Michigan football shoots up in recruiting rankings after big recruiting weekend

Fans of the rivalry will have to come up with another way to cope with the Michigan football team’s recent success now that the Wolverines begin assembling their 2025 recruiting class.

One of the things they’ve had the opportunity to do over the past few months is to mock the Wolverines’ recruiting ranking, which 247Sports said was pretty low – especially for a reigning national champion – at 40. But why was that?

Well, a mixture of uncertainty due to coaching changes after Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL and the time it took to put the new team together, mixed with the fact that the top targets on the board weren’t yet locked in, left the Wolverines down in the early rankings. But as the month of June came to a close, Michigan managed to get several of its top targets on board through verbal commitments.

Seven of Michigan’s 12 commitments came this month, meaning Michigan had just five commitments at the start of the month. No wonder it was lagging. But in June, the Wolverines got commitments from several four-star players — safety Kainoa Winston, defensive lineman Jaylen Williams, running back Donovan Johnson and wide receiver Jacob Washington — and a couple of three-star players — linebacker Chase Taylor, running back Jasper Parker and center Kaden Strayhorn.

As a result, Michigan shot up from 40th to 15th in 247Sports’ recruiting rankings, right after this weekend’s four new additions (Johnson, Strayhorn, Washington and Taylor).

And considering Michigan’s remaining goals, the state has a chance of making it into the top ten.

Right now, the Wolverines only appear to be working on one five-star player: offensive tackle Andrew Babalola, who is also seriously considering Stanford. But there are several high-profile four-star players, 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 the top or at least near the top for. Add in wide receiver Phillip Wright and edge rusher Julius Holly, who also trend toward the maize and blue, according to the 247Sports class calculator, and this could be Michigan’s best class since the much-vaunted 2017 recruiting cycle.

This should be a lesson that it’s not how you start, but how you finish that matters. Michigan’s senior year seemed on track to be one of the best ever before withdrawals and perceived leans shifted elsewhere. If the Wolverines can land many of their top targets and maintain their class, this could be one of the best classes Michigan has ever had.

Sometimes, recruitment requires not only perseverance but also a little patience.

The story originally appeared on Wolverines Wire