Antwuan Johnson (#2) and Leonard Taylor (#88) have both decommitted from Michigan. No word on #26 yet. (image via 247 Sports)
Dayton (OH) Dunbar linebacker Antwuan Johnson, a 2018 prospect, decommitted from Michigan on Friday morning. Here’s his commitment post from this spring (LINK).
Johnson is a 247 Composite 4-star, the #6 inside linebacker, and #294 overall. He has offers from a few MAC schools, a few middle-of-the-pack Big Ten programs, and Kentucky. Johnson was a teammate of Springfield (OH) Springfield defensive end Leonard Taylor last year but transferred this off-season. Both players were Michigan commits at one point and have now decommitted, and Johnson mentioned that his relationship with linebackers coach Chris Partridge had fallen off recently. One has to wonder if Michigan cooled on Johnson since his higher rated former teammate jumped off the bandwagon.
This decommitment doesn’t bother me much. Johnson has some talent, but he doesn’t appear to be a huge difference-maker and a player ranked at #294 overall can probably be replaced between now and February of 2018. Michigan is now down to one commitment in the 2018 class, though, after losing Johnson, Taylor, and Georgia offensive guard Jalil Irvin in recent weeks. The one remaining 2018 commit is Georgia linebacker/safety Otis Reese.
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You kinda wonder if there is something behind the scenes going on with all these de-commits. Maybe something along the lines of how the coaches are informing them where they stand in the pecking order of things. The Dunaway twitter post got me curious.
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There almost certainly is. I like that the meritocracy is not one-sided, and that players can’t just hold a spot for 2 years by making a verbal “commitment” that doesn’t obligate them at all and that they can back out of at any time. Why should we feel bound by that if they aren’t?
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