Michigan Wolverines Football: Ron Bellamy Helping Take Michigan's In-State Recruiting To Another Level

The narrative — pushed by rival schools and hostile media — that Michigan can't recruit in its own state and keep top talent home is, for all intents and purposes, over.

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh had heard enough, and while addressing challenges within the program this offseason — and replacing six assistant coaches during that process — he put the sentiment to bed by hiring the likes of running backs coach Mike Hart, the program's all-time leading rusher and a household name in the state, and Ron Bellamy, a former Wolverine wideout who served as the head coach of talent-rich West Bloomfield (Mich.) High for 11 years prior to his return to Ann Arbor.

The Wolverines were already on the right path, led by Midwest area recruiter Sherrone Moore, a Rivals.com top 25 recruiter in the 2021 cycle, who now has some help in the region and, perhaps more importantly, in the Detroit area.

Bellamy, a former Detroit Lion, has strong relationships with coaches, parents and recruits in and around Detroit, and those are already beginning to pay off on the recruiting trail.

The Wolverines landed 2022 Grosse Pointe (Mich.) South five-star cornerback Will Johnson in February, before Eastpointe (Mich.) High four-star wideout Tay'Shawn Trent also jumped on board just three days later (March 3). Those two joined River Rouge (Mich.) High three-star defensive lineman Davonte Miles as in-state pledges, with the trio making up half of the program's 2022 recruiting class as it stands today.

Bellamy and Co. aren't satisfied, and they're working hard on adding more top talent from their own backyard.

2022 Birmingham (Mich.) Groves athlete Jaden Mangham is near the top of Michigan's wide receiver recruiting board. He has had interest in the Wolverines for some time, and with Bellamy now on the staff, that has only increased.

"With him coming into that group, it just makes it easier to talk to them and build that relationship even more," Mangham said. "There are some more familiar faces that I can reach out to.

"I’ve known him from a very young age, since eighth grade. Overall, I just feel like he’s a great coach. You see what he did this year with West Bloomfield with what they did, taking it all the way to the state championship and winning. He has the right things to make the kids better, make everybody better around him. And I just know he’s going to make a great impact at Michigan. This year, they’re definitely going to take it to that next level."

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Trent agrees, and added that he wants to be pushed by Bellamy in future practices.

"He brings a lot of energy," the Michigan commit said. "If you’re around Coach Bellamy, you’re guaranteed to turn into a different person. If you’re one of those people that doesn’t talk a lot or goes through the motions during practice, he’ll make you go 120,000 percent in practice. He’s one of those people."