Monday Michigan Recruiting Roundup: Examining the 2015 class

With a dead period in full swing and a coaching change in progress with the University of Michigan football program, things are a bit cloudy now in terms of what exactly will happen with the 2015 class, which currently only has six verbal commitments.

Michigan is in day eleven of a their search for the next head coach, which has some worried that the program has been without a leader for too long, seeing as other job openings have been filled semi-swiftly by other schools. Fans have voiced concerns over losing recruits and finishing out the 2015 class with a fair amount of commits, but it simply does not look like that is going to happen.

Recruiting right now is the least of Michigan's worries. They need to take their time to get this coaching hire right, whether it be Maize and Blue nation's golden boy Jim Harbaugh or a secondary candidate. This was going to be a small class of 14-16 players anyways, and while they may struggle to get to 10 or so, it should not be that much of a concern.

Recruiting class numbers will really start to open up for the Wolverines starting in 2016, which is expected to be a much larger class than the last two seasons. Whatever U-M is unable to bring in during the 2015 cycle can roll over into next year.

When a new coach is hired, presumably sometime around Christmas, they will have a little over a month to iron things out with recruiting and fill a few spots in the class. They may have to offer some lower-tier talents, but it is what it is given the circumstances. There is still some solid in-state talent still on the board and the possibility exists that they could convince a few decommits to rejoin the class.

In terms of the six players they have now, which include quarterback Alex Malzone, wide receiver Brian Cole, offensive lineman Jon Runyan Jr. and Grant Newsome, safety Tyree Kinnel and kicker Andrew David, they all seem firm in their commitments. That has not changed recently.

Kinnel has received a fair amount of interest from Notre Dame, but he still maintains he is committed to Michigan, so that is positive news for them. Brian Cole has taken other visits, but it also looks like he is staying put for now.

It's unfortunate that the 2015 class fell apart like it did, because it certainly would have been the most talented group of athletes Michigan had brought in a single class in awhile, but it is what it is. Assembling talent is one thing, but coaching it up is entirely different. They did not have the staff to do that, and a change was made. It's all a part of the business.

Wolverine fans should not be discouraged, though. The foundation of their 2015 class is still very solid. Now they just need to find the guy to get the talent out of them.