College Football Recruiting: Michigan Misses out on 4-Star Receiver Darius Powe

Four-star wide receiver Darius Powe (Lakewood, Calif.) did not intend to make a decision about his football future until January 5th at the Under Armour All-America Game, but during his official visit to Cal on Saturday he decided the wait would no longer be necessary.

The Lakewood High School star committed to the Golden Bears after he met with head coach Jeff Tedford and toured the Student Athlete High Performance Center.

"It's the education, the location, the fans, the players and the trust in the coaches," Powe told Ryan Gorcey of BearTerritory.net about his decision.

Powe, who is the No. 41 rated wide receiver and No. 248 overall prospect according to Rivals.com, had narrowed down his list of schools to Michigan, UCLA, Utah and Oregon State at the end of October and Cal did not even come into play until just under two weeks ago.

The Wolverines have been out of contact with Powe for a while, which may have something to do with the recent commitment of 4-star wide receiver Amara Darboh (West Des Moines, Iowa) along with other highly rated receivers still showing significant interest in Michigan.

The other interested receivers include Jordan Payton (Westlake Village, Calif.) who is the No. 120 overall prospect, along with the No. 56 rated wideout Monty Madaris (Cincinnati, Ohio), and a potential sleeper prospect in 3-star wide receiver Jehu Chesson (St. Louis, Mo.).

Payton is down to a final three of Michigan, Notre Dame and Cal. This should bode well for Michigan considering the Golden Bears now have two 4-star receivers and a 3-star wideout in their 2012 class. A decision could be near for Payton as he has already taken official visits to all of his remaining schools.

Michigan's recruitment of Madaris picked up over the summer when they did not have many options at receiver, but have since cooled off a bit. Madaris made an official visit to Michigan State last Friday and intends to visit Michigan in January.

Chesson plans on choosing between Michigan, Iowa and Northwestern on either December 21st or 22nd. The No. 11 ranked prospect in the state of Missouri took his official visit to Ann Arbor the weekend of the Ohio State game and walked away thoroughly impressed.

"I will pick who I feel I can trust the most and who I think is the right fit for me," Chesson told Tim Sullivan of TheWolverine.com last week.

The bottom line is, the Wolverines likely stopped recruiting Powe because they feel more confident about being able to pick up Payton, Chesson or Madaris in that order.

Michigan will only take one of these receivers so the first one to pull the trigger will be the second receiver in the Wolverines' 2012 class, which is currently boasts 23 commits and is ranked No. 3 overall according to Rivals.

Photo courtesy of Scout.com.