Friday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: Key recruiter from Hoke's staff to be retained

Greg Mattison to be a part of Jim Harbaugh's staff

New Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh is already plugging away at his coaching staff and starting to recruit hard just days after being announced as the man that calls the shots in Ann Arbor. There will be plenty of new faces roaming the sidelines next year, but one in particular will be a familiar one to Michigan fans.

Isaac Nauta (@inauta24) said he talked to Greg Mattison: "He said I know you’re committed, but we’re going to recruit you until you sign."

— Jeremy Crabtree (@jeremycrabtree) January 1, 2015

Greg Mattison, Brady Hoke's defensive coordinator?

Yes, it appears that the rumors of Mattison remaining on Harbaugh's staff in some capacity are true and were confirmed on Thursday by Steve Lorenz of Wolverine247. (FREE)

Mattison's role looks like it could be in the form of a linebackers coach. It's looking like Florida interim head coach DJ Durkin will coach the defense, so it's possible Mattison could be a co-coordinator of sorts.

This is significant because it helps provide continuity to some extent on the staff and allows the Wolverines to hold on to one of the best recruiters of high school talent in the country. He has played a large role in bringing in some of Michigan's higher rated defensive prospects in the last few classes while on Hoke's staff.

Chris Clark update

With only six scholarship spots filled in the 2015 recruiting class, Harbaugh and staff have their work cut out for them in putting a top 20 recruiting class together, but there are no shortage of interested prospects out there right now after the coaching hire was announced.

I've been asked a lot on what Michigan's biggest need on the recruiting trail is now that they have a coach in place. The answer to that would be the tight end position, specifically the top player at the position, Chris Clark (Avon, Connecticut).

Anybody who has followed Harbaugh's coaching career, specifically at Stanford, knows the offense he runs revolves around the play of the tight ends and Clark is a perfect fit for what Michigan will look to do on offense going forward. He decommitted after Hoke was fired, but said his interest in the school would shoot back up if Harbaugh ended up being the guy.

Clark spoke with MLive's Nick Baumgartner earlier this week about the contact he has already had with Harbaugh.(FREE)

"We kind of just talked about how he hopes Michigan turns into 'Tight End U,' and all the top tight ends he produced while he was at Stanford," said Clark, who will play in the Under Armour All-American Game on Friday. "I think six of them went on to the NFL. He said he thinks I could be a great leader for the class, and he's just hoping I'll be a part of it.

He was a really cool guy, I liked him a lot."

I would not be surprised to see Clark recommit soon after the new staff is officially in place and the dead period is over.

Recruits continue to react to Harbaugh hire

It has been a crazy week in recruiting news, as we went from basically nothing while the coaching search was going on to a plethora of reactions and updates after it became official that Harbaugh is the new coach at Michigan.

Several reactions from 2016 and 2017 prospects can be found here, per MGoFish.

Notable names are:

2016 WR Dylan Crawford: “Michigan has always been a top contender. Kj (Costello) and I have already talked about another visit.”

2016 LB Daelin Hayes: “I wouldn’t turn a deaf ear to UM with Harbaugh as head coach”

2016 WR Steven Smothers: “that’s a great hire ! now kids will love to play him an he know what’s it takes to get to the next level first hand !”

In terms of if it effects Michigan’s standing in his recruitment: “yes because by them hiring him I know they’ll be heading in the right direction again soon !”

2016 QB KJ Costello: “I Believe he can turn that program around in one year”

In terms of if it increases his interest in Michigan: “Absolutely”

2017 LB/DE Corey Malone-Hatcher’s Father: “I think the Hire if Harbaugh is a home run. Before the Harbaugh rumors, we’d always here “U guys shouldnt consider Michigan! They’re a Mess”. Once the rumors started, the chirping from friends associated with other schools stopped completely. That told me that everyone view michigan as a threat for recruits and they know the giant is awakening.”

On Corey’s feeling: “He was excited. He has liked Michigan but didn’t like the losing. Now the buzz of Harbaugh has him feeling like they will be winning again. Michigan’s 16 class will be a nice size. The 17 class will be huge. That could be a special class if things go right. So … He watching”

Harbaugh reaching out to former commits and targets, as well

Harbaugh has been busy calling recruits and making a run at players that formerly committed or had the Wolverines at the top of their list during the recruiting process at one point.

According to Scout.com, he has reached out to Tennessee linebacker commit Darrin Kirkland Jr., UCLA DE/OLB Keisean Lucier-South and Florida State wide receiver commit Auden Tate. ($)

To briefly address the status of each, Kirkland is out. He is enrolling early at Tennessee and will not be returning to Michigan's 2015 recruiting class.

Lucier-South is an interesting one. He at one point considered Michigan a dream school and visited for the Under the Lights game against Penn State, but committed to UCLA in November. Harbaugh will make Michigan a factor again, but he likely sticks with UCLA.

The wild card here is Tate. He is looking to visit Michigan sometime in January and is certainly interested in the Wolverines after the Harbaugh hire. We'll see what happens there.

That's it for Friday. Check back in with us Monday for the latest in Michigan football recruiting.