Michigan Football: Wolverines a true contender for 5-star DT Walter Nolen
Michigan football made the top eight of five-star defensive tackle Walter Nolen and the Wolverines appear to be a real contender.
It’s been a while since Michigan football has landed a defensive tackle as talented as 2022 five-star Walter Nolen, but it appears that the Wolverines have some momentum.
Nolen does have connections to the Detroit area through his grandparents and he recently spent three days visiting family and Michigan football. Those are supposed to be his first known visits to any school, even if it was a self-guided tour, but he’s expected back in June.
Nolen then released a top-8 list on Friday and not surprisingly, Michigan football made it along with Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Oregon and USC.
Honored to say tht I have cut my list down to 8 recruitment is still wide open @Rivals @ChadSimmons_ @ESPN3ALLDAY @HamiltonESPN pic.twitter.com/hhXdl3FhoY
— Walter Nolen9️⃣🏈🏈 (@WalterNolen4) April 2, 2021
Nolen is listed at 6-foot-4, 300 pounds and is the top-ranked defensive tackle in the class of 2022, as well as the No. 2 player overall via the 247 sports composite rankings.
What are Michigan’s chances?
Obviously, the other teams on the list are heavy hitters. Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and LSU have been among the best programs in the country recruiting.
USC and Oregon have also been pretty solid too lately. But Nolen is an intriguing prospect. He’s from the state of Tennessee, yet the Volunteers didn’t make the cut.
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Michigan has been making a push there and even though U-M lost the commitment of Taylor Groves, one of its 2022 commits from Tennessee, Kody Jones is still committed and Ron Bellamy has really made an impact in this battle.
We’ll see what happens. A decision is probably not going to come until he takes official visits, which will be this summer if the recruiting dead period does end.
It’s hard to see Michigan beating Alabama for this top-ranked DT in SEC country, but you never know, not every kid wants to be part of the Crimson Tide and the fact that U-M has a five-star corner already committed in Will Johnson is definitely helping.
The Wolverines also offered his younger brother and are really trying to push that family connection. It’s been working so far, but will it be enough to win the commitment in the end?
It’s hard to say, but there’s no doubt that Michigan football has more than a puncher’s chance right now at landing Nolen.