Wolverine recruiting report: Michigan targeting prospects committed to other schools

Michigan’s football program scored a huge win on the recruiting trail this week with a commitment from five-star offensive lineman Andrew Babalola.

But the top-25 prospect nationally is only the Wolverines’ 17th verbal pledge in their 2025 class with just over a month until the early signing period. With most top prospects already being pledged to other schools, Michigan doesn’t have many remaining targets who are uncommitted.

But verbal commitments aren’t binding until recruits sign a letter of intent, meaning Michigan, which sits No. 14 in the country in the 247Sports Composite rankings, can still pursue prospects pledged elsewhere.

The highest-ranked flip target for Michigan is Owings Mills (Md.) McDonogh School four-star cornerback Brandon Finney, the No. 66 overall prospect nationally who committed to Oregon in June. The Wolverines have two cornerbacks committed this cycle in four-stars Ivan Taylor and Jayden Sanders, but Alabama is pushing hard to flip Taylor, a top-100 prospect.

Michigan has two home games in November, including one against Oregon, and is looking to get Finney back on campus for a visit.

Elsewhere, the Wolverines recently offered Massillon (Ohio) Washington three-star offensive tackle Nolan Davenport, who is committed to Wisconsin. Some might have viewed Davenport as a potential contingency plan in case Michigan didn’t land Babalola, but The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich said the Wolverines are high on Davenport regardless. They currently have three offensive linemen committed in 2025 after signing five in the 2024 class.

“He was a tight end, and then he converted to offensive tackle because he just outgrew it,” Marich told MLive. “Personally, I think that they’re trying to maybe add another offensive lineman for this cycle. Rule of thumb, especially on the defense and offensive side, you can never have too many linemen.

“He’s a guy that they’ve been evaluating and tracking for quite some time. He’s a late riser. I think Michigan’s in a pretty decent position, because I don’t think Michigan is the type of school that offers kids committed elsewhere just for the heck of it. They’ve been in contact with him before this offer came out, so I don’t think this was 100% by surprise. The next step is, can they get him up on campus, and then from there, can they ultimately flip him?”

A primary position of need is wide receiver, especially given the lack of production from the passing game in 2024. The Wolverines have two committed this cycle, including top-100 prospect Andrew Marsh, but they need more size on the outside.

Lake Worth (Fla.) Santaluces Community three-star Jamar Browder, who stands 6-foot-4, fits that bill. He’s committed to North Carolina State and ranks just outside the top 700 in the country.

“He’s basically a different body type in the whole wide receiver room because Michigan’s doesn’t have a guy like that right now,” March said. “He could basically plug and play. Michigan has put a huge emphasis on that. He came up for the Minnesota game, which was not the prettiest. But the bright spot with that is, one, he saw the opportunity to come in and be a difference-maker. But two, even bigger, the 2026 four-star quarterback commit Brady Hart was also on that trip as well. Both guys are from Florida. Both really connected. They really talked about future and the plans if he were to flip from NC State to Michigan. He really vibed with him. He likes (receivers coach) Ron Bellamy as well, so I think there’s a really strong chance to flip him.”

Meanwhile, several 2025 prospects committed elsewhere are reportedly slated to visit Ann Arbor for Saturday’s rivalry showdown against Michigan State: Detroit Cass Tech four-star safety Alex Graham (Colorado), Brentwood (Tenn.) Ravenwood four-star cornerback Donovan Starr (Auburn), Newburgh (Ind.) Castle three-star defensive tackle Benny Patterson (Cincinnati) and Rochester (NY) Aquinas Institute three-star defensive end Quante Gillians (Syracuse).

“Gillians is probably one of the first guys that (Michigan defensive line coach) Lou Esposito offered when they lost (four-star defensive lineman) Nate Marshall to Auburn. “This a guy they had been evaluating because you always have contingency plans just in case some guys flip. You’re always tracking senior film and late risers, this is a guy they really like.”

The Wolverines haven’t signed a recruiting class with fewer than 20 high school prospects since Jim Harbaugh’s first year in 2015, but Marich believes this year’s could be smaller than usual under first-year head coach Sherrone Moore. They likely won’t land all their flip targets, and other schools are pushing to flip their commits as well. Regardless of what happens on signing day, Michigan is expected to be more active in the transfer portal this offseason.

“Michigan is evaluating the roster, looking at the roster next year, and they know they’re gonna have to dip into the transfer portal and attack that pretty hard,” Marich said. “They’re gonna need slots, and are they gonna use those on seniors from high school, or are they gonna use those on proven commodities, maybe a junior from a Power Four program where they need them to come in and play right away. That’s also something to consider. I think that’s the deliberation process they’re in right now. How many spots can we use? What’s the magic number? That is a tough because Sherrone is not the type of guy that wants to build from the transfer portal. He wants to build from the ground up, from the high school ranks. At the same time, you got to complement any roster with some guys from transfer portal.”

• BETTING: Check out our guide to the best Michigan sportsbooks, where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks.