Assessing ways recruiting may change under Sherrone Moore amid changing landscape

Michigan named Sherrone Moore as their new head football coach two days after Jim Harbaugh accepted the job as the next head man for the Los Angeles Chargers, hiring Moore from within after leading the Wolverines to multiple wins on an interim basis last season.

Maintaining culture and continuity was a major reason for Moore’s hiring, but some things will change under his supervision, including recruiting. Which On3’s Andy Staples and The Wolverine’s Clayton Sayfie discussed shortly after his hiring.

“Here’s the thing. One, Michigan did kind of create this different blueprint on how to win a national championship. But Michigan also had Jim Harbaugh and a fantastic staff, not every coaching staff around the country is gonna have that luxury to have somebody like that heading your program and the way they develop, the way they run the program,” Sayfie explained.

Michigan’s recent national championship win was highlighted by their ability to develop their players, with just two of their last four recruiting classes ranking within the top 10 nationally according to On3’s Industry Football Team Recruiting Rankings (ranked No. 9 in 2022 and No. 10 in 2020).

But in today’s college football landscape with the rise of the transfer portal and NIL, the Wolverines may have to recruit a little bit differently with more of a focus on recruiting top talent. Which Moore spoke about in his introductory press conference.

“And Sherrone Moore’s not Jim Harbaugh, so yeah, I think to win they’re probably going to have to recruit at a higher level and I think Sherrone Moore understands that. And either way I think he would want to recruit at a higher level. So yeah, he talked about being the face of the program on the recruiting trail as a head coach recruiter in terms of really getting on the road, really getting to connect with these kids. Because Harbaugh the last few years he wasn’t climbing as many trees and doing the sleepovers as much,” Sayfie said referring to some of Harbaugh’s recruiting tactics. “He was still involved, did a lot of satellite camps when they could.”

Sayfie also pointed out that Moore is a proven recruiter who excelled particularly in the Midwest when he was exclusively a tight ends coach in his first three seasons with the program. As he’ll now look to lean back into recruiting as a head coach who can potentially get the nation’s top talent to play for the Wolverines’ in the future.

“But I think Sherrone Moore wants to supercharge is a great way to put it, the way you said it,” Sayfie said. “I think he wants to take it to that next level as he said and that’s gonna be something that he’s really good at.”