Michigan Football: 2022 LB projected to Wolverines, plus a 2nd QB?

There is a new expert projection for Michigan football plus the prospect of a second quarterback in 2022.

As far as 2022 recruits are concerned, few have risen faster over the past month or so than linebacker Jimmy Rolder.

The four-star recruit is the ideal inside backer and is listed at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds. He was offered by a bunch of Big Ten schools in the past month with Michigan football being among them.

Mike Macdonald, the defensive coordinator, went and watched a game and the Wolverines have been putting on the full-court press.

However, they aren’t alone. Rolder is one of the fastest risers in the entire Midwest and spent last weekend in Columbus visiting Ohio State. He was also offered by Florida and LSU recently.

Rolder told this to Rivals about his recruitment:

"“I was actually planning on kind of narrowing it down this week, maybe the end of this week. Really just evaluating my options, and what works best for me. That is when I’ll probably start narrowing the list down.”"

Michigan football should definitely make the cut along with Ohio State and potentially Florida. Iowa is a team to watch along with Illinois. Rolder is from Illinois after all.

But at least one recruiting reporter feels good about Michigan’s chances and that’s Brandon Justice who is now covering the Wolverines for Rivals.

He cited Michigan’s ability to allow Rolder to play football and baseball. Other prospects have taken advantage of that and Rolder was a D-I baseball commit before teams saw how well he could play at linebacker and that started to interest him.

So with that in mind, Justice put in a Futurecast pick for the Wolverines, which is the first expert projection of any kind for Rolder.

Rolder would be a huge addition for the Wolverines in the 2022 class, especially since landing Lander Barton doesn’t seem like it will happen, despite all the effort from Jim Harbaugh.

Michigan after another QB?

Showing interest in a second 2022 quarterback recruit isn’t new for the Wolverines. Michigan was after Justyn Martin until he just committed to UCLA.

So the Wolverines have expressed interest in another prospect and that’s Bryce Archie, a three-star recruit currently committed to Coastal Carolina. He’s also the teammate of Kaleb Webb, a three-star receiver Michigan offered that will visit this weekend.

Archie is ranked 793rd overall in the 247 sports composite rankings. Jayden Denegal is the current commitment in 2022 but he was recently injured and the Wolverines probably don’t want a repeat of 2020 when Dan Villari was a late take due to the JD Johnson injury.

Even so, the Wolverines could use more long-term depth at the quarterback position. J.J. McCarthy and Cade McNamara have both proven to be starting-caliber players but will they both be around for multiple years?

It’s hard to say. And who knows, Archie and Webb could become a package deal.