Michigan Football: 3 Thoughts on Wolverines new defensive staff

A clear recruiting focus

There were a lot of wish lists out there and Tim Banks of Penn State was one name people wanted, but at the end of the day, Linguist was a home-run hire in terms of recruiting and here’s a look by EJ Holland at sources from the Texas area, which tells you why.

Linguist has been on staff less than two days and he’s been insanely busy on the recruiting trail. He caught up with five-star cornerback Will Johnson, a top target in 2022, plus offered a slew of other recruits in this class.

Obviously, winning over Johnson is going to be huge. Michigan football owns all of his crystal ball projections and he told Holland “I like him so far.” Johnson has also been in contact with Macdonald, so these guys are wasting no time getting to work.

On the offensive side of the ball, the addition of Mike Hart is going to be huge, although running back recruiting hasn’t exactly been an issue. But on the defensive side of the ball, adding Linguist and also keeping Jean-Mary should really help U-M get more of a foothold in Texas and Florida.

Hart should certainly be able to help in the state of Michigan, that’s where someone like Banks would have come in, seeing that he’s from the Detroit Area and has recruited really well there for Penn State, especially in 2021.

Overall, Michigan football recruiting has been pretty healthy, but things need to improve on the defensive side of the ball and looking at the past two classes are great evidence of that.

The Wolverines still landed some very good individual players, but it needs bigger defensive lineman and more athleticism especially on the back end, something Linguist should help with right away.