Michigan Football: Enow Etta to decide soon but Alabama visit looms

Michigan football is viewed as the favorite to land four-star defensive end Enow Etta in the 2023 recruiting class but Alabama is lurking. 

Enow Etta was one of the most important visitors on campus for Michigan football last weekend and by all accounts, the Wolverines did an exceptional job with the defensive lineman ranked 139th overall in the 2023 class according to the On3 consensus rankings.

The Wolverines have been trending with expert projections from three recruiting services over the past week as recruiting experts from Rivals, 247 sports and On3 have all projected Etta to U-M. According to the On3 prediction machine, Michigan football has a 96-percent chance to win out.

And on Wednesday night, Etta, who is out of Colleyville, Texas, announced a final four of Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford, and Alabama.

Etta visited Michigan State prior to Michigan. This weekend, he was expected to take an official visit to Stanford but it’s now being reported that he could be taking a visit to Alabama by EJ Holland of The Wolverine.

Alabama has been involved with this recruitment and Etta said that he talks to Nick Saban quite a bit, so there is some reason for concern I would say from a Michigan perspective.

Michigan football still seems in the lead

However, another crystal ball projection came in on Wednesday from a Michigan State insider for 247 sports, but predictions don’t mean a whole lot.

Michigan State was trending with crystal ball projections just a few weeks ago, so things can change quickly in recruiting and that’s been true with Etta especially.

Yet, the good news for Michigan football is that he’s a strong academic kid. That’s why he was taking a visit to Stanford.

That’s a good sign for the Wolverines and while Alabama is a football factory, it doesn’t compare to U-M in terms of academics, yet when it comes to edge rushers, the Wolverines have been quite successful in their own right in terms of developing NFL talent.

So Michigan would be the best of both worlds and I think that’s why Etta is leaning towards U-M at this point. We’ll see if things stay that way after an Alabama visit though because in recruiting, you just never know.