Michigan Football: Confidence fading with pair of top targets in 2022

Michigan football just landed its 18th commitment in 2022, but the confidence level with a pair of crystal ball recipients is starting to fade. 

When it comes to the recruiting trail, Michigan football has some solid momentum right now. The Wolverines have added five over the past month.

None of those recruits have been ranked as four-star prospects in the 247 sports composite rankings, but there are reasons to feel good about all of them.

Still, not everything has been peachy on the recruiting trail for Michigan football.

The Wolverines lost the commitment of Mario Eugenio earlier this month and while there are some signs that it might have been from processing, it still had some lingering effects.

Back when Tawfiq Thomas said he was due to make a decision, Eugenio indicated that it was going to be a commitment to Michigan. The Wolverines wound up not taking the commitment of Thomas, who still hasn’t made a decision yet.

After that, he didn’t Tweet anything about Michigan until he decommited and he was openly recruiting kids before, and that included Deone Walker.

Walker said that Michigan football was his leader until what happened with Eugenio, which again makes it sound like it was a U-M decision. But still, it had an impact on Walker, a four-star defensive tackle and one of the top priorities for Michigan this entire class.

Now, the Wolverines seem to be losing some ground with Walker as Allen Trieu, a Midwest recruiting expert for 247 sports, lowered his crystal ball confidence from six to three.

That doesn’t mean it’s game over for Michigan. But shows other schools are gaining traction and Walker spoke highly of Kentucky, while Alabama is also in the mix.

Another target might be trending away

While no one has lowered their confidence when it comes to Joshua Josephs, that might happen sooner rather than later.

Michigan football received some expert predictions after he visited for the Washington game and things looked to be going in the right direction.

However, he hasn’t made a decision and there was talk that it would happen this month. Tennessee has been gaining traction and he visited there recently.

Another telling sign with Josephs is the staff didn’t see him during the bye week. It just seems like Michigan is losing the momentum it had.

U-M got just two crystal ball predictions, as well as a Futurecast pick from EJ Holland of Rivals, but it seems like things have changed since then.