It wasn't expected that Texas tight end Chris Barnett was going to decide between sticking with his Arkansas commitment or switching to Michigan until Saturday, but this afternoon Brady Hoke confirmed that Barnett sent his letter of intent to the Wolverines. He becomes the 20th member of Michigan's 2011 recruiting class, officially decommitting from Arkansas to join the Wolverines.
Barnett is a four-star recruit on Rivals and a three-star recruit on Scout and ESPN. In addition to Michigan and Arkansas, the following schools are on his offer list: Baylor, Clemson, Colorado, Florida State, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami (FL), Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Purdue, Stanford, TCU, Tennessee, UCLA, USC, Utah, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. Needless to say, quite a few big-time programs wanted to land Barnett, who becomes Michigan's only tight end in this class.
With Barnett on board, Michigan is now only waiting on a decision from Colorado linebacker Leilon Willingham. He is expected to announce a decision tomorrow morning and will pick from Michigan, Colorado, Central Florida, Arizona State and Washington.