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2023 WR Makhail Wood Could Be an Immediate Answer

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2023 WR Makhail Wood Could Be an Immediate Answer

Would you look at those standings? Says EMU's recruiting class is third-best in the league.

Alex Alvarado
Jul 23, 2022
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2023 WR Makhail Wood Could Be an Immediate Answer

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EMU Football Recruiting Update: WR Makhail Wood Latest to Commit

Looking at Eastern Michigan’s current roster set-up, there are a handful of seniors set to lead this offense this year, then graduate from the program in the winter.

One of the seniors set to leave EMU is Dylan Drummond, who never (read: barely) missed a game in his college career, and was not very highly sought-after out of high school in Cleveland (Cuyahoga Heights). Drummond was on some radars, but EMU was the only team to offer. Drummond joined and played in every game as a true freshman in 2018, then was promoted to full-time starter by 2019, and we’re in year five of seeing Drummond featured in the EMU offense.

As far as the class of 2023 is concerned, this program’s looking for guys who might be able to fill Drummond’s role with the team.

On Tuesday, July 12, 2023 WR Makhail Wood (Hoschton, Ga. / Mill Creek HS) announced his decision to commit to EMU over four others: Eastern Kentucky, Georgia Southern, Incarnate Word, and USF. For measure, Wood’s Hudl lists him at 6’1, 155 lbs.

Twitter avatar for @MakhailWood
Makhail Wood @MakhailWood
100% committed 🦅@Coach_Creighton @Dyrell_Roberts
8:02 PM ∙ Jul 12, 2022
184Likes43Retweets

Wood first met Eastern Michigan via Shaq Vann, the former Creighton recruit and EMU running back who now coaches for the team, at a football camp in 2021.

Throughout Wood’s recruiting process, he’s been in conversations with EMU wide receiver coach Dyrell Roberts and head coach Chris Creighton about the plan for what it’d look like if Wood went to Eastern.

“Coach Roberts said if I come in on my freshman year and I perform like I need to perform, then I won’t even need to redshirt this year,” Wood told me in a phone interview. “So that was very interesting for him to tell me.”

By 247sports composite, Wood has a three-star rating (0.8237), third-highest among current Eastern commits for the 2023 cycle. Wood is the #206-rated 2023 wide receiver, Georgia’s #132 recruit, and #1442 nationally.

Wood was offered by five schools, which was jump started by Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Michigan in February, then Georgia Southern, Incarnate Ward, and USF all followed suit.

Last year as a junior (12 games), Wood caught 23 passes for 361 yards and was second on his team with 4 touchdowns scored.

Wood’s high school team went 11-2 and made a deep run in the Georgia 7A state playoff, and his receiving talents had a lot to do with Mill Creek’s success in 2021.

“I can play anywhere. Outside, inside, wherever you need me to play because I’ve got anything. Speed, route running, hands, I’ve got all of it. I’ve got everything in a receiver’s package,” Wood said.

Wood added that the best part about his game is his route-running ability, and that he’s great at getting in and out of his breaks.

After this football season, Wood will finish out his basketball career by playing his senior year (three-year varsity point guard), and will join EMU in the summer of 2023.


Class of 2023 Commits

  • DE, Messiah Blair — Detroit Martin Luther King HS (MI) / 247sports composite: 3-star, 0.8693

  • DT, Malik Tullis — Creekside HS (GA) / 3-star, 0.8267

  • WR, Makhail Wood — Mill Creek HS (GA) / 3-star, 0.8237

  • CB, Caleb Dobbs — Cocoa HS (FL) / 3-star, 0.8170

  • DE, Luke Fletcher — Port Huron Northern HS (MI) / 3-star, 0.8094

  • TE, Cedric Anton — Rabun Gap-Nacoochee HS (GA) / 3-star, 0.8050

  • S, Jaivian Norman — Springfield HS (OH) / 3-star, 0.8000

  • LB, Bryce Eliuk — Linden HS (MI) / 2-star, 0.7683

  • OL, Trenton VanBoening Libertyville HS (IL) / NR


EMU Third In Recruiting Rankings

By team rankings, Eastern’s class currently ranks third in the MAC in total points, even though 1st place Central Michigan and 2nd place Western Michigan both have larger classes with 20 and 14 commits, respectively.

The reason for that, 247sports composite’s math says, is the quality of commits EMU has been able to bring in.

Seven of EMU’s nine commits currently hold 3-star rankings — tied for second most in the MAC. WMU has eight 3-stars, CMU has seven.

Here’s 247sports’s current team rankings for the 2023 recruiting cycle:

  1. Central Michigan — 20 commits, 7 three-stars / 82.18 player avg. / 106.43 recruiting pts.

  2. Western Michigan — 14 commits, 8 three-stars / 81.99 avg. / 96.36

  3. Eastern Michigan — 9 commits, 7 three-stars / 81.49 avg. / 84.63

  4. Toledo — 12 commits, 6 three-stars / 84.06 avg. / 80.35

  5. Miami OH — 11 commits, 6 three-stars / 83.49 avg. / 77.09

  6. Northern Illinois — 10 commits, 4 three-stars / 81.98 avg. / 47.01

  7. Ball State — 13 commits, 3 three-stars / 82.78 avg. / 38.00

  8. Kent State — 8 commits, 2 three-stars / 83.28 avg. / 26.48

  9. Akron — 11 commits, 2 three-stars / 82.08 avg. / 24.10

  10. Ohio — 8 commits, 1 three-star / 82.06 avg. / 12.06

  11. Bowling Green — 4 commits

  12. Buffalo — no commits

Not that recruiting rankings should be taken biblically, but this is still a great look for how the program. There’s a lot of promising talent that simply looks good spelled out on paper, and we’re still only a year away from this coaching staff putting the finishing touches on this 2023 singing class.

This, so far, is a really talented class with a lot of room to grow.


Top 25 Class of 2023 MAC Commits (so far)

Rankings by 247sports composite.

  1. WR, Ardell Banks (Toledo) — 0.8700

  2. DE, Messiah Blair (EMU) — 0.8693

  3. DE, Brent Hoppe (CMU) — 0.8550

  4. DL, Kobi Gorman (Miami OH) — 0.8517

  5. OT, Mason Ludwig (Toledo) — 0.8511

  6. QB, Kadin Semonza (Ball State) — 0.8500

  7. ATH, Mychal Yharbrough (Miami OH) — 0.8478

  8. WR, Shantavious Hogan (CMU) — 0.8470

  9. DL, Laith Shamma (Toledo) — 0.8467

  10. WR, Javien Brownlee (Kent State) — 0.8450

  11. QB, Brennan Storer (WMU) — 0.8419

  12. LB, Christian McKinney (Miami OH) — 0.8417

  13. ATH, Tyler Jefferson (CMU) — 0.8417

  14. WR, Javorian Wimberly (CMU) — 0.8417

  15. WR, Ryan Sims (Miami OH) — 0.8378

  16. S, Jamari Holliman (Toledo) — 0.8356

  17. RB, CJ Hester (WMU) — 0.8350

  18. TE, Brennan Wooten (WMU) — 0.8350

  19. WR, Sam Smith (Toledo) — 0.8300

  20. LB, Kameron Cheatom (Akron) — 0.8317

  21. OT, Michael Jimmar (NIU) — 0.8317

  22. WR, Logan Lester (WMU) — 0.8317

  23. OT, Ben Decker (Miami OH) — 0.8304

  24. R.J. Mukes III (Ball State) — 0.8278

  25. CB, Kiwaun Davis (WMU) — 0.8267

  26. DT, Mark Tullis (EMU) — 0.8267

  27. OT, Jacob Welch (NIU) — 0.8267


Thanks for reading The Ypsilanti Eleven! If you enjoyed and want more EMU football and MACtion-sided updates in your inbox, subscribe for free today!

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