...when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? NO! and it ain't over now!!

the farther away from Ann Arbor, and the closer to the orbit of another powerhouse football school, the less likely a commit over a year out will stick.  I have stopped getting excited or distressed about movement in any class other than the next one up.

After the 2016 recruiting cycle, I promised myself that I wouldn't get invested one way or the other with a Harbaugh recruiting class until a few weeks before signing day.  Harbaugh just approaches this differently than Hoke did.  I get the impression that "offer" and "commitment" aren't as meaningful to him as they were to Hoke, and the big moments/decisions for Harbaugh are whether to fax an LOI to a recruit and whether the recruit faxes it back.  

I'm still expecting a ton of changes to our 2017 commitment list before February.

/s

And, just let this season fricking start already! 

Its hard to keep track of 150 kids, and when you are trying to do that sometimes one of the 50 who really matter have a mistake happen.  Of course it not the only reason for a decommitment but a letter being sent about an event you didn't attend that spells your name wrong is pretty insulting.

If you offer and focus in on a smaller group stuff like that is likely to happen, I think casting a really wide net can be great for a lot of reasons, it can get you the Benhamin St. Juste's of the world but it comes with some consequences and I think we might be seeing some of that, just like we did last year with offers not really being offers not being communicated clearly enough.

to as human beings are the sound and pronunciation of our name. That is a fundamental truth in all communication.

Michigan benefitted from a cyclone of attention when these guys first committed from the defeat of Florida in the bowl game, to spring break practice in Florida and then the satellite camp debate. All of that put Harbaugh and his program  front and center in SEC land and made him the go-to guy. Now, the coach is busy with his season prep work and his recruiting staff is doing the background stuff to keep recruits contacted and informed. And when things go awry, when you misspell a recruit's name, when you fail to follow up properly, when a recruit feels less valued and is being courted closer to home and nagged about staying in state to fulfill his college football experience, those pressures weigh on a young kid.

And when that kid's parents aren't fully behind his choice of school or think he ought to reconsider, the pressure goes stronger to decommit. Everyone responds according to their nature, upbringing and personality.

All you can do is redouble your effort if the kid is just needing some breathing space, and doing so by remaining a presence not a saturating, overindulgent voice challenging his decision-making. That's what kills any romance and a recruit's desire to stay with the school that first sold him. Maybe Michigan doesn't get these guys back.

It looks bad to see this trend but it's part and parcel of the process. And you just have to roll with it and look how it can positively benefit your program down the line, perhaps altering hour methodology or finding a better replacement. What's most important is learning from the situation.

...we don't call a 16-year-old kid, getting attention from people that he watches on television, and probably thinks a four-year commitment that starts two years from now is almost literally forever, a "diva."  or anything else, for that matter.  just thinking.