Michigan Football won’t get Zach Harrison, what about Daxton Hill?

It looks like Michigan football is going to lose out on Zach Harrison, but what about Daxton Hill? Do the Wolverines still have a chance at flipping him?

Michigan football was hoping to get some good news in the next day or so about five-star recruit Zach Harrison. Yet, it appears the Wolverines will be disappointed as all signs are pointing towards Ohio State for the five-star defensive end.

Throughout the recruiting process, Harrison, who played high school football about 10 minutes away from the Horseshoe, has kept things close to the vest. We have known that it was down to Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, but until Thursday, it was hard to read the tea leaves.

It has been known that Harrison isn’t fond of Urban Meyer according to reports by Isaiah Hole of Wolverines Wire, who covered Harrison in depth on his podcast Tuesday morning. Yesterday, things still seemed about 50/50 with Harrison, Michigan and Ohio State, but now, according to Hole and others, things have changed.

Harrison now seems headed for Ohio State and the crystal ball predictions at 247sports are reflecting that, so when the elite defensive end faxes his letter of intent tomorrow, it’s probably not coming to the Michigan football offices in Ann Arbor.

On Monday, Michigan held 67-percent of Harrison’s crystal-ball predictions but now that number has flipped and 69 percent of the predictions are going with Ohio State, while just 24 percent remain with the Wolverines.

At this point, we could spend all day wondering why Harrison has changed his mind. But it appears that new head coach Ryan Day has something to do with it. Maybe the fact that the Buckeyes dominated Michigan played a part in the decision too, we may know more tomorrow, but as of right now, it looks like Day will get the better of Jim Harbaugh in their first big recruiting battle.

So, does Michigan have anything to look forward to on early national signing day Wednesday?

For starters, Michigan will hopefully lock up most or all of its 25 verbal commitments. That will be a good thing because as of right now, UM has the No. 9 class in the country and the top group in the Big Ten. That will likely change a little, however, it is still a really solid class that has 10 top-300 players according to the 247 rankings. 

Beyond that, the big question is about Daxton Hill, the five-star safety who was committed to the Wolverines before flipping to Alabama recently. As we get closer to the early signing period, more and more seems to come out about Hill and again, Hole of Wolverines Wire had some great insights.

Hole shared the Hill flipped in part because Alabama sold him on the idea that Harbaugh was leaving. This isn’t really surprising given the fact that Harbaugh went on ESPN the next day to announce he was staying but still, it confirms our suspicions.

Since Harbaugh obviously isn’t leaving and has continued to recruit Hill aggressively, Michigan still has a chance. In fact, Hole gives the Wolverines a 65-percent chance of flipping Hill back from Alabama.

That seems like a high number but there is more at play. An Ohio State recruit, Jordan Battle, who is a safety like Hill, could flip from the Buckeyes to Alabama and if he does, that would give the Crimson Tide three safeties, something Hole said Hill is hoping to avoid. He does not want to be part of a three-man safety class, according to the Wolverines Wire publisher.

So if Battle goes to Alabama, it could help sway Hill to flip back to Michigan football. Right now, the Wolverines seem to like their chances, but they also liked their chances with Harrison not long ago.

We will see what happens Wednesday but for now, the one thing we think we know for sure is that Harrison is going to Ohio State.