2/7/2018 football Edit

Georgia takes Reese from Michigan

Otis Reese committed to Michigan in June 2016. (Otis Reese (Photo by: Chad Simmons))

Chad Simmons • Rivals.com

Recruiting Analyst

Chad Simmons is a Recruiting Analyst for Rivals.com. He was the expert on The Next Class on Fox Sports South from 2011-2015. He currently covers Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

Michigan did all they could to hang on to Otis Reese, a Rivals 100 athlete who committed to the Wolverines over a year and a half ago, but Georgia stole him away in the final hour. The Bulldogs kept in contact with Reese often, especially over the past seven or eight months and it paid off for the in-state school in the end.

THE SITUATION

This one has been building for quite some time. Before taking his official visit to Michigan a few weeks ago, Reese had not visited Ann Arbor since their spring game in April. In between that time, he had visited Athens over half a dozen times. Reese was at all but one Georgia home game this season and he visited at least a couple of times over the summer, so there was some real chatter about the Bulldogs. There were other schools that tried to get in this race, but there was never a true threat to Michigan other than Georgia.

HOW IT HELPS GEORGIA

Reese is a top-end talent out of the Peach State, so keeping one of the best at home is where it starts. Georgia lost the big fish (Aubrey Solomon) out of Lee County to Michigan a year ago and they were doing all they could not to let it happen again. Reese reminds Rivals of former Bulldog and current Los Angeles Ram, Alec Ogletree. Reese can be that enforcer at safety that plays in the box and is used in blitz packages or he could end up as an athletic linebacker in their scheme. There are a lot of happy Georgia fans in South Georgia about this news and a coaching staff between the hedges that are all smiles right now.

HOW IT HURTS MICHIGAN

Michigan had some success in Georgia with three signees, but Reese was their highest commit from the Peach State and he was their highest-ranked commit heading into National Signing Day, so this is a big blow. Reese was going to be an early contributor for the Wolverines and the staff spent countless hours in Leesburg trying to keep this one from leaving. There is just no way around it — this one stings in Ann Arbor. They have signed a top five class the last two cycles, but they need to close well to just stay in the top 20 in 2018.