I really had hopes of getting UFR out this week, but the fallout from last weekend's visitpalooza will continue until morale improves. Ben Roebuck, one of Michigan's top offensive line prospects, and one of the top prospects in Ohio, announced on Instagram yesterday that he's committed to Michigan. He did this moments after I posted the Hello from Tuesday's commitment, Cincinnati 4.5* RB Jordan Marshall. Marshall announced right after I posted on Monday's commitment, 2023 4* VA safety prospect Brandyn Hillman, another Michigan-Ohio State battle. Was Roebuck actually a Michigan-Ohio State battle? OSU was his expected destination for the first half of the cycle, but never officially offered. They also traditionally withhold offers for born Buckeyes in-state because the act of giving one often leads to a commitment shortly thereafter. Clearly they viewed Roebuck differently than Marshall, but their reporters were really surprised an offer didn't come after Roebuck camped at Columbus last summer, and by all accounts faired as well as one of the top national tackle prospects was expected to. As was the case with Rod Moore a few cycles ago, Michigan began making up ground shortly thereafter, and the Buckeye reporters who are tightest with the local coaches were starting to openly wonder what's the deal. OSU skipped him again when they offered two other Saint Ed's offensive linemen in January, however by that point Roebuck was so obviously enamored with Michigan that he was making surprise pop-ins to Ann Arbor. We'll explore this too, but first there's about 6'7"/350 pounds of John Lennon's head on Ryan Hayes's body to assess. GURU RATINGS RATINGS BY SITE 247: 6'7/320 On3: 6'7/340 Rivals: 6'7/320 ESPN: 6'8/330 3*, 89, NR Ovr #24 OT, #12 OH 3*, 87, NR Ovr #67 OT, #43 OH 4*, 5.8, NR Ovr #31 OT, #12 OH 3*, not ranked 3.99 3.55 4.01 n/a COMPOSITE RANKINGS 247 Composite On3 Consensus MGoBlog 3*, 0.8867, #455 Ovr #31 OT, #15 OH 3*, 87.6, #594 Ovr #40 OT, #20 OH 3.5*, #497/780 Ovr #38/54 OTs since 1990 3.87 3.76 3.84 His rankings have come down across the board. ESPN actually had a 79 on him earlier in the cycle, which got him ranked in their early top-300. Rivals had him ten spots higher among OTs. On3 moved him 28 spots down the OT rankings and all the way to #43 in Ohio. This is more than what you'd get from the normal recruiting gravity. He was 146th overall, the #5 OT, and #3 in Ohio just ten months ago, and the #2 prospect in Ohio (one ahead of Marshall) when the cycle began. This could be the sites reading the continued lack of an official Ohio State offer, versus a reevaluation. Roebuck has been a Michigan lean for so long an OSU offer might have just been rebuffed as too late. On the other hand, they made the decision to be too late, which is not a decision they would have risked for Marshall. They also offered Roebuck's linemates, the Armstrong twins, in January. Sherrone Moore had been working hard on them, too, and that didn't stop the crystal balls from flying to OSU. Anyway I viewed Roebuck as the bigger target than Hamilton initially, and since then the sites have flipped that. [AFTER THE JUMP: At large.]