I'm glad Michigan had these installed, makes the atmosphere very cool.

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What a move.. He is like Barry Sanders

Cade is starting out verrrrry UGLY.
First pass and only pass thus far in the game an INT.

Third of the way
56-10

Not a very big list for the first week back to having recruits visiting games for the program, I expect that list to grow once Jim Harbaugh is back with the program in full force on game days.

At any rate, here's who we are hearing is tentatively slated to visit Michigan this weekend.

2024
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2025
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https://n.rivals.com/content/athletes/elijah-dotson-301438?view=pv
2027

Woof

Welcome back to another edition of This Week in The Den. Nothing too groundbreaking was learned this week, as things have been mostly quiet as Michigan prepares to take on Bowling Green under the lights.

Let's get started.

The Wolverines will be wearing all-blue uniforms and accessories against the Falcons this week, as this will be the final game until Jim Harbaugh is back with the program on a full-time basis. His presence has been missed on the sidelines during games, not to say that they've struggled without him. He's a presence you're used to seeing and not being there is always an adjustment, not to mention another in-game perspective that was missing.

On the injury front, the Wolverines continue to remain relatively healthy outside of the three key defensive backs who are in the process of recovering. Unfortunately, there has been a new addition to the injured list coming out of the UNLV game as defensive back Zeke Berry came up injured during a kickoff and did not return to the game.

We are told that Berry is going to miss several months and will likely be back for bowl practices. Tough news for a player who was starting to ascend on the field after a good camp.

As for the status of Rod Moore, Makari Paige and Will Johnson, we are told that all three are considered 'probable' for the game on Saturday. Will Johnson has been the closest to full-go all week and the safeties will likely be on a snap-count throughout the game. What we don't know is how involved Paige or Moore will be during the game, or what that snap count looks like.

That's all I have for now. We'll continue to dig to see if anything new comes up in the hours leading up to kickoff.

down the tubes! What is going on?

I’d say this was a good hit five years ago. Leading with the crown of the helmet is going to get you kicked out of the game these days.

Good form tackle up until the end.

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after back to back Big Ten championships. Back to back OSU wins and back to back CFP appearances. It just makes so little sense. Even in the NIL world esp given the SI article this week about how well our NIL is working for the players. Is it Harbaugh ? and all the turmoil and questions about his future ??? Talk me off the ledge !!! Login to view embedded media

450?

In a battle with Georgia So

Coming to town for the game this weekend from St. Louis and looking for some restaurant recommendations for dinner from those in the know.

The Smith twins decommit and flip to Kentucky and all of a sudden it’s a big deal and on ESPN page as headlines news …but when they committed to Michigan it’s wasn’t even news worthy…smh🤷‍♂️

that one is not a good Michigan fan if they don't have some empathy for what MSU football is going through right now.

Sight of Brett Bielema make you sick too? 🤢🤮
it was the same at Whiskey and Arkansas too

Since recruiting has been slow and somewhat negative recently, I wanted to share some good news with you all.

I have a good friend from the Detroit area, who happens to be very close family friends with OT Avery Gach (#2 Prospect From MI, 2025.) He told me that Michigan is clearly the school to beat. He comes from a MSU family, “which is why he hasn’t already committed.” With recent MSU news, he said this is a Michigan/OSU battle, with USC coming in at a distant 3rd. I asked about Wisconsin and the response I got was, “he doesn’t wanna go there bro lol.”

When comes down to it, he wants to stay close to home and thinks Michigan will be the choice.

Michigan welcomes Bowling Green from the MAC to the Big House tonight for its final non-conference tune-up before beginning Big Ten play next week.

Game preview:

*all rankings composite

QB

In: Jadyn Davis (4*)
Projected: none

RB

In: Jordan Marshall (4*), Micah Kaapana (3*)
Projected: none

FB

In: Zach Ludwig (3*)
Projected: none

OT

In: Andrew Sprague (4*), Ben Roebuck (3*)
Projected: none

IOL

In: Luke Hamilton (4*), Blake Frazier (4*), Jake Guarnera (3*)
Projected: None

TE

In: Brady Prieskorn (4*), Hogan Hansen (4*)
Projected: none

WR

In: I'marion Stewart (4*), Channing Goodwin (3*)
Projected: none

DL

In: Ted Hammond (4*), Owen Wafle (4*), Manuel Beigel (3*)
Projected: none

EDGE/SAM

In: Devon Baxter (4*), Dominic Nichols (3*), Cole Sullivan (3*),
Projected: none

LB

In: Mason Curtis (4*), Jeremiah Beasley (4*), Jaden Smith (3*)
Projected: none

CB

In: Jo'ziah Edmond (3*), Jeremiah Lowe (3*)
Projected: none

S

In: Jacob Oden (4*)
Projected: none

***

Notes

No uncommitted recruits left on the board.

We'll be on the lookout for late risers or late poaching opportunities. And the good news is late risers tend to have a high hit rate because the later in the cycle we get, the more information we have on a recruit. There's less projecting.

There are a handful of committed recruits we'll probably keep after - Shipp, Tuggle, Rudolph and Patterson, most notably. But that cuts both ways: Clemson and Wisconsin have not given up on Dominic Nichols, and FSU has entered the fray there, and hometown Washington has not given up on Hogan Hansen, who did not have Prieskorn in his class when he committed.

Based on current composite ratings, the star breakdown of the class:

5* - none
4* - (14)
3* - (11)

Star Average: 3.56
Top 25 Star Average: 3.56

The services, I believe, only use your top 25 recruits to rank classes.

NIL has caused a little pooling at the top among the true recruiting giants, so 3.6 is more solidly "pretty good but not great" than it was a few years ago. That would fall about 8th or 9th, nationally, on average going back to 2013. And it might be a bit lower now.

For 2023, we didn't land any Top 125 players. This year it's 3 (Marshall, Prieskorn, Davis.) We've upped our NIL to the point where we're in the game more than before, but we still do need the type of top recruit who will turn down "transactional" offers. The big fish that we've seen slip off the hook - Justin Scott, Darien Mayo, Aaron Chiles, the two Ohio corners, Michael Uini - apparently were not among them.

Especially disappointing is the EDGE class as it stands now, with a high-ceiling low 4* and a high-floor/limited ceiling high 3* in a class where we would have been happy to take 4 and should look as appealing as any school in the country to players at that position. Also defensive back, where it's only one low-4* at safety and two sleeper corners.

This is more or less what it is. It's looking like the #9-12 class - acceptable for Michigan, but only that. And after a thin 2023 class, we really needed to restore some balance of 4*/5* recruits on the roster going forward, and we're going to make much less headway on that than it appeared we would. Recruiting was in a dry spell, got very hot for a few months, then stalled out again. There's no sugar-coating this: the summer of 2023 was dreadful on the recruiting front. We lost ground - quite a bit of it, in fact - at a moment in time where we should have been the flavor of the month. Our summer of recruiting discontent continues apace.

That would be incredibly stupid. MSU will probably be 3-3 (at best) when we play them.

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