Rival fans have to find some other way to cope with Michigan football’s recent success now that the Wolverines are starting to fill out the 2025 recruiting class.
One of the area of opportunity they’ve had in recent months has been to make fun of the Wolverines’ recruiting ranking, which was quite low — especially for a defending national champion — hovering in the 40s according to 247Sports. But why was that?
Well, a mixture of uncertainty due to coaching changes with Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL and it taking awhile for the new staff to be assembled, mixed with the top targets on the board remaining uncommitted left the Wolverines in the lurch in the early rankings. But with the month of June coming to a close, Michigan managed to get several of its top targets on board via verbal pledge.
Seven of Michigan’s 12 commits came this month, meaning that Michigan had just five commits entering the month. No wonder it was lagging. But in June, the Wolverines got pledges from multiple four-stars — safety Kainoa Winston, defensive lineman Jaylen Williams, running back Donovan Johnson, and wide receiver Jacob Washington — and a couple of three-stars — linebacker Chase Taylor, running back Jasper Parker, and center Kaden Strayhorn.
As a result, just after the four commits this weekend (Johnson, Strayhorn, Washington, and Taylor), Michigan skyrocketed from the low 40s in the recruiting rankings on 247Sports all the way up to No. 15.
And when you consider the targets Michigan is still in on, it has an opportunity to finish with a top 10 class.
At the moment, the Wolverines appear to only be in it for one five-star in offensive tackle Andrew Babalola, who is also strongly considering Stanford. But there are several high-profile four-stars, such as safeties Ivan Taylor and Jordan Young, linebackers Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng and Kamar Archie, wide receiver Andrew Marsh, tight end Andrew Olesh, cornerback Shamari Earls, and edge rusher Marco Jones — all of whom Michigan appears to be at or near the top for. Adding in wide receiver Phillip Wright and edge rusher Julius Holly, who also appear to be trending toward the maize and blue, according to the 247Sports class calculator, it could be Michigan’s best class since the ballyhooed 2017 recruiting cycle.
This should be a lesson that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Michigan’s class last year appeared to be on its way to being one of the best ever before decommitments and perceived leans ended up going elsewhere. If the Wolverines can close out on many of their top targets and retain the class they have, this could be among the best-ever classes that Michigan has managed to bring in.
Sometimes, recruiting requires a little patience to go along with perseverance.