Michigan Football: Top 5 recruiting targets for Wolverines in 2022

5-star DT Walter Nolen

Defensive tackle was a big need in the 2021 recruiting class, until the Wolverines were able to reel in three additions in the final week before national signing day.

Still, the Wolverines don’t have a ton of 300-pound defensive tackles and that’s going to be a focus going forward. Alex VanSumeren was committed and is another top recruit in the state but his brother, a former U-M player, just transferred to Michigan State and VanSumeren re-opened his recruitment soon after his brother entered the portal so that seems like a dead end.

But with the addition of new assistant coach Maurice Linguist, who has some ties to Tennessee, U-M has already a pair of four-star defensive backs from that state in 2022, and the Wolverines are now in the running for five-star defensive tackle Walter Nolen.

Nolen is out of Cordova, Tennessee and is 6-foot-4, 300 pounds. He’s the top-ranked defensive tackle in 2022 and the No. 2 recruit overall.

Michigan recently made his top list but it feels like the Wolverines are one of his top teams and if they are able to land Johnson, that could give them some real momentum.

Of all the recruits on this list, Nolen is probably the longest shot, in terms of winning his commitment, but U-M has a shot and that’s all you can ask for.