2025 3* LB Mantrez Walker decommits from Michigan
After making a tweet a few months back that made it seem like this would be the eventual outcome, Walker has officially decommited:
Steve Lorenz posted on the 247 board when Walker made his initial tweet that the staff isn't exactly heartbroken by this and won't be pursuing him further.
Hopefully this doesn't impact the recruitment of Walker's teammate, Justin Baker, who I'm a huge fan of
September 11th, 2023 at 10:35 PM ^
Processed?
September 11th, 2023 at 10:38 PM ^
Hoke cooled on him?
September 11th, 2023 at 10:39 PM ^
Seems so.
September 11th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^
Meh. Saw this coming. Moving on
September 12th, 2023 at 6:43 AM ^
It was just a matter of time. I never believed he'd stick. Not convinced the corner is gonna stick either
September 12th, 2023 at 7:43 AM ^
Losing Ewald would be a huge blow. Definitely seems like FSU is pushing for him hard
September 12th, 2023 at 3:41 PM ^
Ewald seemed pretty locked in, even recruiting his teammate Zaquan Patterson. The irony is that now that Patterson's a Miami commit, it seems like the roles have reversed. Patterson is recruiting Ewald and FSU is also coming after him hard. I still think we're in good shape, but it's never good to compete against both schools for a local Florida prospect.
September 12th, 2023 at 10:20 AM ^
I am more optimistic there since he seemingly has been committed forever and a day
September 11th, 2023 at 10:51 PM ^
Best of luck to him wherever he ends up, except when/if his team plays ours of course.
September 11th, 2023 at 11:07 PM ^
Headed to Georgia, I assume?
September 11th, 2023 at 11:27 PM ^
Is he a take for Georgia?
September 11th, 2023 at 11:55 PM ^
I'd assume so, based on his High School alone. An, in-state, top 400 player nationally from a school that pumps out high level prospects at the rate that Buford does?
It's like a Glenville to OSU, or Cass Tech/West Bloomfield to Michigan situation I'd assume. But there are always Willie Henrys and DeWeavers, so who knows.
Especially with NIL. A core special-teamer at least.
September 12th, 2023 at 12:30 AM ^
Buford is more like IMG. Nationwide.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:38 AM ^
According to 247, he does not have a Georgia offer, and I would be surprised if he gets one. Definitely a good player, but the way Georgia is recruiting these days, they don't take many guys ranked where he is, unless they really disagree with the sites' evaluation.
Georgia leaves several in-state top 400 talents without offers every single year.
September 12th, 2023 at 4:48 AM ^
It’s also incredibly early in the process to say “he’s a top 400 talent.” The sites are still focused mainly on the 2024 class and a large portion of the 2025 class either hasn’t been evaluated, or hasn’t been evaluated thoroughly.
Walker has also seen a steady drop in the rankings, debuting in April as a .9105, and currently sitting at .8821. That ranking would put him at #583 in the 2024 class.
September 11th, 2023 at 11:08 PM ^
Too bad, he’s got a great football name
September 11th, 2023 at 11:43 PM ^
Que Sera Sera
September 11th, 2023 at 11:58 PM ^
Never heard of him, next
September 12th, 2023 at 12:51 AM ^
I imagine this is probably somehow the tunnel's fault.
September 12th, 2023 at 2:05 AM ^
Reminiscent of Raylen Wilson. Early LB commit that ends up elsewhere.
September 12th, 2023 at 7:40 AM ^
Difference being Wilson was a loss. This feels fine.
September 12th, 2023 at 7:04 PM ^
Yeah, this feels more like Chase Lasater than Wilson or Otis Reese.
September 12th, 2023 at 7:10 AM ^
I remember when he committed that I thought to myself “this is almost certainly not a kid who actually winds up at Michigan.” Not for any personal reasons, character issues or the like. Just seemed like one of those really early commits that just wouldn’t stick.
September 12th, 2023 at 7:40 AM ^
Same. But I'm basically like this with 75% of the kids who 'commit.'
September 12th, 2023 at 7:11 AM ^
Good luck to him, but yeah didn't feel like he was going to stick.
September 12th, 2023 at 8:52 AM ^
I, like everyone else on here, am shocked he didn’t stick to his commitment. Never saw this coming.
/s (if needed)
September 12th, 2023 at 8:57 AM ^
njvictor - Thank you for taking the time to type out full names.
September 12th, 2023 at 9:26 AM ^
We never bothered with a Hello.
September 12th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
I like your helmet sticker. Have I earned my HED sticker yet? I've been Here Every Day for over almost 15 years.
September 12th, 2023 at 10:54 AM ^
Hopefully I'll be able to explain what that's about soon.
September 12th, 2023 at 11:02 AM ^
Are you going to need all of our area codes?
September 12th, 2023 at 1:14 PM ^
I post here with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:48 PM ^
I am apparently a good fullback, since I seem to have lost about a half-inch in height over the last several years. Put me in, Coach.
September 12th, 2023 at 10:11 AM ^
He's leaving, on that midnight train to Georgia.....nevermind he's already in Georgia.
September 12th, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
When exactly did he represent the University of Michigan. He was offered the opportunity to do so... and declined. Not a big deal, though recruiting remains in the crapper - unrelated to him specifically. Teams are cleaning up every week and we haven't see much in about 3 months. Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Okay, but then what.
September 12th, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^
Less than 10% of the top 300 on the composite remain uncommitted. It would seem as if the early signing period has sped things up considerably, most classes appear to be 90%+ filled. Once Michigan had their 25th commit or so by early August you had to know that most of the heavy lifting was over and they weren't going to get 30+ kids.
I'm not sure who everyone else is, because the last 2+ weeks you can look at 247 (since August 26th) there have been 8 commitments of 90 or higher rated kids, and Oklahoma has gotten 2, and none of the other six have committed to the same school.
September 12th, 2023 at 2:56 PM ^
You do understand that this is a 2025 recruit, right? Kids ARE both committing and signing sooner. The last few guys they did get, by the way, were not the primary choices, so just getting a commit isnt a sign that all is perfect.
It may be a slow drip of commits, but its there. Plenty of schools have picked up commits.. and though I suppose losing the 2 recruiting weekends is a big deal, those don't always yield commits for us.
There are plenty of players that the coaches seemingly wanted, that went elsewhere. If the smith twins leave.... 23 isn't looking like a "huge" class in October 2023 ... when signing day is 60 days away.
September 12th, 2023 at 3:20 PM ^
The answer is no, he doesn't know that he is a 2025 recruit
September 12th, 2023 at 3:23 PM ^
I do indeed know that this is a 2025 kid, which means there's even less of a reason to have any panic.
So let's look at the 2025 class, 30 of the 247 top kids in the class have committed. There's 14 months left before these kids are able to sign. Your statement that teams are picking up kids in the last few weeks is still, not a big deal. Once again, since Bobby Kanka committed to Michigan, there's been 8 kids in the top 247 in the 2025 class to commit, and Auburn is the only one who has gotten more than one kid.
September 12th, 2023 at 10:37 PM ^
Somewhere Maizen is pleasuring himself to this 3 star decommitment announcement.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:27 AM ^
Username checks out