Michigan Football gaining momentum with 2023 DT Kayden McDonald

Michigan football hosted 2023 four-star defensive tackle Kayden McDonald for an official visit and the Wolverines are moving up in this recruitment.

While it hasn’t made a huge impact in terms of commitment or a flip, you can sense that Michigan football’s success on the field will soon translate to the recruiting trail.

In the 2023 recruiting class, that would be a positive thing for the Wolverines who will have a lot of work to do on a class that’s far from complete.

Michigan football has 14 commitments in the 2023 class and is ranked 29th according to the 247 sports team rankings.

But as we have seen in recent weeks, Notre Dame is struggling and so are some other top programs. Nebraska has a new (interim) head coach which will lead to some flips and that’s just the way it goes in college football recruiting.

Michigan football should be ready to pounce. But also, it’s continuing to work with its current board and last weekend, Kayden McDonald was an official visitor.

McDonald is listed as a three-star in the On3 consensus rankings, but is a four-star recruit according to On3.com and is ranked No. 310 overall out of Suwanee, Georgia.

The Wolverines received an expert pick from EJ Holland over the summer, but then, the Clemson Tigers started trending with picks. They are still the leader according to the On3 prediction machine but it was Michigan football hosting McDonald for an official visit last weekend.

Did Michigan football do enough?

According to EJ Holland’s report, the Wolverines really rolled out the “blue carpet” (not red that’s the color of the enemy) for McDonald, and since he was the only official visitor, it allowed him to spend extra time with the players and staff.

It sounds like distance has been a factor and maybe that’s why Clemson started to get the advantage over the summer. McDonald who is 6-foot-2, 325 pounds took an unofficial visit to Clemson in June.

However, he has now taken three visits to Michigan. Generally, if you want to land a kid from outside the area, you need to get him on campus two or three times and that’s mission accomplished in this recruitment for the Wolverines.

Michigan football is really pushing hard. He’s the top target on the defensive line and all signs are pointing in the right direction for the Wolverines, who now have a 30-percent chance of winning his commitment via On3.

Visits tell a big story though and he still has trips to Ohio State and Oklahoma according to Steve Wiltfong of 247 sports, as well as possibly another trip to Clemson. He also took an official visit to Florida this summer and the Gators are another team to watch.

This feels like one of those recruitments that could come down to the wire, but at the same time, you have to like where the Wolverines sit after this recent visit.