Football recruiting: Virginia loses offensive line commitment to Michigan

With Virginia's big recruiting weekend pushed back because of impending snow, the Cavaliers lost a nearby prospect to a Big Ten power.

Offensive tackle Stephen Spanellis of the Gilman School in Baltimore announced Thursday evening that he had changed his commitment from Virginia to the University of Michigan.

This was a difficult decision for me, but I had to do what I felt was best for me and my family. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/tQxYxzt1pp

— Stephen Spanellis (@Big_Spanellis78) January 22, 2016

Taking an official visit to Ann Arbor may not have sat well with Bronco Mendenhall and the new regime in Charlottesville.

Spanellis' defection drops the Virginia recruiting class down to 23 committed scholarship players, and only two offensive linemen among them. U.Va. did add Ben Trent, an offensive tackle from Jefferson Forest High School in Forest, Virginia, as a preferred walk-on last week.

Spanellis is a high three-star prospect, who held offers from thirteen schools in addition to U.Va.

Earlier in the week, Michigan pulled its scholarship offer from four-star tackle Erik Swenson of Illinois.