Michigan football promotes new assistant director of recruiting

Michigan promoted from within to fill out its recruiting staff going into the fall. Richard Perry, a former football recruiting analyst for the Wolverines, is now the program’s assistant director of recruiting according to his Twitter account. 

He previously helped Ron Bellamy recruit wide receivers and played an important role in building relationships with the likes of Rivals300 athlete CJ Sadler and Rivals 300 wide receiver Jaden Upshaw. Both recruits mentioned Perry in previous interviews with The Wolverine. 

“I’ve been talking to my guy Rich,” Sadler said earlier this year. “He’s a cool dude man. I’ve been building a relationship with him.”

“He’s just a real guy,” Upshaw said. “I know he’s a recruiter and all, but he’ll just keep it real.”

Michigan’s wide receiver recruiting heated up this cycle with Rivals300 prospect Travis Johnson, four-star pass catcher Zion Robinson and longtime three-star pledge Jaylen Pile all committing to the program. 

Perry graduated from Michigan with a Master’s degree in Sport Management Dec. 2024 while working for the football team. He joined the Wolverines Aug. 2023 as a recruiting/personnel intern and worked in that job for nine months before U-M promoted him to his analyst role. 

After more than a year in that position, the Wolverines moved him up the ranks once again to the assistant director of recruiting role. Perry fills the position left by Jack Dunaway, a former Michigan linebacker who left the Wolverines for a scouting assistant job with the Seattle Seahawks. 

Prior to his current two-year stint in Ann Arbor, Perry attended Michigan State and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication. he also spent 18 months as a communication relations and recruiting intern for the Spartans’ football program. 

Michigan general manager Sean Magee leads the team’s personnel and recruiting departments. Sam Popper oversses one of the wings as the director of recruiting. The Wolverines have shown a willingness to hire and promote from within during Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore’s respective tenures as head coach, building a pipeline of recruiting staffers who have spent years in the program and understand the culture around the university. 

Perry will work alongside director of on campus recruiting Kayli Johnson, who also used to work for MSU, and John Collins, Michigan’s other assistant director of recruiting who has been with the program since March 2024, amongst others. 

Collins has strong connections to the state of Georgia and used to work for UGA. Johnson competed in track and field at Michigan State and Texas Tech before taking a job as the assistant director of recruiting operations at Rutgers. She’s the sister of former Michigan standout cornerback Will Johnson.