With the dust primarily settled on the 2020 recruiting cycle (very few prospects around the nation remain unsigned), the Michigan Wolverines' football class looks like it will conclude at No. 11 nationally.
It will also wrap up as the No. 2 haul in the Big Ten, with Ohio State's No. 5-ranked class standing as the only incoming crop of freshmen rated higher than Michigan's in the conference.
The success on the recruiting trail is nothing new for U-M, and is right on par with the way the program has recruited during the entirety of the Rivals.com era (the site began rating prospects in 2002, and overall classes in 2004).
This cycle marks the 13th time in 17 years that the Wolverines have brought in a top-two class in the Big Ten, with the lone exceptions being 2011 (finished No. 3 behind Ohio State and Michigan State), 2014 (concluded at No. 4 behind OSU, MSU and Penn State), 2015 (wound up at No. 8) and 2018 (slotted in at No. 4 behind Ohio State, PSU and Nebraska).
From a national standpoint, Michigan's No. 11-ranked haul means the Maize and Blue have reeled in a top-15 crop of freshmen for the 12th time in the last 17 years.
The five times they didn't were in 2010 (No. 19), 2011 (No. 28), 2014 (No. 31), 2015 (No. 50) and 2018 (No. 24).
Two of those five classes' low rankings (2011 and 2015) were directly correlated to coaching changes at U-M, with the former resulting in a mixture of Rich Rodriguez's and Brady Hoke's recruits, and the latter finishing as a combination of what current head coach Jim Harbaugh could piece together following Hoke's firing.
Harbaugh has now reeled in four (2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020) of Michigan's 11 best recruiting classes dating back to 2004, with the average national rank of his five full hauls residing at 10.6.
In comparison, the average national rank of Hoke's three full classes at U-M was 14.6.
Though the average national ranks of Harbaugh's classes have been impressive, it still isn't quite on the level that Lloyd Carr's were toward the end of his tenure.
The average national rank of Carr's final four recruiting classes (from 2004-07) was 7.5, and was highlighted by an elite 2004 crop that finished No. 2 in the country and featured future stars such as wide receiver Adrian Arrington, defensive tackle Alan Branch, running back Mike Hart and quarterback Chad Henne.
Carr also concluded his Michigan tenure by reeling in the Big Ten's top class in three of his final four years on the job (2004, 2005 and 2007).
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