You won't find many recruiting days better for Michigan football than the one the Wolverines enjoyed on Monday, landing four-star tight end Andrew Olesh, about one hour after Michigan was able to flip top-100 safety Ivan Taylor from Notre Dame.
Taylor visited Michigan football twice in recent months, including an official visit in June. Yet, it was hard to know how serious the interest was in a flip. But after Notre Dame took a fifth defensive back in the 2025 class, Taylor flipped his commitment to Michigan football in a huge win for the Wolverines.
Taylor is 6 feet, 180 pounds out of Winter Garden, Florida. He's ranked No. 54 overall and is the third top-100 commitment in the 2025 class. Olesh is 6-foot-5, 212 pounds, and is ranked No. 118 overall and fifth among tight ends according to the 247 Sports composite rankings.
Here are three thoughts on a huge day for Michigan football recruiting.
Michigan is starting to recruit like an elite program again
Michigan may never recruit as well as Georgia, or Alabama, or even Ohio State, but you don't have to have the best recruiting class every season to win a national title. All three of those programs trumped Michigan in the 2024 team talent rankings put out by 247 Sports.
Yet, Michigan went 2-0 against those teams and physically whipped an Alabama team that beat Georgia in the SEC title game. If the Wolverines don't have some special teams disasters in the Rose Bowl, it's two-score win for the Wolverines.
But you need a base level of elite talent to compete with those guys. J.J. McCarthy, Will Johnson, Donovan Edwards, Colston Loveland, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, and more. Some of those guys were three-star prospects when they committed to Michigan.
The Wolverines nailed their evaluations, as well as the development process. Now, with five commitments in the top 160 in 2025, Michigan is building that base of elite talent again, especially at some key positions.
The next Colston Loveland
Michigan football has landed some quality tight end prospects in recent classes but Andrew Olesh might be my favorite.
Olesh could easily have the kind of impact as a pass-catching tight end that Loveland has for the Wolverines the past two seasons. Just watch his highlights and you'll see a matchup nightmare.
Olesh is 6-foot-5 and while he's not quite the blocker Loveland is, he's more than serviceable and at Michigan, he'll learn how to block just fine. What is hard to teach is his pass-catching ability. He's an elite route runner and caught 53 passes as a junior for 976 yards.
The blue-chip tight end is used to being moved around a lot. Loveland will be used more in that way next season and in terms of Olesh, who runs a 4.6 in the 40, the sky is the limit. With Olesh and Brady Prieskorn in the 2024 class, Michigan should have an elite tight end room for years to come too.
An elite safety haul
Lamar Morgan has that D.A.W.G in him. After landing a bunch of defensive backs in the portal this spring, the secondary coach for Michigan football went to work and landed his second top-100 safety in the 2025 class after flipping Taylor from Notre Dame.
Not only does Taylor have NFL genes -- his dad was Ike Taylor -- but he's a perfect fit for Michigan football in large part because he can do so many things.
Taylor can be a deep safety and play center field. He can come into the box and is a sure tackler. He's also got dynamic speed and is solid in man-to-man coverage. Taylor could be a future nickel for the Wolverines, just like Mike Sainristil, as in a full-time player, just as easily as he could be a full-time safety.
Michigan has two top-100 safeties committed in the 2025 class with Kainoa Winston being the other and that's an elite haul, meaning U-M fans should all tip their cap to Lamar Morgan, who is proving to be elite on the recruiting trail.