Top Prepper Peppers Chooses Michigan

Michigan received a verbal commitment from one of the best football players in New Jersey Sunday when Paramus Catholic's (NJ) Jabrill Peppers announced he will play for the Wolverines in the fall of 2014.

Peppers, who won two state championships at powerhouse Don Bosco before transferring to Paramus Catholic and winning another, was recruited as a defensive back although he is one of the best running backs in New Jersey.

Peppers, 6-1 and 208, is also a great track star and will be favored to win the 100- and 200-meter races in the upcoming New Jersey state championships. Notre Dame, LSU, Stanford, and Rutgers had been in the mix for Peppers' services, with Penn State coming out of nowhere to wind up as his second choice. Michigan won out, however, and while New Jersey gets to see Peppers for one more season, the Wolverines will have to wait until 2014 before Peppers dons the Maize and Blue.

As a freshman, Peppers was selected third-team all-state defensive back for Don Bosco and also was named Max Preps freshman of the year.  Don Bosco went 12-0 that season, won the Non-Public Group IV championship, and was nationally ranked after finishing Number One in the country the season before. In 2011, Peppers continued to be a shutdown cornerback and also became the featured running back in Bosco's 11-0 national championship season. Don Bosco won another Non-Public Group IV championship, and Peppers was named as the USA Air Force Sophomore of the Year.

Peppers shocked New Jersey and the high school sports world by transferring to Paramus Catholic in 2012, and even though he endured his first high school loss to Don Bosco (no less), he rushed for 1550 yards and 18 touchdowns, added another five receiving, and led the Paladins to their first state title since 1997 with an upset of Bergen Catholic 37-34.

Bergen is the one school that cannot wait for Peppers to leave, as his first two state championship victories were also over the Crusaders, 37-24 in 2010, and 42-12 in 2011.