The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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10 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2023 FOOTBALL PREVIEW MICHIGAN FOOTBALL The Wolverines are back-to-back Big Ten champions, and they are expected to be right back in the mix for another title this fall. According to ESPN.com, U-M returns the fifth-most production in college football, and the site's Bill Connelly wrote that it's "jarring to see a team that made the College Football Playoff one year" rank that highly in that metric. On top of that, this is a Michigan roster filled with talent, which is evident when examining the recruiting rankings. A lot can change for players between the time when they were in high school and their college careers, but where they ranked as recruits can provide a glimpse into the amount of talent a particular team has. While U-M has more three-stars than any other classification (48), per the On3 Industry Ranking, the Wolverines have 95 players that were ranked as recruits, including 46 four-stars and one five-star (sophomore cornerback Will Johnson). The Wolverines also have six players projected to be on scholarship who were unranked as prep prospects. U-M has a blue-chip ratio of 47.0 percent (amount of four- and five-stars divided by total scholarship players). The Maize and Blue also have a handful of players just on the outside look- ing in of being five-stars. In addition to Johnson, who was No. 16 in the 2022 class, four others were ranked in the top 50 — senior offensive lineman Myles Hinton (No. 33), junior running back Donovan Edwards (No. 34), sophomore edge Derrick Moore (No. 37) and junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy (No. 47). While U-M has consistently reeled in high three-stars, four-stars and the occasional five-star, the Wolverines have only nine players who resided in the top 100 of their respective classes. They do possess 39 top-300 recruits, however, with all but seven of their four-stars ranking inside that benchmark. Head coach Jim Harbaugh and Co. have proven to be among the nation's top recruiting powers. Over the last five cycles (2019-23), the Wolverines have the 10th-best class rank average nation- ally (10.6) and second in the Big Ten be- hind Ohio State (6.0). The Maize and Blue just edged out Penn State (12.8). In terms of recruiting rankings, the Buckeyes clearly have the most talent on paper in the Big Ten. They have 10 five- stars, 61 four-stars and 15 three-stars. That number of five-stars is more than the rest of the Big Ten combined (eight). Only five of the conference's 14 teams have such elite prospects, with Nebraska (three), PSU (three), U-M (one) and Wis- consin (one) being the others. The Buck- eyes' 31 top-100 prospects are well more than PSU (14) and U-M (nine) combined. The Nittany Lions have the second-best roster, in terms of recruiting star power, in the Big Ten heading into the 2023 season, though U-M is extremely close. The Nittany Lions have three five-stars and 45 four-stars, including 14 top-100 recruits and six ranked top-50. OSU, U-M and PSU look poised to continue to dominate the Big Ten on the recruiting trail. As of mid- June, the Buckeyes have the No. 2 recruiting class in the country, the Wolverines rank No. 6 and the Nittany Lions stand 12th. — Clayton Sayfie MICHIGAN'S ROSTER BY ON3 INDUSTRY RANKING Pos. 5-Stars 4-Stars 3-Stars 2-Stars/NR Top-300 Top-100 QB 0 3 2 1 2 1 RB 0 4 3 0 4 1 WR 0 6 3 1 6 0 TE 0 2 4 0 1 0 OL 0 12 7 0 10 3 DL 0 4 6 1 4 0 EDGE 0 4 5 0 2 1 LB 0 4 6 0 3 1 DB 1 7 10 0 7 2 ST 0 0 2 2 0 0 Total 1 46 48 5 39 9 Michigan's Roster Is One Of Big Ten's Most Talented, Per On3 Industry Recruiting Ranking