David Reese Decommits

Submitted by TheFrigz on

Via Twitter.  Not terribly surprising given what we had been hearing about his ability to enroll early at Michigan.  Best of luck to the kid, wherever he ends up.

alum96

December 9th, 2015 at 11:18 PM ^

The EE limitation is based on # of scholarships at one time.  So if there are 7 open spots post attrition you could have 7 early entries.  If it's 3, then it's 3.  You can't have more than 85 under scholarship at one time.  That's the limiting factor.

Webb says UM wants Bush to be the EE LB and then I assume a lot of other spots are going to go to offensive players to try to get more talent ready to go early.

Tedbossman

December 10th, 2015 at 12:49 AM ^

But as soon as he made it known he in no way wanted to play fullback I understand why the staff cooled. In today's football everything is so spread out. You have to have rangy linebackers(people saw against Ohio State what happens when you don't). And Reese isn't that. He's has poor lateral agility and explosiveness. Not a great athlete. Jackson, jones and Bush are all pretty significantly above him athletically.

bacon

December 10th, 2015 at 6:32 AM ^

Good luck to him. He seems like a good kid. These things are going to happen as kids commit to schools and things change. It's probably for the best, and if he goes to UT it's not like he won't get excellent coaching and education. We'll never know what happened from the Michigan perspective, so probably best just to assume the best of both parties and hope it works out well for Reese and Michigan.

flashOverride

December 10th, 2015 at 6:58 AM ^

I hope the staff's confidence in other recruits isn't misplaced. I have faith in them, but these are 17-18 year-olds and thus completely unpredictable. I don't want to land in another Tyus Battle/Josh Langford situation where they end up with neither option. There isn't a position of greater need than LB. 

Magnus

December 10th, 2015 at 8:12 AM ^

There are so many football recruits out there that I don't think this will be a serious issue. I mean, I'm concerned but I think things will shake out decently enough. You can go down the pecking order a little bit and reel in some guys who can still potentially contribute. IIRC, Desmond Morgan was offered around this time of year, and he was our best linebacker this year (and a starter every year of his career except when he was injured in 2014). There are a couple in-state guys whom Michigan might be able to flip or pull in if they extend offers.

flashOverride

December 10th, 2015 at 9:44 AM ^

Oh, I have every confidence they'll get someone, I just feel like this is not a position where they can take project, I feel they need at least one guy who can start as a freshman. This team needs improved LB play if it's going to make a leap next year, which means either an impact freshman or a guy already on the team having a breakout. I don't know which one of those I'm less confident in. And I feel like next year the team at least needs to make some noise because '17 and maybe even '18 look pretty lean.

Magnus

December 10th, 2015 at 9:57 AM ^

I did a writeup last night on all of Michigan's options at linebacker. There are a lot of very good ones, and many of them are down to 2 or 3 schools. So while we probably won't get the absolutely best players on Michigan's offer list, chances are also slim that we'll whiff on all of them.

That being said, it's asking a lot for a true freshman to start at linebacker. It would ideally be someone who can enroll in January to take advantage of spring practices.

Magnus

December 10th, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^

You should perhaps read through the 104-comment thread before asking such basic questions, which will probably have been answered already. Honestly, why would you click on a thread with this many comments and think you're the first person to ask this question:

Why did it happen?

Big Benis

December 10th, 2015 at 12:46 PM ^

Dodged a Bullet, but LB is a huge need for us.

See we missed out on that 5* LB guy Haynes right in our backyard. How do we let someone slip out of town without signing the letter of intent? 

Have a lot of faith in Harbaugh, but that is wack. 

Magnus

December 10th, 2015 at 12:59 PM ^

First of all, his name is Hayes.

Second, he had family issues that basically had him being forced away from Michigan. There's not much you can do about that sort of thing. This has been known for a long time, which is why you don't see many people getting riled up about it.