Jim Harbaugh just lost his only top-100 recruit
For a university with a storied football program like the Michigan Wolverines, National Signing Day is not about if you’ll get any of the nation’s top high-school recruits, but rather how many.
At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
But that’s not the way it appears to be going at Michigan, where two top recruits who had verbally committed to coach Jim Harbaugh’s program changed their mind and signed letters of intent with other schools.
Linebacker Otis Reese made a verbal commitment to Michigan prior to his junior season at Lee County High School in Leesburg, Georgia. But Wednesday, the four-star recruit signed on the dotted line to play for the University of Georgia.
Reese was rated as the No. 87 prospect nationally by 247 Sports and would have been Michigan’s top-rated recruit.
Reese had an official visit to Michigan as late as Jan. 19, but made three unofficial visits to Georgia during the past season, when the Bulldogs were on their way to an SEC championship and a birth in the College Football Playoff national championship game.
Reese is the second player to decommit from the Wolverines this week. Three-star quarterback Kevin Doyle announced Sunday he would not be attending Michigan. He will announce his college selection at 3 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday.
Thank you Coach Hamilton and Coach Harbaugh for the opportunity. I am officially decommitted from the University of Michigan. I will be signing with a new school on Wednesday, Feb 7th.
— Kevin Doyle Jr (@Kevin_Doyle_13) February 4, 2018
The school was also hoping to win the recruiting war for offensive tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere, who is considered to be the best offensive tackle among this year’s high-school recruits.
But Petit-Frere, a 6-foot-6, 272-pound prospect from Tampa, Florida, chose arch-rival Ohio State over Michigan.
It’s not as if the cupboard is totally bare in Ann Arbor. The team’s 2018 recruiting class is expected to feature at least 20 players, 16 of whom signed during the early signing period in December.
One of those recruits, linebacker Cameron McGrone of Indianapolis, is considered a five-star recruit by 247 Sports’ individual rankings, but is a four-star recruit based on 247’s composite rankings, which averages ratings from various recruiting services.
The school also took in quarterback Shea Patterson from Ole Miss, who has two years of eligibilty remaining. But Patterson does not yet know if he’ll be eligible to play next season or if he’ll have to sit out a year per NCAA transfer rules. Because he left a program that is facing sanctions from the NCAA, Patterson — and several other Ole Miss transfers — have requested waivers from the NCAA to allow them to play next season.
If the NCAA grants Patterson the eligibility waiver he has requested, he is expected to be the top candidate to be the starting quarterback when Michigan’s season begins. Without the waiver, Patterson would have to redshirt next season.
If this year’s recruiting class doesn’t bear fruit soon for the Wolverines, it will only increase the pressure on Harbaugh, who is hearing cries of discontent from some Michigan alums who are wondering when the program will bear the fruits of a contract that now pays Harbaugh roughly $7 million per year.
Michigan went 8-5 last season, which included a sixth consecutive loss to Ohio State and a 26-19 loss to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl after the Wolverines blew a 16-point third-quarter lead.
Many of the team’s struggles last season came on the offensive side of the ball after quarterback Wilton Speight went down with a season-ending back injury suffered Sept. 23 at Purdue. Speight announced in November that he was transferring for the 2018 season.
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