Michigan guard David DeJulius plans to enter the transfer portal, according to a program spokesperson. The news was first broken by Josh Henschke of 247Sports.
A former four-star recruit from Detroit in 2018, DeJulius played sparingly as a freshman before taking on a bigger role this past season. He averaged 7.0 points on 42 percent shooting this past season and started in place of senior guard Zavier Simpson during the Wolverines’ trip to Lincoln in January.
DeJulius, who was recruited by former Michigan coach John Beilein, seemed to be adjusting well to the beginning of the Juwan Howard era in Ann Arbor. On Dec. 2, DeJulius praised Howard’s open door policy.
“You can just walk into his office at any time of the day and just talk about anything,” DeJulius said. “It doesn’t even have to be about basketball. A lot of times, he’ll pull you in and talk to you and it won’t have nothing to do with basketball, ‘How’s your family? How are you? How’s school? How are you doing mentally?’ ”
In a conversation during January, DeJulius echoed a similar sentiment after the two met for breakfast at Sava’s on State Street.
“No matter the time of day, you can hit him up,” DeJulius told The Daily. “Just to know you have a coach that’s been through what you’ve been through, you’re able to relate to him and he’s able to relate to you. It’s a very good feeling to go out there and play for him.”
Even beyond Howard, DeJulius was outspoken in his ability to connect with the rest of the stuff. In particular, he bonded with assistant coach Howard Eisley over their shared Detroit roots.
“(Eisley) was like an OG from the city,” DeJulius said in February, “But now he came in and now he’s my coach, so I’m just going to embrace it. He had a great career in the NBA so I’m just trying to pick (up) as much knowledge from him as I can. We connected, just both being from Detroit. Being from the inner city, just seeing the type of life he made for himself and his family, how he conducts himself on and off the court, and me (being) inspired to get to the level he’s on. We just kind of connected from that standpoint.”
Given the Wolverines’ five public class of 2020 commitments, attrition was always going to be inevitable. But with Michigan in strong contention for class of 2020 five-star shooting guard Josh Christopher and Harvard graduate transfer Bryce Aiken, perhaps DeJulius’s departure boils down to a desire for playing time. He’s shown enough in his time at Michigan to draw national high-major interest.
And now, with his decision to transfer expected to become official later this week, DeJulius will finish out his remaining two years of eligibility elsewhere.