Michigan's recruitment of
Kareem Walker was technically a lot longer than these past couple months after he decommitted from Ohio State.
Believe it or not, the Wolverines may have actually led for Walker very early on in the process for one reason: former assistant Roy Manning. Manning and Walker developed a great relationship early on in the process, and the Wolverines got him up to campus one time early on in the process. Despite that, a visit to Alabama last spring (2014) had many believing the Tide led (Michigan thought he'd commit there early), which is why his Crystal Ball was leaning towards them for a long time.
His Ohio State commitment caught many off guard, as he pledged immediately in the aftermath of the Buckeyes' national title game last January. Sentiment grew over the summer that his pledge to the Buckeyes may not be 100% as he continued to talk to other schools. This is around July/August, etc., but even then it didn't appear the Wolverines would get involved.
However, behind the scenes, and this is stuff only learned after the fact, Michigan began to push Walker early on in the season to come up for an official visit. It wasn't necessarily a surprise that he decided to come, but as the visit date approached it appeared more and more like he wasn't going to sign with the Buckeyes, and that's when Tyrone Wheatley, Chris Partridge and Jim Harbaugh pounced on the opportunity.
This is yet another recruitment where persistence paid off. Michigan has been winning these recruitments because they have stayed on these players until the clock says zero. This is simply the case for all three of Jordan Elliott, Devin Bush Jr. and now Walker, three players the last staff would have never gotten pledges from, at least when it mattered the most.
If another school had come in and taken Walker away, it would have been undoubtedly an 11th hour change of heart. Michigan felt
great on this recruitment until after his final official visit to Florida State, where it appears the Seminoles gave him something to think about. This literally dragged out until about four minutes after I typed this sentence when Walker made his decision public. To our knowledge, Michigan's staff was completely in the dark the entire time.