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Wolverine TV podcast: Roster update takeaways, players to watch in fall camp, Michigan's talent compared to Alabama and Georgia

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•08/03/23•

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Jim Harbaugh
(Photo by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK)

TheWolverine.com‘s Clayton Sayfie and Anthony Broome discuss our biggest takeaways from Michigan Wolverines football’s roster update, the players with the most to gain in fall camp, if the Maize and Blue have enough talent to compete with Alabama and Georgia, the new scoreboards (we were in The Big House Wednesday to get a sneak peak!) and more.

Watch the show in the video player at the top of the page or on our YouTube channel. Listen in the embed below or wherever you get your podcasts.

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We discuss the level of Michigan’s talent and if it’s on par with the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs, two teams that recruit at an elite level. The Wolverines’ blue-chip ratio (percentage of players who were four- and five-star recruits) is 54 percent, compared to 90 percent for Alabama, for example. From a draft picks perspective, head coach Jim Harbaugh believes Michigan is right there.

“Some people took this as poking the bear — people like to get mad at things Jim Harbaugh says — but he says he thinks Michigan will have 20 NFL Draft picks next spring,” Sayfie said. “That would smash Georgia’s record of 15 picks in 2022. He listed all the guys. … He also said a few guys may come back. And I think that’s an important piece of this — you’re probably not going to lose everybody. I will say, though, it’s very bold. They’re not going to have 20, but I remember writing that article right when the NFL Draft ended this spring and looking ahead at 2024. I had 15 legit candidates to be drafted, plus six who were on the radar, and that was before they got [graduate transfer cornerback] Josh Wallace.

“You’re going to get some guys that fall out of the seven rounds, go undrafted, you’re going to get some guys that come back to Michigan for another year or transfer, but it’s not the craziest statement ever, even though it’s very bold and it would be very wild to see one school have 20 guys drafted.”

“If I had to set the over/under for draft picks — purely draft picks — I think I would set it at like 14.5. I’m comfortable with that. That is crazy, but they have guys at every position group that could be pros. The distinction is that Georgia that one year had six or seven first-round picks — it’s not that same caliber of talent. But if we’re sitting here this time next year and there are 17, 18, 19 players from this team that are in NFL camps, I can’t say that would surprise me.”

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