Michigan doing everything it can to keep elite in-state prospect away from Oregon

When Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham said he was going to make in-state recruiting a priority, he wasn't messing around.

That was clear with Michigan's actions on Thursday, as Whittingham sent seven staff members to visit a highly-touted in-state recruit, Dakota Guerrant, according to Ethan McDowell of The Wolverine.

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound wideout from Harper Woods is one of the Wolveriners top targets in the 2027 recruiting class. He's ranked 43rd overall, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings, and is ranked eighth among wide receivers. He's also ranked first in the staate among recruits.

Michigan football has work to do with elite in-state recruit

Of course, with a new head coach, Michigan football got behind the 8-ball in this recruitment. Oregon was able to take advantage and surged into the lead.

The Ducks have had a rash of expert projections from Rivals' recruiting experts for the in-state prospect to go out West and commit to Dan Lanning. The Rivals Recruiting Prediction Machine currently gives Oregon an 88 percent chance to land Guerrant's commitment. Michigan football has just a 5.8 percent chance.

While Guerrant is no stranger to the Michigan football program, taking a total of 20 visits during his recruiting process, with an official visit scheduled for June, Oregon has had him on campus for three visits, with a fourth, an official visit, set for May.

Oregon and Michigan are the only teams with official visits right now. That tells us where things stand in this recruitment. Oregon has the lead, but Michigan isn't going down without a fight, sending essentially the entire offensive staff to Guerrant's high school.

It might not work, but Whittingham's prioritization of in-state recruits, starting with the Harper Woods standout, has been a positive development, even if there is still work to be done with the state's No. 1 recruit.

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