Michigan Football: Wolverines likely to miss out on Justin Rogers

Michigan football looks like it will once again miss out on the top-ranked player in the state of Michigan as Justin Rogers is trending towards Kentucky.

For some reason, Michigan football and Justin Rogers never seemed to build a great relationship, even though Rogers is the top-ranked player in the state of Michigan.

The four-star guard that ranks 30th overall according to the 247 sports composite rankings, is the top guard in the country and while Michigan football would seem to have a good shot at the top prospect in its home state, Rogers appears headed to Kentucky.

Throughout the process, Rogers recruitment has been a little weird. It has been really uncertain and somewhat unpredictable. An example was when he released his top five, which included Michigan football.

Soon after, he spoke to Alabama head coach Nick Saban and included the Crimson Tide in his top six. Certainly, that’s understandable, it’s just an example of how it’s gone.

Rogers visited Michigan back in February and things seemed to go well. The Wolverines were included in his top five but they never seemed like a legitimate threat to sign him.

Some Michigan football fans have gotten hope in recent weeks as there was talk of a surprise commitment when it came to Rogers, who is expected to announce Monday.

However, that surprise appears to be Rogers picking a team you normally wouldn’t expect to land one of the top players in the country and that’s Kentucky. While nothing is guaranteed in recruiting, with a slew of 247 analysts putting in crystal ball projections for the Wildcats in recent days, that seems to be his destination.

Kentucky has 59 percent of the projections. Tennessee has 18 and Ohio State has nine. Michigan is nowhere to be seen with zero. Yet, many assume that this will not be the end of things with Rogers. As I wrote, you never know when it comes to recruiting and there continue to be rumblings around Rogers that he could de-commit down the road.

This isn’t saying anything against Kentucky, but they aren’t the power program that some of the other contenders like Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama and Michigan are. We will see what happens, but with Rogers, you get the feeling like things won’t really be decided until he signs his name.

Regardless, Michigan just didn’t establish that connection with Rogers and even if he changes his mind down the road, it doesn’t seem likely he would come to Ann Arbor. The Wolverines did just add four-star guard/tackle Zak Zinter, which was a solid get and the offensive line has solid depth all around.

Therefore, missing out on Rogers might not hurt too bad. But, not signing the top player in the state for the second year in a row isn’t ideal and it’s a trend that Michigan football would like to reverse.