Two ways Michigan football can win the off-season in February

Championships aren’t won months before a season begins, but they can surely be lost. Not adding the right pieces to a team, adding the wrong ones, not getting strong enough nor studying a playbook good enough are all factors that can lead to the demise of Championship aspirations.

While much has been made of Michigan’s 2018 recruiting class in the form of negative comments and articles from ESPN such as ‘It’s recruiting season, so where the heck is Jim Harbaugh’... Harbaugh and Co. have been doing just fine.

Michigan added Ole Miss transfer, quarterback Shea Patterson to the fold, and are in the hunt for Rice grad-transfer, offensive tackle Calvin Anderson.

As it stands today, Michigan’s recruiting class is ranked No. 15, but their transfer additions could vault them much higher than that when factoring in adding Patterson, Utah transfer cornerback Casey Hughes, and potentially bringing Anderson aboard also.

Two ways Michigan football wins the off-season

Here’s how Michigan dominates the off-season, despite the narrative. First, Shea Patterson must gain eligibility from the NCAA for the 2018 season. If that happens, Michigan’s quarterback situation is now a damn good one.

Patterson has a high ceiling and his presence would only fuel the improvement of players such as Dylan McCaffrey, Brandon Peters, Joe Milton, and Kevin Doyle.

The top ranked quarterback coming out of high school, Patterson’s eligibility will be a big factor as to whether Calvin Anderson commits to Michigan for 2018. Anderson wants to go where he has the best chance to win and be coached up to be a better NFL prospect. Winning puts more scouts at Michigan’s games, and more eyes watching film of U-M as well.

The decision on Patterson’s eligibility is huge. While Anderson could still go to Texas even if Patterson is eligible for 2018, I’d still put a crystal ball in Michigan’s favor. Without Patterson being able to play next season, it becomes more of a 50-50 guess if Anderson plays for U-M or not.

In Summary: If Patterson is eligible for 2018 and Calvin Anderson plays for Michigan, the off-season will have been won by the Wolverines.

If the two things above happened, that would mean Michigan landed the top two transfer students in the country, players many colleges wanted but could not land. Although Michigan didn’t land any five star recruits in 2018, grabbing the two best “free agents” would be one hell of a job well done.