Seems like Michigan Football will take just one tight end in 2023

Michigan football landed its first commitment since March this week in tight end Deakon Tonielli and now, it seems that could be it for the position. 

Tight end recruiting has been a little unpredictable in the 2023 recruiting class as the Wolverines have had multiple commitments, a decommitment, and now another shift.

Andrew Rappleyea was committed to Michigan football in the 2023 class but he ended up flipping his commitment to Penn State. The Wolverines soon became the favorite for three-star tight end Deakon Tonielli after that and recently closed on his recruitment.

Tonielli is the first commitment of the summer for Michigan football and surely not the last. However, he will be the last at the tight end position it seems.

Another tight end target is trending away

While he’s a 6-foot-5 pass-catcher, Tonielli is more of a move-tight end than an in-line blocker. So it seemed like Michigan might want to add more of a traditional tight end, maybe someone like three-star prospect Chico Holt out of Texas.

Holt is ranked lower and is No. 873 overall in the On3 consensus rankings for the 2023 class but he’s a really good blocker and Michigan was trending with some expert projections following his official visit recently.

There was talk that Michigan would take two tight ends. But now, some of those same experts such as EJ Holland of The Wolverine have flipped their picks to Northwestern.

The Wildcats now have a better than 50 percent chance of winning Holt’s recruitment according to the On3 prediction machine and it looks like Pat Fitzgerald will snag Holt.

It’s not a huge loss for Michigan. The Wolverines would likely have been the destination if they made a bigger push but it sounds like once of the Wolverines got Tonielli, they were set at the position for the 2023 class.

So we can take Holt’s name off the list of potential Michigan football commitments.