Michigan Football: The decommitment of Mario Eugenio stings
Michigan football was short on four-star recruits already in the 2022 recruiting class and now, the Wolverines are down another after Mario Eugenio decommitted.
Things have been going so well for Michigan football on the field and on the recruiting trail, there hasn’t been much bad news to report.
Thankfully, we haven’t had to dig out any of the old disappointed Jim Harbaugh photos, normally reserved for recruiting losses and the like, for a while. But that changed on Thursday as four-star defensive end Mario Eugenio unexpectedly decommitted from the 2022 class.
After a long conversation with my family I have decided to decommit from the University of Michigan I thank @CoachRyanOsborn @MikeMacUM @CoachJim4UM @CoachNua for recruiting me
— Mario J Eugenio 2️⃣4️⃣ (@MEugenioJ) October 7, 2021
Eugenio is better described as an edge rusher and at 6-foot-3, 240 pounds is ranked as the No. 268 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class according to the 247 sports composite rankings.
He’s out of Clearwater, Florida, and is the 14th-best player in the state. He was also just one of four Michigan football commitments in 2022 ranked as a four-star in the composite rankings, joining Will Johnson, a five-star recruit, as well as four-stars Tyler Morris and Kody Jones.
It stings for Michigan football
It hurts and it’s unexpected because, for a time, Eugenio was out there heavily recruiting other prospects including Tawfiq Thomas, which could have something to do with it.
Thomas announced a commitment date and he’s close with Eugenio. Some expected him to commit to the Wolverines after a visit but it ended up not happening. Eugenio even tweeted this back in August.
https://twitter.com/MEugenioJ/status/1427671052931457024
Thomas, who is still not committed anywhere, is a low three-star prospect and it just didn’t seem like Michigan football was ready to take the commitment yet.
This could have nothing to do with the decommitment, because since then, Eugenio went from openly courting other players to not mentioning the Wolverines at all.
It’s clear from his tweet that he believed Thomas was going to be part of Michigan’s recruiting class and it’s possible he was upset that the staff didn’t take Thomas. At the very least, there seemed to be a miscommunication.
But Kenneth Grant has since committed and the Wolverines appear to be in good shape with Deone Walker. They also have some solid edge rushers already and Joshua Josephs still looks like a Michigan lean, at least according to crystal balls, and he’s another edge guy.
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It still stings to lose Eugenio but things happen in recruiting and sometimes relationships sour, which appears to have happened in this instance.