It’s been an odd week or so on the recruiting front for Michigan.
Around this time last week, a four-star 2017 defensive lineman decommitted from the Wolverines and reopened his recruitment following a thank-you note gaffe that included a misspelled name. Around the same time, a four-star 2018 offensive lineman decommitted as well, although he declined at the time to give a reason for a change of heart.
Over the weekend, and following his high school football team’s season opener, Jalil Irvin opened up to Scout.com over the reasoning behind pulling his verbal from UM.
“The major reason was a lack of communication,” Irvin told the recruiting website. “I haven’t talked to the coaches in two months. I was thinking, ‘Why would I stay committed here, when I haven’t heard from them in two months?’ So I decommitted and I picked up two offers the same day actually.”
Irvin had only been a UM pledge for two months, committing to the Wolverines back in June. Now, while he’s no longer committed to the Big Ten program, Irvin labeled the Wolverines as “still one of my dream schools” and that he will get to up Ann Arbor to “catch a game eventually.”
Irvin is rated by 247sports.com as the No. 14 guard in the country and the No. 23 player at any position in the state of Georgia. In addition to UM, Irvin holds offers from, among others, Georgia, Illinois and Virginia Tech.
Aubrey Solomon, the 2017 recruit who pulled his verbal over the note that thanked him for attending a Big House BBQ event he didn’t attend, stated in an interview that UM coaches had not kept in regular contact with him either. Also like Irvin, Solomon committed to UM in June.
Another 2018 four-star commit, Ohio defensive lineman Leonard Taylor, decommitted from the Wolverines last week as well. Taylor gave no specific reason for the decommitment, writing in a Twitter missive that he felt it was “the best course of action in order to make the right decision for me.”
— Leonard Taylor (@Lenny_T_20) August 22, 2016