Scouting Report: What Michigan fans can expect from 2024 four-star guard Durral Brooks

Juwan Howard and the Michigan Wolverines picked up their second commit of the 2024 class on Mother’s Day from in-state guard Durral “Phat Phat” Brooks.

A Grand Rapids, Michigan native, Brooks is a four-star guard on the 247Sports composite, ranked 13th among point guards and No. 1 in the state of Michigan.

Brooks helped lead Grand Rapids Catholic Central to the Division II state title game in 2022 as a sophomore. This past season, he averaged 20.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks per game for the Cougars, surpassing 1,000 career points in mid-February.

After his efforts this past season, he was named to the AP Division 2 All-State team and The Detroit News’ Division II All-State team. In an interview with the legendary late West Michigan sports writer Steve Kaminski, Brooks’ brother, Jorden, said Durral got the nickname “Phat Phat” as a kid since he’d eat a lot, and there’s a famous family photo of him with cake all over his face.

On the court, Brooks possesses excellent vision and does a good job leading an offense. He can navigate the pick-and-roll well, finishes well at the rim for his size and has a smooth and reliable jump shot. He also does an excellent job leading the fast break and playing fast while staying controlled, similar to what Michigan fans saw towards the end of Frankie Collins’ Michigan tenure.

Brooks also has some pretty impressive hops, throwing down this one-handed alley-oop in transition last season.

He’s got an excellent handle and dictates the pace of play at the high school level, which is something you always want to see out of young guards. There’s a lot to like about him, especially with his craftiness and high basketball IQ.

Brooks joins fellow guard Christian Anderson Jr. as the 2024 commits for Michigan so far. While both guys being under 6-foot-2 is not ideal for Big Ten play, they both have time to grow and I think their games complement each other well. I could see Brooks running the break and finding Anderson in transition before the crowd at Crisler goes wild.

You can never have too many good guards in college basketball, especially with all the roster uncertainty with the transfer portal. Brooks and Anderson are two guys who could grow into reliable guards for the Wolverines; they may even be the back court of the future if they can co-exist offensively.