Michigan Football squarely in the mix for two 5-star defenders in 2023

Michigan football landed its top commitment of the 2023 recruiting cycle on Wednesday and things are trending in the right direction with some 5-stars too. 

Finally, Michigan football is starting to build some recruiting momentum and in that regard, the commitment of Enow Etta is going to be a huge boost.

Etta is a consensus top-150 prospect and according to 247 sports’ own rankings, he’s a top-60 recruit in the 2023 class, which shows the Wolverines are still capable of landing elite talent.

It took a minute for Michigan to find its way in this new era of NIL but Michigan State threw a big NIL pitch at Etta and he still chose the Wolverines. Miami did the same with Collins Acheampong and U-M was able to win that recruitment as well.

That doesn’t mean Michigan won’t lose recruitments because of NIL, it will. But with the hiring of a new president, who said he wants Michigan to compete at the highest level of athletics, then it’s possible the University will at least be willing to look at some changes that could help the athletic department be as forward-thinking as some of its top rivals.

At any rate, the momentum is building just at the right time and while the Wolverines haven’t landed any five-star prospects in 2023, there is still hope especially when it comes to five-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor.

Harbor is an absolute freak. He’s 6-foot-5, 230 pounds and runs the 100-meter dash in the sub-10.3 range, and is on his way to being an Olympic athlete. He values academics and track but also wants to play for a big-time football program and Michigan is solidly in the mix.

According to the On3 prediction machine, the Wolverines have the second-best chance to land Harbor besides Maryland and a recent report by Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider said that Michigan is on the rise in his recruitment.

With Harbor, it doesn’t sound like NIL is going to be the deciding factor. He’s kind of like Arch Manning — he knows he will earn a big deal wherever he goes. Harbor is that kind of star.

There was talk of him being an edge rusher and he would have been tremendous but in order to keep his weight down for his track career, wide receiver seems like the way he’s leaning and Webb reports the Wolverines have shifted with Ron Bellamy leading the way more.

At wideout, Harbor would be a monster and that’s true of him at nearly any position. The Wolverines have been hoping to get him on campus for an unofficial visit. It didn’t happen during the spring game but a trip this summer sometime would be huge.

Then if Michigan can get him back for a gameday visit this fall, that could be the ticket to landing one of 2023’s elite prospects.

Javien Toviano is another 5-star to watch

Another five-star that Michigan football is heavily in the mix for is defensive back Javien Toviano out of Texas. This recruitment is still expected to come down to Texas and Texas A&M, according to a Texas insider for On3.com, but Toviano has been really pro-Michigan on social media.

The only official visit taken by the No. 28 prospect in the 2023 class according to the On3 consensus rankings was to Michigan.

Of course, he probably doesn’t need to visit Texas and Texas A&M but the prediction machine has the Aggies at 23, the Horns at 20, and Michigan at 18 percent in terms of chances of landing Toviano’s commitment.

Before Dante Moore’s decision, he was trying to recruit him on Twitter, but to be fair, that could have been for Texas A&M too. He does follow a bunch of Michigan players/commits but the same can be said about A&M and Texas too.

Still, it feels like the Wolverines are in the mix and even though it will be an extremely tough pull, there are some reasons for optimism.