All of Jim Harbaugh's crazy recruiting tactics have paid off.
The nation's consensus No. 1 recruit, Rashan Gary, picked Michigan over Clemson on Wednesday during ESPN's SportsCenter, solidifying a Top 5 class in Harbaugh's first full year of recruiting in Ann Arbor.
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Gary is the first No. 1 overall recruit to choose a Big Ten school since 2008.
The 6-4, 286-pound defensive tackle also considered USC, Ole Miss and Auburn before narrowing his choices to Michigan and Clemson, to which he took an official visit Jan. 29.
Gary's mother, Jennifer Coney, said Gary hadn't made up his mind as of Tuesday, so some Michigan commits made their last-minute pitches Tuesday night.
#WeNeedRashan 〽️
— Khaleke Hudson2⃣1⃣ (@NeverDone_21) February 3, 2016
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Michigan was long considered the front-runner for the Paramus Catholic (N.J.) defensive tackle — his best friends, running back Kareem Walker and defensive tackle Michael Dwumfour, have committed to Michigan and Michigan linebackers/special teams coach Chris Partridge is the former Paramus Catholic head coach. Former teammate Jabrill Peppers is also a Michigan star.
Gary had visited Michigan the most of any other program aside from nearby Rutgers. His latest visit to Ann Arbor was Jan. 22 (unofficial) and took an official visit Sept. 25, 2015 when the Wolverines shut out BYU, 31-0.
After his visit last fall, Gary about his visit on his blog for USA Today:
My visit to Michigan (on Sept. 25) was good. I’ve been there three times before. I already had a good idea how it was. I just needed to go there and check out the business school, a place where I plan on spending the majority of my time because hopefully that will be my major. I wanted to get a good feel for how people were at the campus and I accomplished that while I was there. There were a lot of nice people. You ask them a question and they don’t mind it. Here in Jersey, a lot of people won’t say hi until you say hi. I saw Chris (Partridge, the former coach at Paramus, now an assistant at Michigan). We just talked about my high school season, just catching up and stuff.
