Michigan Football Recruiting: Garnett to Stanford, Must Land Jordan Diamond

We are now another day closer to national signing day, but there is one top player that has decided to make his commitment a little earlier. I guess when you're 6'5", 275 pounds and one of the top offensive linemen in this year's class, you're allowed to have a day to yourself.

Joshua Garnett had cut his list down from nearly every top school in the country to only three schools, which were Stanford, Michigan and Notre Dame. But the Irish quickly fell out of the race and the 275-pounder ended up picking Stanford as the school where he will play his college football.

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I love the strength and conditioning program and I’ve seen firsthand how much bigger and stronger the Stanford players get. I knew David DeCastro in high school and he was always strong but now he’s benching over 500 pounds and is an absolute beast, that's how I want to be.

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Stanford has always been known for its offensive line and even have two top prospects heading into this year's NFL draft in Jonathan Martin and DeCastro. The Cardinal may be losing quarterback Andrew Luck, but they have a solid recruiting class that includes Barry Sanders, Jr. and now a great player to block for him.

But when a player picks one school over another, it also means the school that's left out in the cold has to go with its backup plan. In this case it's the Michigan Wolverines, and they now need to turn their attention to Jordan Diamond, who is another top offensive lineman in this year's class.

Diamond is another guy that has great size at 6'6", 290 pounds and he plays with a very aggressive style and a motor that doesn't quit. He's not a bad consolation prize, but the Wolverines absolutely need this pickup considering they are very thin at the offensive line. This is an area where they lost Mark Huyge and David Molk from a year ago.

Here are a few things he said about his trip to Michigan.

“The (Michigan) visit stacks up pretty high,” Diamond said.  “I had a good time on all of my visits, but this one was kind of different.  I don’t want to say it’s at the top because I don’t want to be misconstrued…but it was pretty high.”

Diamond is also considering schools such as Ohio State, Wisconsin, Auburn and Arkansas, but many believe that being from Chicago, he'll want to keep his destination close. He's expected to make his decision on national signing day.

Randy Chambers is a B/R featured columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]