Michigan Football: Wolverines hit hard in latest 247 rankings update

247 sports updated its 2021 recruiting rankings and it’s pretty stunning to see the fall of some key Michigan football recruits.

If you are one of those people that don’t really believe in recruiting rankings, Michigan football‘s 2021 recruiting class might give you a good reason why, at least a good reason to be annoyed at the new 247 sports rankings released this week.

When it comes to the 247 composite rankings, those are legit, because they average together rankings for all the different recruiting sites. But it’s becoming harder and harder to simply trust just 247, especially because they make such drastic changes, without seemingly much to go on.

Take Michigan football target Christian Dixon for instance. Just a few days ago, 247 had him ranked as the No. 44 wide receiver in the 2021 class. Then, in the new release, the kid from California drops an astonishing 52 spots to 96th. Not five or 10 spots, but 52. Jayden Thomas, another Michigan football target at wide receiver, also dropped 39 spots.

How is that possible? There hasn’t been a live evaluation period, so what is this based on?

Probably the same bases that made three-star safety Rod Moore a low-ranking three-star before Michigan football offered him. Incredibly, about a week later, he went from being ranked outside the top 1,000 and 79th at his position, to No. 355 and the 29th-ranked safety. Even though nothing had really changed.

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With Dixon, there could be concerns about his speed and separation I guess which could warrant a slight drop, but 50-some spots? That’s ridiculous. He’s ranked as the No. 32 wideout at Rivals and also No 175 overall. Moore is also ranked as the No. 22 safety by Rivals.

Other players took big drops too in the 247 rankings, especially on offense. Four-star offensive line target Drew Kendall was one of them but he wasn’t the only Michigan target going backward in the offensive guard rankings.

Rocco Spindler fell two spots down to the No. 5 guard, while Kendall dropped eight stops down to No. 13. One issue is maybe his weight, since he’s listed at 255 on his 247 profile but Kendall is 65th according to Rivals, so don’t fret. But also, don’t take it to the bank he’s committing either.

247 also ranks Giovanni El-Hadi as the No. 6 offensive guard, moving him up, which is still weird, since he will be playing right tackle at Michigan. Maybe 247 sports sees him as a right guard at the next level, who knows, but for perspective, Rivals has him No. 51 overall and ninth among OT’s.

Raheem Anderson also dropped a spot in the 247 rankings at center, while Greg Crippen held, even though it sounds like he will be a guard at U-M. Crippen is another example of a dramatic ranking difference, as Rivals has him at No. 136, and as the seventh-best guard. The 247 rankings list Crippen as the No. 6 center and 528th-ranked player overall.

Not even Tristan Bounds, who is nearly 6-foot-8 and seemed to be on the rise, climbed. In fact, he dropped six spots from the No. 39 tackle to No. 45. Defensively, nothing shifted too dramatically. Jaydon Hood and Casey Phinney each dropped a spot at inside linebacker. That’s about it.

But another player on offense who saw a drop was four-star commit at tight end Louis Hansen, who fell four spots at tight end. 247 has him rated as a three-star prospect at 500th overall, but Rivals has him ranked in the top 100 at 68th overall and fourth at his position.

With some of these recruits, the difference between Rivals and 247 is insanely dramatic. Being a top-100 recruit in one and a top-200 in another seems reasonable. But going from 68th overall to 500th?

Next. 5 thoughts so far on Michigan's 2021 recruiting class. dark

Again that what makes the composite valuable and in that respect, Michigan didn’t see any changes among commitments, meaning it still as eight four stars and nine three stars as part of the 2021 class, which should change soon, with another four star Saturday in Quintin Somerville.

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