Notebook: ‘A lot of Michigan football buzz on the recruiting trail’

Michigan coaches have been working on the 2023 recruiting class for a while, and they’re making headway. The scene has changed with Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), the transfer portal, etc., but co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Sherrone Moore believes they’re starting to figure it out. 

Many expected Michigan to be raking in top talent coming off a year in which the Wolverines won the Big Ten and made the College Football Playoff. Head coach Jim Harbaugh’s flirtation with the NFL may have stalled the momentum a bit, but Moore believes they’re getting it back.

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“I’m excited,” he told former Michigan lineman Jon Jansen on a post-spring In the Trenches podcast. “There’s a lot of buzz about Michigan football on the recruiting trail. I think we’ll start to see that come to fruition even more. 

“I’m just excited to show where we’re going, excited for the future. Everything’s been good. Everything’s been smooth.”

Michigan currently has only six pledges in the 2023 class in the early going, and a few — including four-star linebacker Raylen Wilson, the current headliner — appear to be looking around. 

At the same time, they’re in the mix for some elite talent, as well. The Wolverines have made up ground with five-star quarterback Dante Moore, for one. Notre Dame and Texas A&M are also in the mix, but the Detroit standout is giving Michigan a serious look. 

That Moore is one of those in charge of the offense now only helps. Former O.C. Josh Gattis is now at Miami, but Moore has lofty goals for this year’s squad — and beyond. Spring was a great opportunity to help put his stamp on the offense, and he and co-coordinator Matt Weiss did.

“It’s been awesome,” he said. “I’m excited for the opportunity coach [Harbaugh] gave me to help lead this offense. I had that title last year, but Josh really had the reins. I was really trying to be as much of a supporter and helper to him, control the offensive line and make sure we were good from that standpoint. Kudos to what he did, and I’m happy for him. 

“But I’m excited for the future and where we’re going. I’ve really just been helping lead the offense, helping day to day, making sure we’re on task and organized. [Also], giving the kids the vision of what we’re going to be and how we do things and continue to be successful.”

That’s the same message he’s giving recruits on the trail, and they seem to be listening. The next step is to land a few, and he’s confident that’s coming.

Moore: Michigan offense still starts up front

They Michigan offense should be more “dynamic,” lineman Trevor Keegan said Sunday at a Mega Camp in Chicago run by J.J. McCarthy. He wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, he admitted, though quarterback Cade McNamara clarified it’s all about getting the ball in the playmakers’ hands.

It still starts up front, Keegan noted. He believes “100 percent” that the line can be better than last year’s Joe Moore Award-winning group, and Sherrone Moore is working to make it so.

“They’ve been great,” he said. “And obviously coaching offensive line, I take pride in doing that and making sure we’re the best in the country. 

“But it looks good. The guys sometimes see what we were at the end of the year and try to put this pressure on themselves of, ‘this is what we were. We need to be there now.’  But that’s not where we’re going to be at the end of spring.”

They’re in the summer workout phase now, and though they’ve had May off, their bodies are still in great shape. Michigan linemen Keegan, Zak Zinter, Greg Crippen and Karsen Barnhart all looked the part in Chicago. 

“They’ll come back in June and build from what they are then, and then go into fall camp,” Moore said. “But we’re going to be physical. We’re going to be attacking, and aggressive. And we’re going to do those things just like we did last year. We’re going to keep turning up the notch and keep getting better and better.”

It helps, he said, to have so much experience. Keegan and Zinter both had great springs, Moore said. Virginia transfer Olu Oluwatimi, too, has picked up the offense better than anyone could have hoped. He’s also strong as an ox. 

“The rules and the base scheme of what we do in the offense has to fit whoever we plug in,” Moore said. “We have to adjust to them. But I think he’s going to have the ability to do that and be as effective as were last year doing it.”

If not more so. 

Time will tell, but this Michigan offense has a chance to take a huge leap in 2022, led by the men up front.