Connect with us

Football

Sherrone Moore preached patience. A month later, U-M’s 2025 class is rounding into form.

Published

6 months ago

on

Sherrone Moore preached patience. A month later, U-M’s 2025 class is rounding into form.

play

It was the final weekend in May, when Michigan football’s new head coach Sherrone Moore made an appearance at the Sound Mind Sound Body football camp at Wayne State University.

The Wolverines were, of course, the defending national champions at the time, however there were some in college football circles who felt like the U-M might not be capitalizing on their moment at the mountain top.

After all, their head coach had left — as had six coaching staffers on the defensive side of the ball and special teams — and the offensive side was marked by promotion throughout. Moore went from offensive coordinator to head coach, Kirk Campbell took over as OC and Grant Newsome was elevated from tight ends to offensive line coach.

To add to the shuffling, in the weeks after rounding out his staff, Moore and company lost two pieces as both defensive line coach Greg Scruggs and Denard Robinson were let go from the team for separate allegations of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

From the day Moore was hired on Jan. 26 to the moment he spoke with a semicircle of reporters in late May more than four months later, U-M had just five verbal commits to the class, only two of whom committed to Moore.

Still, there was no panic from the 38-year-old attempting to put a recruiting class together for the first time.

SABIN: A blue-chip WR chose Michigan football. The rise of one NFL star is among the reasons why

“We just want to bring the right people in,” Moore said at Wayne State when asked if the foundation on staff was in place for U-M to have a successful offseason. “Never in a rush to just have numbers or have people commit just to commit. We want to make sure it’s dissected the right way, make sure they get on campus, make sure we know who they are and they know who we are.

“That’s all we’re trying to do.”

In the month of June − and now one day into July − the Wolverines have done exactly that.

In the past three weeks, from June 10 to July 1, Michigan landed nine total commitments, eight of whom are in the Class of 2025 − the most U-M has had for a single class in a single month in at least the past decade. Of those recent commits to the rising senior class, six are rated as four-star prospects per 247Sports Composite Rankings and all but one of them (Stockbridge RB Chase Taylor) are ranked as top-450 players in the nation.

The class, which has 13 commits and is rated No. 15 in the country, is a far cry from where it stood on Memorial Day weekend. Back then, U-M found itself with a class closer to the mid-50s according to the experts. That is until official visit season began and the recruits began to pour in.

KEPT IT REAL: Here’s what Wink Martindale did when Michigan football had to jump into transfer portal

“We’ve got a big month ahead,” new tight ends coach Steve Casula told the Free Press on the same day at Wayne State. “June’s a big month … but this is Michigan. You can’t get anywhere better.”

The recruits seemed to think so as well.

The foundation of the class, as is often the case with U-M, is based in the trenches. Lou Esposito, the former Western Michigan defensive coordinator who Moore poached from Kalamazoo to replace Scruggs and coach the defensive line in Ann Arbor, hit the ground running.

The flurry began when Michigan landed four-star DL Nathaniel Marshall in April (the first commit directly to Moore), then continued with four-star DT Jaylen Williams (No. 240 nationally) in early June, and then this past week four-star edge Julius Holly (No. 303 nationally).

“Coach Lou Esposito is a great coach,” Holly told On3 last month. “He is a great guy who can further my game as a weak-side end in their defense.”

There’s also Bobby Kanka, a four-star defensive tackle who was the first person to commit back in August of 2023, took an official in June as part of a stout four-man class, which could see one or two more pieces join later in the summer.

On the other side of the trenches, U-M has landed a pair of offensive linemen with ties to the other in-state school. Avery Gach, a four-star and top 250 player, is the son of a former Spartan. But that doesn’t compare to Kaden Strayhorn − who was a five-star as an underclassmen but is rated a three-star these days − whose father, Jason Strayhorn, was a standout lineman in East Lansing and still does color commentary for Michigan State.

Even still, the younger Strayhorn chose U-M.

“I don’t like everything they stand for, but it’s not a chicken**** place,” Jason Strayhorn told Rico Beard on the “This Is Sparta” podcast. “It’s not. We vetted this deeply, what’s going on there.

“I’ve been on the record here talking about those SOBs. I know what it is for me and what it means for me. But right now, with the new head coach who was the guy that recruited him, at his position, had a relationship with him … he’s been very proactive in that. The resources they have outside the game of football … how can you deny that as a father?”

Even with all of this in mind, the best news for Michigan might be the athletes it is acquiring at skill positions. Four-star Kainoa Winston (Washington D.C.) is a top-100 player in the class at safety; four-star running back Donovan Johnson (IMG Academy) is a top-300 player, four-star wide receiver Jacob Washington (Archbishop Shaw) is a top-330 player out wide while his teammate, running back Jasper Parker (Archbishop Shaw) is a fast rising top-450 player, who held offers from Alabama, USC, Oregon and Florida State.

That’s not to mention four-star quarterback Carter Smith (Fort Myers, Florida), who is rated No. 163 overall and No. 14 among signal callers. Heck, the Wolverines even have their quarterback for the ’26 class locked in; four-star Brady Hart (Cocoa, Florida), who’s No. 144 overall in his junior class and the No. 9 quarterback.

Still, it’s not that everything has gone perfectly for U-M the past few weeks. On Monday, the Wolverines were widely perceived as the favorite to land four-star OL Hardy Watts, but the 6-foot-6 and 295-pound lineman shocked the recruiting world when he instead committed to Wisconsin.

It also appears they will miss out on defensive tackle Maxwell Roy, another four-star lineman who took an official visit last month and the staff heavily pursued. Still, all signs point to him heading to rival Ohio State.

By all accounts, Moore appears made for the recruiting trail. Much like on the field, there will be wins and losses, but beyond Moore’s vision, the alignment throughout the program has helped U-M lay the foundation for what could finish as a top 10 class.

“You look at the types of guys we just won a national title with, we didn’t have a whole bunch of five-stars,” Moore said on The Champions Circle L.A.B. Podcast earlier this offseason. “We had some. We want to have elite talent, don’t get me wrong, but I think there’s enough of it out there that you can find that also fits the culture.

“You talk to businesspeople, it’s all about alignment and how that does. It starts at the top. It starts at the top and then it goes to the bottom and then it goes up and down, you can flip it either way. Everyone has to be aligned with the vision. When you have that, you have something that is super powerful.”

Related Topics:
Continue Reading