Michigan Football: Wolverines pushing hard with 2022 DTs

Michigan football has made defensive tackle an early priority in 2022 and here’s an update on a pair of top targets.

Michigan football is still hoping to add a defensive tackle or two to its 2021 recruiting class, but that hasn’t stopped the Wolverines from making the position a priority going forward.

Already in 2022, Michigan has the commitment of Alex VanSumeren, a versatile athlete who will likely be a defensive tackle down the road for the Wolverines.

That’s one, but Michigan has its eye on some others, such as Ohio defensive tackle Derrick Shepard. The 6-foot-3, 315-pounder is ranked 198th overall in the 247 sports composite rankings and 14th among DTs, as well as No. 8 in the state of Ohio.

Yet, it was Michigan that extended an offer first and the Wolverines were one of the first big schools to offer Shepard back in April. The Rivals top-100 prospect has 13 offers total, but the all-important offer from Ohio State hasn’t come, at least not yet.

But according to 247 sports, it sounds like it could be coming soon. Here’s what Shepard said ($) about his interactions with Ohio State D-line coach Larry Johnson:

"“He said the only thing missing in my evaluation is to see me play. He said to send him the link to my game, the sooner the better. We have our first game next Friday against Clinton-Massie. Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Missouri, Minnesota, USC might be getting close to offering.”"

Shepard also said Michigan football was among the programs recruiting him the hardest, so that’s something but if the Buckeyes do jump in the mix, it will make landing the Ohio kid much tougher.

Michigan in strong spot with in-state 2022 DT

Another big body up front to watch for the Wolverines in the 2022 cycle is Detroit Cass Tech defensive tackle Deone Walker.

Walker is 6-foot-5 or 6-foot-6, depending on the recruiting service, but both have him at just over 300 pounds. He’s a three-star recruit according to Rivals and is unranked by 247.

The offer list for Walker is pretty slim right now as Pitt is the only other Power-5 school to offer and that was just recently.

But with the need Michigan has had at defensive tackle, especially for big bodies on the interior, getting out front for someone like Walker isn’t a bad thing at all and here’s what the in-state recruit said to EJ Holland of Rivals recently about U-M ($):

“Michigan is up there. Michigan has been my favorite school, and I want to stay close to home.”

While the recruiting battle for Shepard seems like its about to heat up, the Wolverines have established themselves as an early favorite for the in-state defensive tackle.