Michigan Football recruiting is a disaster in 2023, or is it?

It’s only June is a common refrain this month from certain Michigan football fans but after Raylen Wilson’s commitment, the excuses are wearing thin. 

The decommitment of Raylen Wilson, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily a disaster. From the day he committed, Michigan football fans knew it was going to be tough to keep him.

Michigan football hosted him for his final official visit after he made trips to Georgia and Florida. The Wolverines had optimism that they were going to keep him but on Tuesday night, Wilson officially decommitted and he’s now trending to Georgia.

It’s just the latest in a series of negative recruiting events for the Wolverines. The worst is five-star QB Dante Moore, who is from Detroit, trending to Oregon.

As of right now, Michigan football doesn’t have a single top-100 commitment in its 2023 class according to the 247 sports composite rankings and Cole Cabana is the only four-star recruit.

Michigan has six commitments and one of them is from a kicker and even just establishing momentum and closing has been difficult.

Jyaire Hill was expected to commit and now isn’t going to. The same with Tyler Thompson who received multiple crystal ball projections but is now expected to side with North Carolina.

Chris Terek is a three-star offensive lineman who grew up as a Michigan football fan, took an official visit, and is now expected to commit to Wisconsin. Logan Howland was another O-line official visitor that Michigan was leading with but didn’t close and now things are still wide open.

Michigan football leads with some four-star recruits right now such as Enow Etta, Semaj Bridgeman, and Amir Herring. Etta canceled trips to Alabama and Stanford and could decide this week. Bridgeman should be close and Herring is set to decide next week.

So good news should (SHOULD) be on the way.

There is also a slew of commitments being announced on July 1 as Jaxon Howard (top-100 EDGE) Collins Acheampong (4-star EDGE) and three-star wide receiver Fredrick Moore are all set to announce.

Like many others, Michigan football had some positive momentum with Acheampong and received a number of expert projections. Yet, a recent visit to Miami has the Hurricanes right there as a finalist. Miami and LSU, plus Minnesota are all threats for Howard.

Moore, a top-500 wide receiver, is one of the most underrated recruits in the 2023 class for my money. He’s out of St. Louis, Missouri and I absolutely love his game. He’s expected to commit (holding my breath) and that would be a positive jolt of momentum.

Winning a commitment from Howard or Acheampong would be huge too because it doesn’t feel like the Wolverines have won a highly-contested recruitment this entire recruiting cycle and while Miami isn’t elite on the field yet, it is on the recruiting trail right now.

It’s just incredibly frustrating to read and hear positive reports (coming from Michigan), that are just overly optimistic. There were rumblings that Michigan felt good about Jalen Brown, the five-star WR. Well, he’s gotten multiple projections to Miami since then.

There was optimism about Dante Moore and right now, it’s fair to ask why? Outside of being the in-state school, Michigan did a terrible job recruiting him. Terrible.

Matt Weiss and Mike Hart don’t even seem interested in recruiting and Sherrone Moore isn’t the star he once was, at least in 2023, due to more on-field coaching duties. Plus, the loss of Courtney Morgan is having an impact, as well as the coordinator shakeups and Harbaugh’s NFL flirtation.

That has all played a factor, as has the “transformational, not transactional” approach to NIL, which clearly isn’t working.

The Wolverines did pick up a four-star commitment in the 2024 class and they are also the early leader for five-star QB Jadyn Davis. But will they be able to close?

If things in the 2024 class start to pick up, then maybe it will mean there were some issues unique to 2023. Either way, Michigan football needs to figure out a way to get this fixed.

How Michigan football can turn it around and quickly

It starts by winning the recruitments right in front of you with Etta, Herring, Bridgeman, (Fredrick) Moore, Acheampong, and Howland, plus others Michigan football has been leading with such as My’Keil Garnder.

Kenyon Sadiq, a recent visitor from Idaho, who wants to play receiver or tight end, is another where Michigan could be considered the favorite if it doesn’t mess things up.

We also talked about a new EDGE target to know in terms of a commitment as the Wolverines are about to make a stronger push for an impressive athlete from France.

Even if the Wolverines miss on Acheampong and Howard this week, they solidly lead in six other recruitments including three-star OL Paul Mubenga.

However, Michigan football hasn’t shown much ability to close. The momentum needs to start picking up quickly, as in this week. The Wolverines have had about as much negativity as one recruiting class can handle and it’s time to stem the tide.

Otherwise, this will become a full-blown disaster as we get closer to early signing day.