Michigan Football trending up for elite 2024 running back

The Wolverines already hold a commitment from one top-100 running back, but could they be adding another?

Things have cooled down a bit on the recruiting trail for Michigan football. While it isn’t necessarily great, it was expected with so many prospects shutting down their recruitments and official visits ramping up in about a month.

The Wolverines are in a very unique position. Their four highest-rated commits are all on the offensive side of the ball. Given that the Wolverines have been seen as more of a defensive team during Jim Harbaugh’s tenure, that is slightly surprising.

What’s possibly more surprising (in a good way) is that the Wolverines are trending up for another top-100 offensive player. That player is running back Taylor Tatum, who is ranked as the #33 player in the nation according to the 247 sports composite rankings.

Tatum’s Michigan football recruitment has been up and down over the past few months. The Wolverines were viewed as the leader and even had a prediction in their favor to land Tatum. And then Jordan Marshall committed to the Wolverines out of nowhere.

Now, in no way is that a bad thing. Jordan Marshall is going to be a fantastic running back at Michigan, and stealing him from Ohio State was amazing.

In terms of Tatum, however, it was a bit of a wrench in his recruitment. Although he stated that Marshall’s commitment did not change how he viewed Michigan, it did seem like things were cooling.

Tatum took visits to USC, and Georgia, and both programs felt like they were gaining while Michigan football was falling.

Michigan football trending back up for Taylor Tatum

Fast forward to today, and Michigan football seems to be trending up in Tatum’s recruitment yet again. The Wolverines have a handful of advantages when it comes to Tatum that could end up being deciding factors.

For one, Tatum is a star baseball player and was actually being recruited by the Michigan baseball team before the football staff got involved. Michigan is giving Tatum the opportunity to play both, and they also have evidence that it’s possible to play both, as shown by Joey Velazquez.

Tatum and his family also highly value academics. While USC offers a great education, Michigan’s is just as good, if not better. This is another great selling point for the Wolverines.

Next, Michigan football obviously has a great track record with running backs, especially two-back tandems. Haskins and Corum, Corum and Edwards. There’s a real feeling that Marshall and Tatum could be next up.

With that being said, there has been a lot of social media hype after Tatum was quoted saying “That’s a 1-2 punch that I’m ready to be a part of”, per ON3.

Michigan football commits have been showing Tatum tons of love on social media, and Tatum is being very responsive to the Wolverines.

I believe that Michigan is Tatum’s #1 school. I also believe that having another top-100 running back committed is slightly intimidating.

Michigan is looking to host Tatum for an official visit in June, and if they can wow him yet again along with convince him that playing with Marshall would benefit him, I think they can land him.

Tatum is looking to commit in the fall, so Michigan will have plenty of time to continue to make progress with the Texas prospect. I think that, at this moment, this is a three-horse race with Michigan, USC, and Georgia. A Georgia push could be something to worry about, but I think Michigan can win this recruitment.

Go Blue!