MSU QB recruit deWeaver: Harbaugh still wanted me

EAST LANSING – Whenever a hotly pursued recruit switches from one school to another – and especially if those schools are rivals – the fans of both sides will inevitably end up with very different stories about how it all went down.

Such is the case with Messiah deWeaver, a Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne senior quarterback and "four-star" recruit who announced his decision to attend Michigan State on Wednesday. He was previously committed to Michigan.

And a day after committing to the Spartans, he gave his side of how the process took place – saying he started to doubt his commitment to U-M when things started going badly for Brady Hoke last season, and also that new U-M coach Jim Harbaugh tried to keep him in as part of U-M's 2016 class.

DeWeaver said on "The Drive with Jack Ebling" on 92.1-FM in Lansing that Harbaugh told him "how much he wanted me still there, to stay in and to recruit for that class."

DeWeaver said he responded that "I felt like I needed to do things over and look at other options and see what's best for me."

"That's the jist of how that conversation went," deWeaver said. "We didn't talk for very long."

Harbaugh, for the record, has been collecting quarterbacks in bulk since taking the job and got a 2016 commitment from Brandon Peters of Avon, Ind., earlier this month. Rivals.com ranks Peters the No. 5 pro-style quarterback in the nation, and it has deWeaver No. 8.

"I had a great relationship with coach Brady Hoke and his staff, and once things started going downhill I was thinking things over," deWeaver said. "It's a great program over there but in my heart of hearts I just felt Michigan State was a better school for me. Coach Harbaugh came on, he still recruited me, I still had an offer from them. But at the end of the day I thought Michigan State was the best school for me overall. I love coach Dantonio and his staff, and I just felt like that's where I needed to be."

He'll be in East Lansing this weekend for the MSU spring game, trying to help Dantonio land his highest-ranked class yet. Several touted prospects are due in for the game, and deWeaver said he'll be working hard to convince them to join him.

Josh King, a defensive end from Hinsdale (Ill.) South ranked the top player in Illinois by Rivals.com for the class of 2016, responded to deWeaver's commitment Wednesday on Twitter with this: "Good Choice bro! Let's make MSU 2016 recruiting class number one!"

"That Josh King tweet was crazy," deWeaver said on "The Drive with Jack."