Michigan added another commitment last week, but the bigger story might be the number of elite recruits still paying attention to the Wolverines. From a priority linebacker pledge to a five-star quarterback watching Bryce Underwood’s development, Michigan’s recruiting momentum continues heading into official visit season.
Five-star IMG QB committed to Georgia intrigued with Michigan
One of the more interesting recruitments to monitor moving forward involves 2028 five-star quarterback Jayden Wade. The IMG Academy quarterback is committed to Georgia, but On3 recently
reported he has major visits lined up with both Michigan and Ohio State.
The reason Michigan remains intriguing is pretty simple, as he recently told Rivals.
“Michigan came up to IMG and they were watching me play and they asked me if my options were still open,” Wade said. “I told them my options were still open so they wanted to take more of a deeper dive in recruiting me.
“I’m going to end up taking a visit there soon.”
Wade is also interested in how the Wolverines develop Bryce Underwood.
“Plus, they have Bryce Underwood, so I want to see what they’re doing with him and how they’re making him better. It’s super important because we both play the same type of game, so if they do well with Bryce Underwood, there is potential they could do good with me.”
The Wolverines have plenty of work left to do here, but remaining involved with one of the nation’s top quarterbacks says a lot about where the program sits nationally, especially when that quarterback is already verbally committed to another top program.
Michigan continues pushing for elite CB
Even after adding multiple defensive backs to the 2027 class, Michigan isn’t slowing down in the secondary. According to Rivals, the Wolverines remain heavily involved with elite defensive back Monsanna Torbert, who was once committed to Indiana but reopened his recruitment recently.
In fact, the Wolverines were able to lock in his official visit for the weekend of June 19. He was originally supposed to be at Notre Dame that weekend, but he has since canceled that trip and will focus in on Michigan and Ohio State moving forward, it appears.
“The new defensive staff,” Torbert said of what he likes about Michigan. “Defensive guru, the DC Coach Jay Hill. Michigan is a powerhouse, they’re always good. The DC/corners coach I have a great relationship with him. Then you have a Cincinnati coach over there in coach Coombs.
“Michigan it’s a defensive powerhouse. If you want to be a great defensive player on the next level Michigan is a great spot.”
Torbert will officially visit the Buckeyes this upcoming weekend. As long as the Wolverines survive the next couple weeks without him committing elsewhere, they will have a decent shot at landing him.
Brayden “Tank” Watson joins the class
In case you missed it late last week, Michigan added 2027 three-star linebacker Brayden “Tank” Watson to its class. The Buford, Georgia linebacker chose Michigan over offers from USC, Oregon, Vanderbilt, Pitt and Mississippi State, among many others.
Watson was a major priority for linebackers coach Alex Whittingham and the Michigan staff throughout the recruiting process.
“They really made me feel like a priority,” Watson told Rivals. “The relationships, the attention to detail and the experience in Ann Arbor separated Michigan from the rest.”
Watson currently ranks No. 787 nationally in the Rivals Industry Rankings and is Michigan’s first linebacker commit in the class.
