It’s a new year and a new coaching staff for Michigan football. It appears the staff is fully in place, and several top players from last season, including Bryce Underwood and Andrew Marsh, are coming
back next season. The vibes in Ann Arbor are immaculate at the moment.
With the new year comes a good amount of recruiting news to get to. Let’s kick things off with some fresh quotes from a pair of offensive linemen.
Four-star OL commit talks first-year expectations at Michigan
Malakai Lee, a Honolulu native who signed with Michigan last month, is one of many high school players preparing for the Navy All-American Bowl this weekend. Lee has incredible size for a high schooler at 6-foot-7 and 349 pounds. This past summer, our Sam Bernardi broke down how Lee can be the next elite offensive lineman for the Wolverines in a piece I recommend you check out.
While preparing for the bowl, Lee spoke with The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich ($), saying the Sherrone Moore scandal caught him off guard. However, he is happy Kyle Whittingham got hired to replace Moore.
“It was unfortunate at first, hearing about everything that went down in Michigan,” Lee said. “Of course, it kind of altered my decision to stay home for the rest of the school year, but with coach Whittingham and his new staff, I’m very confident to say that I’m going to end up staying at Michigan. He’s brought on a great coaching staff, and I think that with that staff, we’re going to have a good program. He’s a leader of men.”
Lee already had a solid relationship in place with Whittingham and is excited to be developed by offensive line coach Jim Harding as well.
“He’s from Utah,” Lee said. “He coached Spencer Fano this year, who obviously is going to be a top first round pick, so I’m super excited to get out there as a Polynesian and keep that pipeline going.”
Lee has high expectations for himself heading into his first season in Ann Arbor.
“First year, I want to go out there, and just kind of put it all on the line to be able to get a starting position,” he said. “Being from so far away, I’m not coming out there to do nothing. I want to be able to get onto that field as quick as possible and kind of just prove myself.”
2027 OL commit hasn’t ‘thought about schools outside of Michigan’ after Moore firing
Lee isn’t the only future Wolverine preparing for the All-American Bowl. Tristan Dare, a 2027 three-star who has been committed to Michigan for nearly six months now, is also partaking in the events. On the 247Sports composite, he is ranked just outside the top-500 in his class and is ranked 33rd among interior offensive linemen, a position that is often undervalued on the recruiting trail.
Dare spoke with Rivals’ Sam Spiegelman ($) at the bowl, praising the hire of Whittingham and saying he’s excited to meet him in person.
“He has the reputation from Utah of always having solid programs. The opportunity to come over to Michigan is a home-run hire this late in the cycle,” Dare said. “You heard it in the press conference last week … He wants a disciplined team, but a tough team. That’s something I wanna see if I wanna be a part of.”
Dare wants to get to know the rest of the new staff as well. He has gotten interest from Virginia Tech, TCU, Washington and Oklahoma, but it doesn’t sound like he’s going anywhere.
“I haven’t thought about schools outside of Michigan,” he said.
Four-star Utah ATH speaking with multiple Michigan coaches
Michigan’s new staff has been hard at work to convince players to come to Ann Arbor, including 2027 four-star athlete Bode Sparrow. A Kaysville, Utah native that is ranked 67th overall on the composite “for sure has interest” in Michigan now after the Whittingham hire.
Sparrow also told Rivals’ Adam Gorney ($) he has now heard from multiple Michigan coaches.
“I was hearing a lot of things when (Kyle) Whittingham got announced,” Sparrow said. “When the staff got announced I heard from (wide receivers) coach Simon and (defensive coordinator) Hill. It was very brief so it wasn’t much…they just said, ‘Michigan is the place to be. We want you here.’ They want to get me out for a trip and that was basically that. They said they’ll be in contact with me soon. I’m sure they’ll be on the road and come back here to Utah.”
Sparrow did clarify that coaches aren’t telling him he’d be playing both ways, and he admitted he hasn’t gotten an offer from Michigan yet. It’s unclear how committed Michigan is to him, but Simon and Hill appear to be high on Sparrows’ mind.
“I have such a good relationship with both of those guys,” he said. “Coach Simon we’re really close and I have a great relationship and the same with coach Hill so those two together and it’s Michigan itself but now with them all there it’s something I’d definitely consider.”
Quick Hitter
-A quick basketball note — Cayden Daughtry, a 2027 five-star point guard ranked 14th in his class on the composite, visited a few schools recently, including Michigan, Iowa, Miami and Florida State. “I really loved the atmosphere,” Daughtry said of Michigan to On3’s Joe Tipton ($). Everybody was so tuned in together. They just want to win. They’re killing everybody right now.”
