Recruiting now moves at a pace where the 2027 class is largely done in mid-July. Michigan may circle back on some recruits during the season, but the Wolverines did good work during the month of June to get the class to where it is at.
Here is a snapshot:
National class rank: 11 (per Rivals)
Number of commits: 21
Highest-ranked commit (per Rivals industry ranking): OL Jakari Lipsey
Lipsey is a high four-star from Kalamazoo Loy Norrix. He is one of the more raw, underdeveloped recruits in the class, but he is also the most athletic. That is what recruiting sites are banking on — his upside. Lipsey can dunk a basketball at 6-foot-5, 290 pounds and has been a varsity basketball contributor for two years. He is one of the state’s top throwers in track and field and wowed college coaches by doing backflips at his size. The technical side of playing offensive line is what Michigan plans to provide him at the next level but he is a rare specimen.
Best recruiting win: CB Monsanna Torbert
Any time Michigan can go into Ohio and get a recruit who had an Ohio State offer, they will absolutely take that. In the case of Tobert, the predictions from recruiting analysts all favored Ohio State for a long period of time. He also was once committed to Indiana and had Notre Dame recruiting him, so there was a very good group of schools here that Michigan had to beat. It was always viewed as Michigan being in the race but not the top school. The staff did a fantastic job leading up to his June official and then that visit cemented his choice. In the Cincinnati Princeton product, the Wolverines get a cover corner with 4.4 speed, instincts and fantastic man to man cover skills.
Senior rankings riser: OL Louis Esposito
Esposito is one of the commits who has undergone the biggest physical transformation in the last year or so. He was 6-foot-3, 250 pounds when he first started on the Saline varsity as a sophomore. He now is nearly 6-foot-6, 300 pounds and still moving well, still getting up and dunking a basketball, and looks like a bona fide Big Ten lineman. He has the demeanor and tenacity schools love in a lineman. He went to an Under Armour Regional and showed his improvement, winning positional MVP. Rivals rewarded him with a bump up to four-star range. He should be very dominant for a good Saline team and other recruiting sites are likely to follow suit.
Flip to monitor: WR Dakota Guerrant
No recruit created more offseason buzz among Michigan fans than Guerrant, the state’s top prospect and a new five-star per Rivals. The Harper Woods star chose Oregon over Michigan this summer. For Michigan to even have finished second was due to the work the staff put in. Michigan clawed its way up the list to where it was in legitimate consideration. He visited for a spring practice, as well as an official visit. He only took officials with Michigan and Oregon. He has consistently stated he needed to see Michigan’s offense perform this fall. It is a good bet Michigan will keep recruiting him, especially if the offense puts up big numbers. It will be tough to unseat the Ducks, but Michigan won’t go away.
Bottom line
There was a time when people were questioning whether this staff could recruit at Michigan. Those questions have quickly disappeared as the staff is on the brink of a top-10 class. They have shown to be a staff full of strong recruiters who will canvas every part of the country during recruiting periods. The off-field staff was put together strategically and that has paid big dividends. The way they have coordinated NIL efforts, put together plans for official visits, put together the June camps, and supplemented the scouting efforts of the coaches has shown that the Wolverines now have a true machine behind them when it comes to recruiting.
Allen Trieu covers Midwest football recruiting for On3. He has been featured on the Big Ten Network on its annual Signing Day Show. His Michigan and Michigan State recruiting columns appear weekly at detroitnews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Trieu: Here’s a snapshot of Michigan football’s 2027 recruiting class (so far)
Reporting by Allen Trieu, Special to The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Allen Trieu, Special to The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
