National signing day has arrived, meaning all of the work that coaches have put into building their 2011 recruiting classes will culminate today. Letters of intent are being faxed in to coaches across the country as we speak, making commitments official. Also, some recruits are just now going to make their decision about which college to attend, meaning they will commit and send in their letter of intent at the same time.
The last few signing days have been pretty eventful for the Michigan football program. Rich Rodriguez's first signing day with the Wolverines included a number of recruits switching from other schools to Michigan on signing day, and last year the drama of Demar Dorsey's recruitment unfolded on the first Wednesday of February. Today for Brady Hoke's first signing day as Michigan head coach things are expected to be no different as far as how many storylines there are to follow. The Wolverines are not only expected to receive letters of intent from 18 commits, but five recruits that have yet to announce their decision are still considering Michigan.
Before taking a look at the recruits that are going to announce their decision on signing day or later this week, below is a rundown of Michigan's 18 current commits. 17 of them are expected to officially sign today and one, Greg Brown, has already enrolled early. (The star ratings are from Rivals.com.)
- ATH Raymon Taylor (4*, Detroit, MI)
- QB Russell Bellomy (3*, Arlington, TX)
- RB Justice Hayes (4*, Grand Blanc, MI)
- RB Thomas Rawls (3*, Flint, MI)
- OT Chris Bryant (4*, Chicago, IL)
- OG Tony Posada (3*, Tampa, FL)
- DE Chris Rock (3*, Columbus, OH)
- DE Brennen Beyer (4*, Canton, MI)
- DE Jack Miller (3*, Perrysburg, OH)
- DE Keith Heitzman (3*, Hilliard, OH)
- LB Desmond Morgan (3*, Holland, MI)
- LB Antonio Poole (3*, Cincinnati, OH)
- LB Kellen Jones (3*, Houston, TX)
- CB Delonte Hollowell (3*, Detroit, MI)
- CB Tamani Carter (3*, Pickerington, OH)
- CB Blake Countess (4*, Owings Mills, MD)
- CB Greg Brown (3*, Fremont, OH)
- K Matt Wile (2*, San Diego, CA)
Players that have yet to announce a decision and are still considering Michigan are as follows:
- OT Jake Fisher (3*, Traverse City, MI), who was once a Michigan commit and was supposed to pick between Oregon, Michigan, Michigan State and Florida at 8 a.m. today, has delayed that announcement because of bad weather. Fisher's high school will still release his decision sometime today, but reports already came out yesterday suggesting that he will choose Oregon.
UPDATE: Fisher will sign with Oregon.
- Defensive tackle Darian Cooper (3*, Hyattsville, MD) will announce his decision at noon on ESPNU. The Washington Post reports that Cooper is down to Iowa and Michigan State, but Michigan and Georgia Tech are believed to be among his finalists as well.
UPDATE: Clark will sign with Iowa.
- LB Frank Clark (3*, Cleveland, OH) is set to pick between Michigan and North Carolina at some point today. ESPN is reporting that he is expected to pick Michigan, which would be a good get for the Wolverines considering he is from Glenville High School, which annually produces a number of Division I football players and has proved to be tough for Michigan to recruit in the past.
UPDATE: Clark has signed with Michigan.
- Linebacker Leilon Willingham (4*, Denver, CO) was originally going to announce his decision today, but a snow day has pushed that back until Thursday. He will pick between Michigan, Colorado, Central Florida, Arizona State and Washington.
- TE Chris Barnett (4*, Hurst, TX) will decide between Michigan and Arkansas later this week. He is currently committed to Arkansas, but that is only a soft commit considering he still needs time to decide between the Razorbacks and Wolverines.