Michigan Pulls offer from 4-Star OL Erik Swenson Two Weeks before NSD

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

Safe to say Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh will not be welcomed to Downers Grove South High School (IL) anytime soon. On Wednesday, the headline grabbing head coach did the unthinkable pulling a scholarship from longtime commitment Erik Swenson.

Swenson made the announcement on Twitter posting:

Swenson (6-5, 300) committed to the Wolverines on Nov. 25, 2013, and was the last holdover from the Brady Hoke era left in the 2016 recruiting class. Having been a part of the Michigan class for over two years, few offers have come in for the Chicago suburb area talent with Ohio State, Notre Dame, Akron, Illinois, Alabama, and Northwestern putting offers on the table. All of the offers to top programs may seem like all Swenson has to do is commit to another top program, but this late in the game many of those teams have filled slots dedicated to offensive linemen leaving Swenson, at least for now, out in the cold, assuming he is truly interested in any of those teams.

Rivals has Michigan rated as the No. 7 team in the recruiting rankings with 22 total commits. Suffice to say that the Wolverines recruiting class is loaded with talent and the current black eye on Michigan’s program for pulling Swenson’s offer at the last minute will come and go. Certainly Harbaugh, nor Michigan, are the first to pull a tactic like this. Still, lost in the chatroom and social media battles over which conference is the best on the collegiate gridiron and which program pulled in the top players are 17- and 18-year-old kids, along with their families, caught in the middle trusting adults, in this case a 52-year-old man named Jim Harbaugh.

Harbaugh has a right to change his mind pulling an offer from any kid, especially one that did not come from him, and for any reason. But Harbaugh took over the reins of the Michigan program on Dec. 30, 2014. He has had plenty of time to evaluate Swenson to determine if the young man is a good fit for their program. Luckily there is enough time for other schools to extend offers but not a lot of time for Swenson to take official visits to see if he truly likes a given program along with the campus, academics, and student life.

The underlying message is the Wolverines have three more commits they have higher ranked on their board they are expecting to land come National Signing Day on Feb. 3. If Michigan takes a full class at 25, watch the next three commitments and then the general public will know who Harbaugh felt better about two weeks before NSD over a two-plus yearlong commitment from Swenson.

Michigan only has three verbal commitments from offensive linemen; Ben Bredeson (WI), Devery Hamilton (MD), and Michael Onwenu (MI). Expect at least one of the three to be another lineman.

Photo credit: sportsinthemitten.com; Erik Swenson at Michigan

Photo credit: twitter.com; Erik Swenson Twitter post.

Photo credit: campusinsiders.com; Jim Harbaugh with Erik Swenson.