Michigan Football: Breaking down commitment of Deuce Spurlock

Michigan football added another commitment to its 2022 recruiting class on Sunday with the addition of three-star linebacker Deuce Spurlock. 

Recruiting wasn’t as big a focus this past weekend for Michigan football fans as the Wolverines hosted Rutgers for the Big Ten opener.

But one day after the 20-13 win and a visit by three-star linebacker Deuce Spurlock, the Wolverines added the linebacker to their 2022 class Sunday as he announced his pledge.

Spurlock’s commitment isn’t a huge surprise at this point. He’s been trending with expert projections to the Wolverines for the past week or so and once he announced a visit to Ann Arbor this weekend, it felt like a commitment was imminent.

The visit seemed to go really well and following some back-and-forth in this recruitment, Michigan football now has 17 commitments in 2022.

Spurlock is listed as 6-foot-2, 200 pounds according to his 247 sports profile and he’s ranked outside the top 1,000 at 1,274th overall. Yet, he’s athletic and it’s clear that the staff likes what it sees in the recruit out of Madison, Alabama. Here’s what EJ Holland of Rivals wrote about Spurlock:

"“Auburn jumped in the mix for Spurlock just a day before his Michigan official visit. While the in-state SEC program piqued his interest, Spurlock had his mindset on the Wolverines. New Michigan defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, linebackers coach George Helow, and Director of Recruiting Aashon Larkins all pitched him on fit and development.”"

Spurlock isn’t going to send shockwaves through the fanbase based on his ranking but the Michigan staff has done a good job of evaluating players and I trust them more than recruiting rankings.

Besides, it was pretty clear that getting Lander Barton was going to be difficult to get with all of his ties to Utah, so it was smart to push for Spurlock, who was gaining more attention down in the SEC as Auburn, South Carolina, and Mississippi State have all been interested. Here’s more from Holland:

"“Spurlock is the second traditional linebacker take this cycle, joining two-star prospect Aaron Alexander, who committed to the Wolverines this summer. At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Spurlock is rated as a 5.5 recruit, which is the lowest designation for a three-star prospect.”"

Spurlock is a fluid athlete and much like Aaron Alexander, Michigan football is betting on its ability to develop these guys, although Spurlock is probably more ready to contribute and seems like another recruit who could play his way up some in the final rankings.