Michigan football recruiting: Get ready for a Maize and Blue rampage

The Michigan football recruiting efforts have been elite as of late, boasting two top-5 classes (2024 and 2025) and trending for countless top-rated players nationally. Additionally, coming off the heels of two-straight Big Ten title wins, College Football Playoff appearances, and more, Jim Harbaugh and his program have as much momentum (if not more) as anyone in the nation heading into the 2023 season. From here, Harbaugh claims that his program’s current success is great, but he wants to take things to another level.

Michigan football kicks things into a new gear in 2021-2022

The Michigan football program felt close to greatness during the first five years of Jim Harbaugh’s tenure — finishing with 10 wins three times, 9 wins once, and 8 wins once — though ‘The Game’ and post-season play appeared to be the team’s downfall. In 2020, Jim Harbaugh led the Wolverines to a 2-4 record in what is widely regarded as one of the worst seasons in Michigan football history; though he followed it with one of the best.

In 2021, the Wolverines finally broke through their glass ceiling against all odds — Michigan downed Penn State and, somehow, the 2nd-ranked Buckeyes en route to Harbaugh’s second Big Ten East title. Michigan beat a top-15 Iowa squad by 38 points in the program’s first-ever Big Ten title game and made a trip to the CFP for the first time, though fell short against the eventual national champions in the Orange Bowl.

The season after Michigan’s program-changing campaign in 2021, the Wolverines replicated their success with yet another incredible season. Michigan football finished with a perfect 12-0 record for the first time since 1997, downing Michigan State, Penn State, and Ohio State by 20+ points respectively; the Wolverines saw another blowout win in the Big Ten title game before falling short in the Fiesta Bowl against TCU. Still, for the first time since the mid-1940s, the Michigan football program finished ranked in the top-3 in back-to-back years; 2022 was also the winningest season in program history with 13 victories throughout the year. This fall, with over 80% of the team’s production returning and more, the program appears to have its best shot at a national title this millennium.

Michigan football recruiting success shows program growth

After going 13-1 last year, you would think that the 2023 Michigan football recruiting class was one of the best in Michigan history; that was not the case. In fact, the Wolverines’ class hardly ranked in the top 20 nationally, and was one of Harbaugh’s worst since taking over as head coach in Ann Arbor. Now, after shutting down more NFL rumors and dealing with the NCAA’s foolishness, Michigan football recruiting has made an astounding instant turnaround, and currently has the No. 1 ranked class in the nation for the 2024 class.

For the Wolverines, this is huge, especially since Jim Harbaugh is not well-known as a good spring recruiter. So far, Michigan football recruiting has locked down 15 commits, and is expected to add even more talent in the near future. Still, despite this success, Jim Harbaugh says he wants to kick things up a notch.

“I don’t know if we’re on a roll yet, but I feel like we’re on a roll,” Jim Harbaugh said. “We just want to keep it going. Hopefully we’ll be on rampage here soon.”

If this is a sign of things to come, get ready for Michigan football recruiting and the Wolverines’ on-field performance to go from great to elite. A Maize and Blue rampage may be on its way this year.

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