Michigan Football has to improve its recruiting efforts in Ohio

Michigan football needs to pick up its recruiting efforts in Ohio and another top target is trending to the Buckeyes. 

When it comes to Michigan football‘s recruiting efforts, getting players out of the state of Ohio has always been a key part of that strategy but in recent years, the Wolverines have had little success.

Rod Moore was a really solid addition from Ohio in the 2021 class. The three-star prospect was overlooked by Ohio State and Michigan football was able to take advantage, and after a solid freshman season, he seems in line to start next year.

We bring this up because a key target in the 2023 recruiting class, Luke Montgomery, is going to be making a decision this week and the Findlay, Ohio offensive/defensive lineman is trending hard with crystal ball projections to Ohio State.

Montgomery is going to make his decision on the 17th and following the hire of Mike Elston from Notre Dame, who had a strong relationship with Montgomery, it seemed like the Wolverines could potentially make a move but Steve Wiltfong and five total experts from 247 sports have him going to OSU with a confidence level of seven on a scale of 1-10.

Michigan football has to improve recruiting in Ohio

We have said this before and we’ll say it again, but the Montgomery recruitment is just another reminder that the efforts in the Buckeye state have to improve.

Hopefully, with the result changing on the field, that will change. But other schools have found some success such as Penn State in the 2022 recruiting class.

Not only did Penn State go into Ohio and land five-star quarterback Drew Allar, a kid Michigan pushed for hard, the Nittany Lions also signed Kaden Saunders, a top-100 wideout.

Now, Ohio State was behind on Allar and thought that Quinn Ewers was going to be their 2022 quarterback before he decided to leave high school early for NIL purposes.

But still, if Penn State can go into the state of Ohio and get elite talent after not beating the Buckeyes since 2016, there is no reason Michigan shouldn’t be able to do the same.

It probably doesn’t help Michigan’s recruiting momentum that Jim Harbaugh wavered with the NFL for so long. But there is still time to turn things around and with guys like Steve Clinkscale on the staff, there is a chance to make a move but the Wolverines must make it a top priority.