COLUMN: Michigan gets recruiting juice by bringing back Chris Partridge
Coming off back-to-back Big Ten titles and College Football Playoff appearances, you would think that Michigan is recruiting at an all-time high to correlate with the success it has been enjoying on the field recently.
While the 2024 class has been off to a good start, it's clear that the 2023 recruiting class wasn't up to expectations, finishing 18th in the country according to Rivals. This is not to talk down on who the Wolverines finished with as they got players who fit the system and who they like, U-M did end up missing on a handful of prospects on the top end of the 2023 class.
Perhaps NIL had something to do with it or perhaps not but Jim Harbaugh's decision to bring back Chris Partridge signals that he is serious about getting some recruiting juice back into the program.
Where Partridge ends up coaching is another conversation, but his New Jersey and DMV roots will be helpful moving forward. Not to mention, he is a national recruiter who is decorated with various recruiter of the year awards from across the media space.
He helped bring the likes of Rashan Gary, Daxton Hill, Aubrey Solomon (despite a short stay) and Chris Hinton to Ann Arbor. All five-star recruits that the Wolverines have been struggling to secure since Partridge departed the staff.
Outside of Hinton, the battles to secure the rest of those names weren't a breeze. The Wolverines fought until the end for Gary, had Hill and Solomon wrapped up, and both decommitted and eventually signed with the Wolverines.
Partridge didn't do it alone but his fingerprints are all over the biggest recruiting wins in recent memory for the Wolverines.
How soon will the Wolverines see the impact of Partridge on the recruiting trail? That is yet to be seen.
With Ole Miss and U-M not necessarily recruiting the same kind of player, there will surely be some crossover in the early going and it won't take Partridge long to get up to speed with the rest of the Wolverines' board.
One immediate recruit that comes to mind is 2024 four-star linebacker Aaron Chiles. The top of the Wolverines board, Ole Miss had previously offered and you can bet that Partridge would be involved as Chiles is from the DMV area.
That relationship will likely transfer over to Michigan as the program sat in a great spot for him prior to the Partridge hire.
When the Wolverines set Partridge loose on the trail, and who he replaces on the staff, will be determined in time and is another conversation for another day.
However, bringing Partridge back signals that Harbaugh is serious about getting recruiting back on track and is circling back to old friends who know what it takes to be successful.
It all starts in 2024.
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