It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. And in recruiting, though stars do matter to some extent, we’ve seen a lot of players outperform their ranking throughout the years.
In Ann Arbor, Kwity Paye, Ronnie Bell, Rod Moore, Zak Zinter, Mike Barrett and plenty others were three-star recruits, yet they ended up playing like five-stars for the Wolverines. Thus, when people look at the recruiting rankings, it may sometimes seem underwhelming for Michigan football, but identification and development and key.
The maize and blue apparently did a good job of identifying talent in the not-so-heralded 2024 class as two players have made meteoric rises in the final On3 rankings indicating that the Wolverines did an excellent job of scouting.
The now-highest-rated player in 2024 for Michigan is an edge rusher who committed on early signing day in December. Lugard Edokpayi from Bowie (Md.) Bishop McNamara was rated a four-star, but moved up 142 spots from 182 to No. 40 overall — just eight spots below five-star range, in the final On3 rankings. He’s considered the biggest riser in the latest release.
Lugard Edokpayi has an argument for having one of the highest upsides among the pass-rushers and EDGE prospects. He’s a guy who was one of the biggest late-bloomers in the cycle, didn’t receive his first Power Five offer until early in his senior season. He looks to be a big-time talent at the position. He’s over 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, has elite length and a big frame, I think he’s going to have no problem adding a bunch of weight once he gets in Michigan’s strength program and has time to fill out. He has a basketball background and it’s easy to see, he’s a twitchy athlete, a guy who can fly off the edge. Has surprising play-strength as well, I think he’s going to be a player who looks quite different after a year or two at Michigan. He fits the mold of the type of EDGE prospect Michigan has signed in the past — high upside, developmental…
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