Michigan Football: Updating the pursuit of some elite targets

The latest on some of Michigan football’s elite targets in the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes. 

Michigan football has been a top contender for the No. 1 tight end in the 2024 recruiting class which is Landen Thomas, a 6-foot-4 prospect out of Moultrie, Georgia.

Thomas is ranked as the No. 32 player overall in the 2024 recruiting class and is the top tight end in that cycle too. Going into the weekend, Georgia was viewed as the favorite and received a crystal ball projection on March 20 from Andrew Ivins of 247 sports.

No crystal ball projections have followed yet but Thomas visited Michigan football over the weekend and according to Brice Marich of The Michigan Insider, the Wolverines are now the leader for Thomas who spent time with Grant Newsome and Denard Robinson over the weekend.

Thomas visited Georgia last weekend, which could be part of the reason for the crystal ball projection, plus he’s an in-state prospect. Looking back to the 2022 recruiting class, Michigan football was the early favorite for Oscar Delp, another elite tight end from Georgia.

Delp wound up signing with the Bulldogs and Thomas could too. Notre Dame and Alabama just got in the mix recently too so there is plenty of work to do.

5-star athlete slated to visit for the spring game

Nyckoles Harbor is one of the top targets for Michigan football in the entire 2023 class. He’s ranked 16th overall and is an unbelievable athlete. He’s out of Washington, DC and has some ties to the program, and has visited already.

Now, according to Steve Lorenz of The Michigan Insider, Harbor is expected to be on campus during the spring game which is a good sign for the good guys.

Harbor is 6-foot-5, 225 pounds and could wind up as an edge rusher, something else that could give Michigan football an edge considering its history of developing pass rushers under Jim Harbaugh.

Another 5-star recently on campus

Michigan football recently impressed another five-star recruit in offensive tackle Samson Okunlola. Okunlola is out of Massachusetts and seemed to really enjoy his time on campus according to Zach Libby of Rivals.

He’s ranked 32nd overall in the 2023 recruiting class and with the way the offensive line played last season, and the recruiting ability of Sherrone Moore, Michigan seems to have a legit shot. There aren’t any crystal ball picks yet for the 6-foot-6, 295-pounder.

Dante Moore visiting Notre Dame

Something else to monitor is the visit of five-star quarterback Dante Moore to Notre Dame. Michigan seems to be the leader for CJ Carr in the 2024 recruiting class and there seems to be more thought that U-M will take two quarterbacks in 2024.

That doesn’t seem like a good sign for Moore. The Wolverines don’t have any other options at quarterback in 2023, so if Moore pops for Notre Dame or someone else, it’s bad news.

Landing Carr, who has legit five-star potential himself, would soften that blow greatly, and right now, Michigan football still controls all of his crystal ball projections. Moore still has zero crystal ball projections but it’s clear the Wolverines have work to do.