Michigan Football: Wolverines add another underrated 3-star from Ohio

Michigan football added a second commitment over the weekend as the Wolverines landed three-star safety Rod Moore, the second gem found in Ohio.

Some Michigan football fans might not have been that excited to hear the Wolverines added another three-star prospect to their 2021 recruiting class Sunday.

But those fans would be wrong, because the latest recruit to commit to being a Wolverine, Rod Moore, a three-star safety from Ohio, is very underrated by the recruiting services and so is his high school teammate, Markus Allen, who also committed to Michigan football last week.

Moore is ranked as the No. 378 overall player in the 2021 class and the No. 22 safety. However, just a few weeks back, before Michigan extended its offer, he was the 79th-rated safety in the class and 43rd in the state of Ohio. So he moved up 57 spots in the safety rankings and 31 spots in the state of Ohio rankings, all since Michigan offered.

https://twitter.com/Rodmoorejr/status/1259558947658366979

I don’t mean the Michigan offer caused the shift. But Moore saw a big jump in the rankings after that and when you see his highlights, you understand why. When I first looked at him, he wasn’t ranked among the top 1,000 prospects and watching, my first thought was how underrated he was and initially, I thought he looked like a four-star player.

That’s why even though Moore made a big move up, especially according to the 247 sports’ rankings, which now lists him as the 10th-best player in Ohio, he still looks like a four-star to me and he’s another really good safety joining the Wolverines.

Thinking back to the last year’s recruiting class, Michigan football added Jordan Morant, Makari Paige and RJ Moten. Those three guys along with Moore and Daxton Hill from 2019 should give U-M a really solid safeties room for years to come.

Moore is a ballhawk, who has the toughness to play in the box and according to his highlights, he runs a 4.41 in the 40. He plays fast and has a knack for finding the ball. He will be dynamic on special teams to start and by year two, my bet is he will see some defensive snaps before taking the leap to becoming a starter.

But Moore isn’t the only addition to the Wolverines from Northmont High School in Clayton, Ohio, the second is Allen, the wideout who committed a couple weeks ago. Allen is ranked as the 83rd-best receiver and 507th-best overall in 2021, which also seems too low.

Watching Allen, I was reminded of former Green Bay Packers wideout James Jones with Allen’s tremendous ability to find the ball and bring in contested catches. He does great catching the ball in traffic and there was a reason Josh Gattis pushed so hard for him.

Moore’s recruitment was also a testament to how Michigan has recruited during this period. He didn’t meet the staff in person or get to visit campus. It was all virtual and the Wolverines still landed him. A few years down the road, they will be glad they did.