Michigan Football: Key 2021 target trending with Notre Dame

Michigan football looks like it will miss out on 2021 defensive back Ryan Barnes, who is trending to Notre Dame.

Ever since Michigan football hired Bob Shoop to be the safeties coach, one recruit the Wolverines have really pushed for has been three-star Ryan Barnes.

Barnes is a versatile 6-foot-2 defensive back who Michigan football believes can play corner and safety. And Shoop has made frequent contact with Barnes, as just last week the two connected via FaceTime according to The Michigan Insider ($).

Even though he’s just a three-star prospect overall, his offer list tells a different story. Notre Dame has been pushing for him, along with others like Tennessee, Penn State, Clemson and Oklahoma. Yet, despite Michigan’s efforts, a number of crystal ball projections from 247 sports experts now have him going to Notre Dame.

247 sports also unveiled a new confidence system, giving each crystal ball a confidence meter of 1-10. Of the three leading experts projecting Barnes to the ND, they have a 7.7 confidence rating, so it looks like the Irish are in a solid position. All five new projections all came Wednesday night.

Other safety options for Michigan football in 2021

With Barnes seemingly off the board at this point or soon to be, it will be interesting to see where the Wolverines turn. One enticing option is safety Donovan McMillion, who is ranked as a three-star in the 247 sports composite rankings but is fresh off a huge jump in 247 sports own rankings, which now have him solidly as a four-star, ranked 144th overall and seventh among safeties.

There are no crystal ball projections for McMillon right now and things are just starting to pick up as he released his top-10 list earlier this month, which included the Wolverines as well as Arizona State, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech.

McMillion is another guy Shoop has been making a push with and now with Barnes leaning towards the Irish, we’ll see if McMillion becomes a greater focus.

And last but not least, one of the most positive recruiting nuggets from Michigan Wednesday was that J.J. McCarthy, once again reaffirmed his commitment to the Wolverines in the strongest terms possible on Twitter.

There was talk of whether Michigan fans should be worried about McCarthy transferring to Florida and powerhouse IMG. Well, McCarthy, the No. 2 quarterback in 2021 and the top commit in Michigan’s class right now put that to rest very quickly with the tweet shown above.

You have to absolutely love McCarthy’s talent. He truly is a five-star prospect but his commitment to Michigan football is genuine and that makes it easy to be excited about the future.