How much did Michigan spend on recruiting in 2022?
The amount of money that a Power 5 school is going to allocate to its football recruiting budget every year doesn’t have a direct correlation to winning on the field. But don’t tell that to Michigan, whose expenses on recruiting in 2022 exceeded two million, the only program in the Big Ten Conference to do so.
Coming off their second-straight conference championship and consecutive College Football Playoff appearance, the Wolverines spent $2,240,064 on recruiting last year, according to analysis released by USA Today of public records for every non-private Power 5 football team in the country, which was nearly a million more than the team’s average from 2017-2022 which came to $1,353,431.
In that six season period, two Big Ten schools averaged over a million – Michigan and Penn State.
The heightened difference between the 2022 budget and the average accounts for the lack of spending during the cycles that were greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. With common categories in the annual budgets being transportation for coaches to check out camps, games and make in-home visits, as well as for prospects coming in on campus for visits, the lack of opportunities when virtually communication was the standard practice in 2020 and 2021 contributes to the drop in average.
Georgia’s average spending annually of $2,753,143 by far exceeds every other school. The budget given to the Bulldogs doubles than 45 of the 51 other public Power 5 teams, per USA Today.
Rutgers placed second in the Big Ten on the highest recruiting spending last year, assigning $1,609,032. Penn State, Maryland and Ohio State rounded out the top five with the Buckeyes spending $1,292,799. Michigan State stayed relatively conservative compared to its conference counterparts, spending $955,303 last in 2022.
Michigan is ranked eighth across all of college football behind Georgia ($4,506,248), Clemson ($3,158,941), Texas A&M ($2,984,168), Tennessee ($2,918,691) and Oklahoma ($2,632,817), Texas ($2,439,774) and Alabama ($2,324,470). That means Michigan’s recruiting budget had more funds in 2022 than Oregon ($1,836,865), Florida ($1,641,320), Auburn ($1,307,480) and dozens more.
The 2023 recruiting class for the Wolverines finished 18th nationally and third in the Big Ten, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings.
25 prospects sign with Michigan this past cycle – On300 athlete Brandyn Hillman, On300 EDGE Enow Etta, On300 cornerback Jyaire Hill, On300 wide receiver Karmello English, On300 offensive tackle Evan Link, consensus four-star linebacker Semaj Bridgeman, On300 running back Cole Cabana, On300 offensive lineman Nathan Efobi, consensus four-star offensive lineman Amir Herring, four-star tight end Deakon Tonielli, three-star wide receivers Semaj Morgan and Fredrick Moore, three-star defensive linemen Brooks Bahr, Cameron Brandt and Roderick Pierce, three-star linebacker Hayden Moore, three-star running back Benjamin Hall, three-star cornerbacks D’Juan Waller Jr. and Cameron Calhoun, three-star linebacker Breeon Ishmail, three-star athlete Jason Hewlett Jr., three-star EDGE Aymeric Koumba, three-star athlete Kendrick Bell, three-star tight end Zack Marshall, and three-star kicker Adam Samaha.
