Michigan Commit Terry Richardson Taking Other Visits, Wolverines Looking Around

One of Michigan’s top commits in their 2012 recruiting class, which is ranked No. 3 nationally by Rivals.com, 4-star cornerback Terry Richardson (Detroit, MI) confirmed on Friday he will take official visits to other programs this fall.

The nation’s No. 18 cornerback and No. 195 overall prospect did not name which schools he plans on visiting, but two teams who will likely to host Richardson are Alabama and LSU.

Richardson is still committed to Michigan for the time being and loves how it is close to home and the fact he has friends there.

The Wolverines are not happy with Richardson’s decision to shop around, but they are not just going to sit around pouting and wait for the Cass Tech High School standout’s final decision on his future.

Earlier this week, Michigan’s coaching staff reestablished contact with 4-star cornerbacks Armani Reeves (West Roxbury, MA) and Yuri Wright (Ramsey, NJ).

Reeves, who is the No. 16 ranked cornerback and No. 187 overall prospect, listed the Wolverines as one of his top two schools back in May before halting his talks with Michigan.

“Michigan wanted me to commit right now and I just wasn’t ready, so I decided to move on,” Reeves told Ryan Snyder of BlueWhiteIllustrated.com in June. “I wanted to let them move on in their recruiting as well.

“I just told them that if they needed to move forward in their recruiting and leave me out of it, then I was perfectly fine with it. I didn’t want to put myself in a situation that I wasn’t comfortable doing.”

Penn State and Notre Dame are Reeves’ top two schools at the moment, but told TheWolverine.com’s Josh Helmholdt that Michigan is still in the hunt and he has yet to set up any official visits for the fall.

On the other hand, Wright is a much more renowned prospect and is ranked as the No. 3 player at his position and No. 41 among all high school seniors. 

Wright’s recruitment is still wide open and rumors are he will take an official visit to Ann Arbor this fall.

I do not see Richardson de-committing from Michigan because he has a great relationship with the coaching staff and the Wolverines have scooped up just about every big-time prospect to come out of Cass Tech over the past several years.

It is definitely good to see the Wolverines’ staff getting some fallback plans in order though and I would not be surprised if they were to pick up Wright and keep Richardson. 

Michigan will likely have room for both because they are going to sign as many prospects as the Big Ten will allow them to, which could be around 27 or 28 prospects.

Additionally, 4-star linebacker and Richardson’s teammate at Cass Tech, Royce Jenkins-Stone (Detroit, MI), planned on taking other official visits in the fall but put those talks to rest after a discussion with his high school coach last month.

“What changed my mind was talking to Coach Wilcher and how he was saying I shouldn’t go chasing other schools,” Jenkins-Stone said. “If I do it might seem like I’m trying to change my mind on my school. That’s basically what the [Michigan] coaching staff said too. So yeah I’m good on visits.”

On a closing note, 4-star offensive tackle Jordan Diamond (Chicago, IL) made unofficial trips to Ole Miss, Arkansas, and Iowa earlier this week. The No. 209 overall prospect and No. 25 rated offensive tackle is considering making stops at Auburn and Vanderbilt this weekend as well. 

Michigan is still among the top contenders for Diamond and have hosted him multiple times. There is likely only one spot left for an offensive lineman in the Wolverines’ 2012 class, but Diamond will not rush his decision.

“I’m really still looking at a lot of schools and I’m just not in a hurry to decide anything,” Diamond told EdgyTim.com Thursday. “I’m going to take all five official visits before I announce my decision.”

Zach Dirlam is a Big Ten Columnist for the new website Sports at Work. Check out his blog, Dirlam’s Dirty Dugout Sports Blog, which features this story along with other articles and video reports on the major sports. You can also follow his blog on Twitter, which will provide you with the latest updates about what will be posted on the blog!