Wolverines Season Cannot Be Credited For Wolverines Losses In Recruiting Battles

The Wolverines 2009 recruiting class started off strong moving up to number six in the recruiting rankings but the decommitments from Bryce McNeal, William Campbell, Anthony Fera, and Kevin Newsome caused them to drop down to number thirteen. Many of the Maize & Blue fans wanted to blame this on the Wolverines slow start but none of that is true. Each recruit had his own reason for decommitting but none of them had to do with the Wolverines poor play.

1. DT William Campbell

Campbell was the biggest surprise of all the recruits that decommitted. Campbell was the first recruit in the 2009 class and was supposed to be solid blue due to Michigan's good relationship with his high school Detroit Cass Technical. Campbell decommitted after the Miami (OH) game which many people were surprised because the Wolverine won that game. When Campbell committed to the Wolverines his mom wished that he stayed close to home and he honored her wishes by choosing the better of the two in-state schools but later in his senior season she said she wouldn' mind if he went further away.So he decided it wouldn't be fair to take official visits as a committment to a team and decommitted from the Wolverines. Word is he is going to take officials to LSU, Miami, and possibly Texas and USC but is still going to sign with the Wolverines after those visits.

2. WR Bryce McNeal

McNeal was another summer commitment but later decided that he made a choice too early. After McNeal said after his committment that he would keep an eye on the Wolverines to see if they were throwing the ball. The Wolverines are but Minnesota coach Tim Brewster pitched the idea that Rodriguez used running-backs for many passing plays and McNeal bought it. Sadly it doesn't look like the Wolverines are going to get this one back as he had an official visit scheduled for the MSU game but backed out after his decommittment.

3. K Anthony Fera

Fera was filled one of Michigan's greatest needs in this class, a well established kicker. Fera committed to the Wolverines after attending their kicking camp and picking up an offer from the Wolverines in the summer. Fera decided between Penn State and Michigan but after taking official visits to both schools he decided it would be much more difficult to get into Michigan's business school then Penn State's so he decommitted from Michigan and committed to the Nittany Lion on the same day.

4. QB Kevin Newsome

Newsome's decommittment really upset Wolverines fans because he was the prototypical spread quarterback and had massive potential. Newsome like McNeal thought that he may have made his decision too quickly. He also thought like Campbell that it wouldn't be fair to go looking around already having a decision made.  At the time Newsome said the Wolverines were still in the mix but with commitments from both Tate Forcier and Shavodrick Beaver it's doubtful that Michigan will take another quarterback.

Michigan may be losing recruits in numbers that Michigan fans have never seen but one thing we can be sure of it wasn't due to their sub-par season.