College football recruiting: Biggest winners and losers from signing day

Nov 12, 2022; Washington, DC, USA; Nov 20, 2022; Annapolis, MD, USA; Archbishop Carroll High School player Nyckoles Harbor (7) in action as Archbishop Carroll defeats St. Paul VI High School 46-28 in a WCAC Championship game at the Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY /

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Dec 31, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh on the sidelines against the TCU Horned Frogs in the second half of the 2022 Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Loser: Michigan

The Michigan Wolverines are coming off back-to-back college football playoff appearances, yet they struggled in the 2023 college football recruiting class, at least compared to other playoff powers such as Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, and the like.

Michigan didn’t land a single top-100 recruit and the Wolverines’ unwillingness to utilize NIL as a recruiting tool is part of the reason why.

Nick Saban has talked about deals he wouldn’t do, so even the big programs have limits, but they are offering more than Michigan is, which isn’t anything.

If Michigan had a functional NIL program, it likely would have landed Harbor. Instead, the program that was in contention as long as any, had no real chance on signing day.

Michigan did flip Cameron Brandt, a three-star DE that was committed to Stanford but also whiffed on Jamel Howard, who wound up at Wisconsin.

The Wolverines need to get it figured out because being ranked outside the top 15 in the recruiting rankings will make it hard to keep winning Big Ten championships.

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