Updating Daxton Hill injury and Michigan Football recruiting after win

How Michigan football’s win over Minnesota could help with recruiting, plus an injury update on Daxton Hill.

It feels great to wake up on a Monday following a huge win for Michigan football over the weekend against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The Wolverines were the favorite going into the game, but with all the talk leading up to it and the questions about Jim Harbaugh, it was one of the more satisfying wins of the past six years.

However, there was one negative that came out of the game and that was when Daxton Hill left due to injury. Hill is the guy that Harbaugh has called Michigan’s best player, so he’s definitely not a name you want to see on the injury report.

While he didn’t return to the game against the Gophers and even though Harbaugh didn’t say much about his status afterward, Sam Webb of the Michigan Insider ($) had a positive update:

"“I did a little more digging into it and my opinion on Hill’s availability versus Spartans has gotten stronger. Based on what I heard late last night, I now think the odds are better than good. I’d now be shocked if Hill doesn’t play Saturday.”"

Webb reported that Hill’s injujry, whatever it was, isn’t serious and that he expects him to be a go for this Saturday against rival Michigan State. Obviously, it’s a huge sigh of relief as the Wolverines will want their most talented player on the field Saturday at the Big House.

How the win impacted recruiting

It was just one game for Michigan football, but the win over the Gophers and more how the Wolverines did it, had to help with recruiting.

EJ Holland of Rivals ($) gauged the reaction of Michigan recruits and here are some his notable takeaways on Donovan Edwards and 2022 target Will Johnson. Here’s what he wrote:

"“Donovan Edwards, who doesn’t really like responding to anything, was one of the first recruits to text me back after the win. I think Michigan showed him a lot in terms of the way the running backs were used. Five-star 2022 defensive back Will Johnson gave one of the best quotes in that thread, and I have a feeling Michigan just has to give him a reason to end up in Ann Arbor.”"

Those are positive updates and while Michigan was already the favorite with Edwards, he has wanted to see how the backs will be used and even though Josh Gattis obviously wasn’t calling plays with Donovan in mind, it had to make a good impression.

The other recruit I was thinking about this weekend was Rayshaun Benny, who was supposed to decide Sunday but pushed his decision back until after his high school season.

Benny’s Oak Park team will be in the playoffs starting this weekend, so we will see how long that goes, but with his decision is down to Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Kentucky, the on-field results had to be a positive for the Wolverines.

Michigan State has been telling Benny to wait and see them on the field before making a decision and on Saturday at least, it wasn’t a good look as the Spartans lost at home to Rutgers, a team that hadn’t won a Big Ten game in years.

The Wolverines also picked up another crystal ball for Benny from Josh Henschke of the Michigan Insider who covered his game over the weekend and reported Benny wearing a Michigan sweatshirt.

I’d take it as a positive sign that a couple days after watching and interviewing Benny, he placed a crystal ball with a confidence level of six out of 10 for the Wolverines.

Obviously, a win over Michigan State this weekend could also help but it doesn’t necessarily mean Michigan will win this recruitment, especially with Kentucky still in the mix.

Another thing to note, Minnesota has been trying to flip Jaydon Hood, along with Miami and you’d have think watching Michigan dismantle the Gophers probably helped U-M in that regard too.