Michigan Football: Baseball could help Wolverines with elite 2021 DT

Michigan football has used the baseball program to help recruit before and it could help the Wolverines again in 2021 with an elite defensive tackle.

When it comes to Michigan football and the 2021 recruiting class, the Wolverines have few targets that should be a bigger priority than Tywone Malone, a defensive tackle from Bergen Catholic in New Jersey.

Malone is exactly the kind of player the Wolverines need. He’s a 6-foot-3, 300-pound defensive tackle that can stuff the run and control the line of scrimmage, which is one of the things Michigan football was missing this season in losses to Alabama, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

The four-star prospect out of Oradell, New Jersey, the same school that R.J. Moten goes too, would be a huge get, especially considering he’s 37th overall prospect according to the 247 sports composite rakings for 2021, as well as the No. 7 defensive tackle.

And like Moten, Malone has an interest in playing both football and baseball in college, which is something Michigan has said it would let him do, just like with Moten. Here’s what Malone said to The Michigan Insider on the subject ($):

“Yes playing football and baseball in college is something I want to do. Michigan said I could play both.”

Michigan football offered Malone over a year ago and he has continued to be a top target for them and it’s obvious because few schools would allow an elite recruit to play two sports but when you are up against schools such as  Alabama, Arizona State, Florida Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State and USC, it makes sense to try and get an edge anyway possible.

It certainly helped with Moten, who committed around the same time that Michigan baseball was making its run to the College World Series. So maybe it will help that the Wolverines baseball team is currently ranked No. 1 after a big weekend that saw them beat Arizona State and Vanderbilt, in what was a rematch of the finals in the last year’s CWS.

It’s been a really cool ride for Eric Bakich and the baseball program, which has seen a meteoric rise over the last couple of years. Now the Wolverines seem like legitimate contenders in that sport and maybe that success will carry over to football in more way than one.

For one, it is literally helping attract certain recruits, but also, it’s proof again that no matter the odds, a national title contender can be built at Michigan.