Priority center target Jake Guarnera commits to Michigan

Michigan landed its third 2024 commitment in less than a week as Ponte Vedra Beach (Fla.) High interior offensive lineman Jake Guarnera publicly announced his decision on Friday.

The Wolverine have now taken sole possession of first place for the most verbal commits this cycle (15) which is three more than both Penn State and Ohio State.

Guarnera chose Michigan over notable offers from Florida, Penn State, Rutgers and NC State. All five programs were included in the junior’s Top 5 list released back on April 11th. He last visited Ann Arbor this past month following an appearance for last year’s BBQ at The Big House and the Hawaii game in early September.

It was the multi-stay on campus in which Guarnera received extensive one-on-one meetings with Michigan offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Sherrone Moore.

“It was good because (talking to Moore in person) was one of my favorite things about the visit,” Guarnera told The Wolverine on March 15th. “We got to spend a lot of time together. We also went out to dinner together on both of those nights. We got almost all day Monday to do stuff together too. He said that I’ll most likely be center but I have the ability to play guard.”

At 6-foot-4 and 283 pounds, Guarnera is ranked as the No. 30 interior offensive lineman in the country and No. 61 prospect in the state of Florida, according to On3.

Guarnera is also the fifth offensive lineman to commit to Michigan this cycle with early expectations are for him to compete for playing time at the center spot.

“The fact that (Moore) won back-to-back Joe Moore Awards and consistently puts guys into the draft,” Guarnera said. “Olu (Oluwatimi) is going to get drafted pretty high this year. Moore and I were watching game film of last season (on the March visit) and I really liked the play of Michigan’s interior part of the line.”

Guarnera has an On3 NIL Valuation of $24K with 3,300 combined followers on Instagram and Twitter. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

Rounding out Michigan’s 2024 recruiting class are Top 100 Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day quarterback Jadyn Davis, Top 100 Rochester (Mich.) Adams tight end Brady Prieskorn, Top 100 Cincinnati (Ohio) Archbishop Moeller running back Jordan Marshall, On300 Austin (Tex.) Vandegrift offensive tackle Blake Frazier, On300 Kansas City (Mo.) Rockhurst offensive tackle Andrew Sprague, offensive tackle On300 Harper Woods (Mich.) High defensive back Jacob Oden, On300 Nashville (Tenn.) Ensworth linebacker Mason Curtis, On300 Bellevue (Wash.) High tight end Hogan Hansen, industry four-star Cheshire (Conn.) Academy defensive lineman Jerod Smith, industry four-star Avon (Ohio) High interior offensive lineman Luke Hamilton, three-star Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward offensive tackle Ben Roebuck, three-star Cincinnati (Ohio) St. Xavier defensive lineman Ted Hammond, three-star Wallingford (Conn.) Choate Rosemary Hall defensive lineman Manuel Beigel and three-star South Park (Pa.) High linebacker Zach Ludwig.