Michigan Football: Wolverines trying to flip Alabama commit Javon Baker

Michigan football is going after another Alabama commit and this time, it’s 2020 four-star wide receiver Javon Baker, who was being recruited by Josh Gattis.

The Michigan football program made a big move last week with the hiring of former Alabama co-offensive coordinator Josh Gattis to call plays for Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines.

However, the hiring of Gattis is about much more than calling plays. The former wide receivers coach under Nick Saban is also exceptional when it comes to recruiting and already, the Wolverines are trying to use Gattis to sway some Crimson Tide commits.

On Wednesday, Michigan football coaches stopped in Washington, D.C. and paid a visit to Keilan Robinson, a four-star running back committed to Alabama. The Wolverines have been trying to flip him and in an effort to get him to visit Ann Arbor, Gattis stopped in on the recruit, who he helped commit to Bama earlier. 

Yet, Robinson wasn’t the only Alabama commit that Gattis and the Michigan coaches visited Wednesday. Another was four-star wide receiver Javon Baker of 2020. This is according to Steve Lorenz of 247 sports. 

Baker is one of the top-rated commits in 2020 so far for Alabama and is ranked as the No. 138 prospect overall according to the 247 composite rankings. He’s 6-foot-1 and from the state of Georgia, a place Michigan football has had success recently. On top of that, Michigan is surely hoping that Gattis reputation for developing receivers makes guys like Baker want to come to Ann Arbor.

Michigan football has just five commits so far in 2020 and so much of the focus right now for the Wolverines is working on that class along with 2021. Not only did the coaching staff visit Robinson in DC and Baker in Georgia Wednesday, but it also checked in on other targets and made a bunch of offers. Within the last two days, UM has probably made over 15 scholarship offers, including one to a seventh-grade quarterback. 

As far as 2019 goes, Robinson is one of the guys Michigan is still working to land, along with four-star tight end Isaiah Foskey. Beyond that, the Wolverines are looking to 2020 and in that endeavor, Gattis is already being put to good use. 

While it makes perfect sense for Michigan to target some of the players Gattis recruited to Alabama in an effort to capitalize on that relationship, Gattis should also give Michigan a shot at some other big-time receivers such as top 2020 wideout Julian Fleming. 

With three new staff hires, as the defensive staff added Anthony Campanile and Shaun Nua, it will be interesting to see how recruiting is affected and what strengths each new coach can bring to the table.

In the case of Gattis, landing offensive skill guys is part of what he does and hopefully, that pays immediate dividends on the recruiting trail as fans wait to see what the new offensive coordinator has planned for Michigan’s offense in 2019.