Elite WR target now trending away from Michigan football

You can never say never in recruiting, but just when something looks like a done deal, it often isn't. That's the case with Michigan football and elite 2025 wide receiver Derek Meadows.

Meadows is ranked 119th overall in the 2025 class according to the 247 Sports composite rankings. The one-time five-star prospect is out of Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. He's also been committed to LSU for a few months.

However, even before Michigan football was able to flip Byce Underwood, it started building momentum to flip Meadows. The Wolverines hosted him for a visit this month and once Underwood flipped, some expert projections started coming in.

Steve Wiltfong of On3.com, EJ Holland of The Wolverine, and Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider all projected that Michigan football would flip Meadows. Yet, on Wednesday, Webb lowered the confidence level of his crystal ball. He reported that Meadows was supposed to have committed by Monday or Tuesday and didn't.

Now we know why.

Derek Meadows trending away from Michigan football

Alabama was the third team pushing for his commitment. Notre Dame and Michigan have each been trying to flip Meadows from LSU and the Fighting Irish were viewed as the biggest threat to the Wolverines but now, Alabama has received cyrstal ball predictions from Tom Loy and Blair Angulo.

Angulo is the West Coast recruiting expert for 247 Sports so he's pretty plugged in and it seems like Alabama has the momentum now with signing day just a few days away.

It will be a blow if Michigan isn't able to flip the 6-foot-5, 200-pound receiver. He would have been a dream come true, just with the Wolverines inability to land a big receiver, but there will be other options available and some other names could emerge before Wednesday.

But I wouldn't count on Meadows making it into Michigan's 2025 recruiting class.