Examining Michigan's WR Room Following The Addition Of Daylen Baldwin

Michigan Wolverines football added to its wide receiver room Monday, with former Jackson State wideout Daylen Baldwin, a graduate transfer with two years of eligibility remaining, choosing the Maize and Blue over an offer from rival Ohio State.

Baldwin worked out in front of offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Josh Gattis and other staff members late last week, earning an offer shortly thereafter.

Baldwin began his collegiate career at Morgan State, where he caught 16 passes for 181 yards and one touchdown as a freshman in 2017 and racked up 14 catches for 152 yards and one score as a sophomore in 2018.

He sat out the 2019 season, before playing in the spring of 2021 for head coach Deion Sanders at Jackson State. There, he exploded for a conference-best 540 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 27 catches in just six games, which earned him first-team All-SWAC honors and the league's title of Newcomer of the Year.

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Playing in the Big Ten at Michigan will be quite a step up for Baldwin, who was an unranked recruit out of Waterford (Mich.) Mott. Some players making a leap of this proportion excel, while others aren't able to put it all together. But Baldwin has done nothing but ascend since entering college football in 2017, and has some physical tools — size, physicality, ball-catching ability, etc. — that have a good chance of translating to a higher level.

Michigan, which had just 26 passing plays of 20 or more yards last season, has been searching for more explosiveness on offense. Baldwin won't single handedly be the answer, but he's going to help in that regard. Last season, he racked up 20 yards per reception (the 15th-most in the FBS), which included an average of 9.2 yards after the catch.

Baldwin doesn't just add value when he's being targeted, either. He is a stellar run blocker, showing he's willing to do the dirty work, and actually led Jackson State's entire team — including offensive linemen — with a run-blocking grade of 82.1 this spring. He got plenty of work in that area, having been in on 177 run-play snaps last season.