Wolverine TV: How Will Michigan Staff Changes Impact Recruiting?

On this episode of The Wolverine Recruiting Show, TheWolverine.com’s Clayton Sayfie, EJ Holland and Tim Verghese discuss the latest surrounding Michigan Wolverines football recruiting. The trio discusses the Wolverines’ revamped coaching staff and how that will impact its efforts on the trail, the latest on two top offensive line targets, new running back commit Cole Cabana and what might be next for U-M RB recruiting in 2023.

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was tasked with replacing both his offensive coordinator (Josh Gattis) and defensive coordinator (Mike Macdonald). He tapped Sherrone Moore, who was already co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, and Matt Weiss, who also mentors the quarterbacks, to split the play-calling duties on offense, and former Vanderbilt defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to lead the defense.

While it seems like a lot of moving parts — especially when you consider that Grant Newsome was promoted from graduate assistant to tight ends coach, Jay Harbaugh moved from tight ends to safeties and Ron Bellamy shifted from safeties to wide receivers — Holland insists not much will change on the trail, and the changes may have actually provided upgraded recruiting. One spot in particular that will likely be improved is wide receiver.

“Losing both coordinators, on paper, doesn’t look great,” Holland said. “But when you look at Josh Gattis, he was considered a plus recruiter early on during his time at Michigan, but he slowly faded all the way to the point where you had former G.A. Nate Crutchfield sending out wide receiver offers. Now, whether that was because you already had one foot out the door or because he was really focused on his offense in a make-or-break year, we don’t really know. But he really did fade on the trail. He wasn’t the same guy as he used to be.

“Now, you have Ron Bellamy come over — who’s really developing into a star recruiter in the Big Ten and has the potential to be one of the top recruiters nationally once he continues to get settled in. Remember, with Bellamy, he hadn’t coached college football — he was a high school coach. He came in and helped put together a really strong close [to the 2022 cycle] for Michigan. So having him recruit wide receivers — which is a position of need this cycle — I think Bellamy’s going to do a great job. He’s already reached out to high-level targets.”

For more Michigan football recruiting talk, watch or listen to the episode below.

RELATED

• Odds and Ends: Updates on Several Michigan Targets in the 2023 Class

• Blue Chips: Michigan Recruiting Buzz Around The Carolinas

All of our shows on The Wolverine are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google and Podbean. Be sure to subscribe and leave us a five-star review!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for Michigan press conference coverage, live podcasts, In The Trenches with Chris Balas and Doug Skene, Michigan football and recruiting content and more.