Tag: Michigan Football

Wisconsin class of 2025 OT target announces commitment date

Wisconsin class of 2025 OT target announces commitment date

Wisconsin top class of 2025 offensive line target Avery Gach will announce his college commitment at 2:15 p.m. central, 3:15 p.m. eastern on Friday, May 3.

Wisconsin is one of Gach’s final four schools, along with Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State. Other notable programs to have offered the top lineman include Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Florida State and Texas A&M.

247Sports ranks the 6-foot-5 lineman as a four-star recruit and as the No. 196 player in the class of 2025, No. 13 at his position and No. 2 recruit from the state of Michigan. He took unofficial visits to Wisconsin in March and November of 2023, according to Rivals.

247Sports’ Allen Trieu projects the lineman as a Power-4 starter and compares him to Baltimore Ravens’ guard Ben Bredeson.

The versatile lineman would be a huge victory for Luke Fickell and Phil Longo’s offensive unit. Wisconsin is certainly an attractive landing spot for Gach with Wisconsin’s recent success in developing offensive lineman. The program’s class of 2025 currently ranks No. 21 in the nation with eight total commitments. Gach would immediately be the highest-rated player in the class.

The Michigan native does eight crystal ball predictions to choose the Wolverines, including from Wisconsin insider Nick Osen and Michigan insider Sam Webb.

The commitment will be streamed on the 247Sports YouTube channel, per Allen Trieu.

Michigan football trending for elite in-state 2025 O-lineman

Gotta get him in the fold! #GoBlue

You can never take for granted when you have elite talent in your backyard. Just ask Michigan football with five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood, who chose LSU over going to school 18 miles away from his current high school.

Over the years, the Wolverines have let some of the top talent in the state of Michigan slip through their fingers. Sure, some big names have stayed home  — like running back Donovan Edwards or cornerback Will Johnson — but for every one of those, there’s been an Underwood, a Dante Moore, or a Spindler brother.

The maize and blue, however, have done a stellar job at recruiting 2025 Birmingham (Mich.) Groves offensive tackle Avery Gach, who has visited Ann Arbor multiple times throughout his recruitment. However, Gach has been keen on giving some other big schools a chance, with Ohio State seeming to be the primary competition.

But in the past 10 days, Gach has received seven 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions indicating that he will spurn the Buckeyes for his hometown Wolverines.

The most recent predictions come from Tom Loy (April 24), Spartan Tailgate’s Stephen Brooks and Bucknuts’ Bill Kurelic (April 22), TMI’s Sam Webb and Brice Marich (April 20), and Allen Trieu (April 15).

At 6-foot-5, 290 pounds, Gach is rated the No. 196 player in the country, and the second-best player in the state of Michigan — behind only the aforementioned Underwood.

The scouting report via 247Sports’ Allen Trieu, where he compares him to former Michigan standout Ben Bredeson:

High school offensive tackle who can be a swing guy at the next level. Tenacious, physical player who goes to the whistle and finishes plays. Shows functional strength and pad level in addition to the pure willingness to want to move defenders off the ball, all making for a dominant run blocker. Still technically coming along in pass set and pass pro. Physicality shows up in his punch there also. Left tackle in high school who may be more suited as a right side option or interior player at the high-major level. Has added good weight and strength and will continue to do so. Is a solid base-level athlete, but can also continue to improve on pure explosiveness and lateral agility. High-floor type prospect who will give a high-major school depth at several positions and should be a dependable multi-year starter at the Power Five level.

He also has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and USC, among others.

Two defensive backs standing out to Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore

These guys are gonna be stars — this year! #GoBlue

Despite losing so much personnel from last year’s national championship team, the Michigan football defense still figures to be loaded.

Kris Jenkins, Cam Goode, Braiden McGregor, and Jaylen Harrell are all gone, but with Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Derrick Moore, and Josaiah Stewart, there’s still a lot to like up front. At linebacker, Ernest Hausmann and Maryland transfer Jaishawn Barham figure to be solid replacements for Junior Colson and Mike Barrett. And in the defensive backfield, Will Johnson may just be the best cornerback in the country.

But the defensive backfield isn’t without some drama. Star safety Rod Moore, who opted to come back for his senior year, tore his ACL at the outset of spring practice. Makari Paige, back for a fifth-year, and sixth-year safety Quinten Johnson hold down the fort, but with Keon Sabb transferring to Alabama this offseason, the depth at the position is thinning.

One player who stood out this spring is junior Zeke Berry, who has particularly thrived in the Mike Sainristil role at nickel. Berry started in Week 1 last year but was injured on the opening kickoff in Week 2. While Berry has been working in that nickel back role, head coach Sherrone Moore notes (on the In the Trenches podcast) that no one will replicate what Sainristil did the past two years, but Berry has done more than a solid impression.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that left but we’ve got a lot of really good talent here,” Moore said. “And not gonna be anybody that’s gonna be like Mike because Mike. Mike’s different. But Zeke Berry, man, he’s had a heck of a spring. And he showed that potential last year and you can see flashes. And he started to put it together from a mental standpoint now and super excited for him. But he’s really done a heck of a job this spring.”

The other position that is under scrutiny is the cornerback opposite Will Johnson. With Josh Wallace gone to the NFL, the Wolverines appear to be honing in on sophomore DJ Waller, who brings size and athleticism to the role. But the other player to watch is fellow second-year corner Jyaire Hill.

Hill was impressive in the spring game, with the notable pass breakup on a perfectly placed ball thrown to Peyton O’Leary. Beyond that, he seemed instinctive and with a nose for the football.

Moore broke down why Hill could be a factor this year, noting that he’s gotten positive feedback on the sophomore from his entrenched star corner.

“That kid’s got immense talent to be as good as anybody,” Moore said. “I know I’ve talked to Will a couple times. ‘Sug,’ they call him ‘Sug,’ he calls himself ‘Sug’ — ‘Sug’ is gonna be good. This kid, he’s got length, he’s got speed, he’s got athleticism. He’s fearless. He’ll tackle, he will go make a play on the ball. He’s everything you want in a corner. So he’s just had a heck of a spring.”

Sherrone Moore breaks down three Michigan football QBs after spring game

There is certainly something to like about each of the contenders. #GoBlue

While there are a lot of different decisions that have to be made before Michigan football takes the field on August 31 against Fresno State, there’s no position in Ann Arbor that will have more eyes on it than at quarterback.

With J.J. McCarthy moving on to the NFL, and no obvious heir apparent, there is already a battle in progress between four players, with a fifth in Jack Tuttle expected to join once he’s fully healthy in the fall.

On Wednesday, new head coach Sherrone Moore sat down with Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches podcast and broke down three of the four quarterbacks who threw passes in the spring game to share where they are in this stage of their development.

Alex Orji

Photo: Isaiah Hole

“He’s gotten better every single day,” Moore said. “He studies the game at a high level, he’s a great leader, has the factor of people trying to follow him — and obviously, he’s a superb athlete. So yeah, he’s done a really good job. And excited to see where he goes.”

Davis Warren

Photo: Isaiah Hole

“Just the way he performed is kind of who he is,” Moore said. “And you know his story and what he’s been through. He’s just a dude that’s never gonna give up, keeps fighting and keeps clawing. And he’s had a great spring and topped it off with a really good game.”

Jadyn Davis

Photo: Isaiah Hole

“And then Jadyn Davis, for a young freshmen, super impressive,” Moore said. “The poise that he holds, and he kind of has that, that factor to him that — he’s a little bit like J.J., where he’s a young guy and guys get gravitated towards him. He’s a leader, but he’s like always here. He’s always in here. Cool thing about him: we played the Rose Bowl and came back from the Rose Bowl. And he was in here studying film. Won the national championship, came back and he was in here studying film. So the kid, like, he really gets it and what it means to be a quarterback here.”

Sherrone Moore breaks down the Michigan football offense post-spring ball

It’ll be interesting to see how they do this year. #GoBlue

There are few questions about how Michigan football will look defensively, despite a whole new coaching staff and lots of new starters on that side of the ball. More of the questions for the Wolverines in 2024 comes on the offensive side of the ball.

Would luck have it but the new head coach of the Wolverines happens to be the former offensive coordinator in Sherrone Moore, and coming out of spring ball, he’s pleased with that side of the ball’s progress. The defense is always ahead of the offense at this time of year, and that certainly appeared to be the case in the spring game. But, the offense still found ways to move the ball, despite it being a drafted split squad, and going up against the defense every day has helped that unit thrive to this point.

“I think they had great maturation because of who they’re going against every day. So if you don’t get better, you’re just gonna get smashed every day by our defense,” Sherrone Moore told Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches podcast. “And there’s some days they got them, our offense got (the defense). But the guys just got better. They competed at a high level, the young guys didn’t back down, the older guys stayed the course and kept playing. So it was good. It was really good to see.”

Despite the overall coaching change at the top, don’t expect the Wolverines to look much different.

Yes, there will be a new starting quarterback, a new offensive line — new starters everywhere except for maybe tight end and with Donovan Edwards (who started the final three games of 2022) at running back.

So when evaluating the identity of a new-look (personnel-wise) offense, Moore shared the tenets of the offensive philosophy while noting it won’t be a radical departure from last year.

“Same as last — be physical, it starts up front and always will,” Moore said. “So be physical upfront, set the tone upfront, be efficient, take care of the football, create explosive plays in different ways. Whether it’s the play-action pass, run-action, pass, dropback pass, runs. And then just be sound, fundamentally sound in everything we do.”

Of course, all eyes will be on the quarterback battle, which primarily featured Alex Orji vs. Davis Warren this spring. Jack Tuttle will be in the mix this fall, coming off of an injury, while Jayden Denegal and Jadyn Davis are also working themselves into the competition.

Moore didn’t say much about any separation when WolverinesWire asked him on Monday about the competition, and for now, he doesn’t believe that a starter will emerge until Fresno State is officially on the clock on August 31.

“Super competitive right now, excited to see what happens in the spring or in the summertime,” Moore said. “And then in fall camp — we won’t know until probably fall camp, until game one, a week or so before that game. But those guys are competing at a high level. It’s healthy competition. They’re pushing each other. So it’s been really good.”

Michigan football gets two predictions to land elite RB out of Ohio

The comments are gonna say they didn’t really want him in Columbus, watch. #GoBlue

Go ahead and sign into social media. Try it out. Should you do so, what you’re hearing is that Tony Alford can’t recruit.

That’s the parting sentiment from Ohio State fans who are working to rationalize Alford’s departure from the Buckeyes. But it may just be a myth, one created to help those in the state south of Michigan to cope with the ever-changing nature of the rivalry.

While former Wolverines running backs coach Mike Hart was an excellent developer of talent, he lacked recruiting prowess. And Alford is already paying dividends. And it appears that Michigan football may be able to collect soon.

On Tuesday, the maize and blue got two 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions (from Allen Trieu and Tom Loy) indicating that Michigan will be 2025 Cleveland (Ohio) Heights four-star running back Marquise Davis’ school of choice — not Ohio State.

It wouldn’t be the first time in recent memory. The Buckeyes were all-in for Cincinnati (Ohio) Moeller four-star RB Jordan Marshall, who went on to be the 2023 Mr. Ohio Football winner. But Marshall ended up selecting the Wolverines.

The scouting report on Davis from Trieu:

Two-way player in high school who has been very productive. Plays with physicality on both sides of the ball and runs with tenacity. Does not go down on first contact. Has a bit of twitch and wiggle to find his way through the wash but is more of a north-south runner than someone who will make lots of defenders miss. Has had a high yards per carry average and can get to the outside but has no verifiable speed times. Looks like a guy who is currently fast enough but isn’t a pure speed burner. Catches the ball well out of the backfield when asked to do that. Has gotten in the weight room and gotten stronger leading into his senior year and should be a feature back type in college who can handle being leaned on for a lot of carries and tough yardage.

The 247Sports Composite has him listed as the No. 166 player in the country, regardless of position. He does have an offer from OSU, which was extended to him originally by new Michigan RB coach Tony Alford.

Michigan football among 247Sports 2024 teams most likely to suffer setback

Well, that’s just like…your opinion, man. #GoBlue

longhornswire.usatoday.comigan football was the first-ever Big Ten team in the College Football Playoff era to go undefeated and win the national championship. The Wolverines were the second team in the conference to win it all, but Ohio State went 14-1 in its 2014 championship run.

Though teams usually get a lot of love coming off of a national title, the maize and blue aren’t getting the same recognition as the Georgias or even the Florida States of the world after winning a championship. Part of that is losing head coach Jim Harbaugh, the other part is losing a ton of the starters from last year’s team.

Thus, as 247Sports put together the teams that could fall from grace, at least a little, the Michigan Wolverines make the cut. The maize and blue are still expected to be a good team, but the over-under in wins in 2024 is 2.5 less than it had last year in the regular season.

2023 Regular-Season Record: 12-0

2024 Projected Win Total: 9.5 (-2.5 Wins)

There is plenty of continuity at Michigan even amid a coaching change, and the 2024 campaign will test the solidity of the foundation Jim Harbaugh built before he bolted for the NFL. The primary concern around the Wolverines is their quarterback room, which has yet to produce a clear No. 1 option and is unlikely to replicate J.J. McCarthy’s production regardless of who emerges as the starter. Add Ohio State’s offseason surge and a difficult schedule — which features battles with Texas and Big Ten newcomer Oregon — to the mix, and another perfect regular season seems unlikely.

That said, Michigan was expected to lose at least to Ohio State last year, if not also against perpetual preseason darling Penn State. The expectations for the maize and blue have fallen short compared to reality each of the past three years. Could the Wolverines overachieve again next year? It will be harder, with Texas, Oregon, Washington, and OSU all on the regular season schedule.

Joel Klatt lists three Michigan football players that stood out in the spring game

Watch out for these three this fall. #GoBlue

Joel Klatt has seen a lot of Michigan football over the years, and he admits this year may be different — but still kind of the same.

On his post-spring game reaction video on the Wolverines, Klatt notes that while the coaching staff and personnel will look a lot different, the mission and tactics used to achieve said mission are the same.

There are some returning players expected to carry the load — players like Will Johnson, Kenneth Grant, Mason Graham, Colston Loveland, and Donovan Edwards — but if the maize and blue want to return to the College Football Playoff and continue building on the past three years, some players will have to step up who had previously been unknown to the national audience.

On Tuesday, Klatt shared three Michigan football players who could step up based on what he saw from the field on Saturday.

“Who are some of the guys that maybe you don’t know about that really impressed me on Saturday?” Klatt said. “On the edge, a guy named TJ Guy — not just a guy, but TJ Guy. A sack, good pressure throughout. A big reason they were successful was the fact that they could rotate throughout the defensive line, specifically at the edges. So TJ Guy in rotation is going to be important. Now is he going to be asked to be in a star, leading role, get 10 sacks? No. But if he’s a guy that can have production, can be on the field in critical moments against big opponents, that’s going to help them become a bigger defense overall, because then the starters — like Josaiah Stewart — won’t have to play the kinds of snaps he would otherwise have to play. So a guy like TJ Guy would be very important.

“How about Zeke Berry? He flashed in Saturday’s game. Coach Moore talked about it with me on the field. Charles Woodson was talking about it as well. He was constantly around the ball and he’s going to looking to fill that role that was left, a huge gaping hole by Mike Sainristil, who’s one of the best defenders not only on their team but in the country. I think towards the end, I would categorize him as the best defender on the best defense in college football. You’re gonna have to replace that guy. Zeke Berry made a lot of plays on that defense on Saturday and he’s a guy that they’ll really be looking to to be productive next year.

“On the offensive side, it’s going to be important that they have a second tight end. Because Colston Loveland is probably the best tight end in the country. They need a second because of their philosophy, their structure, the way they like to run offense. They want to be in 12 personnel — one back, two tight ends. So they need another tight end. Watch out for Marlin Klein. Marlin Klein is a guy that played a lot of soccer in his youth, is fairly new to football, so again, he’s perfect for this development structure that Michigan has. And grew up in Germany. He’s fast. He had four catches on Saturday. Didn’t really get out but they say he may be one of the fastest players on the team. His emergence will be huge. If you can flex out Colston Loveland and guy that can run 4..4, 4.35 in a guy like Marlin Klein? That’s dangerous! And that’s very dangerous in an offense that could feature a running quarterback.”

What Sherrone Moore has seen from Jaishawn Barham since he came to Michigan

He’s going to be a stud for #Michigan this year. #GoBlue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — One of the key components to Michigan football’s recent run in both the Big Ten and the College Football Playoff has been outstanding linebacker play.

Though the Wolverines have had serviceable — and sometimes great — linebackers in the past decade, it was only in the past three years that the corps as a whole has played at an elite level. Thus, it’s no surprise that with Junior Colson, Mike Barrett, and Ernest Hausmann last year that the maize and blue won the national championship.

The former two are gone to the NFL, but the Wolverines still have Hausmann, and they brought in Maryland transfer Jaishawn Barham in December to start opposite him.

We got our first glimpse of Hausmann in the spring game on Saturday, and while he didn’t show up often in the stat sheet, anyone paying attention could see just how disruptive he can be. There are murmurs that Michigan feels it perhaps got a first-round type of talent in the former freshman All-American and three-time All-Big Ten player.

On Monday, WolverinesWire asked Sherrone Moore what he’s seen from Barham this spring and he’s appreciated not only the play on the field, but the workmanship he’s had behind the scenes which is helping him earn the respect of his teammates.

“Instinctual, physical, violent, fast — everything you want in a linebacker,” Moore said. “As quiet as can be, just goes about his business the right way, just how we like the transfers that come in here. They just come in, assimilate themselves in the culture and keep attacking.

“So he’s been outstanding, and just I can’t wait to see what he does.”

With Barham’s attitude entering his third year being one of leading by example, it harkens back to when players like Olu Oluwatimi joined and managed to galvanize the entire team around him. When you have what Michigan currently has — a strong, player-led culture — in order to become a leader, you have to show you can abide by that culture through your work ethic.

It appears that Barham is doing just that, which should pay dividends for the maize and blue this fall.

Michigan football finally gets a commitment in 2025

Got him over Alabama, Ohio State and others. #GoBlue

Michigan football hadn’t gotten a commitment in the 2025 class since Carter Smith pledged midseason in 2023. In fact, the Wolverines drought was more likely to see decommitments than commitments, of late.

Finally, the maize and blue stemmed the bleeding and they did so in a big way.

The first pledge in the Sherrone Moore era, 2025 Fenwick (Ill.) Oak Park four-star defensive lineman Nathaniel Marshall had seen enough and decided to pull the trigger for Michigan football on Monday morning.

Rated the No. 35 player in the country, regardless of position, by the 247Sports Composite, Marshall is the highest-rated pledge since Will Johnson in the 2021 class.

The scouting report from 247Sports’ Allen Trieu:

Has a background that includes basketball and offense, where he sometimes splits way out wide and can be effective playing from that spot. Carries that athleticism over to defense where he is comfortable in space and pursuit. Can change directions and chase down plays. Shows motor and does not give up on plays. Shifts from outside to inside and has played up and down the line. Carries his weight very well so could continue to pack on pounds and be a combo guy in college. Does not currently have bad weight. Long-term projection is likely most likely as a five-tech but that depends on physical development. Combo of athleticism and versatility make him a high-end prospect. Has to continue developing from a technical standpoint with his hands and get stronger, but he looks like he will be a starter for high-major program and has the baseline tools to play beyond college.

Marshall had offers from schools such as Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Miami, and Texas.