Sherrone Moore breaks down Savion Hiter, Carter Meadows and Michigan’s full recruiting class

The Michigan Wolverines have put the finishing touches on a class that ranks No. 12 nationally and No. 4 in the Big Ten in Sherrone Moore’s second season on the job, and now the head coach is on the record, breaking down the class.

With signing day in the rearview mirror, and Michigan likely done pending any last-minute plot twists, Moore joined Jon Jansen on the In The Trenches podcast to break down the class and what the U-M staff was looking to build during the 2026 cycle.

For Moore and his Michigan program, one of the bigger goals was to beef up in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

“It eally started up front,” Moore said of his Michigan signees. “We built it from the inside out. We brought in five or six linemen on each side of the ball and feel really good about all of them. We feel like they’re all going to be physically mature and some are gonna be ready faster than others.

From the edge positions,the linebacker position, the big skill guys, the tight ends, I feel like we’ve got some guys that can really impact us and continue the physicality. We’re big at a lot of those spots and long.

“It’s going be fun to watch. And then the skill guys feel like we got some electric guys on the outside, on the inside and quarterbacks that can help us win.”

Defensively, Michigan knows that it will lose four contributors from this year’s trench group. Moore was happy with how the staff attacked both the inside and outside of the U-M defensive line.

“We wanted to fill the voids inside,” Moore said. “We’re losing those four guys and then we have some playmakers on the edge. Then, continue to add pieces to that to help us be complete on the backend.”

Moore broke down every member of Michigan’s class during the podcast. Below is what he had to say about every signee in the 2026 cycle, headlined by five-stars in running back Savion Hiter and edge rusher Carter Meadows.

Michigan offense

Quarterbacks
Three-star Tommy Carr: “Tommy had a great senior year. Was committed to Miami, Ohio, but somebody we’ve had an eye on for a long, long time. Obviously have known him for a long time and very excited to get a Carr back in the Michigan family.”

Three-star Brady Smigiel (who is coming off a torn ACL): “Once you commit to us, we’re committed to you. You still got the scholarship. You still got everything we’ve talked about and we’ll keep that bond.” 

Running backs
Five-star Savion Hiter: “I don’t put too much on him to start. I want him to be him, but he’s electric. His highlight film, you watch it. I mean, he had a six-game highlight film and he had 55 carries for 1,110 yards with like 15 touchdowns. He averaged 20 yards a carry and it’s like a video game, right? He’s an elite specimen. Physicality. A great human being. We’ll see exactly what he does when he gets here but I imagine he’s gonna be an immediate impact for us.” 

Three-star Jonathan Brown: “A bigger back, longer back, long strider, runs very physical, upright. He’s gonna mature into a super physical back for us.” 

Wide receivers
Four-star Travis Johnson: “Tall, long, physical, great ball skills. Fast. A 6-3 receiver, a guy that can stretch the field.” 

Four-star Brady Marchese:  “Dynamic playmaker who we’ve recruited for a while. Was committed elsewhere and in the last hours of recruiting, that’s how it is, right? You’re always working. You always continue to find ways to change the roster and really needed a guy that could affect us in the slot, but also in the return game, in different pieces. Explosive, great ball skills, great catch radius for his size. Dynamic in different phases.” 

Three-star Jaylen Pile: “Extremely productive. Underrated, not a highly rated guy. Has been committed to us for a long time, but projects as a bigger slot guy, that is a very detailed and precise route runner that can make plays after the catch.”

Tight end
Four-star Matt “Moose” Ludwig: “A physical freak. Got to watch him play basketball, 6-5, jumping off of two feet windmill, dunking, blocking people. … He’s a special player, special specimen. Look for him to make impact early.” 

Three-star Mason Bonner: “Mason is elite upside. Basketball player, elite jumping ability. The biggest thing we’ll be working on the blocking piece, but he’s willing blocker. Great ball skills for a guy that size and smooth.”

Offensive line
Four-star Malakai Lee: “We’ve had a long-standing relationship with. Grant Newsom has done an unbelievable job recruiting him. Many trips over the waters to go visit him. He is an athletic freak for how big he is, how long he is. You can see we recruited some big human beings. We wanted to get bigger, we wanted to get stronger and I think we did that with those guys up front and he’s a prime example of a guy that can come compete early.”

Four-star Marky Walbridge: “Another large human being who by time he steps on foot on campus and steps at fall training camp, he’ll probably 305 at 6-6. For being such a mild-mannered human being, it’s a typical O-lineman. When he gets on the field, he’s a nasty man. He’s nasty on the field. He’s physical. He’s tenacious. He’s a finisher.”

Three-star Ace Hamilton: “For a 6-3 guy, has got really long arms. Played tackle on high school. I think he’s gonna end up moving to center. He’s very twitchy, great flexibility, great knee bend in his hips and his ankles. Eerily similar in his twitchy and skills to Kaden Strayhorn.”

Three-star Bear McWhorter: “Bear plays like it. Bear is physical, strong, nasty, twitchy. An impressive senior year that he put on display. Projects as an inside guy somewhere but has some some tenacious ability to maybe jump in the mix early .That room’s gonna be uber competitive, as competitive as it’s been since I’ve been here and really excited about that room, especially with the additions of these guys.”

Three-star Tommy Fraumann: “Tommy is a high upside, very similar to Blake Frazier. Long, lean, wide shoulders. He’s gonna be a huge human being. He’s got very high upside so excited to see where he goes and his maturation as his he grows.”

Michigan defense and special teams

Defensive tackles
Four-star Titan Davis: “Titan has got high, high upside. Very similar to Kris Jenkins in personality and in build and size and physicality. Played more edge in high school. He’s gonna probably slide inside to a 3-technique or 4i when we play our odd packages. A physical kid that can play multiple spots.” 

Four-star Alister Vallejo: “Very eerily similar play style ability to Mason Graham. Whether he projects to be a first rounder like Mason Graham, that’s a whole different story. But mannerisms, how he walks, how he comes off the football, his hands, his fundamentals, technique plays like Mason. That was super intriguing and had high production this year.”

Edge rushers
Five-star Carter Meadows: “A kid that is 6-7, 235 pounds. Again, another really good basketball player and plays on summer league travel. When I went to those two basketball game, it was like watching Duke and North Carolina play on a basketball court in high school arena. He is explosive, he’s physical, he has raw ability. Stuff that you can’t teach, obviously, with his length and size. He’s just gonna continue to get bigger and bigger and better and better.”

Four-star McHale Blade: “Versatile player. Could probably inside but probably gonna stay on the edge. Long, physical. … Just feels like he’s gonna keep getting better and better.”

Three-star Tariq Boney: “Big comparison is Josaiah Stewart. He’s not as tall as the other guys, but he’s compact, he’s powerful, explosive, had high production this year. Also played tight end. Ironically played against Carter Meadows in a game in high school. Those guys had a battle. Watched Tariq play a basketball game. He’s only 6-2 and we’re in warm-ups and he goes up and dunks a windmill dunk two-handed. I’m like, ‘Okay, we want that guy.’ Explosive, twitchy.”

Linebackers
Three-star Aden Reeder: “Long, physical, really excited about him. Got him later on the process. [St. Xavier] kid, great tradition high school that has bred so many players and we’re just really really excited that we got him and his versatility.” 

Three-star Markel Dabney: “We’ve done a lot of research on him. He’s been here for seven on sevens. He played tight end in his high school, played running back, played linebacker. Kind of like Michael Barrett, very versatile. Didn’t play quarterback, but a guy that had high production in high school and very versatile.”

Three-star Kaden Catchings: “Kaden was a late add. He was committed to USF and then we ended up flipping him late. I thought could BJ did a great job finding him and recruiting him. Athletic, twitchy, can play multiple spots within the defense and gives us ability to move a guy around.” 

Defensive backs
Four-star Jamarion Vincent: “Flipped him from Baylor. I thought Coach Morgan did an unbelievable job recruiting him. A 6-2 corner that can run, that’s very fluid, has really good ball skills — high point and ball skills. We wanted guys that can go get the football when it’s in the air. We know to win the conference and when you compete in the playoffs, you have to guard the best of the best on the outside lanes.”

Four-star Andre Clarke: “Physical for a defensive back. Tackle, can play press coverage, can play man coverage. Can be a nickel, can be a safety. We’re starting him out at corner, see how he pans out there. But feel good about him and has a lot of relationship with guys that we have on the team.”

Four-star Jordan Deck: “Very cerebral player. Loves football. Loves competition. Studies the game at a high level, has a high football IQ. I remember being in the office with him and asking him what does he want to work on. He talked about tackling, and showing me tackling form of how good he wanted to be and how good he wanted to tackle. His ball skills — he had like 94-yard pick six throughout the year, so it was good to see him work on that. But he’s an excellent player and very excited to have him.” 

Specialists
Kicker Micah Drescher: “Accurate. Big leg. Can kick and punt. Can do multiple things. A great young man, great student, is gonna be a great asset to the football team.” 

Long snapper Colton Dermer: “Better be accurate. That’s all I know. Better be consistent and accurate and be able to hold up in protection. Gets the ball back with really great timing speed and consistency.” 

Michigan is not expected to add another member to the recruiting class, unless four-star wide receiver Calvin Russell elects to flip from Syracuse on Friday. It is unlikely, per reports.