasts a 4.4 GPA, and told me he takes great pride in the classroom.
“In order to be a complete athlete you also have to have the grades. So I do my best to exceed expectations on and off the court,” Crumble said. “My parents have stressed academics to me since I was a little kid. Also, you always have to think long term, you can’t play basketball forever so after the ball stops dribbling, what’s your plan after that? So that’s what makes me continue to strive in the classroom as well as on the court.”
For more on Crumble and the other recruits across 2025 and 2026, stay tuned at The Michigan Insider.