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Final thoughts on Michigan Football’s 2023 recruiting class

By Chris Peterson

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 29: Head Football Coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines speaks to the press after a college football game against the Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Stadium on October 29, 2022 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Michigan Wolverines won the game 29-7 over the Michigan State Spartans. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 29: Head Football Coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines speaks to the press after a college football game against the Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Stadium on October 29, 2022 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Michigan Wolverines won the game 29-7 over the Michigan State Spartans. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images) /
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The Michigan football team wrapped up its 2023 recruiting class on Wednesday and here are some final thoughts on the Wolverines haul. 

National Signing Day was pretty quiet for Michigan football, although the Wolverines did land another defensive lineman in three-star Cameron Brandt.

Michigan landed a lot of quality football players. The Wolverines have also proven that they know a thing or two about evaluations and development.

That will be critical when it comes to this 2023 Michigan football recruiting class and here are some final thoughts on the Wolverines’ 24-player haul.

Development will be the key

Steve Wiltfong talked about Michigan football’s development of recruits on the 247 sports national signing day show and it’s going to be the key to the 2023 class being successful.

The Wolverines didn’t sign a single top-100 recruit. Nyckoles Harbor would have been a great addition but the Wolverines just don’t have the NIL program to compete for guys like Harbor and Dante Moore, who both should have been in this class.

Harbor was a kid that really was into academics. He should have been a Michigan football player but the Wolverines weren’t going to compete with the NIL aspect of things. The same was true with Dante Moore.

Jim Harbaugh’s flirtation with the NFL didn’t help but make no mistake, a poor NIL program is a huge reason why this class didn’t sign a single top-100 recruit or a five-star after a second straight trip to the College Football Playoff.

Winning was supposed to cure all that ailed Michigan football on the recruiting trail. Instead, the more the Wolverines have won, the worse their recruiting efforts have been.

That trend can’t continue in 2024. The blue-chip ratio in 2023 was 41.6 percent. That’s not bad, but you need some top-100-level talents such as J.J. McCarthy, Donovan Edwards, Will Johnson, and others. Michigan can’t go another cycle of missing on them.

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