Michigan Football: Wolverines in the Mix for 5-Star Running Back

The Michigan Wolverines may pick the pocket of their arch-rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes, on the recruiting trail yet again.

Dave Biddle, a staff member for ohiostate.247sports.com, posted on the site two days ago that the Buckeyes have “no chance” at keeping the commitment of 5-star running back Bri’onte Dunn. 

Dunn attends GlenOak high school in Canton, Ohio and is rated as the number five running back by Scout.com. Dunn is also rated as the best prospect in the state of Ohio by Scout.com.

Biddle’s post also said the same thing goes for five-star offensive tackle Kyle Kalis, who announced his de-commitment from Ohio State earlier this week and said he will visit Michigan this weekend.

“This coming from the family member of an OSU player,” Biddle posted. “These guys aren’t just decommitting, they have written off going to OSU. Word going around at both St. Eds (Saint Edwards where Kalis attends) and GlenOak are that the Buckeyes have “no chance at landing either of them”

Dunn is still listed as a soft-verbal commitment to Ohio State on Rivals.com, but could change very soon. The move by Dunn is not surprising considering the interview he had with Biddle two months prior discussing his future with potential sanctions looming over Ohio State. 

“Just interviewed (Dunn). Not good from an OSU perspective,” Biddle posted. “He says ‘I’m going to visit Michigan and I’m going to visit other schools too.”

Dunn eventually took a visit to Michigan in early May. Biddle went on to say in the same post that the recent scandal involving former head coach Jim Tressel and the Buckeye program was a big concern.

“He said: “Yeah, I don’t know what’s going to happen with the NCAA investigation,” Biddle posted, “So I’m just going to sit back and see what happens before making my final decision. I don’t want (Tressel) to get fired. And I don’t want a bowl ban.”

Tressel announced his resignation on May 30 and the Buckeyes are currently under NCAA investigation. Ohio State appears to be heading for the dreaded “lack of institutional control” charge, which could lead to bowl bans for multiple years as well as forfeiting of some wins from the Tressel era.

Dunn has offers from many power conference schools, but experts believe if Ohio State is out of the picture Michigan and Penn State will be the two favorites to sign him in February 2012. 

This is great news for the Wolverines, who have already received verbal commitments from 16 prospects for 2012. Seven of those commitments are from the state of Ohio. 

If Michigan gets commitments from Dunn and Kalis, who has already expressed a desire to line up against recent Michigan commitment Tom Strobel and fellow Ohio prospect Chris Wormley. Strobel and Wormley are both defensive ends and Kalis believes Wormley is headed for Michigan. 

If the Wolverines end up with Strobel, Wormley, Dunn, and Kalis they will likely vault into the top three recruiting classes in the nation for 2012. ESPN has Michigan ranked sixth at the moment. 

Michigan would also send a message to Ohio State that the Buckeyes will no longer be able to lock in the best talent in the state year in and year out. There has been no timetable set for Dunn, Kalis, or Wormley for when they choose a school.

In some other recruiting news, Nashville, Tenn. offensive tackle Blake Bars visited Michigan with his father this weekend. Bars is a 3-star prospect according to Scout.com.

“Definitely feel more comfortable that I went up there,” Bars told Tom VH of mgoblog.com. “At the end of our visit all the coaches gathered in Coach Mattison’s office and they were drilling me with questions about random easy going stuff. It was a fun and easy conversation, and that was something that really stuck out to me. How personable they were was really cool.”

Bars’ father played football at Notre Dame, but they did not make his sons top five schools that he named after his visit.

“I’m really evaluating a top five of Michigan, Penn State, Florida, LSU, and Vanderbilt,” Bars said.”

The Detroit Free Press also reported Friday that the Wolverines received a commitment from two-star safety (Scout.com) Jeremy Clark of Madisonille, Kent. Clark was offered a “greyshirt,” which means if the Wolverines do not have an available scholarship for him in 2012 he could either come to Michigan and pay his own way for a year or wait to enroll in 2013. 

Jones is listed at 6'4", 205 pounds and had scholarship offers from Illinois, North Carolina State, Central Michigan, and others.

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