Michigan Football: Wolverines keep building momentum for 2021

Michigan football hosted a number of key recruits in Ann Arbor over the weekend and early on, it appears the Wolverines are in good shape for 2021.

While Michigan football has an iron or two left in the fire when it comes to the 2020 recruiting class, the attention is clearly on 2021 and so far, the Wolverines are doing some nice work.

Obviously, the cornerstone for that class is five-star quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who also visited Michigan football over the weekend.  McCarthy and top-100 offensive lineman Giovanni El-Hadi are already committed and have been working to convince others to pledge too.

But generally, the Wolverines are in good shape for some key targets, namely a trio of in-state prospects in running back Donovan Edwards, offensive or defensive line Rocco Spindler and linebacker Jamari Buddin.

McCarthy, El-Hadi, Edwards, Spindler and Buddin were all in Ann Arbor ($) over the weekend along with two more elite, in-state prospects in defensive tackle Damon Payne and Garrett Dellinger.

While things seem a little murkier when it comes to Payne and Dellinger, who has all of his crystal ball projections going to Notre Dame right now, U-M is on solid ground with Edwards, Buddin and Spindler and this weekend only seemed to help with that.

Edwards is from West Bloomfield, Michigan and as the No. 2 running back in the 247 composite rankings for the 2021 class, he’s obviously a key target. And right now, the Wolverines own 86 percent of his crystal balls. He also seems very excited about Josh Gattis. Here’s what he told the Michigan Insider over the weekend ($):

"“I think what he did for Michigan this year, his first season (coordinating), he did a phenomenal job catching up the whole offense and taking it to a level where it’s successful. And it can be more successful. Me and him, I think we’re getting closer every time we talk.”"

If Michigan was able to land Edwards, along with McCarthy, it would give the Wolverines a top-two player at quarterback and running back, as well as an elite left tackle in El-Hadi.

Certainly, there is a long way to go and nothing is guaranteed until signing day. But Spindler and Buddin are also being projected to the Wolverines right now and if Michigan can grab that collection of in-state recruits, it will be well on its way towards one of the top recruiting classes in all of college football for 2021.