Michigan Football Recruiting: Will Joshua Garnett Play for Michigan or Stanford?

Michigan and Stanford haven’t met on an actual football field since 1976, but over the next few days, the two schools will be battling it out, as they both try to land the services of one of the top offensive linemen in the country, Joshua Garnett.

Garnett, who played for Puyallup High School in Washington, is rated as one of the top offensive line prospects in the 2012 class by every major recruiting service, and he’s received dozens upon dozens of offers from power programs such as Auburn, Miami, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon and USC.

After months of weeding through different schools, the 6’5’’, 280-pound high school senior has now reportedly narrowed down his list to just two schools—Stanford and Michigan.

Garnett has taken trips to see both schools. He visited Michigan for the Ohio State game, and took a trip to Stanford two weeks ago. And he obviously liked what he saw from both programs, but the question is, which one impressed him the most?

Stanford’s David Shaw and Michigan’s Brady Hoke are two of the brightest young head coaches in college football, and both of them proved that last year when they guided their respective squads to a BCS bowl berth in just their first year on the job.

Shaw and Hoke have also proved their worth on the recruiting trail this year, as Shaw has assembled one of the best recruiting classes in the Pac-12, while Hoke has put together a class that will likely be rated as one of the five best in the country by the time the dust settles.

Landing a versatile and extremely talented offensive line recruit like Garnett would be a big pickup for either program.

Garnett could fit in as either a tackle or a guard at the next level, but no matter where he ends up playing, all indications are that he’ll be seeing the field very early on in his career, given how advanced he is both physically and mentally at this point in his development.

The Washington native is one of the strongest and most athletic offensive line recruits in the country, and he already possesses the strength, size and technique to compete at the collegiate level.

Since both teams are trending upward, it’s hard to say the Garnett could go wrong choosing either the Wolverines or the Cardinal, especially after the success that both experienced last year.

Michigan may have a slightly better outlook for next season, since Denard Robinson is returning while Andrew Luck is leaving, but the Cardinal should be right in the race with Oregon and Cal to win the Pac-12 North division in 2012.

We’ll have to wait until Thursday night to find out whether Garnett will be playing in a Michigan uniform or a Stanford uniform for the next few years, but there's no question that if he chooses the Wolverines, he'll be one of the early favorites to replace departing right tackle Mark Huyge for 2012.