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One of the age-old sayings in college football has consistently proven true in the CFP era: Five-star recruits win championships.
While Michigan football’s title-winning squad doubtless had loads of talent in 2023, the Wolverines (on paper, at least) were something of an outlier among champions of the playoff era. Based on 247Sports’ Composite recruiting metrics, Michigan ranked 14th in total roster talent — the lowest-such ranking of any national champion since 2015.
Turns out, Michigan’s talent evaluation and player development were enough to become the best team in college football this season.
REQUIRED READING: Jim Harbaugh almost missed chance at Michigan glory. But he stayed and now is a champion.
Michigan finished with a perfect 15-0 record this season, winning all but three of its games by double digits. That includes its 34-13 win over No. 2 Washington (14-1, 9-0 Pac-12) in the College Football Playoff national championship on Monday. And the Wolverines did it with only two former five-star recruits on their roster: defensive back Will Johnson and quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Comparatively, Alabama — whom Michigan beat 27-20 in overtime at the Rose Bowl — ranked first in 247Sports’ talent rating for the 2023 season. The Crimson Tide had 18 five-star players and 56 four-stars. For comparison, the Wolverines have 45 four-star players.
Here’s a look at where Michigan’s talent metric ranks among other national champions since the 2015-16 season, when 247Sports started tracking such information:
More: Michigan football early 2024 rankings: Where are the Wolverines picked for next season?
Recruiting rankings of each national champion
Here are each of the national champions’ talent metrics in terms of recruiting since 2015:
2023: Michigan (14th)
2022: Georgia (2nd)
2021: Georgia (2nd)
2020: Alabama (2nd)
2019:…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/michigan-football-recruiting-wolverines-lowest-203747456.html
Author : Detroit Free Press
Publish date : 2024-01-09 20:37:47
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