Warren pulls a shocker
We had hoped to wait until he made the announcement on Fox Sports later tonight but the cat is out of the bag. In one of the biggest recruiting surprises of the year, Long Beach Poly (Calif.) defensive back Donovan Warren has decided to leave home and will play his college ball at Michigan.
The recruiting saga involving Warren was full of twists and turns throughout. We had been adamant in calling Warren to USC for the last month and for good reason. Following his official visit to USC over a month ago, Warren told us he had given a silent commitment to the Trojan staff on the trip.
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Further strengthening our opinion that Warrren was a Trojan were reports of the talented corner recruiting other players during the Army All-American game as well as flashing the fight on sign.
Two weeks ago, we talked with Warren and again, he said nothing had changed and he was still set to announce for USC. Last week, Wolverine head coach Lloyd Carr and defensive coordinator Ron English came in to the Warren household for a home visit and everything changed from that point on.
"That visit really opened my eyes," Warren told us this morning in explaining why he chose the Wolverines. "Up until then, I was still a Trojan but after talking to the coaches, I really started to have second thoughts.
"It wasn't anything against USC, I love that school, but I just felt like Michigan was the best fit for me. They need corners and I'll have a chance to step in and compete right away for playing time.
"At Michigan, they have great success getting corners in to the league (NFL) and no one has produced more NFL defensive backs than Coach English. Coach English was huge in all of this, he was the most honest and straight up coach with me. I really love that guy and can't wait to play for him.
"A lot of people brought up the distance and weather at Michigan but that wasn't important to me. I was looking for the best school so distance really has no roll there.
"As for the weather, I think that is really overrated. I'm not soft and I can handle it. During the season, it doesn't get that cold and I don't go out that often anyway.
"I started leaning towards Michigan after that visit and then after thinking about it all this week, I just became more and more comfortable with the idea of leaving home and playing for Michigan. I love their tradition, they're a big time BCS school and I expect to do great things when I get there."