Michigan Football: Things getting worrisome with 4-star Jamari Buddin

Michigan football was viewed as the favorite for Jamari Buddin and while he may still end up in Ann Arbor, Penn State is clearly a threat.

Jamari Buddin has been a top priority for Michigan football in the 2021 recruiting class and he continues to be. But after the Wolverines seemed to be the favorite to land the four-star linebacker, things seemed to have shifted recently.

Penn State has turned into a real threat to Michigan football in the recruitment of Buddin and it’s starting to look like the Wolverines could be losing their grip on this battle, even though they still hold all seven of his crystal ball projections on his 247 sports profile.

Yet, the run of Michigan prospects pledging to Penn State this week hasn’t helped the cause. Kobe and Kalen King committed earlier this week and then Friday, another top-10 prospect in the state of Michigan committed to Penn State in Jaylen Reed.

If you are wondering why the commitment of Reed is a big deal for Michigan football, it’s because of what Buddin posted on Twitter, both before and after Reed joined the Nittany Lions 2021 class.

https://twitter.com/jamaribuddin/status/1248261778393444356

While there had been rumors that Buddin was thinking of going to Penn State with the King brothers and also Reed, Michigan was still pushing for all three recruits even last week. So this tweet from Buddin asking Reed, “Where we going?” should be worrisome.

Then, Buddin posted again today and tagged both Reed and Penn State head coach James Franklin in the Tweet. And in it he referred to Reed and himself as a dynamic duo.

https://twitter.com/jamaribuddin/status/1248672210002288643

Now, just because Penn State has some momentum doesn’t mean Buddin is guaranteed to go there. The Nittany Lions got momentum with Jordan Morant last year too and the Wolverines ended up getting him and Makari Paige.

The key thing with Buddin is probably going to be his timeline. While he talked about moving it up recently, as it turns out, that might not be a positive thing for U-M. If he commits right after the King brothers and Reed, he might go PSU.

However, if he waits, possibly takes another visit to Ann Arbor or just allows some more time to pass, Michigan football could maybe regain the foothold it seemingly use to have.

At the very least, Buddin is far from a sure thing and at this point, Michigan can’t allow more quality in-state recruits to get away.