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Wolverine Digest

Michigan Football Surging in 4-Star DL Recruitment

The Wolverines are hotly pursuing 4-Star 2027 DL Seth Tillman, looking to pull this monster in the trenches away from the south. 
Ethan Niewoehner|
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Michigan Wolverines

Opening satellite camps throughout the southern portion of the US was a signature moment of the Jim Harbaugh era. The camps ruffled almost every southern coach and pundit’s feathers, announced Harbaugh’s intention to position Michigan at the forefront of college football, and established a foothold for Wolverine recruiting in a talent-rich swath of country that had previously been largely reserved for SEC schools. 

Rejuvenated as a nation-wide recruiting power, Michigan has been able to attract kids from both coasts, the south, as well as its own backyard since then. Still, poaching players from the south is no easy feat, especially when a player is coveted by the true regional power programs. 

A Palmetto State Challenge

Seth Tillman is a top 150 player on 247Sports, one of the best defensive linemen in the country and rated as the third best player in South Carolina. He is 6-foot-2 and registers at an imposing 294 pounds, projected as either a nose or defensive tackle depending on his weight room development. 

Michigan offered Tillman in February, the last school to have done so. Besides Michigan, Tillman is weighing a number of southern suitors. His final five schools feature the Wolverines alongside Clemson, Kentucky, Georgia, and his own state school, South Carolina, and he has been favored to go to one of those southern schools for a while, according to the predictions on On3. 

However, Michigan is making a late push. Despite a later offer, the Wolverines have still managed to secure an official visit, one which is coming up in early June, towards the end of Tillman’s recruitment process. Jostling with the likes of Georgia, Clemson, and South Carolina for a kid from the Palmetto State is an uphill battle, but Tillman to Michigan could make a lot of sense.

A Sensible Move to Michigan

Tillman has developed a strong relationship with Michigan defensive tackles coach Larry Black. 

Black is an able recruiter in the south, having spent the past four years there as part of Vanderbilt’s staff. Elsewhere in the 2027 class, he was pivotal in securing the commitment of Xavier Muhammad, another 4-star defensive line prospect who hails from the south. 

Beyond that relationship, Michigan has been a machine in the defensive trenches in recent years. Obviously, out on the edge, Michigan has fielded weapon after weapon, from Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo to Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham. But Michigan has excelled on the interior as well. Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant and Rayshaun Benny were all three or four star recruits - like Hillman - who developed into impactful Wolverines and became NFL draft picks. 

Rayshaun Benny
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With a strong relationship and precedent in place, it would make a lot of sense for Tillman to choose the Wolverines, who are looking increasingly likely to swipe his recruitment away from those schools a little closer to home for him.

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Ethan Niewoehner
ETHAN NIEWOEHNER

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