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The 2025 recruiting cycle wrapped up last week, and Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore absolutely knocked it out of the park with his first class. Even under Jim Harbaugh, the Wolverines never really recruited at an elite level. They developed talent like no other and still found a way to win championships, but Moore just signed the #6 recruiting class in the country. If the development can continue like it did under Harbaugh, there will be a lot of winning in Michigan's future. Year one for Moore didn't see that type of winning that Wolverines fans are used to, but with how Michigan is recruiting, they seem poised for success.
In Jim Harbaugh's last season at Michigan, the Wolverines went undefeated and won the national championship. The Wolverines came into the 2024 season with three straight Big Ten titles and three straight trips to the College Football Playoff. They found a way to beat rival Ohio State again, which was huge, but Michigan still took a big step back as they finished with an 8-5 record.
Going 8-5 isn't going to cut it, and Sherrone Moore knows that. The good news for the Wolverines is that they put together one of the best 8-5 seasons that the sport has ever seen, and it seems incredibly unlikely that Moore is ever in as bad a position as he was in for the 2024 season.
Sherrone Moore didn't have a whole lot to work with this year. First of all, Michigan didn't find out about J.J. McCarthy declaring for the NFL Draft until after the national championship, over a month after the transfer portal opened up. The Wolverines didn't get a portal QB because of it, and that was clearly the biggest issue that this team faced. With #1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood coming in along with transfer QB Mikey Keene, Michigan should be much better there this season. With semi-decent, somewhat consistent QB play this past season, Michigan probably goes 10-2 and makes the College Football Playoff.
When Harbaugh left, he also took just about the entire coaching staff with him. Moore was left to scramble in the offseason to hire a new staff, and he did a pretty good job. His defensive coordinator hire ended up being great as Wink Martindale orchestrated an incredible turnaround for his unit at the end of the season.
As you can see, Sherrone Moore wasn't gifted a great situation for his first year. Yes, Michigan was coming off of a national championship, but this 2024 team was entirely new from both a player and coach standpoint. Now, Moore has his footing, and he has shown that he can recruit at an elite level.
The big question is, how good is Moore an actual coach? Obviously recruiting is huge in college football, but it's not that hard to recruit at a school at Michigan. It is one of the biggest brands in the sport and they are a big dog when it comes to NIL. Moore is going to bring talent to Ann Arbor, he is already doing that. But can he develop? That's what made Harbaugh such a successful coach. It's a bit unrealistic to expect Moore to develop like Harbaugh as he is one of the best football coaches to ever do it, but with the talent that Moore is bringing in, he doesn't need to worry about that quite as much.
After a rough start to his tenure, Sherrone Moore went out and snagged the nation's top recruit, beat #2 Ohio State in Columbus as 20-point underdogs, beat #11 Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl as 17-point underdogs and signed the #6 recruiting class in the country. Moore has now built the foundation for a successful football program.
Michigan has the resources
A big reason why the future is bright for the Wolverines is because of the resources they have. Michigan is a massive brand and they are going to be able to compete with anybody in the NIL world. When you have that, you have to be able to pair with on-field success, and the Wolverines have had plenty this decade. They have won multiple Big Ten titles and a national championship. 2024 was a down year, but Michigan has been the best team in the Big Ten this decade. They shouldn't have issues with recruiting unless they continue to struggle on the field.
Michigan should have the quarterback
Again, the biggest issue this past season for Michigan was the quarterback situation. Davis Warren made some impressive throws at time and he came up with some big plays, but the consistency just wasn't there. The Wolverines should have a good QB battle on their hands this offseason with Mikey Keene and Bryce Underwood. Either way, the future at the position looks bright for Michigan.
Michigan has the defense
You know what they say, defense wins championships. The Michigan football team finished with a top-10 defense this past season, and it anchored them to some big wins. Wolverines fans were very critical of first-year DC Wink Martindale for the first half of the season, and rightfully so. Michigan only brought back one starter on offense, but they did have a good amount of returning talent on defense. It was expected to be a major strength for the team, but the unit didn't live up to expectations early on. That changed drastically toward the end of the year, and the defense won Michigan two huge games over Ohio State and Alabama. The Wolverines are losing a lot of first-round talent on that side of the ball, but it should still be one of the top defenses in the nation next year. If the offensive woes are corrected, Michigan should be a contender.
Michigan ended the 2024 season with a lot of momentum, and there is a lot of optimism in Ann Arbor heading into the 2025 season. The future is looking bright for Sherrone Moore and the Michigan football team.
