The Curious Case of Daishon Neal

With eight days to go until signing day, Michigan's coaching staff is doing all they can to fill the remaining spots in their 2015 recruiting class.

The new coaching staff coming in as late as they did and having to wait out the winter dead period means that they have been hard at work trying to flip players committed to other schools, and have been successful doing so thus far with their most recent three commits.

Another candidate to do so this week was three-star defensive end Daishon Neal (Omaha, Nebraska), who the staff offered on Monday, followed by an in-home visit with defensive line coach Greg Mattison.

Things seemed to be trending Michigan's way for Neal until Tuesday morning when he reaffirmed his commitment to Nebraska Tuesday morning with 1600 The Zone in Omaha.

During the interview, Abraham Hoskins Jr., Neal's father, mentioned that he was pushing his son towards committing to the Wolverines.

So what changed?

"Michigan was a powerhouse, they came in and they stormed us, they made one bad statement and it was over," Hoskins said. "They said without football, Daishon wouldn't be able to go to Michigan. Like we couldn't afford to send him there, or that we couldn't get him in academically.

"Once he said that, we pretty much escorted him out of the house."

Neal did not like what he had heard, saying that "(They) basically tried to call me stupid in front of my face."

Those are pretty powerful words, and Hoskins seemed let down by the way the family was approached.

"I was leaning towards Michigan, with their academics, stats, everything," Hoskins said. "What if he never played again in his life, that degree could have taken him anywhere."

This is another classic example of some of the "he said, she said" behavior that takes place on the recruiting trail. It is unlikely Mattison came into their home with the intentions to demean or offend the family. Michigan is one of the tougher academic schools to get into in the country and athletes have some leeway with what their grades can look like.

It is unfortunate that his comments were misconstrued and that things had to happen that way, but both sides will move on.

Michigan flipped another Nebraska commit, three-star defensive end Reuben Jones, over the weekend.

They are currently in the running for tight end Matt Snyder, who is also committed to the Huskers. Neal's family said they will attempt to convince him to stick with Nebraska.