It doesn’t matter where Kevin Borseth coaches, video clips of high school kids are a regular part of the mail as prospects try to catch on with programs.

The fourth-year Michigan women's basketball coach has had this happen at every stop, from Michigan Tech to Green Bay and now in Ann Arbor. Borseth never recruited a player hard after seeing her on videotape first.

Then he saw video that arrived from Watervliet, population 1,843, showcasing a 6-foot-1 post player. Borseth saw something he liked, which is how he started recruiting his current sophomore center, Rachel Sheffer.

“First kid I’ve ever looked at on a videotape and said, ‘I got to go watch this kid,’” Borseth said. “She did some phenomenal things on videotape that you couldn’t teach.”

What Borseth saw was a post-player with good footwork, an ability to score with both hands and athletic ability that allowed her to star at volleyball and basketball in high school.

At the time, during Sheffer’s sophomore year at Watervliet in the southwest corner of Michigan, she had no idea what her coach, Jim Winter, was pushing her for a scholarship. She had played AAU basketball but was considering playing volleyball for Michigan State.

“I didn’t even know (he sent the tape),” Sheffer said. “It caught me off guard, he’s like, ‘Michigan’s coaches are going to be here to watch practice.’

“That’s when it all started.”

Sheffer went back and forth with whether she wanted to play volleyball or basketball in college and whether she wanted to go to Michigan or Michigan State. Eventually, she said Borseth and Michigan’s staff won her over because of their “family atmosphere.”

After playing a year behind 6-foot-6 center Krista Phillips, Sheffer has started every game for Michigan (13-8, 6-3 Big Ten) this season and she averages 9.6 points and 3.5 rebounds a game.

In the last week, she showed even more flashes of what Borseth saw on video. She scored 23 points and grabbed six rebounds in a 69-66 upset of Ohio State while matched up with All-America candidate Jantel Lavender. She’s scored in double digits the past four games entering a game Thursday against first place Penn State (18-5, 7-2) (7 p.m., BigTenNetwork.com). As she did that, she also adapted to Borseth’s style of having his players play an aggressive defense where they front the post player in hopes of creating more turnovers.

The scary thing for opponents: Borseth doesn’t think Sheffer has come close to her potential yet.

“She’s going to get better, going to get a whole lot better at what she’s doing,” Borseth said. “But at least offensively she’s in a position where she can score.

“She’s not anywhere near her full capabilities are going to be, because I think we’ll be able to move her to the perimeter and use her as a ballhandler.”

That, Sheffer and Borseth said, is the next step in her evolution from small-town star to big-time basketball player.

The transition hasn’t been that hard for Sheffer in part because she came in as part of a six-person class in the summer of 2009 when not all of Michigan’s students were here.

It allowed her to become comfortable with Ann Arbor and the campus. By the time everyone else arrived, she was at home. The biggest difference came with basketball, where Sheffer said she was pushed harder than she ever was at Watervliet.

That’s partly because in a small town, she was always the star no matter what she did on the court.

“It was hard to start doing something by myself and pushing me,” Sheffer said. “I didn’t know how hard I could be pushed, and here has really opened my eyes to that I can be pushed a lot harder. And that’s a great way for me to learn things and develop more skills.”

Soon, she started to love being pushed to get better and it resulted in this: Being a starter and main contributor for a team threatening to go to the NCAA tournament in her sophomore year.

“She’s one of the most determined and one of the most focused people I’ve met,” sophomore guard Jenny Ryan said. “When she knows something can get done and there’s nothing stopping her.

“I’ve just never met someone kind of like that.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein