Michigan Football Recruiting: Kyle Whittingham is proving skeptics wrong

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When Kyle Whittingham was hired as Michigan’s head football coach back in December, my immediate question was whether or not he would be able to recruit at a high level, much like the previous few regimes had done in Ann Arbor.

Whittingham had spent his entire coaching career — up until now — in the Pacific Time Zone. He was at Eastern Utah for a year, Idaho State from 1988-93, and then Utah from 1994 until this winter. He had never lived in Michigan, didn’t have close relationships in the state’s high school coaching circles, and didn’t have to compete in the Big Ten recruiting landscape. And at his age, I wasn’t sure he’d be able to go out and consistently beat the big boys for top prospects across the country.

It’s early — perhaps a little too early — but he is proving me, and perhaps some of you reading this article, wrong so far. Michigan owns a Top 10 class in the country after snagging a fourth four-star defensive back in cornerback Monsanna Torbert, who chose the Wolverines over Ohio State on Wednesday evening.

But what’s even more impress is that Whittingham and his staff are closing on recruits at a pace that frankly hasn’t been seen in Ann Arbor in quite some time.

Always be closing

This is the thing that stands out most to me about what Whittingham and company are doing differently so far on the recruiting trail. Michigan reeled in four commits in four consecutive days from May 13-16 alone — four-star wide receiver Quentin Burrell, four-star defensive lineman Xavier Muhammad, three-star safety Charles Woodson Jr. and four-star running back Tyson Robinson.

That’s not a coincidence; that’s a staff that has identified top targets early on, built relationships quickly and landed commitments from these players before other programs can even attempt to do the same.

Previous Michigan staffs, especially under Jim Harbaugh, were not known for that kind of closing speed. Recruits used to linger on Michigan’s board for months before making a decision. Of course, there were also times where they would take commitments from guys really fast, but more often than not, they were lowly ranked recruits that either decommitted/flipped later on, or hardly ever made a difference on the field.

Whittingham and his staff are making a verbal commitment to Michigan feel like an urgent decision. Take four-star tight end Colt Lumpris, for example. He made a low-key unofficial visit to Ann Arbor the same weekend he made his flip from Alabama to Michigan public. Lumpris didn’t have to travel to Michigan that weekend, but given the way the coaching staff is working on the recruiting trail, he likely felt compelled to do so if they asked him to do that.

Another recent example is four-star cornerback Blake Jenkins. He chose the Wolverines over Alabama, Texas, SMU and Vanderbilt, but especially the latter two programs. In fact, there were predictions in place by recruiting experts for Jenkins to commit elsewhere. One day later, he was a Wolverine, and that was even before he took his official visit in June.

The recruiting footprint

One of my biggest concerns about Whittingham was whether a coach with deep roots out west could build the kind of national recruiting network that Michigan needs. The Wolverines have had pipelines in New Jersey, Chicago/Illinois and Florida, to name a few examples, over the last decade or so. Those are places Utah did not historically recruit very well, so it seemed natural to wonder if Whittingham would prioritize the areas that have made Michigan success over the years.

The 2027 class is starting to answer that question directly. The 16 commits currently in the fold hail from 10 different states:

• Michigan (4)
• Texas (3)
• Illinois (2)
• Indiana (2)
• Mississippi (2)
• Utah (2)
• California (2 — including three-star linebacker Weston Port, who is technically a 2025 recruit but will join Michigan in 2027)
• Florida (1)
• Georgia (1)
• Ohio (1)
• New Jersey (1)

As you can see, this is a coast-to-coast operation. Whittingham isn’t just recruiting the areas he knows, he is everywhere Michigan needs to be. That doesn’t happen without a staff that is fully bought in and a head coach who is clearly more adaptable than his skeptics (me) gave him credit for initially.

Michigan is winning recruiting battles against blue bloods — including Ohio State for an elite Ohio-born prospect like Torbert — all while locking down its own backyard and continuing to lay the groundwork in nearby powerhouse programs in key states. I’m a bit blown away at how fast the Wolverines were able to make it happen, but I am not complaining at all; it’s an incredibly welcome surprise.

The skepticism was fair when Whittingham was hired, but now the results are hard to ignore. Of course, things will change throughout the cycle — some recruits will decommit, others will flip to Michigan, and others that remain up for grabs will eventually commit. But with the way the staff has been recruiting, Michigan appears to be a force to be reckoned with under Whittingham.

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