Observations on Michigan Football Recruiting 2019 (Updated February 7, 2020)

Michigan had a pretty solid recruiting year; however, another problematic finish resulted in a rank 11th by ESPN and Rivals, but 14th on 247 Sports. All three rating services have Michigan with 2 more pledges than they actually have with 24 signees; if one considers the removal of those "points," their ranking nationally would be 13th on 247 Sports and 2nd in the Big Ten behind Ohio State.

Michigan's title drought is now the longest in Wolverine history, and Harbaugh's first five seasons haven't changed the dilemma. As a Michigan football fan, I've experienced two of these droughts, and this one is much worse than the one that ended in 1964. The Big Ten competition continues in its intensity, and the path to the top continues to be a great challenge in a 14 team conference. Warde Manuel and Jim Harbaugh have altered the future non-conference schedules to be weaker, and paid out over $2 million to exit home and home contracts with Arkansas, UCLA, and Virginia Tech to add Hawaii, Ball State, Arkansas State, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Connecticut, and East Carolina. I'm not sure if weakening the schedule is going to make Michigan a better football team, and I don't believe that the coaches who built the football legacy in Ann Arbor including Fielding Yost, Harry Kipke, Benny Oosterbaan, Bo Schembechler, Gary Moeller, and Lloyd Carr would agree with softening up the schedule in an effort to build confidence in the team prior to tackling the Big Ten Conference schedule.

This class has 8 January enrollees: Blake Corum, Nikhai Hill-Green, Aaron Lewis, Braiden McGregor, William Mohan, Makari Paige, Andre Seldon, and Zak Zinter; six of these will even get to participate in 3 Bowl practices along with 15 Spring practices prior to Fall Camp.

On Offense, Harbaugh offered at least 15 quarterbacks; they spent most of the recruiting season banking on J.D. Johnson from Arizona, but a late medical prognosis with a heart condition doomed his recruitment so the Wolverines offered Dan Villari on December 18 and he committed; however, they wanted C.J. Stroud who signed with Ohio State. Other quarterbacks that Harbaugh coveted were Harrison Bailey (Tennessee), Jack Miller (Ohio State), Drew Pyne (Notre Dame), Tyler Van Dyke (Miami-FL), Parker McQuarrie (UCLA), Beau Allen (Kentucky), etc. We are still not truly recruiting Dual Threat Quarterbacks which is a terrible mistake for the future of Michigan Football. Michigan Quarterbacks

At Running Back, Michigan gained a good one with Blake Corum (above). In all, they offered at least 40 running backs; the ones they pursued the most included: Jalen Berger (Wisconsin), Lawrence Toafili (Florida State), Kyle Edwards (Alabama), Isaiah Jacobs (Maryland), Miyan Williams (Ohio State), Marvin Scott (Nebraska), D.J. Jones (North Carolina), Michael Drennan (Kentucky), and Bijan Robinson (Texas). They did also get an impressive walk-on prospect in Gaige Garcia who is coming to Ann Arbor on a Wrestling Scholarship; they have also offered Isaiah Gash as a walk-on. The Wolverines had an early Summer commitment from Tim Baldwin; he decommitted about a week later, and later signed with Indiana. Michigan passed on In-Stater, Peny Boone (Maryland). Michigan's Greatest Running Backs

At Wide Receiver, Michigan signed Slots A.J. Henning (above) and Eamonn Dennis along with Hawaiian speedster Roman Wilson. The Wolverines signed Two-Star Kyle McNamara, brother of Redshirt Quarterback Cade McNamara in the last week prior to Signing Day. Michigan offered nearly 70 wide receiver prospects including Chayce Bishop with only two weeks to go before February Signing. Some of the wideouts Gattis coveted included: Brendan Rice (Colorado), Josh Downs (North Carolina), Lavon Bunkley-Shelton (USC), Javian Hester (Missouri), Dazalin Worsham (Miami-FL), Xavier Watts (Notre Dame), Jay Brunelle (Notre Dame), etc. They passed on In-Staters Rashawn Williams (Indiana), Maliq Carr, Abdur Rahmaan-Yaseen (Purdue), Devell Washington (West Virginia), Ian Stewart (Michigan State), Christian Fitzpatrick (Louisville), Earnest Sanders (Kentucky), Cameron Martinez (Ohio State), and Michigan Legacy Jaeden Dottin (Penn State). They had another decommitment in Kalil Branham (Kentucky). They offered at least four walk-on wideouts: Mike Davis, Christian Bartholomew, Jake Thaw, and Sam Staruch. Four of the nation's top wide receivers, Julian Fleming, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Gee Scott, and Mookie Cooper signed with Ohio State. At Tight End, Michigan offered at least 20 prospects, they signed Matt Hibner, but lost out on Theo Johnson (Penn State), Lukas Ungar (Stanford), Mike Mayer and Kevin Bauman (Notre Dame), Caden Clark (Alabama), Kole Taylor (LSU), Cam Large (Wisconsin), Joe Royer (Ohio State), Tyler Warren (Penn State), etc. Michigan passed on In-Stater Tommy Guarjardo (Michigan State), and had Nick Patterson decommit to Princeton. The two most coveted Tight Ends nationally were: Darnell Washington (Georgia) and Arik Gilbert (LSU). Michigan Ends (Wide Receivers, Tight Ends and Wingbacks (Slots)

On the Offensive Line, Ed Warinner offered more than 50 prospects; the Wolverines signed only three with Jeffrey Persi, Zak Zinter, and Reece Atteberry.  It was a sub-par year for their offensive line haul. They lost out on Paris Johnson, Jakob James, Grant Toutant, and Luke Wypler (Ohio State), Andrew Raym (Oklahoma), Andrew Gentry (Virginia), Myles Hinton (Stanford), Tosh Baker (Notre Dame), etc. They passed on In-Staters Dallas Fincher (Michigan State), Deondre Buford (Kentucky), Nalin Fox (Purdue), and Josh Priebe (Northwestern) Michigan Offensive Line

On Defense, for the second year in a row, many were in suspense as Defensive Coordinator was a candidate for a Head Coaching position at Boston College as he was in 2018 at Temple, but he's staying in Ann Arbor. He replaced Chris Partridge who left for Mississippi to become their Co-Head Defensive Coordinator with former Michigan Assistant, D.J. Durkin. Harbaugh announced that Bob Shoop, former Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Penn State Defensive Coordinator, has been hired on January 16th to replace Partridge. He also replaced Anthony Camponile who left to coach with the Miami Dolphins; the new coach is former Texas and Louisville defensive and recruiting coordinator, Brian Jean-Mary.

On the Defensive Line, Shaun Nua offered at least 50 prospects; he signed one of the nation's top prospects with Braiden McGregor who had knee surgery in November. He also inked Aaron Lewis, Kris Jenkins, and Jaylen Harrell. Some of the prospects that Michigan pursued included: Brian Bresee (Clemson), Van Fillinger (Utah), Antwaun Powell (Florida), Kenny Mestidor (UCLA), Cole Brevard, Brandon Taylor and Bryce Mostella (Penn State), Ty Hamilton, Jacolbe Cowan and Darrion Henry (Ohio State), etc. Michigan passed on In-Stater Bryce Austin (Purdue). The Wolverines had an early commitment with Denver Warren, but told him they would have to only offer him a "greyshit" as they were "full" at Nose Tackle. Warren is still unsigned. The only real Nose Tackles they pursued were Jayson Jones (Alabama) and Justin Rogers (Kentucky). Nua began his pursuit of Paris Shand in the final month of the recruiting cycle; he signed with Arizona. The whole defensive philosophy at Michigan has been to recruit smaller, quicker, more mobile defensive line prospects, and build them into larger bodies through nutrition and strength training; this philosophy is not working to place the football program into the highest echelon of NCAA Football. A good example of this philosophy in action is the two prospects that were recruited to play Defensive Tackle: Kris Jenkins and Jaylen Harrell, both are currently in the 6'4" 235 lbs. range; they are being recruited because they are athletic, fast and quick, but the coaches perceive that they will be able to building them into 285-290 lbs. explosive tackles within a few years. The top teams nationally already recruit and sign defensive tackles who have demonstrated explosiveness with bodies that are already in the 280-320 lbs. range. We do not have a great legacy of defensive linemen, and it is being successfully used against us in the recruiting process. Michigan Defensive Linemen.

At Linebacker, we signed four prospects early in the recruiting process: Cornell Wheeler, Osman Savage, Nikhai Hill-Green, and Kalel Mullings (above). Michigan offered at least 33 prospects.  Other prospects the Wolverines pursued included: Ethan West (North Carolina), Mitchell Melton and Kourt Williams (Ohio State), etc. Michigan passed on In-Stater Jordan Turner (Wisconsin).

In the Defensive Backfield, Mike Zordich came away with a solid recruiting performance after offering over 60 prospects; they signed William Mohan, Jordan Morant, R.J. Moten, Makari Paige, Andre Seldon plus Darion Green-Warren on January 4th who also signed early, but kept it secret. Morant also had knee surgery. Others they pursued with vigor included: Malcolm Greene (Clemson), Henry Gray (Nebraska), Luke Hill (Oregon), Jordan Toles (LSU), Elijah Gaines (Virginia), etc. Ohio State also lasooed a great group with Lathan Ranson, Ryan Watts, and Lejond Cavozos. Michigan passed on In-Staters Enzo Jennings (Penn State), Lem Watley-Neely (Indiana), Brenden Deasfernandes (Iowa), and Ralph Donaldson (Navy).

Michigan gained 3 signees from Baltimore St. Frances Academy: Blake Corum, Osman Savage, and Nikhai Hill-Green; their team is coached by Biff Poggi who was Harbaugh's Associate Head Football Coach. St. Frances is one of the nation's best high school football programs; other signees this year from Poggi's program include: Chris Braswell (Alabama), Jordan Toles (LSU), Demon Clowney (Georgia), Luke Hill (Oregon), Dominic Bailey (Tennessee), Michael Statham (Pittsburgh), Jahmal Banks (Wake Forest), Ja'Khi Green (Maryland), Bryce Johnson-Maith (Buffalo), Al-Ma'hi Ali (Massachusetts), Tyler Thomas (Kent State), etc. It is a private school who plays a national schedule; Poggi recruits the area for the best players he can find and has been the subject of controversy, and there are a bevy of outstanding schools nearby including DeMatha Catholic, the McDonogh School, the Bullis School, the Avalon School, National Christian Academy, Our Lady Good Counsel, Archbishop Spalding, Damascus, Potomac, etc. with dozens of Division I prospects yearly including some of the top players nationally. Michigan also signed Kris Jenkins of Our Lady Good Counsel. Harbaugh is continuing to look for "pipelines" of talent like Santa Ana Mater Dei, Concord De La Salle, and Bellflower St. John Bosco in California and IMG Academy in Florida.

December 18, 2019 Signees

On Special Teams, Michigan got a Preferred Walk-on commitment from Cole Hussung as a placekicker/punter on January 30th; Gregory Tarr committed as a Snapper for 2021. Other walk-ons committed so far include: Peyton Smith at Quarterback, Athletes Jake Thaw and Christian Bartholomew, and Sam Staruch at Wideout with offers out to Mike Davis at Wideout plus Isaiah Gash at Running Back.

In all, Harbaugh offered approximately 340+ scholarships in 34 states; he offered 330+ prospects in 2016, 250+ in 2017, and 310+ in 2018. We offered the most prospects from Florida (55+), Georgia (37+), Texas (24+), California (25+), Ohio (21+), Michigan and Maryland (19+), Virginia (13+), Arizona (12+), New Jersey/District of Columbia (8+), Massachusetts/North Carolina (7+), Alabama/Colorado/Illinois (6+), Connecticut/Kentucky/Missouri/New York/Washington (5+), Oklahoma/Pennsylvania (4+), Indiana/South Carolina/Utah (3+), Louisiana/Nevada/Wisconsin (2+), and one each from Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, and New Hampshire. Nearly 42% of the prospects we are now offering are in the South! We have 23 Signees as of December 18 with at least one more planning to sign in February; our top prospects in the class are Braiden McGregor, A.J. Henning, Blake Corum, and Kalel Mullings. All teams have until April 30 to sign recruits for the 2020 season, and grad transfers can be accepted anytime through Summer until the Fall semester begins. There are nearly 1.1 million high school football players each season in American, but only 6.7% have a shot at playing college football with only 2.6% having a shot at Division I; each ranking service has approximately 5,000 prospects in their database with ratings from one to five stars. Recruiting talent in any endeavor is a matter of perception and hope; the hard work, competition, and improvement is unmeasurable so time will tell over the next 3-5 years as how these young men will develop under the tutelage of Harbaugh's staff. Over the past 5 seasons, many Wolverine fans agree that Harbaugh and his staff have not been able to gain the most of the talent that they've recruited, and the above graphic confirms the same.

Michigan has chosen to emphasize recruiting in the last decade in the Deep South which a dramatic shift from 30-40 years ago when it was the Midwest; they offered at least 82 prospects in Florida and Georgia. The competition for those highly skilled prospects is intense; this season, Michigan only managed to gain one commitment of the 82 offered: Jaylen Harrell. Here is a list of the tough competition in this recruiting region, and how they fared:

The Big Ten has transcended into a much more competitive recruiting conference; in addition to Ohio State and Penn State, the Wolverines are getting a lot more competition from Wisconsin, Iowa, Maryland, Purdue, Minnesota, Michigan State, and Indiana.

Jeff Brohm of Purdue Mike Locksley of Maryland Greg Schiano of Rutgers Lovie Smith of Illinois Tom Allen of Indiana Ryan Day of Ohio State Paul Chryst of Wisconsin James Franklin of Penn State Scott Frost of Nebraska Mark Dantonio of Michigan State P.J. Fleck of Minnesota Kirk Ferentz of Iowa (Marc Morehouse) Jim Harbaugh of Michigan and Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern were the only Big Ten Head Coaches that didn't hold a Press Conference to discuss his signees.

Offers by Team 2019

There has to be something said about "economy of effort" in the recruiting process. Some teams make significantly fewer offers due to regional as well as academic differences as they pursue football prospects. Michigan no longer recruits its owns state as hard as it recruits other states particularly in the South; other schools have a bevy of talent nearby, and don't have to utilize long distance national recruiting particularly the Florida, Texas and California schools who comprise 27 of the 130 (nearly 21%) NCAA Division I Football competitors. There were 17 "Five-Star" prospects that were identified in the ESPN 300 and 28 in the 247 Sports; Michigan would have accepted any of these prospects, and a good share of the "Four-Star" prospects as well, but you can't sign them all. Michigan continues to lose out on top prospects nationally despite its great academic and athletic program and historic reputation as well as upgraded facilities. The competitors that Michigan is not competing well against that are most disturbing are Ohio State and Notre Dame; both schools offer less prospects, but both take away some of our most coveted prospects each year.

National and Major Conference Football Recruiting Leaders for 2020