The weather is warm, summer is in full swing, and you know what that means: it's recruiting season! Our last recruiting update was a few weeks back and at the time, I was talking about overarching questions, why there weren't as many commitments as some wanted, the Dante Moore saga, and a few key prospects to follow. Some elements of that story still ring true; Michigan hasn't gotten any more commitments since last time around and the Dante Moore sweepstakes still have no end in sight. 

But other conditions have changed, and the next few weeks are likely to see even larger changes. This weekend is Victor's Weekend, the third straight weekend in which the staff has hosted several key recruits and this one is the biggest. By the end of June, nearly all key 2023 recruits will have taken either an official visit or an unofficial visit, and a number of top targets are set to decide by early July. Michigan Football under Jim Harbaugh has typically done most of its recruiting in the summer and with school freshly out, it is firmly summertime. Time for some commits to roll in. 

Today I'm going to do an abbreviated mid-June version of the 2023 recruiting board, moving position by position to see what's going on, which targets have visited, which prospects could be close to committing, and where things stand as we get into the meat of the summer. Along the way I'll touch on some of the most burning questions and then wrap it up with a few thoughts at the end. 

 

Quarterback

Want: 1

Commits: 0 

Scoop: Speaking of burning questions, this is where we can talk about CJ Carr, even though he's in the 2024 class. Carr, grandson of Lloyd (if you didn't know this, I'm glad you just woke up from your coma), committed to Notre Dame last week and sent some corners of Michigan Twitter into peak Down Bad status. I got several CJ Carr-related questions for the mailbag piece I did earlier in the week, but chose to defer them to this piece. Carr's fate has long been linked to that of the only 2023 QB target, Dante Moore. The two talented in-state QBs were very much aware of the other's presence, and the smart reporting has said for some time that the two were unlikely to wind up at the same school. Both want playing time and spoiler alert, it's hard to start two QBs simultaneously.   

Dante Moore's recruitment has been long and winding and some schools are starting to get tired of waiting. It seems to me that CJ Carr may have been tired too. Rather than waiting for the older Dante to shoot his shot, Carr pulled a Han Solo and shot first. Notre Dame was once considered the leader for Moore, but now with Carr in the class, it would appear to be unlikely that Moore winds up in South Bend. He continues to look around at other schools besides Michigan, but the longer he draws this out, the more suitors will drop out of the running. A lot of schools don't want to wait for his timeline and if there's a similar caliber of QB willing to commit, they'll take that kid and bail on Dante. That's why many insiders have indicated that the longer it goes, the better it gets for Michigan ($). The upcoming commitments of Avery Johnson and Jaden Rashada are interesting to watch, because the schools those two pick will likely then drop out of the running for Moore. 

Michigan remains in a unique position being the school who is only recruiting Moore. There is no Plan B right now, and that makes it incredibly risky. If they end up getting Dante, then it likely will be worth it. But if they don't, that will be a major swing and a miss, and one with tough consequences given that 2022 was a pretty weak QB class too. As for 2024, the name Jadyn Davis has been rising up the board in the absence of Carr. Part of the Carr decision was Michigan allegedly not viewing Carr in the same way as other schools, and their pursuit of Davis was a factor.

The 5* QB from North Carolina visited Michigan early in June and the Wolverines have since picked up predictions at several sites for the QB. Ranked as a top 15 recruit in the class, Davis would be a massive coup to land, but obviously there are still ages to go in this one. Pulling a kid like that from the south is not going to be easy, even if there is early momentum and real mutual interest. What I will say is that if Michigan somehow were to end up with both Dante Moore and Jadyn Davis, then the thought of CJ Carr will be a distant (laughing) memory. But we are still a very, very long way from that being reality. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: More positions!]

[247 Sports]

Running Back 

Want: 2 

Commits: 2, Cole Cabana (4*) and Benjamin Hall (3*) 

Not much going on here. Mike Hart got his two targets early on, the speedy Cabana and the burlier Hall. They are recruiting ATH Jeremiyah Love, who they want to play CB, but he still has interest in playing RB in college. We will see where that goes. For now, RB looks pretty set. 

 

Wide Receiver

Want: 3

Commits: 1, Semaj Morgan (3*)

Morgan committed pretty early on and has been a leader of the class for Michigan, helping to recruit other prospects to the school. The new name at this positional group that has solidified pretty quickly is 3* Fredrick Moore from Missouri. Moore visited last weekend and the Wolverines have quickly picked up predictions for his recruitment. If they were to close on Moore, they'd still have one more spot in the class and the desire remains to snap up a marquee WR, but that is easier said than done. 4.5* Jalen Brown from South Florida has long been the white whale but that got a lot tougher when Josh Gattis bailed for Miami and continued recruiting Brown at The U. Johntay Cook II is visiting this weekend, but will also be a tough pull out of Texas. Should Michigan fail to reel in a big fish, 3* guys like Nathan Leacock or Kenyon Sadiq could be options to round out the class. 

 

Tight End

Want: 1-2 

Commits: 0 

Michigan lost Andrew Rappleyea back in April, which was a bummer because he was a fine prospect who would have left this positional group in good shape. Instead they're still looking to get a commitment here. 3* Chico Holt is the top target at the moment, fresh off a visit last weekend that saw the Wolverines pick up a few predictions afterwards, but the threat of the Texas schools loom should they get involved. 3.5* Deakon Tonielli is also a target and is visiting this weekend, so we will see if there is any movement on that front, while Arkansas commit Luke Hasz seems to be trending away as a flip candidate. ATH Jaxon Howard is applicable at this positional group, but seems to be more targeted towards EDGE in college (mentioned in that section). Michigan would like to get a commitment here soon, whether it's from Tonielli or Holt, just to meet the bare minimum desire. 

 

Time to get some recruits, Sherrone! [Patrick Barron]

Offensive Line

Want: 4-6 

Commits: 0 

If there is one area in the class that is genuinely disappointing right now, it's the offensive line. Most of these positional groups have good targets and seem pretty likely to fall into place within a short time. That could happen for the OL, but considering the talks of a large, sturdy class after taking only three in 2022 (and all of them have some questions), where things stand at the moment is quite underwhelming. That's not to say there aren't some promising targets, but they need to start picking up some commitments if they want a big OL class and it would feel nice to be in on some bigger names, rather than a bunch of 3* guys. 

Now, back to optimism. The most likely name to commit soon is 3* IOL Paul Mubenga. Michigan allegedly loves Mubenga and they made great progress after his visit last weekend ($), with the predictions rolling in rapidly afterwards. 3* OT Logan Howland visited with Mubenga last weekend and the vibes are pretty good there too, with a potential end to the recruitment coming in July ($). We should get answers on those two guys quickly. 3* swing prospect Chris Terek is a hot name across the Midwest right now and has ties to Michigan ($), yet the Wolverines have not been able to close this one out and seem to be locked in a tight battle with Iowa. 3* IOL Landen Hatchett is a west coast prospect who seems very interested in Michigan... if he's willing to leave the west coast ($). He's visiting this weekend for Victor's Weekend, which should tell us a lot. 

4* IOL Amir Herring has been an odd saga. The West Bloomfield product has long been seen as a very winnable recruit given the Ron Bellamy connection, not to mention the commitment of his teammate Semaj Morgan. But the story seems to be one of unrequited love, with Herring's interest in Michigan not being reciprocated to the same level ($), and weeks of waiting led to Herring being hurt and looking elsewhere. Nebraska has picked up steam and he recently visited Boston College ($). Herring suddenly was added to the list of *official* visitors for Victor's Weekend, suggesting that Michigan has decided they do want him after all and now are ready to make the final push. We'll see if it works, because mending broken hearts is not easy. 

There are some bigger fish names at tackle. Michigan was once closely engaged with 4*/Top 100 OT Cayden Green, but that slid off the rails and the Wolverines' pursuit seems finished. They are still hunting after 5* OT Kadyn Proctor, but beating in-state Iowa will be a challenge. 4.5* OT Charles Jagusah continues to consider Michigan, but Notre Dame has long been the odds-on leader there. Jagusah is set to visit imminently, and that may be the last best shot to change the fortunes in this recruitment. 

 

Edge 

Want: 4

Commits: 0 

Though there are no commitments here yet, I absolutely love the names Michigan is in on at EDGE. 4* Collins Acheampong visited last weekend and the Wolverines have since surged ahead in the prediction markets. Acheampong is a fascinating player, a David Ojabo clone with terrific raw athleticism and naiveté to football, having played just one season since coming over to the US from Ghana. He would be a great first building block for the EDGE class,  and is set to decide on July 1. 3* Jospeh Mupoyi seemed on the verge of committing the last time I wrote about recruiting, but a mysterious issue has popped up in his recruitment and has slowed the progress ($). No indication when the issue will be resolved. 3* Tyler Thompson from NC has rapidly risen up Michigan's board, and he's set to visit this weekend. Like so many of these players, the question is whether the Wolverines can shut it down.

In terms of bigger names, 4* ATH Jaxon Howard, who I mentioned in the TE section, is probably better suited for EDGE in college. He is set to commit on 7/1 and some insiders suggest it is a coin flip who he chooses ($), and Michigan is one side of that coin. 5* Nyckoles Harbor is still the biggest fish on the defensive side of the ball, an EDGE with freakish athleticism for the position and would be the catch of the cycle if the Wolverines could reel in him. This commitment is not wrapping up any time soon but for now, the Maize & Blue are in a good spot. 4* Jason Moore is anoter guy from the DMV area, meaning Michigan has some connections, but Notre Dame leads right now. 

 

This weekend's marquee visitor, Enow Etta [247Sports]

Defensive Line

Want: 3-4 

Commits: 1, Brooks Bahr (3*) 

Michigan snagged the commitment of the relatively unknown Bahr a few months back and he is a building block of this room. Like with EDGE, the names the Wolverines are in on are very promising. 4* Enow Etta has seen a bumpy recruitment, with Michigan an early leader before issues caused Michigan State to rise up the board ($), only to now see much of the momentum tilt back to the Wolverines. Etta is a top 100 prospect from Texas and would be a great get. He is visiting this weekend and Harbaugh and Mike Elston would like this one to end when he's in Ann Arbor. Whether it ends this weekend or not, a resolution should come soon. Etta is a prospect who could be listed at DL or at EDGE. 

4* My'keil Gardner visited last weekend and the Wolverines have since picked up a number of predictions for him. He is seen as either a 3 or 5 tech (more likely the former), and would be a nice piece to have in the class. Oregon still has a visit, though, and we can't dismiss that completely. 4* Kayden McDonald was another name who visited last weekend and with whom Michigan made big progress. He booked an OV and is allegedly coming back for the Big House BBQ ($). While there are reasons for optimism, this recruitment isn't likely to end until November, and that gives a lot of time for in-state Georgia to decide he's a take. Another southern prospect who Michigan did well on the visit with but who won't be deciding until the fall is 4* NT John Walker. The staff has made him their top priority at nose ($) and like their position in his recruitment, but with names like OSU, Florida, and Miami in the hunt, we can't be sure until his signature is on a sheet of paper. 

Farther down the list is 3* Saadiq Clements, who seems to be the classic "you can commit when we decide we want you" prospect. He likely wouldn't be given the green light until Michigan has clarity on the big names mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs ($). 4* Kelze Howard was mentioned more a month ago, but the hunt seems to have cooled. 4* Daevin Hobbs and 4* Monteque Rhames are also players of interest but are mostly on the periphery right now. 

[NOTE: Clements committed to Purdue today]

 

Linebacker 

Want: 2-3

Commits: 1, Raylen Wilson (4*) 

The LB position holds the current top commit in the class, Raylen Wilson. Wilson has been wavering for awhile, and recently got VIP treatment from the big boys of the $EC, so his return to Ann Arbor for Victor's Weekend is enormous. I called Wilson the biggest non-Dante/Harbor recruit in my mailbag earlier in the week, and I stand by that right now. Wilson is an excellent player who would be great to have in the class, and the emotional value of holding onto him and fending off the likes of Georgia and Florida would be incalculable for morale. No one has much of a guess as to whether Michigan will keep him, but simply that they have a shot to do so. That work starts this weekend. 

4* Semaj Bridgeman visited last weekend. He was a player I had barely heard of three weeks ago, and now all the sudden Michigan is collecting crystal balls for him like PEZ Dispensers. Bridgeman is from the Philly area and would be an ideal player to put next to Raylen Wilson. A hypothetical Wilson-Bridgeman pairing would be prettttttty appetizing. 3.5* Phil Picciotti was in town this week but Oklahoma seems to lead there right now. 4* Arvell Resse also had a recent visit ($), which indicates more interest than originally thought, but I will not believe that Michigan is pulling a blue chip prospect out of Ohio against the wishes of Ohio State until the sun freezes over. 

Other names to know include the Harris twins, Michael and Andrew. Both are 4* LBs but the word is that they want to be a package and the Wolverines are rather tepid on one of them ($), thus lowering their interest in the one they like. 4* Jaiden Ausberry was a name that had some optimism previously, but that has tamped down after strong visits at rival schools. Michigan swooped in to toss an offer to 3* Hayden Moore, but I haven't heard much about that recently. 

 

An end to the Aaron Gates saga soon? [Chad Simmons/On3]

Cornerback 

Want: 2

Commits: 0 

Steve Clinkscale has done a great job to get his nose in the mix for a number of top tier players at the CB position. Now, which ones can Michigan land? Both CB and S are going to be smaller classes in 2023 after taking a big (and very good) DB class in 2022, so they have the ability to be selective. For a long time, the two top names at corner were 4* prospects Aaron Gates and Jyaire Hill. Gates is a Florida commit who Michigan has long been trying to flip. It sounds like a resolution is coming soon ($). Hill is a recruitment that appears messy, with a battle between the child and the parents ongoing ($), and it is complicated by the fact that Illinois has made the in-state Hill their #1 recruit on the board. Sometimes there is resonance to the idea of being the big fish in a small pond vs. being just another minnow in Lake Huron. Remains to be seen if Michigan can shut the door on either of these guys, but the drown out process of both has shifted some attention to other players.

The Wolverines got visits from 4* corners Jordan Matthews and Daniel Harris a couple weeks back and allegedly did well with both, but Matthews appears more realistic at this time, though far from a sure thing. 5* Javien Toviano has been added to the list of visitors for next weekend, and he is seen as a bit of a wild card. There aren't many predictions in for him right now, and the question of whether he's willing to leave Texas appears up in the air. 4* ATH Jeremiyah Love is a player Michigan likes at corner ($), but as I said at the top, the potential of him at RB remains. He visited recently and is planning to be back in the fall, so a long way to go there. 

Farther down the board are names like 4* Ethan Nation, for whom the Wolverines made the top eight but appear not to be pushing too hard on right now ($). 4* Jordan Sanford was a recent offer and 4* Chris Peal is a name I had literally never heard of before Sam Webb wrote about his interest in Michigan yesterday. A lot of quality options at this position, but it's anyone's guess who actually winds up in the class. 

 

Safety 

Want: 2 

Commits: 0 

The Wolverines are interestingly in the mix for 4* ATH Jacobe Johnson, the nation's #1 athlete in the On3 rankings. As a product of Mustang, OK, he does not strike me as a guy who would be easily winnable, but then again, Michigan did pull a Top 100 DB from Oklahoma not all that long ago (you might remember the name Daxton Hill). Johnson is visiting this weekend and so if Harbaugh wants to wrest the kid away from Brent Venables and the Sooners, this is their chance. NOTE: Johnson has been listed as a corner by some, and as a safety by others. I decided to put him here because I had fewer safety names to write about than corners. 

The other marquee name at the safety position is 4* Makari Vickers. Like Johnson, Vickers does not scream "prime Michigan target" as a Tallahassee product, but Michigan got him to campus last weekend. We'll see if they can stay in the mix as the $EC powerhouses get their say with him. 4.5* Peyton Bowen is a Notre Dame commit Michigan has been working on, but there is not a ton of buzz right now. Farther down the list you have 3* names like TJ Metcalf, who visited in May but I haven't read about since, and Robert Billings, who seems gettable if Michigan deems him a take ($). Likely depends on the higher priority options of Johnson and Vickers. 

 

Special Teams

Want: 1

Commits: 1, Adam Samaha (5*) 

Michigan has been done here for some time. When the #1 kicker in America grows up in the city that your university is located in, you get his commitment well in advance and then sleep like a baby. 

 

[Eric Upchurch]

Thoughts About The 2023 Class

So now that we've gone through every positional group, how do I feel? I can give you two primary takeaways. First, the paltry number of commitments is not going to stay that way for too long. There are a ton of guys who have CBs rolling in and who have commitment dates upcoming. Many are taking their last OVs for the summer in the next few weeks and then decisions will follow. It was disappointing that Michigan didn't shut anyone down last weekend, but I don't see a reason why there won't be the usual avalanche of summer commitments here pretty shortly. 

My second takeaway is that the list of names on defense are vastly better than those on offense. The hypothetical offensive class is a bit lacking for my taste, and could be pretty rough if they don't land Dante Moore. But the defense has the potential to be loaded. Mike Elston, Steve Clinkscale, and George Helow have all stacked the board with a ton of Top 300 guys, out of which at least a few should land in Ann Arbor at each positional group. And obviously, snaring the crown jewel Nyckoles Harbor has to be the pie in the sky aim. If Michigan went into the class looking to beef up the DL, they are right now on the track to do so, even if they have just one recruit at DT/EDGE as of this writing. It should be coming. 

Overall, I get the frustration about what should have been a very high-end class coming off the playoff, but as I wrote about last time, we mostly have to accept the staff shakeups and NFL flirtation for what they are. All Michigan can do is work past that and look to put together a good class, and at least on the defensive side of the ball, that seems to be coming along pretty well. I stand by my statement of a couple weeks back that I don't see a ton of reason to believe that this won't end up being a pretty usual Michigan class, somewhere between 10-15 and where a good chunk of the prospects are late risers/gems who were undervalued by the scouting industry. The staff has done very good scouting the last few classes and they deserve the benefit of the doubt when they reel in a 3* at this point. 

It will probably be a couple weeks until the next formal recruiting update, and I will expect this slate to be quite different by that point. We are right at the edge of what should be a rollercoaster next few weeks, and I presume that there will be a deluge of hellos coming up. So sit back, buckle your seat belts, and enjoy the ride.