by 
RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Analyst
Jadyn Davis’ recent commitment gives us reason to believe that Michigan will be a college football playoff mainstay for the foreseeable future. The five-star QB prospect from Providence Day School in Charlotte is a formidable player to build a team, capable of winning a national title.
That’s what Michigan is now – a team we talk about in the same breath as the programs we to wait for to win national titles in the CFP era.
Davis, who is the No. 28 ranked prospect in the 247Sports Composite, committed to Michigan last week against Clemson, Tennessee, North Carolina and, most importantly, Ohio State. It was a massive win for offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore and recently raised QB coach Kirk Campbell.
Davis is the fourth-ranked QB in the composite rankings and the No. 2 QB in the 247Sports rankings, behind Dylan Raiola, who is the best player in the class.
While Davis is Michigan’s 10th class commitment this cycle, he’s the Wolverines’ first five-star commitment since cornerback Will Johnson in 2022. That seems odd given Michigan’s success on the field at the over the past two seasons. During that span, the Wolverines twice defeated rival Ohio State, won the Big Ten title twice, made the CFP twice, and went 25-3. However, the program hasn’t signed any top-100 recruits in the 2023 cycle and has only signed one five-star — Johnson — in this run.
Michigan finished 12th in the team composite rankings for the 2022 cycle and not one of the team’s assistant coaches ranked among the sport’s top 25 scouts for this cycle.
In fact, as a FOX Sports college football writer Michael Cohen wroteformer Wolverine offensive coordinator Josh Gattis ranked 28th and sixth in the Big Ten, even after winning the Broyles Award in 2021. Defensive line coach Mike Elston was the staff’s second-best finisher, ranking 36th .
In the 2023 recruiting round, Steve Clinkscale finished highest among Michigan coaches at No. 33, while Elston again finished second on staff, but this time at No. 47.
It’s still early in the 2024 cycle, but Clinkscale already ranks No. 5 with six of Michigan’s accompanying commitments as a primary recruiter, and five of those recruits are prime prospects. Moore is up to No. 21, while Elston is up to No. 30.
Davis’ commitment gives Michigan fans hope that the Wolverines can not only maintain that level of success, but finish it off with a national title in the near future. And even if recruiting doesn’t win national championships, it certainly matters.
The Wolverines have had three consecutive recruiting classes that rank between No. 9 and No. 17 in the nation. That’s a far cry from Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State, three programs that would rule every sports talk show in the country if they finished a cycle outside the top 10 after playing in the CFP – not to mention consecutive years.
Achieving CFP two years in a row is an impressive feat for this Michigan program, but winning a national championship is the next step. The Oklahoma Sooners reached the CFP four out of five years from 2015 to 2019, but were never able to overcome the hurdle. Oklahoma’s ceiling is what Michigan has come up against for consecutive years, and it’s with less skill than the Sooners had in that span.
In 2020, Oklahoma fans couldn’t wait to bowl in a bowling game they knew they could win. That same year, the Sooners faced a dejected Florida team at the Cotton Bowl, which looked like a group that should have played for a national title or not at all.
The air among national title winners in the CFP era is thin, and it takes the sport’s most talented programs to win it all. And let’s not be shy – Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia are the company you keep now, Michigan. It is with him that you fight, and if you do not recruit with them, you can always expect to rent a room at the CFP and to suffer the same fate as you have had for two years: dejection, worry, regret.
Ask Oklahoma what it does.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast “Number one in college football.“Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young And subscribe to “The RJ Young Show” on YouTube.
Top FOX Sports Stories:
Get more from college football Follow your favorites for game insights, news and more
