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Michigan Loses Another Commitment Due To Poor Player-Coach Relationship

By Will Burchfield
@Burchie_kid

Michigan's August recruiting woes have crept into September.

After losing three commitments in a span of 24 hours last month, the Wolverines suffered another blow on Friday morning when 2018 four-star linebacker Antwuan Johnson announced he, too, is rescinding his pledge to Michigan.

"I have officially decided that I will be opening my recruitment back up," Johnson wrote via Twitter. "Thank you to all the coaches at UM that showed love and I appreciate all the fans. I will always love the UM fans, wish you guys the best of luck this season. #GoBlue."

As for why he decommitted, Johnson pointed to the lack of a relationship between he and the team's linebackers coach Chris Partridge.

"I feel that me and Jim Harbaugh have a great relationship," Johnson told Maize n Brew. "But me and my linebacker coach don't and I know he had control of my playing time and me and his relationship wasn't as tight as me and coach Harbaugh's. So I think it was my best decision to part ways."

Johnson later added, "(Partridge) never reached out to me. I didn't feel like I was a priority."

According to Rivals.com, Johnson is the 12th best player at his position and the 14th best player in the state of Ohio. He is also drawing interest from Ohio State, Michigan State and Notre Dame, among other schools.

In late August, Michigan lost four-star DE Leonard Taylor and three-star OL Jalil Irvin from its 2018 recruiting class. With Johnson's decommittment, the Wolverines are down to one player for 2018: Otis Reese, a four-star safety from Georgia.

While the loss of Johnson looks overtly like Partridge's fault, it's worth pointing out that Partridge was named Scout.com's 2016 recruiter of the year. Formerly the coach at Paramus Catholic H.S. in New Jersey, he played a large role in securing six players from that state in the Wolverines' 2016 class, including number-one overall recruit Rashan Gary.

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