Let me set the scene for you. I’m at the gym, taking a combo rowing and strength training class. I’m blissfully ignorant of the horrible world that lives inside my phone, if only for an hour or so.
I drive home, as one does, and pull into my driveway. Instinctively, and perhaps reflexively, I open my phone up to Twitter. I see the following tweet from a beloved colleague:
The small, shit-eating grin on my face will not go away.
Michigan Lands Ohio RB Recruit
Four-star running back Jordan Marshall has verbally committed to Michigan, per On3’s Hayes Fawcett. The commitment from the top-100 running back is exciting in its own right, but made far more interesting knowing that Michigan beat out a number of programs for him, including Ohio State.
Marshall hails from Archbishop Moeller in Cincinnati, Ohio — a city where, if Ohio State wants a recruit, they can likely land him. He’s a consensus four-star recruit that can also catch and block fairly well, and the pros outweigh any cons or hesitations with him. As Alan Trieu put it:
He is not quite elite in terms of his measureables but they are good and then when you combine his intangibles and position skills into that, he is a no-brainer national back.
Marshall plays the position with a good deal of confidence and power. He sheds defenders and fights through contact (I acknowledge it’s high school-tier competition, but still). Upon his arrival in 2024, there’s also room for him to make an impact fairly quickly on a run-heavy offense I don’t anticipate Michigan straying from any time soon.
Additonally, per Michigan Insider EJ Holland, Marshall’s commitment hasn’t derailed other recruiting, specifically that of fellow top 100 running back Taylor Tatum. In fact, it’s gaining attention on both sides of the ball:
As for Marshall’s excitement and change in allegiance, he told Hayes Fawcett:
It’s going to be crazy. Some of my friends are big [Ohio] State fans, so is my papa. But he is going to start rooting for Michigan. I’m excited to play those guys. Just know after Blake and Donovan leave, just know that we are coming back to run that ball!
My shit-eating grin has only grown larger.
Why Does It Matter?
After an admittedly sparse 2023 class, Michigan’s 2024 class is making up lost ground. Even for me, a noted not-in-depth follower of recruiting, the traction Michigan has on the recruiting trail can’t be ignored. Taking a recruit from the Buckeyes’ turf that they were after is also just very funny and I’m having a good time.
And yeah, I’ll acknowledge things could shake out very differently between now and Marshall’s arrival in Ann Arbor many moons from now. It’s also not as if he’s the guy; he’s just one guy of many. It’s a drop in the bucket. Jordan Marshall is one guy, and who knows if he specifically will translate well at the next level.
The big deal for Ohio State, though, is the slight, but very real, shift in the culture they’ve come to expect. My colleague Kevin put it best for the Ohio State side of our operation:
The point isn’t that missing this individual player is a massive recruiting failure and a loss that the team can’t possibly overcome. The point is that for the first time in over a decade, Michigan came in and took a recruit out of Ohio that the Buckeyes wanted. And that’s concerning any way you slice it.
What matters here is not the recruit himself (though Marshall’s obviously very good), but the ebb of the tide. The principle. Ryan Day is losing ground in his own state’s strongholds. It’s not an open wound, certainly not, but a wound nonetheless. To lose one of your top running back prospects from your own state that you had your eye on adds sucks to begin with. Add insult to injury by losing him to Michigan.
As for Michigan? It’s simple. Stay the course.
Michigan already has a solid set of 2024 commitments, and did well enough in the portal to sustain in 2023. What matters now is how Michigan further asserts itself. If Michigan wants to break back into the upper echelon of college football and actually stay there, taking one Ohio State recruit from under them isn’t enough. Fans, boosters, whoever — we’re in a window to start expecting more of the program again both on and off the field.
The Shameless Self-Promotion Zone
For more in-depth thoughts and discussion on this get for Michigan and where the state of recruiting lies for the Wolverines now, we’d love you to join us on the boards. For your monthly dollars, you’ll have various points of discussion and analysis from both sides of the house, and from our neutral board members who wish both of our teams despair (respectfully). You’ll also find an archive of our content for Ohio State, Michigan, the Big Ten and beyond, both written and via premium podcasts.
The community we’ve brought together is a treat, once you get past all our obnoxious exteriors on Twitter. I mean hell, I taught our subscribers the importance of a skincare routine. A lot of good happens on the site — with meaningful college football talk as the driver — and we’d love to have ya.
Meet at Center Ice (Pre-Preview Edition)
I have some hockey stuff in the works, since men’s basketball is functionally dead for both Ohio State and Michigan at the moment and I will not be writing about Michigan women’s basketball losing to LSU and the scary lady (if you say her name three times, she appears like Bloody Mary).
What you need to know very quickly is this:
- Ohio State women’s hockey lost to Wisconsin in the women’s NCAA championship, which I only mention because Michigan should have a goddamn women’s varsity hockey team.
- Michigan’s men are your Big Ten champions, defeating Minnesota 4-3. Minnesota fans — and apparently their social media managers — are perpetual whiners.
- Michigan is No. 3 overall in the tournament, securing a one-seed berth in the Allentown regional. They face Colgate on Friday at 8 p.m.
Mailbag Time, Nerds!
It’s been a while since I’ve done a mailbag, and an early offseason, pre-Spring Game edition is in order. Tweet at me @seltzermom or at the site @meetatmidfield, or submit questions to the Michigan Offseason Thread on the boards.