Michigan Football: Wolverines on commitment watch, eye a flip in Ohio

It should be a good day for Michigan football recruiting and here’s the latest as the Wolverines should land another 2022 commitment.

If all goes according to plan Monday, Michigan football should be adding a commitment to its 2022 class as three-star linebacker Micah Pollard is set to announce his decision today.

The Wolverines have been trending hard in terms of expert projections over the past two days and the crystal ball predictions have continued to flood in for U-M.

At this point, it would be a shock if Pollard didn’t choose the Wolverines. He will make his announcement official at 4 PM EST and if he does pledge to Michigan football, it would be the 16th verbal commitment in the class.

Pollard is ranked No. 550 overall in the 247 sports composite rankings for 2022 and some Michigan fans will be up in arms about him being another three-star recruit.

While fans are right to worry about recruiting stars, it’s unrealistic to think Michigan can build a class without three-star recruits. Yes, the Wolverines need about 60 percent of the class to be ranked as four or five-star prospects. But you need some of the three-star recruits too and that means you need to be strong on your evaluations, which U-M is.

Pollard’s commitment would give Michigan 10 three-star commitments, five four-stars, and one five-star in Will Johnson. That 6/16 ratio isn’t good enough. However, Colston Loveland and Myles Pollard, two three-star recruits in the composite, are ranked as four-star prospects and are candidates to move up in the overall rankings.

Michigan does need to land some four-star prospects between now and December. Getting Dillon Tatum would certainly help. Deone Walker is a recruit I expect to be ranked as a four-star by the composite but there is work to do. That much, the three-star detractors are right about.

A possible flip?

One four-star recruit who was an obvious top target of the staff, at least before all the changes, was Ohio defensive tackle, Derrick Shepard.

With all of the uncertainty going on with Michigan football, Shepard committed to Cincinnati back in December. Yet, according to Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider, the Wolverines have reached out and it seems as if there is at least some mutual interest.

Marcus Freeman was on the staff in Cincinnati when Shepard committed and he’s now at Notre Dame. The new defensive staff has started to work on Shepard and he’s a name to watch.

The 295-pound defensive tackle is ranked 324th overall in the 2022 class and as the 12th-best player in the state of Ohio, a place Michigan desperately needs to start recruiting better.

Finding a way to flip Shepard from the Bearcats would be a good start.