Assuming Michigan football will fall off in 2024 is ‘lazy’

There are some who believe that Michigan football is going to fall flat on its face during the 2024 season but JD Pickell of On3.com isn’t among them.

The Wolverines did lose head coach Jim Harbaugh to the NFL. Michigan football also had 13 players drafted including some of the best in program history in J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum, and Mike Sainristil.

However, Michigan football made a great hire from within in Sherrone Moore. Warde Manuel talked this week about how he knew Moore was the man for the job after a two-hour interview. Manuel heard Jim Harbaugh’s recommendation, but Moore earned the job on his own.

Of course, leading Michigan to top-10 wins over Ohio State and Penn State during turbulent times probably didn’t hurt the cause.

Don’t buy a Michigan football dropoff

At any rate, plenty believe that Michigan football faces a big drop-off this season. The Wolverines did lose their first two games the last time they opened the season as defending national champions. Michigan also has to play Texas, another College Football Playoff team, returning its starting quarterback, in Week 2.

But Pickell, a college football expert for On3.com, doesn’t buy that Michigan football is going to fall off a cliff. In fact, he called that analysis, “lazy” and said he believes in Michigan’s ability to develop players.

“Michigan has prided itself on being a developmental program. It might not always be in that top five when it comes to recruiting rankings on signing day, but what Jim Harbaugh has done over the course of his time there is take guys that they are excited about physically and also competitive-makeup-wise and mold them and develop them into being stars when it’s their time to play on Saturday.”

“The assumption that Michigan is just gonna fall off the face of the planet, I think is a little bit lazy because of what I just said. Just because we don’t know all the names of the guys that are gonna be studs for Michigan this coming season doesn’t mean they haven’t had dudes that have been developing and are now gonna step into their role to star for Michigan this upcoming season.”

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