Gone are the days of gathering around small electronics to watch announcements, or the crossing of fingers as a fax may or may not come in on the first Wednesday in February from a highly regarded high school prospect.
When Gatlin Bair spurned Michigan football for a second time after he decommitted from Boise State only to choose Oregon late last month, he became the final non-committed ESPN top 300 recruit to come off the board. While dozens still have to sign on the dotted line, and there will continue to be flips and transfers, the main day has already passed.
Michigan signed a 27-man class of 2024 at the start of the early signing period — Dec. 21-23 — when the program prepared for its third consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff.
Ten of the rising freshmen signed on with the program as early enrollees, eight of whom made the postseason trips where they suited up for practice both in Pasadena ahead of the team’s 27-20 OT victory over Alabama in the Rose Bowl, and in Houston where U-M capped its undefeated season with a 34-13 win over Washington to claim the national championship.
With 16 starters from the program’s best team in its history now departed, there certainly appears room for newcomers in the transfer portal and perhaps even a few freshmen — just ask Semaj Morgan — who could make an immediate impact.
These are the five new faces to watch the most — keeping in mind it’s likely the Wolverines will add more pieces during the spring transfer portal window now that their coaching staff is more definitively in place — ahead of the 2024 season.
OL Josh Priebe (Northwestern)
The Wolverines not only lost their entire starting offensive line in LaDarius Henderson, Trevor Keegan, Drake Nugent, Zak Zinter and Karsen Barnhart, but they lost their next rotational lineman in Trente Jones.
Priebe, who started 12 games a season ago for Northwestern and made 28 starts across the past three seasons combined for the Wildcats, feels like the leader in the clubhouse at one of the interior line positions.
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