Michigan Wolverines news: Warde Manuel talks NIL and elite recruits visit Michigan Football

Some key recruiting targets in 2024 and 2025 are visiting Michigan football this weekend, plus Warde Manuel talks NIL in our Michigan Wolverines roundup. 

Among Michigan Wolverines fans, NIL has been a hot topic of conversation. Michigan football seems to have things figured out, although as we saw recently, pay-for-play is still a factor.

The Michigan Wolverines have never gotten involved in pay-for-play. Jim Harbaugh was vocal in calling out the cheaters that existed before NIL was legal and are now using NIL in a way that wasn’t intended.

Michigan has talked about doing NIL in the “Right way” and that’s something AD Warde Manuel reiterated this week in a podcast interview with Jon Jansen.

"“NIL is something I’ve been a proponent of since the concept was first raised,” Manuel said. “It’s something I’ve never felt as an administrator that we controlled the name, image and likeness of our student athletes. Why not allow them to benefit from jersey sales; from the ability to go out and do endorsements? To do signing of autographs and get revenue from that and many other things they do? The biggest thing for me has been inducements. Schools telling kids, ‘we will pay you ‘X’ if you come to our institution.’ That’s not a part of where intercollegiate athletics should be.”"

Unfortunately, as we have all seen, that’s exactly where many schools are. That’s especially true with the top-ranked recruits or transfers like Hunter Dickinson, who entered the portal strictly for a bigger payday than the Michigan Wolverines could offer.

I don’t blame Dickinson, but unless the Michigan Wolverines are willing to do the same or get creative, which they have tried to do with M-Power, they will get left behind.

"“I’ve had several meetings with different collectives, meetings with our student athletes, and what I ask them to do is do things the right way,” Manuel said. “If student-athletes are going to benefit from a collective and what you decided to do, that they actually do something for what you are providing … that there are no inducements. That we don’t get into a situation where we’re talking to recruits and promising them money if they’re coming to Michigan.”"

For now, it is what it is. Michigan is getting better on the NIL front. But there is still work to do.

Michigan football hosts a slew of elite recruits

There aren’t as many official visitors on campus for Michigan football this weekend, especially after Taylor Tatum and Darien Mayo canceled, but there are some key prospects in Ann Arbor.

One of them is four-star wideout Gatlin Bair. He’s a speed demon, is 6-foot-2, and runs the 100-meter dash in sub 10.2. I feel like Michigan football has a really good chance to make some headway, especially since Colston Loveland is from Idaho, just like Bair.

At the same time, Bair is expected to take a Mormon mission after this year, so he probably won’t enroll until 2026.

Maybe the second-most important visitor this weekend, at least on Friday, was four-star cornerback Chris Ewald, who is committed in 2025.

Ewald is ranked in the top 100 at 6-foot, 160 pounds, and has been committed to Michigan football since December. Some fans talked about how long the Michigan Wolverines were going to have to hold his commitment, but so far, so good.

Ewald is also a teammate of Zaquan Patterson, a top-100 defensive back in the 2024 class on an official visit, and having both on campus can’t hurt.

EDGE Jacob Smith as well as corners Jameer Grimsley and Terhyon Nichols are three visitors I’m keeping a close eye on. The Wolverines need to close with Smith and if they miss on Bryce West/Aaron Scott which is my prediction, Grimsley and Nichols are great options at corner.