The Early Signing Period for the 2023 football prospects begins tomorrow, which is when the vast majority of players sign their letter of intent. As it stands now, the Michigan Wolverines are only in the top 20 in the national team rankings, but have gained traction recently with some big transfer portal transfers.
There are still a few loose ends for Michigan to wrap up with the class that we hope will be answered soon. Here’s what to watch out for.
Is Jyaire Hill real?
Kankakee (IL) four-star cornerback Jyaire Hill caused a stir yesterday when he posted his top five list of schools that doesn’t include Michigan. Instead, Illinois, Purdue, Kentucky, Florida and Missouri made the list.
This is obviously a huge departure from Hill’s recruiting prior to this, with Michigan having been involved for an extremely long time and even picking up steam after the end of the regular season. In fact, Steve Wiltfong and Brice Marich of 247Sports picked the Crystal Ball for Hill to land in Michigan on Sunday, giving the Wolverines all three predictions.
Michigan was clearly a contender in his draft, and for Hill, not even including them on his main roster means something else is going on. Did this turn out to be Hill’s trolling job before he pulled a Michigan hat from under the table during his announcement? We’ll have to wait until tomorrow at 4pm EST when he makes his decision public.
How does Michigan finish its defensive line?
Michigan hosted three-star defensive lineman and former Wisconsin tackle Jamel Howard for an official visit this past weekend. This was after Howard visited Michigan’s home final against Illinois last month.
Still, Illinois and Wisconsin under new coach Luke Fickell, are making strong pushes for the 6-foot-3, 320-pound. It’s not closed yet, but Michigan is probably in the best position.
With Howard, Michigan would have a promising interior defensive line class along with Roderick Pierce and Brooks Bahr. Enow Etta can also become a country guy if she doesn’t stay on edge.
Speaking of leverage, Michigan has re-established contact with top 100 prospect Malachi Coleman, instead of visiting Colorado, the Michigan team still went home with him and is recruiting him.
This doesn’t sound like a draft that Michigan necessarily fits into, but Coleman could push things back to February and could give the Wolverines a chance to really get him on campus. With Collins Acheampong heading to Miami, Michigan could use another touted class advantage.
How high can the Michigan class climb?
It’s no secret that Michigan’s traditional recruiting hasn’t lived up to this cycle, even after capturing its first Big Ten title in over 15 years and winning another this season.
Including just high school students, Michigan’s class ranks 19th in the nation now, with seven four stars and 14 three stars. Adding four-star Karmello English and the aforementioned Hill, and three-star Jamel Howard—the most likely additions to the class—would lift Michigan to No. 15 in the nation.
With the proliferation of the transfer portal though, 247Sports now has a metric that includes both high school recruits and transfers. Michigan’s transfer gate class is the first in the country at this time and may not be completed.
Combining the two metrics, Michigan ranks 15th overall on signing day. Even adding the three recruits listed above and the transfer of Indiana tight end AJ Barner, who visited this past weekend, Michigan would not rise in the overall standings.
There’s still February signing day, of course, so this won’t be the final Wolverines class rankings. They still have a big fish in five-star athlete Nyckoles Harbour, which is deciding in February, and perhaps more surprises will follow.
But for now, it looks like Michigan’s class ceiling is around 15th barring any signature day shocks.