Michigan Football: Breaking down visits, plus concern for Dante Moore

Some key recruits visited Michigan football this past weekend. We break down those and also the latest on five-star QB target Dante Moore. 

If you are a Michigan fan and not just a fan of the football team, you probably spent the weekend worrying about whether or not the Wolverines were going to make the NCAA Tournament.

Well, the Wolverines are in the field of 68 and while that overshadowed anything going on with Michigan football over the weekend, there were some key recruits in Ann Arbor for visits.

Michigan football is trying to ramp up its efforts recruiting in the state but Michigan State is too and it’s been a back-and-forth battle since Mel Tucker has been hired.

The Wolverines have landed some key recruits but so have the Spartans. Cole Cobana, a four-star running back from the state of Michigan that both schools wanted, is a recent example of one battle going Michigan’s way, yet they haven’t all gone that way — Dillon Tatum, Alex VanSumeren are two that didn’t — although U-M has won with Rayshaun Benny, Andrel Anthony, and others like Cabana.

Both programs are also riding high right now. Michigan football won the Big Ten and had its first 12-win season since 1997. Michigan State also won 11 games and the Peach Bowl.

Each head coach just got a new contract extension and even though many will talk about Harbaugh’s dalliance with the NFL, he’s committed just as Tucker is.

At any rate, Michigan hosted a pair of key in-state recruits over the next couple of classes and both have Michigan State crystal ball projections already. One of those is four-star defensive end Jalen Thompson, a top-200 recruit out of Detroit Cass Tech.

Thompson has two crystal ball projections to MSU but those came in the summer and each was from MSU insiders with a confidence level of five or below. Make no mistake, the Spartans are the favorite but the Wolverines are in the mix and are at least trying to make up ground.

Looking ahead to the 2024 recruiting class, top-100 wideout Nick Marsh is going to be a top in-state recruiting prize from River Rouge, and he was also in Ann Arbor. Ron Bellamy moving over to coach receivers could help here and he’s the primary recruiter now.

Marsh who is 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, also has a crystal ball projection to Michigan State. That has a confidence level of seven out of 10 for the No. 2 ranked player in the state of Michigan in 2024.

Gaining traction in those recruitments is vital for Michigan football but another top target for 2023, offensive lineman Cayden Green was also in Ann Arbor over the weekend. Green is out of Lee Summit, Missouri, and is the No. 7 offensive tackle in the 2023 class according to the 247 sports composite rankings.

Sherrone Moore has Michigan trending in the right direction but Oklahoma is the main competition and the Sooners have one prediction in their favor at this point. But in more good news, Green already committed to taking another visit to Michigan football in June.

So it feels like Michigan is starting to move the needle here.

Concern growing about Dante Moore and Notre Dame

We have talked at length about how Dante Moore is the most important player in the 2023 recruiting class for Michigan football, but so far, the Wolverines seem to be trailing Notre Dame.

The Irish have a 64 percent chance of landing Moore according to the On3 prediction machine right now, which takes into account more things than expert projections, such as visits, and other factors. So Notre Dame is a major factor and probably can be called the leader.

EJ Holland of The Wolverine also wrote a post addressing some concerns about Michigan’s recruitment of Moore (subscription required) and it’s safe to say, some of the staff need to pick up their efforts if Moore is going to wear a winged helmet, although the addition of Denard Robinson to the recruiting staff should help.

Also, there were times when Michigan felt behind in the recruitments of Donovan Edwards and Will Johnson, and each wound up signing with U-M.

So it means there is still time to turn it around, but with six months or so until the start of the high school/college football seasons, U-M needs more urgency.