Michigan, Tony Alford Battling Ohio State For Trio Of Stud Running Backs

Michigan and Ohio State always battle it out for recruits but it's more interesting this year, especially at running back, since Sherrone Moore hired Tony Alford away from the Buckeyes.

It's nothing new for Michigan and Ohio State to target the same recruits. It is new, however, for a former OSU assistant to now be working for Michigan when it comes to the pursuit of said recruits. That's exactly what's happening right now with U-M running backs coach Tony Alford. The long-time Buckeye is recruiting three backs who are high on OSU's board because of him, which is an ironic development all the way around. Throw in the fact that two of the ball carriers are from the state of Ohio and you have a soap opera developing on the recruiting trail.

In the 2025 class, Michigan and Ohio State are both in hot pursuit of Cleveland (Ohio) Cleveland Heights running back Marquise Davis, Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei running back Jordon Davison and Cleveland (Ohio) Villa Angela-St. Joseph running back Bo Jackson. All three have been high on Ohio State for some time, while Jackson and Davison are now high on the Wolverines since Alford arrived in Ann Arbor. It sounds like both schools would take any combination of two of the three talented backs, with Davison and Jackson perhaps favoring the Bucks right now.

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As things currently stand, Davis might be the most likely to end up in Ann Arbor out of the three. The 6-0, 190-pounder is an extremely instinctive runner with great wiggle, smooth change of direction and sufficient top end speed. Davis has been close with Alford since Alford was at OSU and that closeness has transferred to Michigan now that Alford is a Wolverine. He's been on campus already and will return for an official visit on June 7. It's going to be very interesting to see how things continue to develop heading into the summer and fall.

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Davison wasn't even giving Michigan a look until Alford got to town and he quickly decided to visit Ann Arbor to see what all the fuss is about. After that, he stopped by Columbus to see the Buckeyes and most believe that OSU is in the driver's seat. Texas is also heavily involved with the Mater Dei standout so competition for him is stiff. Alford will continue to work on Davison for sure, but there might be too much to overcome in his recruitment.

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Michigan also wasn't in the picture for Jackson until Alford was hired and now the Wolverines are in Jackson's large top group. He was just on campus in Ann Arbor and there's a pretty good chance he'll be back again in the coming months. The 6-0, 205-pounder has been high on Ohio State throughout the process as a Cleveland kid and has a relationship the OSU's new running backs coach, Carlos Locklyn. Because of that, Ohio State is definitely in a good position with the big back. He's got a large top list with plenty of blue bloods on it so it'll likely be a while before he makes any kind of decision.