Michigan Football Back in the Spotlight with Top 5 Recruiting Class in Sight

Michigan football hasn’t produced much excitement between the lines this season, but off the field it made a splash felt around the country. Thursday night it was announced live on ESPN that 2025 No. 1 recruit Bryce Underwood flipped his commitment to Michigan from LSU.

A five-star quarterback out of Belleville (MI), Underwood might be the most important recruit the program ever had. Michigan will likely become a destination for top recruits for years to come.

The Wolverines are expected to flip five-star OT Ty Haywood (Alabama commit), four-star WR Derek Meadows (LSU commit) and three-star DB Alex Graham (Colorado commit) rather soon. With other targets still out there, the Wolverines could be headed towards a top five recruiting class.

Whatever It Took for Underwood

Michigan pulled out all the stops for Underwood, including an NIL offer reportedly worth over $10 million. Earlier this week, the Wolverines flipped four-star DB Elijah Dotson from Pitt. Dotson played both ways at Belleville and was arguably Underwood’s favorite target as they won two state titles together. 

On3’s Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power spoke about the Underwood situation ($) earlier this week: 

“He’s going to go down as the top quarterback in the past 30 years in the state of Michigan, if not ever,” Power said. “He is a top athlete. We saw him add a rushing element to his game, where he is a legitimate weapon with the ball in his hands. I’ve labeled him as a franchise quarterback prospect out of high school.

“It’s not always typical in these NIL bidding wars you might see a great return on investment. Sometimes the price can be run up, and the prospect at hand might not be worth that value. Bryce Underwood is.”

On Friday CBS reported that Michigan got some recruiting assistance from none other than Tom Brady. According to the report, Brady and Underwood had a FaceTime conversation that sparked a relationship, and the future NFL hall of famer offered to be a resource for him. Though it likely wasn’t the deciding factor, one could imagine how difficult it would be to say no to the greatest quarterback of all time. 

Other Recent Notable Additions

Underwood was clearly the top priority for the program, but Michigan quietly flipped several recruits in the month of November alone. On Nov. 1 it was announced that four-star CB Shamari Earls (Thomas Dale H.S., Chester, VA) flipped from Georgia. Earls had been pledged to the Bulldogs since July. On the same day, the Wolverines flipped four-star DL Benny Patterson (Castle H.S., Newburgh, IN) from Cincinnati.  

About a week later, three-star WR Jamar Browder (Santaluces Community H.S., Lake Worth, FL) flipped from NC State. After the Underwood news, it’s safe to assume that Michigan will continue to add talent to the receiver position through the portal.

Thank you for reading Blue by Ninety. For more Michigan Athletics and Big Ten content from Blue by Ninety, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Also, be sure to check out our shop and our podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other streaming platforms