Michigan Football: Could Damani Dent be Wolverines next commitment?

One of Michigan football’s top targets in 2022 is safety Damani Dent and he just announced a new commitment date. 

There’s no doubt that Michigan football has put together a strong group of cornerback commitments in the 2022 class led by five-star Will Johnson.

Four-star Kody Jones and Myles Pollard, who is a highly-rated three-star prospect and is rated as a four-star recruit by rivals are all pledged to the Wolverines’ 2022 class.

One position that is still lacking though is safety and it just so happens that a top target for Michigan football at safety — Damani Dent — will be announcing his decision in the next few weeks, on October 18th to be exact.

The timing is interesting. Dent visited Ann Arbor earlier this season and following that visit, during the Washington game, he said Michigan football was his top school.

Oregon was the other top contender in his recruitment at that point. Dent was committed to Akron at one time but backed off that following an impressive camp with Oregon that earned him an offer from the Ducks and jumpstarted his recruitment on a more national scale.

Not only did the Wolverines enter the mix soon after, but they have also since treated him as a top priority. Yet, the 6-foot, 175-pound safety out of Jacksonville has been getting noticed by SEC programs too. Georgia just hosted him recently and others such as Florida are sniffing around.

The caveat is that the Bulldogs didn’t offer last weekend when he was in Athens, while Michigan football has a committable offer on the table.

Dent was originally expected to commit on Oct. 10 and he received a crystal ball projection from Brice Marich of The Michigan Insider with a confidence level of six on a scale of 1-10.

What to make of the new decision date

Soon after, the visit to Georgia was announced and Dent actually decided to delay his commitment. Now, it’s back on for Oct. 18, and here’s what EJ Holland of Rivals wrote about Dent earlier this week, before his new decision date:

"“Dent named Michigan his leader following his official visit for the game against Washington. With new assistant George Helow being well-connected in Jacksonville, and Dent falling in love with U-M on his visit, everything seems to be going in the right direction. However, I have not logged a FutureCast pick as a few SEC schools have shown interest. Oregon remains a threat.”"

It feels like Michigan is the team to beat right now, but there are nearly three weeks to go in this recruitment, which could go on beyond that with Dent, a three-star, becoming such a fast-riser.