Michigan Football: Key expert projection for 2023 edge rusher

Michigan football is coming off another strong NFL draft of edge rushers and that should help them with a 2023 top target that was just projected to U-M. 

Things have been a little doom and gloom on the recruiting trail for Michigan football lately, especially with Hunter Dickinson openly criticizing the school’s NIL policies which he said will cause the football and basketball teams to miss on elite recruits.

I’m glad Dickinson said that and he’s not wrong. Maybe that’s the reason why the Wolverines haven’t been able to generate much momentum yet in the 2023 recruiting class, despite coming off a playoff appearance and a Big Ten championship.

Michigan has also been sending players to the NFL since Jim Harbaugh arrived and is in the top five in terms of total draft picks since 2015.

The development of edge rushers has been particularly impressive. Taco Charlton, Rashan Gary, Kwity Paye, and Aidan Hutchinson have all gone in the first round, while David Ojabo, Chase Winovich, and Josh Uche all went on day two.

A key EDGE projected to Michigan football

It’s something that Michigan should absolutely be selling to recruits and it has been doing that really well with 2023 edge target Joseph Mupoyi, a prospect out of Washington D.C.

Like Ojabo, he’s a foreign-born prospect (out of The Congo) that’s only been playing football for a short amount of time. He’s also a teammate and close friend of Nyckoles Harbor, one of, if not, Michigan football’s top overall target in the 2023 class (that includes Dante Moore).

Harbor is a freak athlete and Mupoyi is too. He’s 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, and while he’s just a three-star recruit according to the On3.com consensus rankings (433rd overall), the On3.com rankings have him ranked 191 overall.

As of Tuesday, Michigan football is now the heavy favorite to win his commitment. EJ Holland of The Wolverine put in a prediciton for him to land at U-M and the Wolverines now have a 96-percent chance of winning his commitment according to the On3.com prediction machine.

Even if the Wolverines miss out on Harbor (they are reportedly in the top two), Mupoyi is exactly the kind of recruit that Michigan football has had success with. He’s got all the natural ability in the world and if the Wolverines can mold him like they have molded other three-stars such as Paye and Ojabo, then he could also find himself going early in the NFL draft in just a few years’ time.