Michigan Wolverines news: A new crystal ball for 2025 and more headlines

Michigan football will start focusing more on the 2025 recruiting class and received an in-state crystal ball on Thursday plus more Michigan Wolverines news.

It’s never too early to start looking ahead to the 2025 recruiting class, especially for Michigan football which only has a few spots to fill in 2024.

The Michigan Wolverines currently have 17 blue-chip commitments in the 2024 class. Michigan football is ranked fourth overall and while the final number might be 30, that’s still only five more additions in the 2024 class.

Michigan was pretty active late in the 2022 signing period and while you could see a small flurry at the end of this cycle, the Michigan Wolveirnes have done most of their work in 2024.

However, there’s a positive trend in the 2025 class with in-state recruit Elijah Dotson, who was projected to Michigan football with a crystal ball from Allen Trieu of 247 Sports.

Dotson is from Detroit and is 6-foot-2, 175 pounds. He’s listed as an athlete but is more likely to play safety for the Michigan Wolverines. He also plays wide receiver. Dotson is currently the No. 32 athlete in the 2024 class via the 247 Sports composite rankings, as well as No. 8 in the state of Michigan, and No. 353 overall.

Within the past two months, Dotson’s recruitment has started to pick up. Tennessee, Louisville, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Michigan football have all offered. He recently visited Michigan.

Who knows if the crystal ball means a commitment is looming? It might be too early for that, but it’s a good sign for the Wolverines to lead with a top-10 in-state recruit in 2025.

Michigan football’s Kris Jenkins projected as a first-round pick

The return of Kris Jenkins is just about as significant in my mind as Blake Corum. He would have been a day-two pick at worst in the 2023 NFL draft, so it was a huge boon.

And Jenkins, who continues to get bigger, stronger, and better, received more preseason hype as he was projected as a first-round pick in the latest ESPN mock draft.

The 6-foot-3, 285-pounder had 54 tackles last season as well as 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, and two hurries. He was an honorable mention All-Big Ten.

This season, the Michigan football standout should easily be First-Team All-Big Ten — maybe even an All-American and by season’s end, it will be apparent how valuable he is.

Women’s basketball signee shows out

The future is bright for the Michigan Wolverines women’s basketball team and part of that has to do with the talents of 2024 commitment of Olivia Olson, a five-star prospect.

Olson is ranked No. 8 overall according to ESPN’s rankings for the 2024 class. She’s committed to Michigan and scored 25 points at the high-profile Run of Roses tournament.

Lalia Phelia is also currently playing for Team USA in the Women’s America’s Cup and even got the starting nod earlier this week.

Technically, because you have to graduate to be eligible for the WNBA draft, Phelia has two more years with the Michigan Wolverines, even though she’s listed as a top-10 player in the 2024 WNBA draft, which she currently won’t be eligible for.

So Olson and Laila should be teammates and boy, can Kim Barnes Arico recruit, which is why the future of Michigan women’s baskeball is as bright as it’s ever been.