Michigan football gets a fong bomb for a top-100 recruit

Not all expert projections are the same and when Steve Wiltfong enters the fray, it tends to carry more weight. Michigan football started trending earlier this week with expert projections for top-100 defensive back Kainoa Winston, who is also considering North Carolina and Penn State.

When Winston released his top four, it felt like a winnable recruitment for Michigan football. But Winston had an official visit to Penn State still to get through, which was last weekend. Winston is also expected to take official visits to North Carolina and Oregon, but Michigan currently has the momentum.

Michigan football has momentum with top-100 recruit

You could sense that Michigan had momentum coming out of its official visit. U-M improved its standing during his official visit to Ann Arbor. Recruits say positive things about most visits, but it seems like Michigan was able to grab the lead that weekend and maintain it through the Penn State visit.

The recruit from Washington, D.C. is ranked 88th overall in the 2025 class according to the 247 Sports composite rankings. He’s also the ninth-best safety prospect.

On Wednesday, Steve Wiltfong joined the growing trend of recruiting experts projection Winston to be a Michigan football commitment. Wiltfong’s prediction is significant because it’s the first non-Michigan reporter to project Winston to the Wolverines.

All the team reporters are great, but it’s good to see a national guy come in with a prediction too. Most of the time, Wiltfong’s predictions are followed by commitments so we’ll see where things go, but the Wolverines are the leader for Winston. Now they just need to close.

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.