Michigan football takes lead in Big Ten recruiting
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Michigan football landed its 16th commitment of the 2027 recruiting class on Friday, with May being a surprisingly productive month for the Wolverines. The previous staff did most of its damage in June, coinciding with the official visits that would roll through Ann Arbor the same month, but even with room to grow the class during the pivotal series of visits, a solid baseline has been set.
Now, each recruiting site ranks the teams in different ways. 247Sports has two team rankings — the proprietary rankings and the 247Sports Composite. Rivals has the Rivals Industry Ranking, which is more of a composite-style list, while ESPN updates its rankings periodically.
By the 247Sports Composite, with the latest commitment of 2027 Buford (Ga.) three-star linebacker Brayden Watson, Michigan is now the top-rated Big Ten school, coming in at No. 6 overall.
Team rankings by 247Sports Composite
- 6. Michigan Wolverines – 16 commits – 11 4-stars, 5 3-stars
- 7. USC Trojans – 13 commits – 1 5-star, 8 4-stars, 4 3-stars
- 8. UCLA Bruins – 19 commits – 10 4-stars, 9 3-stars
- 9. Ohio State Buckeyes – 13 commits – 2 5-stars, 9 4-stars, 2 3-stars
- 10. Penn State Nittany Lions – 20 commits – 6 4-stars, 14 3-stars
- 11. Oregon Ducks – 13 commits – 12 4-stars, 1 3-star
- 15. Washington Huskies – 15 commits – 6 4-stars, 9 3-stars
- 17. Minnesota Golden Gophers – 16 commits – 4 4-stars, 12 3-stars
- 18. Nebraska Cornhuskers – 11 commits – 6 4-stars, 5 3-stars
- 21. Wisconsin Badgers – 13 commits – 5 4-stars, 8 3-stars
- 31. Iowa Hawkeyes – 10 commits, 1 4-star, 9 3-stars
- 36. Indiana Hoosiers – 8 commits – 2 4-stars, 6 3-stars
- 47. Michigan State Spartans – 7 commits – 1 4-star, 6 3-stars
- 49. Rutgers Scarlet Knights – 7 commits – 7 3-stars
- 51. Northwestern Wildcats – 7 commits – 7 3-stars
- 62. Purdue Boilermakers – 5 commits – 5 3-stars
- 64. Illinois Fighting Illini – 4 commits – 1 4-star, 3 3-stars
- 73. Maryland Terrapins – 3 commits – 3 3-stars
Naturally, Michigan comes in ahead to some degree due to sheer numbers, but the same could be said for both UCLA and Penn State. Even still, it's not so far ahead due to having a bigger class at the moment that it's not outside of striking distance from Ohio State and Oregon in the long run. The Wolverines are recruiting at a high clip at the moment, as evidenced by the disparity between four and three-stars in the class.
Still, there are a lot of four-stars that Michigan is in good standing with, and the same can be said of five-star cornerback Joshua Dobson, who is set to visit next month. If the Wolverines manage to land most of their top targets and see little attrition, this very well could result in a top 10 class, and potentially, one on top of the Big Ten once signing day arrives in December.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football tops Big Ten recruiting rankings
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