Michigan Football: 5 takeaways from Early National Signing Day

Upside on defense

Michigan football didn’t land as many four-star prospects on defense and is taking more chances on guys based on evaluations and athletic profiles.

Only four defensive players finished the 2023 rankings in the top 500 of the 247 sports composite rankings. Yet, that doesn’t mean those players won’t be successful, it’s just going to take some time.

Aymeric Koumba is a prime example of this. The three-star recruit who is from France has similar traits to David Ojabo and I feel like, in a few years, he is going to be an NFL draft pick.

But he’s not going to be ready to play next season. The same can probably be said for Etta, Jason Hewlett, Breeon Ishmail and Roderick Pierce, who all signed as EDGE players, D-line or athletes.

Hewlett is one of my favorite players in the entire class. He’s a four-star via 247 sports own rankings and part of it is because he’s still growing into his body. He could be a linebacker/safety or could grow into a true EDGE.

Either way, it’s going to be fun to see what staff gets out of guys like Koumba, Hewlett, Pierce, and Ishmail (and others) who have the potential to play like top-200 recruits down the road.