2022 National Signing Day primer for Michigan football

The second signing day for the 2022 class is finally here tomorrow. While it once used to be a packed day of excitement, it’s lost most of its luster due to the early signing period in December.

The Michigan Wolverines have not had much going on for the February signing day traditionally under Jim Harbaugh, and this year is no different. There are only a few 2022 prospects left out there Michigan is still pursuing, so let’s break them down.

Kevonte Henry

We start with a prospect still verbally committed to the Wolverines in California three-star defensive end/linebacker Kevonte Henry. After Director of Player Personnel Courtney Morgan left for Washington, Michigan’s chances of landing Henry decreased drastically.

He didn’t sign in December and has taken official visits to Oklahoma, Florida and Arizona. Weirdly, he didn’t visit Washington even though his connection with Morgan was what caused him not to sign with Michigan.

Arizona received a Crystal Ball prediction for Henry following his visit this past weekend, so look for him to announce he’s staying closer to home on Wednesday.

Andrew Paul

Michigan has been looking to take a second running back in the class for a while and found a gem in Texas three-star Andrew Paul. After offering in December, Michigan was able to get him up on campus for an official visit in January.

Unfortunately, other schools started noticing Paul as well, and he picked up offers from Oregon, Clemson and Georgia as well. He officially visited Clemson and Georgia in back-to-back weekends and now it looks like he will end up as a Bulldog instead of choosing the Wolverines, with several Crystal Balls rolling in for the reigning national champs.

Paul is set to announce his decision tomorrow at 12:20 p.m.

Josh Conerly

The highest ranked prospect Michigan is still in the mix with is five-star offensive lineman Josh Conerly. However, don’t expect Conerly to make a decision tomorrow. He’s stated he will probably wait until March to sign with a school, as he’s focusing on his basketball season right now.

Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore recently went in-home with Conerly, so they are continuing to try to keep Michigan in the front of his mind. West Coast schools like USC, Oregon and Washington are also pushing hard to land him. The next month will be telling in seeing where he is leaning.

Where Michigan’s class falls nationally

Thanks to some coaching change shuffling and positive ranking updates for Michigan commits, the class sits at No. 8 in the country nationally. There’s not really a chance for them to move up with very few targets left on the board, but schools like Oklahoma and Clemson could jump them if they close on a couple of prospects, though it would take a lot for that to happen.

In the Big Ten, Michigan will almost certainly finish third behind Ohio State and Penn State. Ohio State sits at fourth in the country while Penn State is sixth. Neither of those schools are waiting on other big additions either, unless four-star defensive lineman Christen Miller pulls a surprise and picks the Buckeyes over Georgia.

The next Big Ten schools in the national rankings are Indiana and Michigan State at 19th and 20th, respectively.