Michigan should still pursue 2022 DB Isaac Thompson despite Missouri commitment

On this week’s Future Brew, we discuss the impact on recruiting regarding Jim Harbaugh’s uncertain future in Ann Arbor, and how a class of 2022 player ended up committing elsewhere in part because of that.

Von: Isaac Thompson, who talked about briefly in the last conversation, he’s a 2022 defensive back from the Midwest in Missouri, a four-star safety. It seemed like he was all blue, man, and then he ended up committing to Missouri, the hometown school there. Pretty big loss here because Michigan hasn’t had a 2022 recruit commit to them since September. So Jon, I want to get your take here with this recruitment, what you really think led to Thompson committing to Missouri over Michigan, and if you expect Michigan to still pursue him.

Jon: Yeah, this is a strange one. Coming out of that Michigan visit, he was all Michigan before a couple more bad losses, so it wasn’t surprising to see him look around. He quickly went on a visit to Missouri, which is close by, and then a virtual visit to Arkansas. Then it looked like right before his commitment date he was going to end up switching to Missouri, but then Harbaugh and Matt Dudek, the recruiting coordinator, get on the phone with him and apparently talked to him for a long time pitching him about the program. It seemed to almost have worked, but in the end it just wasn’t enough to overcome the uncertainty and the poor showing this season. I don’t think that’s gonna stop Michigan from going after him. If they returned to some sense of normalcy or get something positive out of this offseason, next season, there’s still gonna be a chance to flip him. There’s definitely still room for Michigan to get back in the race.

Stephen: It was interesting to me that the first conversation he had was with Dudek and Harbaugh, and not Don Brown. I know there was word he talked to Don Brown afterwards, so just a strange situation. I think you could maybe read into a little bit with the plans for Michigan and the defensive staff moving forward, and I think the uncertainty there had to play a part in Thompson’s commitment to Missouri. There’s tons of time between now and signing day for the class of 2022, so Michigan would be silly to not continue to pursue. For Thompson, he can focus on his next season, relax a little bit. If things are looking good for Michigan’s new direction on defense that I expect them to do, if that’s looking good and if it’s still a good fit for Thompson, I would expect them to turn back on the heat and Michigan to be in a good spot.

Listen to the full discussion below.

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