Three future Wolverines took the field for the last time as high school athletes
in last weekend’s Kentucky high school all-star game. James McKinney,
Cory Zirbel, and Brandon Logan each helped their squad down the all-stars from
Tennessee 41-27. The opportunity play in the hotly contested game was rewarding
to all three players, but the week of practice was even more so.
“The week was good man,” McKinney said afterward. “The first
time playing with Brandon and Zirb and all of the other top guys was a real
good experience. It’s hard to build team rapport when you only have a
week to play. We did a good job bonding though. It was like my first college
experience away from home…being away from home and being with new players.
It was a real good experience. I loved it.”
All three young men took his fair share of ribbing from the other Kentucky
players about leaving the state, but they all took it in stride. To a man, each
said that the choice to go to Michigan is one which they never questioned. “My
brother wanted me to come to Kentucky with him,” Logan said. “It
would have been nice to go there and play with him, but I felt I had to go my
separate way. Michigan is an awesome program and a great school.”
Logan and McKinney traveled to Ann Arbor after the game to start informal workouts
with the team. Both players will be looking for early playing time. For McKinney,
though, where he’ll be lining up is still in question. "I don’t
know what I’m going to be at Michigan,” McKinney said. “I’m
just going to be a player. I am going to play football. The main thing is I
want to get in there and help the team as much as I can. I’ll play waterboy
if I need to. I’m going up there to get acclimated with the players and
learn the plays. I’m going to be #44. I’m going to play a little
goal line tight end too. I’m just going to try to go up there and get
use to the players and use to the coaches so I can play early. They say I should
be able to play this year. Coach is real high on me. I just have to go up there
and get ready mentally for everything they’re going to throw at me at
the college level.”
“I’ll most likely play on the weakside,” said Logan. “I
think I’ll go right in and play. I’ll try to get on special teams
or something.”
Zirbel will be making his way to campus in early July. In the meantime, he
continues to utilize Michigan’s workout program in preparation for his
first season wearing the winged helmet. “I’ll definitely redshirt
my freshman year,” Zirbel said. “I’m about 290-lbs. right
now and being a tackle they want me to be about 335. I played at 320 during
the season so I just said I have to put the weight on the right way and get
bigger stronger at faster. I’ve been working on it for about three months
now.”
Be on the lookout for the all star game photo gallery tomorrow.