Michigan’s early push in the Class of 2028 is already paying off with one of the nation’s top tight ends.
Four-star Jordan McKinley has become a real name to watch for the Wolverines, and he’s not shy about where Michigan stands in his process. The No. 274 player in the class and the No. 12 tight end already holds 26 offers, but his list is still taking shape as the cycle starts to heat up.
“Michigan is for sure up there as one of my top choices,” McKinley told On3.
That kind of traction makes sense given how aggressively Michigan has worked the 2028 board. Once coaches were allowed to make direct contact in mid-June, the Wolverines moved fast to get prospects on campus and get offers out. McKinley was among the tight ends they targeted early.
The position is clearly a priority. Michigan already has two tight end commits in the Class of 2027 - three-star Colt Lumpris and three-star Christian Hanshaw - and the staff has also extended 12 offers to tight ends in the Class of 2028.
McKinley is one of them, and he’s not the only big name on the board. Another major target is four-star Tytan McNeal, who is rated as the No. 1 tight end in the class.
If Michigan can land McKinley or McNeal, that would be a meaningful win for Kyle Whittingham and his staff as they try to make a statement in their first full offseason together. The 2027 class has already come together solidly, but 2028 is where the Wolverines could really make noise.
Whittingham arrives at Michigan with more money and resources than he ever had at Utah, and the early results show it. The Wolverines have already welcomed some of the top prospects at their positions to Ann Arbor, and if the team performs well on the field this season in Whittingham’s first year, that could set up a much bigger recruiting run next offseason.
In Other News...
ESPN Just Made An Unforgivable Mistake With A Michigan Legend
ESPNs latest jersey-number feature was meant to be a fun walk through college football history, but it landed with a jolt in Ann Arbor when Michigan fans spotted a glaring mistake involving Anthony Carter. The former Wolverines star, who starred in maize and blue from 1979 to 1982, was the kind of player whose place in program lore is beyond dispute, which made the mix-up stand out immediately.
What makes the error sting a little more is that it is still sitting there uncorrected, leaving a sloppy impression on a player whose Michigan rsum speaks for itself. Carter was one of the defining receivers of his era, piling up 141 catches, 2,681 yards and 31 touchdowns while earning major conference and national honors, so seeing his name mishandled in a national roundup is the sort of oversight that naturally gets noticed around the program. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Suddenly Faces A New Reality As Respect Starts To Slip
Michigans offseason suddenly looks a little different after the coaching change that sent Dusty May to the Dallas Mavericks and left Mike Boynton Jr. handling the interim role. The ripple effect showed up quickly in ESPNs latest way-too-early top 25, where the Wolverines slipped from No. 2 to No. 5, a reminder that even a roster with real talent can lose some shine when the bench boss changes.
Michigan still has reasons to believe it can stay in the national picture. The Wolverines are expected to bring back most of their top players and add a strong recruiting class, even after losing several big men and seniors, so the core of the team remains intact. The bigger question now is how much respect the program can hold onto while the staff situation settles, especially with the season still months away. [Read more 🡒]