The Iowa Hawkeyes received a verbal commitment from suburban Detroit linebacker/safety Michael Ojemudia Wednesday night, ending a three-month recruiting drought with a week left until Signing Day. Ojemudia becomes the 18th commitment in Iowa's Class of 2015. Iowa reportedly projects him at strong safety, making him the first (and likely only) defensive back in this year's class, a fact not of particular concern given the glut of cornerbacks and safeties signed in 2014.
Let's get the gnashing of teeth out of the way first: Ojemudia isn't exactly an in-demand recruit. He had committed to Eastern Michigan before Iowa came around; Indiana and Wyoming threw scholarship offers his way after the fact. Rivals gives him a two-star grade and ranks him the lowest recruit in a class that is being largely panned by recruitniks. The guys over at 247, who have shown an odd tendency to give anyone committing to Iowa an immediate three-star grade, stay true to form (they also declare him a "consensus three-star" player based on a three-star grade from Scout). The truth is that nobody had paid much attention to Ojemudia until about a month ago, and he was ungraded until just days before he joined the Hawkeyes.
The good news? Well, his film is just a collection of him picking off passes and trucking fools in the backfield:
There's also the late groundswell of offers -- albeit modest -- showing that he might have just flown under the radar until his senior season. More importantly, he's a Phil Parker recruit for a Phil Parker position in Phil Parker's recruiting territory, and Phil rarely misses on guys he knows he'll coach. Micah Hyde was one of these guys. Yes, Bob Sanders was, too. They are hardly the only ones.
Scout's interview with Ojemudia indicates that both Parker and Kirk Ferentz have told him he could well play next year, but a move into the two-deep in 2016 looks much more likely given Iowa's apparent love for sophomore safety Miles Taylor and the return of senior free safety Jordan Lomax. Regardless, the losing streak has finally been broken, and a flurry of late offers could come with it.