Kyle Whittingham’s first recruiting run at Michigan has already produced a Top 10 class in the Rivals rankings, but the early returns still come with a glaring problem: the Wolverines are missing on the kind of in-state talent that can change a class.
The latest sting came Wednesday when Rivals updated its 2027 rankings and bumped Michigan native Dakota Guerrant into five-star territory. The Harper Woods wide receiver moved from No. 46 to No. 22, making the miss look even bigger for Whittingham and Michigan.
Guerrant didn’t just leave the state - he chose Oregon, a new Big Ten rival Michigan will have to deal with on the field. For a player who grew up less than an hour from Ann Arbor, the decision to head west now carries even more weight after the ranking update.
Whittingham’s ability to identify and develop undervalued prospects has long been one of his strengths, and there’s real hope he can do that at Michigan the way he did at Utah. But the recruiting profile of this first class shows two clear blemishes: no five-star signees and a rough stretch keeping Michigan talent at home.
That issue isn’t limited to Guerrant. Three-star wide receiver Trey Britton also landed elsewhere after visiting Ann Arbor eight times during his recruitment, a miss that stands out because Michigan had plenty of chances to close the deal.
And the concern may not stop there. Reports already point to another possible in-state setback in the Class of 2028, where Detroit quarterback Donald Tabron II, a five-star, has made several trips to Ann Arbor but is currently projected to land at Texas A&M according to the Rivals Composite Industry predictions.
There is still time for Whittingham to turn that one around. But after the Guerrant update, the pressure on Michigan’s in-state recruiting has only gotten louder.
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