Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and his staff brought in another very good recruiting class. Some are expected to contribute immediately, while others will grow into their roles.

Speed and size are two elements they (and everyone else) are looking for, recruiting coordinator Matt Dudek said recently on Jon Jansen’s podcast, but there will be some players who grow into their positions, as well.

“You’ll see in last couple classes, speed and size … I think it’s really targeting those guys, maybe what we’re looking for … say, [wide receiver] Roman Wilson,” Dudek said. “On the defensive side, the size element … yeah, we wanted to get bigger guys, but we don’t want to lose the athleticism. I think that’s what you’ll see from [defensive lineman] Kris Jennings. His dad was a great football player. The genetics of him, he’s going to grow.

“You’re going to see Aaron Lewis, another incredible player … if there’s one guy that loves milk more than Jim Harbaugh, it’s Aaron Lewis. He drank milk every single meal. He drinks milk gallons and gallons a day. That guy’s going to grow just by eating. And Braiden McGregor is already an enormous human being, but he’s going to grow with the great tutelage of Coach Herbert and his staff.”

The offensive line, meanwhile, added three to its group.

“They are big body types. They fit in with the six guys we brought in last year,” Dudek said. “Jeff Persi is probably the tallest guy we’ve brought in of the nine over two classes. He’s a big, big guy. But what you’ll see is they’re road graders, but they have athleticism to them. They’re very strong.”

Three of the players — Nikhai Hill-Green, Zak Zinter and Andre Seldon — are already practicing with the team, while McGregor is on campus rehabbing.

“We’re not putting them in team or going to have them do one on ones, but they’ll be in the helmet in two days, uppers the last. They’re here and going to practice with us, and you know why? Because they want to come work. That’s it. Not just to wear the winged helmet, put it on Instagram. No. They want to work. ‘I get to come for three workouts with Herb? An individual period with Jay Harbaugh? …sign me up’.”

Finally, Dudek said he’s often crucified for saying it, but he said it again — to the staff, number of stars doesn’t matter.

“We’re excited about the guys we’re getting. We were excited last year, and we were No. 1 in the Big Ten last year that nobody talks about, but we aren’t just because of how they are ranked by stars. We don’t care about that," he said. "We don’t start with who are stars? That said, five-stars are great players for the most part. Four stars are great players. Three stars is catch all … and I’m not saying we’re not trying to go get five or four stars. We definitely want great players, but if there’s a kid who is four, a kid that has three and three is better than four, we aren’t going to go after a kid because he has one more star. That wouldn’t make any sense.

“Persi, if he was a three star when started recruiting him, if we had not hooked up because he was three stars because we were worried on signing day it would affect the recruiting ranking, we wouldn’t have a great player who we’ve evaluated every single day and have that tackle that holy cow, this guy is the real deal.

"Schematically, it’s the fit to the program in general. There are a lot of great players out there. Yes, we would love to have more five stars if he’s a great players and fits. If not a great player and fit, we don’t want them.”

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