Michigan turns focus elsewhere to load up in 2026 recruiting class

Michigan has gone to Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington D.C., for commitments so far this recruiting cycle. One place the Wolverines have not had a pledge: Michigan.

With the No. 11 recruiting class in the Rivals Industry Team Rankings, Michigan’s coaching staff has done the unthinkable – gone everywhere but home for commitments which is unusual for the Wolverines, for the Big Ten and for national powers across the country.

Part of the argument is that the 2026 in-state class is not as strong as usual. There isn’t a Bryce Underwood in this group of prospect in Michigan as the Wolverines flipped the five-star quarterback from LSU late last recruiting cycle.

Michigan was on Detroit Cass Tech four-star athlete CJ Sadler early on but the Wolverines might not have wanted a smaller receiver and so North Carolina landed the speedy Sadler over the weekend.

Whether the Wolverines were right or not, only time will tell, but they chose not to recruit a lot of higher-ranked offensive linemen in the state including Notre Dame commits Gregory Patrick from Portage Northern or Ben Nichols out of Davison.

Four-star tight end Lincoln Keyes lives in Ann Arbor and he chose Georgia over the Wolverines although four-star tight end Matt Ludwig from Billings (Mont.) Billings West was always a top target in this Michigan class. The program also added three-star Mason Bonner out of Denver Mullen as well.

In-state recruiting is always the lifeblood of a recruiting class. Every coach talks about an inside-out approach to building a class. But Michigan passed on a lot of local recruits in favor of a national focus at least for this particular recruiting cycle.

“They didn’t really go that hard after anyone in the 2026 class that they really went after and didn’t get,” said Sound Mind, Sound Body founder Curtis Blackwell II, whose organization is based in Detroit and has tremendous connections in the state. “They didn’t go after the tight end from Saline (Keyes) that hard. They didn’t go after the big lineman from Portage Northern. Outside of that it wasn’t a really big class. The lineman from Cass Tech, Khalief Canty, went to Missouri and I know they went after him.

“They backed off CJ Sadler and didn’t really go after him. They kind of pulled back on the guys that they didn’t early offer and said we’re just going to double-down on the 2027 class.”

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia are represented in Michigan’s 2026 class as the Wolverines’ coaching staff touched every point of the United States for players.

Rarely does a top tight end come out of Montana but Michigan was there for Ludwig. The coaching staff spent more time in Hawaii than any other program for four-star Malakai Lee. After some bumps in the recruiting process with some former coaches, the new assistants worked hard to get four-star quarterback Brady Smigiel from Newbury Park, Calif., on board.

There are four players from Texas committed, three from Virginia.

Sadler might be considered a miss but the word is Michigan didn’t go incredibly hard down the stretch on him because coach Sherrone Moore was shying away from smaller receivers.

But 2027 should be totally different.

“Oh, yeah,” Blackwell said. “They’re sitting pretty in 2027.”

So far in that class, Michigan has landed a commitment from the son of defensive line coach Lou Esposito – Louie Esposito – so there is one in-state pledge already but the Wolverines went to Massachusetts for four-star quarterback Peter Bourque and to Texas for three-star offensive lineman Tristan Dare.

However, the Wolverines should be way more heavily involved with the cream of the crop in Michigan’s 2027 class.

Harper Woods four-star receiver Dakota Guerrant is the state’s top junior. His coach, Ron Oden, sent his son, Jacob, to Michigan and Oden is Guerrant’s godfather.

Michigan is heavily involved with Muskegon four-star edge rusher Recarder Kitchen. Detroit Country Day four-star tight end Anthony Cartwright likes the Wolverines a lot. Up and down the 2027 Michigan state rankings, the Wolverines are in the mix with many of those players.

This 2026 class might have just been a one-off. In-state recruiting remains a priority for the Wolverines. And there are a bunch of good ones in that next class.

“There was not anybody that they went hard on that they missed on,” Blackwell said. “If you ask me, they should have gone at those guys because there’s no way you can win and you don’t get anybody in-state? That’s crazy as hell.

“I was at the draft this year and we had six guys from Sound Mind, Sound Body get drafted from Detroit. There is a lot of talent coming out of this area right now. To say you’re not going to get any of them is a decision they made to not swing at any of these guys.

“They went the route that these guys are here but we’re going to wait for 2027.”