Michigan Football: Wolverines enter mix for 2022 JUCO DT

The Michigan football program has extended some new offers in 2022 and one went out Tuesday to JUCO defensive tackle  Jeffrey M’Ba.

Jeffrey M’Ba has a wild story and it’s one that would make him a perfect fit at a place like Michigan football, which joined the rising number of schools that have offered recently.

M’Ba was noticed back in the 2019 recruiting class over in France. He’s a big kid and now is listed at 6-foot-6, 305 pounds. Here’s what happened with his recruitment back in 2019 according to Brian Dohn of 247 sports.

"“What colleges see now is the potential they saw in him three years ago, before he even arrived in the United States after playing for Pole France Aquitaine de Football in France, but his recruitment and his development was derailed by circumstance, timing, and bad luck. He was committed to Virginia and rated as a four-star prospect in the 2019 class, but transcript issues forced him to move into the 2020 class and decommit. Those same issues kept him from signing in the 2020 class, and he returned to his home in Congo to sort things out.”"

Dohn goes on to say a coach in France got him into a community college in Kansas. Then, he started to take off this fall and in six games has 17 tackles and two sacks.

His offer list started to grow and now West Virginia, Arizona State, Houston, Minnesota, NC State, Mississippi State, USC, Nebraska, Florida Atlantic, Miami, Morgan State, UMass, Jackson State, Western Kentucky, and Kansas State have all offered.

As well as Michigan football, which actually offered M’Ba back in the 2019 class. However, that’s not where the connections to Michigan end.

Michigan’s connections to M’Ba

Dohn reported that M’Ba actually watched Michigan practice when the Wolverines went to Paris a couple of years ago and that M’Ba also has a relationship with Biff Poggi, a consultant for the Wolverines who was the head coach at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore.

And those ties appear to have Michigan in line for a visit. M’Ba is going to visit Miami this weekend but then USC and Michigan are the others he mentioned, in part because USC’s D-line coach was at Virginia in 2019 and recruiting M’Ba back then.

But he was also going to play for Poggi and the Wolverines aren’t new to him. Once he gets on campus for a visit, Michigan should have a good shot here and while transfers are always an issue, he’s only a freshman, which makes it much more likely he will get in the school.

Either way, he’s a name to keep an eye on, especially with things trending the wrong way a little with Deone Walker, and judging by all the heavy interest in M’Ba, he would be a nice get.