Michigan Recruiting Coordinator Matt Dudek on the Class of 2020

Michigan recruiting coordinator Matt Dudek dishes on the 2020 football recruiting class that just signed on former Wolverine Jon Jansen's "In the trenches" podcast.

On an uneventful Signing Day.
It was an uneventful day with no surprises. No guys talking about flipping, and that's a sign of us doing our due diligence and recruiting the right way. We couldn't be more excited about this class coming in.

On the defensive emphasis of the class.
Certain things play out the way they play out. You never turn away a great player. And we always have target numbers of where we wanna be at certain positions. But we're also not gonna say "that's a great player, but we're already at our max at that position." It's one of those things that just ended up that way.

On why players are listed as "athlete" without a specific position.
First to get that categorization you have to have approval from both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. We are very transparent with the kids. We tell them up front if we see them on offense or defense. We are not going to bring in a kid as a defensive lineman, and then one day in camp he's an offensive lineman. It's just not how we operate. So those athletes, like Eamonn Dennis and R.J. Moten, are approved on both sides of the ball. Moten is one of the greatest baseball players in the country, too, so he can also play that if he wants.

On the emphasis on speed and size.
You'll see in the last couple of classes, especially, speed and size have been targeted. Look at Roman Wilson. Would we love a 6 foot 4 inch guy who can run that 4.3/40? Yes, but there's not even one that exists right now. Wilson is a 6 foot guy that runs a 10.3/100. That's really, really fast. So maybe we sacrificed an inch to gain a lot of speed with that guy. That inch doesn't make a difference. On defense, we want to get bigger guys, but we don't want to lose the athleticism. That's what you'll see with Kris Jenkins, whose genetics say he's gonna grow. You see that with Aaron Lewis. If there's one guy who loves milk more than Jim Harbaugh, it's Aaron Lewis. He drinks gallons and gallons a day, so that guy's gonna grow. Or a Braiden McGregor, that guy is gonna grow with (strength and conditioning) Coach Ben Herbert and his staff.

On top-ranked recruit A.J. Henning.
A.J. Henning is one of the most dynamic football players in the country. He'll be one of the most dynamic football players that Michigan fans in the Big House have seen. You've heard (offensive coordinator) Josh Gattis talk about "speed in space" and A.J. fits that. He can run, he can move, and the bubble screens we throw is what A.J. does and he is elite.

On the offensive line class, and whether any of these prospects will be ready to contribute next season.
You never know until they get here. I'm the recruiting slappy, and not the guy who's gonna make any of those decisions. What I can tell you is they're all big bodies, who will fit in well with the class we signed last year. Jeffrey Persi is probably the tallest we've signed. When he committed to us in the summer, I thought this is the guy we have to hold onto. His dad is an awesome dude. He's a top five offensive tackle in the country. I'm telling you right now, and (if I'm wrong) four years from now feel free to blow me up on Twitter.

On top-ranked recruit Blake Corum.
Blake is an elite running back. You saw it with the other schools trying to get him to flip. His phone didn't stop ringing. He and some of our mid-years are coming to (bowl practice) three days from now. They'll be in for two days, and will be going through practice with us. They wanna work, they're coming into work, and we are fired up to see them in the winged helmet.

On why he believes stars don't matter in recruiting.
I'm often crucified for saying "stars don't matter" but they don't matter. We don't care about that. I don't start with who are the stars in our evaluation. That being said, 5-stars and 4-stars are great players for the most part. We definitely want great players. But if there's a kid that has three stars and a kid that has four stars, but the three star is the better player, we're going for him. There are a lot of great players out there, and we'd love to have more 5-stars. But they have to be great players and great fits. If they're not great fits we don't want them.