Michigan Football: 4-star LB Jimmy Rolder becoming a top priority

Jimmy Rolder was offered by Michigan football last week and is flying up both recruiting boards and rankings as his recruitment takes off. 

Sometimes, it doesn’t take much for a recruit to take off and in the past week or so, few recruits in America have taken off like four-star linebacker Jimmy Rolder.

Rolder has been shooting up recruiting boards and rankings from national services. When Michigan football first offered Rolder, he was unranked in the 247 sports composite rankings for 2022.

Now, the 6-foot-2, 220-pounder is 326th overall and he’s becoming a top priority for Michigan football as well as other programs in the Big Ten.

But Michigan football has certainly made a move. He’s supposed to be on campus for the Northwestern game this weekend and EJ Holland of The Wolverine even included him on his list of five candidates to commit next in the 2022 class. Here’s what he wrote:

"“This one is happening extremely fast and there are still a lot of moving parts, but Michigan is definitely a strong contender for Rolder, the hottest recruit in the Midwest. Harbaugh personally offered last week, and defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald was at his game on Friday night. The Wolverines are looking to get him on campus this weekend and if they do, they could build some serious momentum in this recruitment.”"

While Holland indicated it would be a positive if he visited, Steve Lorenz of The Michigan Insider (subscription required) reported that he will visit Ann Arbor on Saturday.

Michigan football is a strong contender

Ohio State jumped in with an offer on Monday and so did Cincinnati, plus Iowa and a slew of other Big Ten programs. But Michigan offered before them and the Wolverines have really made him a priority. He was in Iowa last weekend but that didn’t turn out well for the Hawkeyes.

He seems like he would be a great fit at Michigan both because of his ability and his academics. And if this visit goes well, Michigan could even become the leader.

Holland wrote that Rolder doesn’t want this process to drag on forever and an accelerated timeline would be a good thing for the Wolverines who could use more four-stars in their 2022 recruiting class.