After winning a national championship in 2023, followed by the loss of head coach Jim Harbaugh and much of the coaching staff, what is Michigan football's outlook over the next three years?
That's the question that 247Sports' college football podcast host Josh Pate attempted to answer during a recent segment of his show, Late Kick w/ Josh Pate, in which he ranked the Top 15 programs in the sport based on their near-future. The criteria for Pate's rankings include on-field results, player acquisition, resource pool and culture.
Michigan comes in as the No. 9 program in college football in Pate's look at the next three years. Here's are the full rankings:
During the segment, Pate noted that Michigan and Clemson were the two toughest programs to rank. While the Wolverines seem low for a program coming off a national championship, Pate pointed to the turnover at head coach and on staff as the reason why he had them at No. 9.
"Michigan just won a national championship and it's a very — not unprecedented, but borderline unprecedented situation because you have maximum turnover," Pate said. "You have a head coach leave, you have the whole staff leave except for Sherrone Moore, who elevates to head coach. I have got a lot of respect for that guy, and I've got immense respect for the Michigan culture and their way of doing things. You can make whatever comments you want to about last year off the field — I've got immense respect for the way that program goes about its business."
While Michigan hasn't recruited at the same level as Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Texas and some of the other programs ranked above them, Pate acknowledged the Wolverines' haven't needed Top 5 recruiting classes to become one of the top programs in the sport over the past three seasons.
"It's never needed to be a Top 3 recruiting program," he said. "It would be nice if it were, but they've never had to be that. So, the intangibles of what makes Michigan Football are not going anywhere, and if people are counting on that to just fad away because there was a coaching change, I think those people will be a little disappointed."
The only thing pushing Michigan down Pate's rankings is the unknown surrounding Moore as a head coach and all the staff turnover.
"There's enough unknown around the program that, even I have to admit, you have to back off on them a little bit," he said. "It's just tough to place them right now. You need proof of product."
The two highest-profile coaching changes this offseason happened at Alabama and Michigan. Pate has been very high on former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer, who replaced Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa, and he wouldn't be surprised if U-M's transition from Jim Harbaugh to Moore goes seamlessly.
"It could be that halfway into this season Michigan is playing at a high level and the first thing out of our mouth is, 'Wow, they haven't skipped a beat,'" he said. "If that's the case, I'd be happy to be wrong and bump them up a few spots. Michigan football means something to me, though. Not just where they are located, not just what they did last year — what it stands for. There is an immense amount of pride that will be taken up there in the handing off of the baton, it being taken and it being carried the way it should. They probably don't sleep a lot, that staff right now, because there's immense pressure in wearing that 'Block M' on your chest as the head man if you're Sherrone Moore. Dude, that means a lot. That program means a lot. What Michigan is, means a lot. That's not fading away. That's still a Top 10-caliber program over the next three years, to me."
The full segment from Late Kick w/ Josh Pate referenced in this article can be viewed below:
– Enjoy more Michigan Wolverines coverage on Michigan Wolverines On SI –
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Ranking the top 5 Michigan cornerbacks from the Jim Harbaugh era
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For additional coverage of University of Michigan athletics:
MATT LOUNSBERRY
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