Michigan expands recruiting department, adds Pitt's Jacob Sakk

Michigan has hired Jacob Sakk as a new football recruiting analyst.

Sakk previously served as a recruiting assistant at Pitt, where he spent the last five months. Prior to his time with the Panthers, Sakk spent more than three years at Duquesne, where he worked in various roles, including recruiting assistant, video assistant and offensive quality control.

Sakk graduated from Duquesne in 2023 and also has NFL experience, serving as a marketing intern for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022.

Michigan’s off the field staff has continued to expand and evolve under new head coach Sherrone Moore.

Former Director of Recruiting, Albert Karschnia, is now the Director of Player Personnel, while Sam Popper, who previously served as Assistant Director of Recruiting, has moved into Karschnia’s former role. U-M also hired John Collins and Jack Dunaway as Assistant Directors of Recruiting.

Michigan recently hired a new Director of On-Campus Recruiting in Kayli Johnson. She replaces former Michigan Director of On-Campus Recruiting Christina DeRuyter, who will remain with the program in an operations role. 

Paige Shiver, who worked under DeRuyter as an on-campus recruiting and operations assistant, is now the Executive Assistant to the Head Coach.

Michigan now has a General Manager in Sean Magee, who will oversee all aspects of the recruiting and player personnel departments as well as coordinate the program’s NIL initiatives. He will handle the identification, evaluation and recruitment of prospective student-athletes in conjunction with the head coach and staff and manage the roster of current student-athletes while identifying future needs for the program.

This is Magee’s second stint at Michigan as he previously served as Associate Athletic Director for Football in four seasons in Ann Arbor.  In his role with the Wolverines, Magee was liaison to the Athletic Director and Senior Leadership Team while providing oversight and direction for the football program in the off-field areas including the management of the player personnel department, football operations and the administration of the budget for all football related activity. He additionally served as the program’s NFL liaison. 

More recruiting department additions and restructuring is expected to happen under new Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, who has made it clear that he will have an aggressive approach on the trail.

Michigan has five commits in its 2025 recruiting class — Top 100 Oak Park (Ill.) Fenwick defensive lineman Nate Marshall, On300 Fort Myers (Fla.) Bishop Verot quarterback Carter Smith, four-star Birmingham (Mich.) Groves offensive lineman Avery Gach, four-star Howell (Mich.) High defensive lineman Bobby Kanka and three-star Alcoa (Tenn.) High tight end Eli Owens.

The class is ranked No. 15 nationally, per the On3 Industry national team recruiting rankings, and No. 4 in the Big Ten behind Ohio State, USC and Oregon.