Michigan Football has Caught FIRE on the Recruiting Trail Lately
There is a legitimate growing sentiment around Ann Arbor that the Michigan football 2024 recruiting class can finish in the top 5, or even the top 3.
A class of that caliber, combined with the fact that the 2025 class has immense potential, would set the Wolverines up to compete for championships for the next 4+ years.
Michigan is one of the best schools, if not the best school, at finding and developing their talent. If recruiting rankings were what championships were based on, Michigan would not have been a top 4 team each of the last two seasons.
But if Michigan football, a program notorious for getting the most out of its players, can also bring in more elite recruits?! The possibilities are endless. And right now, the Wolverines are putting themselves in a position to bring in lots of elite talent.
The Wolverines have landed two elite recruits over just a few days, and look to add to that number. Without further ado, let’s look at some takeaways from the past two weekends.
Mike Hart is an ELITE Recruiter
Fans had been wondering why Michigan, a school notorious for pounding the rock, was not in contention for the top running backs in the country every year.
There were doubts about Mike Hart’s recruiting ability. Since then, Hart has landed high four-star Cole Cabana and top-100 running back Jordan Marshall.
While Cabana was a slam dunk in Michigan’s backyard, Marshall wasn’t. Hart went into Ohio and stole Ohio State’s top running back target. Remember all that talk about Michigan football only landing Ohio kids that OSU wasn’t recruiting? Yeah, that talk is worthless now.
Landing an elite talent like Marshall from your biggest rival’s backyard is an extremely tall task. But Hart did it, and it wasn’t even much of a challenge. Marshall was slated to visit Ohio State during the Spring and had also promised them an official visit. While it’s unclear if Marshall will still take those visits, shutting down his recruitment was a huge accomplishment for Hart.
The question Michigan football fans are asking now, is what happens with Taylor Tatum? The answer is that now Hart can devote even more time to Tatum. Tatum, another top 100 running back out of Texas, has said that he’d be fine with not being the only elite RB in a class.
Michigan has a lot that it can pitch to Tatum. For the past two seasons, Michigan has been led by a dynamic duo at RB. Haskins and Corum in 2021, and Corum and Edwards in 2022. Adding on, everybody knows it’s going to be Corum and Edwards again in 2023. Michigan performs best by having two elite backs, not just one.
Following the commitment of Marshall, I’d still consider Michigan the favorite for Tatum. He knows that he and Marshall can both share success on the field, and it might even help both of their NFL draft stock by sharing the workload. At this point, I think that Tatum can still end up a Wolverine. It’s going to be fascinating to watch Mike Hart recruit him.
Kirk Campbell is a massive upgrade for Michigan football
As it looks right now, the firing of Matt Weiss was a blessing in disguise. While nobody can deny Weiss’ football knowledge, he was a negative on the recruiting trail. Campbell, on the other hand, seems to be a great recruiter.
Jadyn Davis had an excellent time on campus, and I feel more confident than ever that he’ll commit soon. With the momentum that Michigan football has right now, it could come any day now. Campbell knocked it out of the park with Davis.
Jadyn Davis is not the only recruit Campbell is making an impact on. 2025 5-star Bryce Underwood has had great things to say about Campbell, and it seems that his interest in the Wolverines has been resurrected.
Pre-Campbell, it was hard to picture Underwood at Michigan. He always seemed to focus on schools like Georgia, Alabama, or Ohio State, with Michigan getting little mention. I even had a source tell me that Michigan wasn’t really in the picture.
Since Campbell has taken over, however, the tide has turned. Underwood has visited Michigan twice within the past 10 days. That doesn’t happen if you don’t have a genuine interest. Underwood and his family have raved about Campbell, and it seems like the Wolverines have reinserted themselves into the picture with Underwood.
Underwood is a generational talent, having won 2 state championships at Belleville High School through his first two seasons. He’s also accounted for 90 touchdowns during that time. While it’ll be tough to win him over, the Wolverines are doing a great job right now.
Michigan football is winning recruiting battles
A recent criticism of Michigan recruiting has been its inability to win recruiting battles against other top schools. Well, that seems to be going out the window.
The Wolverines landed a commitment from 2023 4-Star safety Brandyn Hillman on Sunday the 19th. Hillman was released by Notre Dame from his NLI, and the Wolverines were able to quickly capitalize. Michigan was the only visit that Hillman took.
He was slated to visit Ohio State the following week and said that he would commit after taking all of his visits. He went back on that statement, committing to and signing with the Wolverines during his visit.
Hillman was a very sought-after recruit, and taking him away from the Buckeyes made this win that much sweeter. This was a huge recruiting win that helped bolster the lackluster 2023 class, and it proved that Michigan could compete on a national stage.
Likewise, Jordan Marshall’s recruitment is another great example of this. He was Ohio State’s top target at the running back position and was also sought after by Tennessee and Wisconsin, the other schools in his top 4.
Marshall was not expected to commit this soon, but the fact that he did shows that the Wolverines are stepping up their game and are wowing recruits on their visits.
Michigan is on a tremendous upswing, and the next few weeks will be very exciting.
What’s next?
You’ll be excited to know that Marshall was not the last of the commitments from the past two weekends. The Wolverines made significant progress on many elite recruits, and expectations are that a few of them will commit sooner rather than later.
I’ve gotten word that there is at least one recruit who silently committed over the weekend who is looking to make an official announcement this week.
Likewise, Jadyn Davis has stated that he wants to commit before the end of March. If he stays true to that, which I think he will at this moment, it will be Michigan.
Some possible commits, in my opinion: Brady Prieskorn, Blake Frazier, Ben Roebuck (happened Wednesday), Jadyn Davis, Channing Goodwin, or Aaron Chiles. I wouldn’t be surprised if a player not on this list commits.
The Wolverines are in a very strong position to land multiple commitments in the coming days and weeks. It’s a very exciting time to be a Michigan Wolverine.
*Note* This article was written before Ben Roebuck committed. Another huge win for the Wolverines on the trail. You’ll be thrilled to know that he is not the player my source mentioned, meaning there should be at least one more commitment in the coming days.
Go Blue!