Pair of 2022 four-star OL some of the first to hear from Michigan at midnight

In my world, Sept. 1 marks the unofficial first day of fall. But in the world of college football recruiting, it marks the first day coaches can directly reach out to the junior class.

Before Sept. 1, coaches would have to rely on the prospects to text or call them. But now that coaches don’t have to deal with that, a barrage of calls and texts went out to the 2022 class last night. A couple of the first prospects Michigan reached out to are along the offensive line.

Four-stars Jacob Sexton and Drew Shelton were among the 2022 prospects to receive text messages at midnight from several coaches at Michigan.

For Shelton, he got texts from head coach Jim Harbaugh, offensive line coach Ed Warinner, recruiting director Matt Dudek and analyst Mike DeBord.

“It felt pretty cool. It made me feel as if I was a priority to them,” Shelton said. “(The message to me was) pretty much that I was important to them and they want me to come to Ann Arbor.”

Shelton also plans on following up with Michigan coaches at some point later this week.

Along with Michigan, Shelton also received texts from Oregon, Stanford, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, Rutgers, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Florida State and Florida.

Early on, Michigan sits pretty well with Shelton. Earlier this summer, he told Maize n Brew Rutgers and Penn State were among the schools recruiting him the hardest. To see Penn State off his list of other schools who reached out at midnight is interesting to me. If Warinner and company keep pushing, Michigan should be one of the favorites to land him.

As for Sexton, the 6-foot-5, 285-pounder from Edmond, Oklahoma heard from Dudek, tight ends coach Sherrone Moore and graduate assistant coach Grant Newsome.

“(They said) they were excited to finally be able to reach out,” Sexton said.

When it is allowed and safe to do so, Sexton said he would like to see Ann Arbor up close on a visit. He has not been to U-M yet, so this would go a long way in this recruitment if the coaches are able to get him up here on a visit.

Sexton is a bit more of a long shot than Shelton is. With offers from the elites of college football, he is going to be a tough pull. Oklahoma is probably the early favorite, but watch out for Notre Dame here as well. The Irish have established a good relationship with him and he has been to South Bend in the past. This recruitment will be tough, but Michigan has had some success recruiting the state of Oklahoma the last few cycles, so we will have to wait and see what happens.