Michigan Wolverines Thursday: The Recruitment of Trey Zeigler

Many of you that follow basketball recruiting know that Trey Zeigler out of Mt. Pleasant in Michigan is one of the top non-committed prospects left in the 2010-2011 class.

Trey is a 6'4", 185-pound shooting guard and is rated No. 26 in the nation by Rivals and No. 7 at his position by Scout. Trey is a four-star recruit to both services and ESPN ranks him as the No. 30 player in the nation.

Signing day for the late period in basketball is coming up in a month and Trey has made it pretty well known that he will make his decision some time in May. His finalists are (in no particular order) Michigan, Central Michigan, UCLA, and Arizona State. Some of you reading this might wonder what a MAC school is doing on a list with ASU, UCLA, and Michigan but Central Michigan is located in Mt. Pleasant and his father Ernie Zeigler is the head coach.

So Trey has a difficult discussion to make: play for his dad at Central which has 54 wins in the last four seasons, go west, or play for the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. The wild card in this decision is his dad's future at Central Michigan.

Right now, Central is trying to re-negotiate Ernie's contract. The Chips were 15-15 last season and back-to-back MAC West Champions. The rumor mill is also saying that UCLA has a spot for Ernie on their coaching staff he wants to move west. If Ernie was to leave Central for UCLA that would pretty much punch Trey's tickets to the Bruins.

Don't give up hope Wolverine fans, there are a lot of positives for Trey to come to Ann Arbor as well.

• Ann Arbor is a few hours south of Mt. Pleasant.

• John Beilein has clearly made Trey his No. 1 priority for this class.

• Manny leaving gives Trey a lot of minutes as a freshman.

• West Virgina's run to the Final Four can't hurt with the success of Da'Sean Butler a Beilein recruit (before his ACL injury of course).

• If Central Michigan extends his father's contract and Trey wants to stay somewhat close to home, his choices are to play for his dad or Ann Arbor. (MSU has told Trey he could come to East Lansing, but many believe his offer is only valid if Summers heads to the NBA).

• Michigan has been rumored to be at the top of his list or close to it. I believe Trey's girlfriend is heading to Ann Arbor next fall as well. Having one of the more powerful NBA executives (Joe Dumars) with a son on the team, doesn't hurt either.

So there you have it. Information out of the Zeigler camp has been pretty quiet during his recruitment but this one will be very interesting as it plays out over the next month or so.

Coach Beilein needs a big recruiting win and Trey could provide that W for the Wolverines.

(Photo: cmsimg.detnews.com)