Keep sleeping on Michigan, says On3's JD PicKell
The Michigan Wolverines head into the 2024 season under the radar in a unique way given the program is coming off a College Football Playoff National Championship. That’s to be expected with the amount of change within the program over the last several months.
Out is Jim Harbaugh and in is Sherrone Moore, who spent the previous six seasons as one of the key assistants on staff. But the philosophies have remained in place from the previous regime and so has plenty of that talent.
On3’s JD PicKell said this week that all of that means you should doubt Michigan at your own peril, and that they are lurking to start the new era of the sport, which includes the expanded Big Ten and a 12-team College Football Playoff.
“If the college football world is this party that’s bumping and you’ve got music, you’ve got this big crowd, there’s probably a lot of things going on,” Pickell said this week. “Across this room is Michigan, just hanging back on the wall, sipping on some water, just like, ‘Hey, we’re still here. Hey, remember us, national champions. Don’t worry about us. have your fun, have your party, don’t worry about it,’” PicKell said. “Michigan has prided itself on being a developmental program. It might not always be in that top five when it comes to recruiting rankings on signing day, but what Jim Harbaugh has done over the course of his time there is take guys that they are excited about physically and also competitive-makeup-wise and mold them and develop them into being stars when it’s their time to play on Saturday.
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“The assumption that Michigan is just gonna fall off the face of the planet, I think is a little bit lazy because of what I just said. Just because we don’t know all the names of the guys that are gonna be studs for Michigan this coming season doesn’t mean they haven’t had dudes that have been developing and are now gonna step into their role to star for Michigan this upcoming season.”
As it stands today, Michigan holds a Vegas over/under of 9.5 wins with a +2500 chance at winning the national championship. Georgia and Ohio State are considered the favorites to play for the top prize at +300 and +440, respectively. OSU is the favorite to win the Big Ten at +160.
Michigan’s 2024 season gets going on Aug. 31 against Fresno State, where the Wolverines are currently a 22.5-point favorite. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET from Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor and will be broadcast via NBC.
