It’s funny watching rival fans try to explain away Michigan football’s success over the past three seasons. They say it was all cheating and Connor Stalions, ignoring the obvious. At the same time, people who actually know football — from the NFL — are heading to Ann Arbor in droves to scout the Wolverines.
Michigan football has elite NFL talent
According to ESPN’s Matt Miller over 150 NFL personnel people are expected to be in Ann Arbor for the 2024 Michigan football pro day. Miller said that’s the biggest number he’s ever heard.
Jim Nagy, who runs the Senior Bowl, also posted that seven head coaches and nine NFL general managers will be on hand to watch the Wolverines who set an NFL record with 18 NFL combine invites. They also set a record for the most offensive linemen at one combine.
But yes, it was all signs. Michigan beating Ohio State and winning three straight Big Ten titles, as well as a national championship, after beating the SEC champion in the Rose Bowl, was about Connor Stalions. Surely, it had nothing to do with the elite quarterback prospect in J.J. McCarthy, the best cornerback in college football, Will Johnson, who isn’t even draft eligible, Blake Corum, or the dozens of other players with NFL futures.
2025 Michigan Pro Day will be just as stacked
Those are just the upperclassmen. Michigan football has four potential first-round picks in the 2025 NFL draft in Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Colston Loveland, and of course, Johnson, who might contend for No. 1 overall.
Donovan Edwards, Rod Moore, Makari Paige, Greg Crippen, Giovanni El-Hadi, Ernest Hausmann, Derrick Moore, Rayshaun Benny, Myles Hinton, Quentin Johnson, and Josaiah Stewart are all dudes who could get drafted in 2025.
So don’t allow anyone to tell you Michigan football is about to take a step back. They are as delusional as the Ohio State fans waiting for the “hammer to drop.”
It’s not going to happen. Just like Michigan won’t fall off the face of the Earth with Sherrone Moore. There might be a slight drop-off, but that’s to be expected after winning a national title.
The truth is that Michigan football has built the premier development program for the NFL in all of college football. That development is why the Wolverines won with unheralded recruits, it’s why they will set a record for players drafted in April, and why the Wolverines will make the College Football Playoff in 2024.
J.J. McCarthy’s draft stock is surely playing a role in so many NFL people attending. But don’t be shocked if that number is eerily similar for the 2025 Pro Day, because Michigan football is still loaded.
As much as the rival fans don’t want to admit it.
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