Behind Enemy Lines: Michigan Wolverines Football Recruiting

Eric Rutter from Wolverine Digest joins the inaugural segment to discuss this recent 2021 recruiting cycle for Michigan, and the outlook moving forward.

What better way to launch our inaugural “Behind Enemy Lines” recruiting segment than commencing with Ohio State’s longtime and most-hated rival… the Michigan Wolverines.

This piece, produced multiple times per month, will move away from the typical coverage of Buckeye commits/prospects and explore what’s happening in the recruiting world for fellow Big Ten schools and national rivals.

Eric Rutter, football recruiting reporter for Wolverine Digest, joins the program for this first-ever installment to dish on what’s been occurring in Ann Arbor. See attached video for Rutter’s on-air interview.

Perhaps Michigan’s largest recruiting news recently, at least pertaining to the gridiron, was missing out on standout offensive guard Rocco Spindler (6-foot-4, 315 pounds) from nearby Clarkston. The top-five player nationally at his position, who lives within a short drive of campus, slipped away and committed to Notre Dame ahead of Michigan, Ohio State, LSU and Penn State.

“It’s certainly a considerable loss because Spindler was the program’s top O-Line target seemingly for the whole cycle,” Rutter said. “They really wanted to land a kid like that from so close to campus, but Notre Dame was a tough competitor the whole way and Spindler has family ties there. Losing such a highly-ranked in-state kid would be a tougher loss if Michigan wasn’t in on a couple other talented prospects.”

The Wolverines should still be formidable in the trenches, however, as they welcomed six offensive linemen in the recent 2020 class and now have four others committed in the 2021 cycle. Headlining that collection is undoubtedly No. 8-ranked interior lineman Giovanni El-Hadi (Sterling Heights, Mich.). Many from this crop will likely be needed sooner than later after Michigan’s entire group from a year ago has gone pro.

Whoever makes the rotation will surely be protecting heralded quarterback J.J. McCarthy (La Grange Park, Ill.) at some point, as one of the nation’s top players regardless of position is currently ranked the No. 4-ranked signal caller in this 2021 cycle. He committed to the Wolverines back in May of 2019.

“There are really high expectations for McCarthy,” Rutter mentioned. “If you examine Jim Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan, there hasn’t really been a quarterback who commanded the offense as a high-level, prolific guy. Shea Patterson had his moments as did Wilton Speight, but the expectation is definitely for McCarthy to exceed that and probably be the best quarterback Michigan has had for the last decade.”

Michigan has obviously been no slouch when it comes to recruiting, posting four top-15 classes in the last five years while head coach Jim Harbaugh and staff have turned that talent into a solid 47-18 record. However, the Wolverines are just 1-4 in bowl games during the span and winless against Ohio State.

“They are certainly in that upper echelon given the ability to pull highly-ranked classes on a consistent basis,” Rutter explained. “Harbaugh does have a good reputation as being successful on the recruiting trail, but it feels like they remain a step below others stemming from the inability to land those elite talents… the five-star, instant-impact guys. It’s arguably kept them behind programs like Ohio State, Alabama, LSU and Clemson on the field.”

The Maize and Blue currently have just two players (McCarthy and El-Hadid) predominantly regarded in the top 100 of this cycle compared to 11 for the Buckeyes.

Stay tuned to BuckeyesNow and all of our social media outlets (@BuckeyesNowSI) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for continued coverage!