How worried should Michigan football be about Nate Marshall flipping?

Recruiting has been a bit of a struggle for Michigan football in the 2025 class, but there are some good reasons for it.

The Wolverines had a ton of turnover on the coaching staff, starting with head coach Jim Harbaugh. Sherrone Moore was the perfect hire as his replacement, but Harbaugh still took a number of former Michigan football assistants with him to coach the Chargers.

That hurt the Wolverines in some recruitments. But now, that Moore has his staff in place, you can see that Michigan football is building some tangible momentum in the 2025 class. It feels like they could be on commitment watch going into this weekend.

Michigan football commitment visiting SEC schools

However, there's something else Michigan fans need to worry about this week as four-star defensive line commitment, Nate Marshall, the top-ranked pledge in the 2025 class for U-M, is visiting Auburn and Alabama over the next two weeks.

Jeffrey Lee of On3.com reported the visit to Auburn this weekend. Marshall had visits on the schedule and is reportedly going to visit the Crimson Tide too.

From a Michigan football perspective, this is about the last thing you want. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound defensive lineman is ranked 41st overall in the 2025 class. He's also the No. 4 defensive line prospect.

The fact that Alabama and Auburn are much more willing to drop a bag of NIL money also causes me to be concerned. Top-100 recruits aren't cheap and it remains to be seen if Michigan will move away from its "transformational" approach to NIL. Marshall could be a test of that and it's going to be interesting to see what happens in this recruitment after the next two weekends.