ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the second year in a row, Michigan is heading into the spring with a reconfigured recruiting department.
Last year, the Wolverines hired former Michigan lineman Courtney Morgan as director of player personnel and said goodbye to recruiting director Matt Dudek, now at Mississippi State. Morgan spent less than a year in Ann Arbor before reuniting with Washington’s Kalen DeBoer, his former boss at Fresno State.
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In Morgan’s place, Michigan filled out its personnel department with several familiar faces. Tom Gamble, a longtime NFL executive and confidant of head coach Jim Harbaugh, was hired as director of player personnel. A decade removed from his playing career at Michigan, star quarterback Denard Robinson returned as assistant director of player personnel, a role that will involve recruiting and player development responsibilities. Albert Karschnia, a former Michigan staffer who spent five years as director of player personnel at Central Michigan, will coordinate recruiting operations.
Gamble’s scouting background, Robinson’s personality and Karschnia’s operational acumen should, in theory, give the Wolverines a well-rounded personnel department. What that means for the class of 2023 remains to be seen, but the Wolverines are off to a solid start with five commitments and a class that ranks No. 9 nationally.
2023 Michigan commitments
| Position | Player | Hometown | 247 Composite ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
LB | Raylen Wilson | Tallahassee, Fla. | Four stars, No. 64 |
RB | Cole Cabana | Dexter, Mich. | Four stars, No. 243 |
WR | Semaj Morgan | West Bloomfield, Mich. | Three stars, No. 350 |
TE | Andrew Rappleyea | Milton, Mass. | Three stars, No. 357 |
K | Adam Samaha | Ann Arbor, Mich. | Three stars, No. 752 |
Here are 10 prospects to watch as the Wolverines assemble the rest of their class (rankings are from the 247Sports Composite):
QB Dante Moore
Hometown: Detroit
High school: King
Ranking: Five stars, No. 3 quarterback, No. 6 overall
Moore is the headliner of the 2023 class as far as Michigan is concerned. He’s the complete package as a quarterback with good size (Moore is listed at 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds), great touch and accuracy, superior processing skills and the arm to fit the ball in tight windows. Some have described Moore as the best quarterback prospect to come out of Michigan since Drew Henson in the mid-1990s, and keeping him at home is a priority for the Wolverines. They can expect a tough battle with LSU, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Penn State also involved.
T Kadyn Proctor
Hometown: Des Moines, Iowa
High school: Southeast Polk
Ranking: Five stars, No. 1 tackle, No. 5 overall
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The Wolverines offered Proctor in spring 2020 before he blew up as a top-10 prospect in his class with a chance to go virtually anywhere in the country. Since landing that offer before his sophom*ore year, Proctor has grown to 6-7 and 330 pounds with the traits to be an elite left tackle in college and beyond. Proctor was a high school teammate of Xavier Nwankpa, a five-star safety who signed with Iowa for 2022. The Hawkeyes are in strong position for Proctor, but Michigan has established itself as an option if he decides to leave his home state but wants to stay in the Big Ten.
ATH Nyckoles Harbor
Hometown: Washington D.C.
High school: Archbishop Carroll
Ranking: Five stars, No. 2 athlete, No. 17 overall
Harbor is one of the most intriguing athletes in the 2023 class. He stands 6-5 and has legitimate sprinter’s speed with a 100-meter time of 10.31 seconds at the junior outdoor nationals last summer. Figuring out where he fits on the football field is a fascinating question. Is he an Antonio Gates-type tight end? A quick-twitch edge rusher? A run-and-hit linebacker? Michigan would love to find out, as would Alabama, Oklahoma and Oregon.
Edge Keon Keeley
Hometown: Tampa, Fla.
High school: Berkeley Prep
Ranking: Five stars, No. 1 edge rusher, No. 16 overall
Keeley spoke highly of his relationship with Mike Elston when he committed to Notre Dame in June. With Elston now at Michigan, do the Wolverines have a shot to flip the top edge rusher in the 2023 class? The edge spot is arguably Michigan’s biggest need in this class, so it makes sense to take some big swings. Keeley definitely qualifies. At 6-5 and 230 pounds, he’s an explosive athlete with massive reach who looks unblockable at times. Michigan isn’t the only program trying to pry him away from Notre Dame, as Alabama, USC and Ohio State all made recent offers.
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WR Jalen Brown
Hometown: Miami
High school: Gulliver Prep
Ranking: Five stars, No. 4 wide receiver, No. 29 overall
Brown picked up an offer from Michigan last winter and was in Ann Arbor for the Wolverines’ big recruiting weekend in September. It doesn’t hurt Michigan’s chances that Brown is a family friend of Desmond Howard, who has a son at Gulliver Prep. An interesting dynamic is the impact of Josh Gattis leaving Michigan for Miami. As Michigan’s offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, Gattis recruited Brown before accepting the offensive coordinator job on Mario Cristobal’s staff. The Hurricanes were recruiting Brown all along and appear to have made him a priority since Cristobal and Gattis arrived.
T Cayden Green
Hometown: Lee’s Summit, Mo.
High school: Lee’s Summit North
Ranking: Four stars, No. 7 tackle, No. 70 overall
Green visited Michigan in mid-January and has had a Michigan offer since the start of his junior season. He appears to be one of the top players on the board for offensive line coach Sherrone Moore in this cycle, although the Wolverines could have tough competition from Oklahoma, Baylor and a handful of SEC programs. Michigan addressed some of its needs at tackle by landing Andrew Gentry, a top-100 player from the 2020 class who signed with Michigan after a two-year religious mission, but that remains an important position for 2023.
CB Caleb Presley
Hometown: Seattle
High school: Rainier Beach
Ranking: Four stars, No. 8 cornerback, No. 84 overall
Presley is from the Northwest, but his offer list has a distinct Midwest flavor with Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame all involved. Michigan has a relationship with Presley’s high school program after recruiting 2022 tackle Josh Conerly Jr., and the Wolverines have made inroads in the Northwest in recent cycles. The needs at cornerback are less urgent thanks to a large group of defensive backs who signed for 2022, but Michigan has had some recent attrition at cornerback and needs to keep building the roster.
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OL Amir Herring
Hometown: West Bloomfield, Mich.
High school: West Bloomfield
Ranking: Four stars, No. 9 interior offensive lineman, No. 205 overall
West Bloomfield has become a battleground school for Michigan and Michigan State. The Spartans landed four-star prospect Dillon Tatum out of West Bloomfield in 2022, an impressive feat considering Tatum’s former coach, Ron Bellamy, is on the Michigan staff. The Wolverines already have one 2023 commitment from West Bloomfield in wide receiver Semaj Morgan, and Herring is next in line to make a decision. He’s a powerful blocker who puts defenders on the turf and finishes plays with authority.
DT Sydir Mitchell
Hometown: Oradell, N.J.
High school: Bergen Catholic
Ranking: Four stars, No. 35 defensive lineman, No. 233 overall
Michigan has a new defensive coordinator in Jesse Minter, but the Wolverines are running the same defensive system brought in by Mike Macdonald. That defense marked a shift toward recruiting bigger defensive linemen, especially at the nose position. Michigan signed 335-pound Kenneth Grant in the 2022 class and presumably would like to add a player in that mold for 2023. Mitchell, listed at 6-5 and 324 pounds, is one of the top options. Bergen Catholic is familiar recruiting turf for Michigan, and Mitchell made a trip to Ann Arbor last summer. Penn State and Rutgers are other programs to watch.
ATH Jyaire Hill
Hometown: Kankakee, Ill.
High school: Kankakee
Ranking: Three stars, No. 29 athlete, No. 404 overall
Michigan had good luck raiding Illinois during Lovie Smith’s tenure in Champaign, landing Trevor Keegan, J.J. McCarthy, A.J. Henning and Tyler Morris, to name a few Illinois prospects. Maybe that will change with Bret Bielema at Illinois, but until it does, the Wolverines are smart to keep pressing. Hill is an intriguing prospect who appears to be on the rise, with a flurry of Big Ten offers coming the past few months. He plays running back and cornerback in high school and likely projects as a defensive back in college. Michigan was among his first offers, but the competition appears to be increasing.
(Photo of Jim Harbaugh: Steven Branscombe / Getty Images)
Austin Meek covers Michigan football and basketball for The Athletic. He previously covered college sports for The Topeka Capital-Journal and served as sports columnist at The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon. Follow Austin on Twitter @byaustinmeek
