The 2025 class’s top-ranked talent overall from Michigan recently broke his pledge to Auburn. What allegedly transpired with four-star, top-50 defensive end Nate Marshall is as follows:
The Wolverines of Michigan have lost their top prospect for the 2025 class, Nate Marshall, a four-star defensive lineman who switched his pledge from Michigan to Auburn.
While Auburn “has moved back to the forefront,” Michigan was still trying to keep Marshall in the class, according to a late-night report from On3’s Steve Wiltfong ($). In the end, he submitted a flip prediction for Auburn, and insiders from other networks swiftly joined him.
According to Allen Trieu ($), a Midwest Recruiting Analyst over at 247Sports, Michigan will keep recruiting Marshall while also keeping an eye on other defensive linemen in the future. Trieu said, “NIL is a factor” for Marshall’s flip (you don’t say?!), but he also mentioned Vontrell King-Williams, Auburn’s defensive tackles coach, is from Chicago, and that “the area connection certainly helped as a starting point.”
It was considered a major surprise when Marshall made his commitment to defensive line coach Lou Esposito and the Wolverines back in April, given that Esposito had only been at the position for a little over a month. Marshall did, however, pay a formal visit to Auburn earlier this summer and came close to returning for its BBQ event in July before choosing to go to Ann Arbor, even though he was committed.
In the end, Sherrone Moore and company have suffered a terrible defeat. Marshall, who came in at No. 46 overall on 247Sports’ composite, was Michigan’s best-ranked player and a vital component of the defense going forward. Even worse, the Wolverines swung and missed on other important defensive line targets this summer: four-star defensive tackle Maxwell Roy chose Ohio State (after Michigan led for him and had predictions at one point), four-star edge Marco Jones committed to Texas A&M, and four-star defensive tackle Mariyon Dye chose Tennessee.
Fortunately, Marshall wasn’t the only defensive lineman who was committed; three-star Bobby Kanka (interior) and four-stars Julius Holly (edge) and Jaylen Williams (flex) are still verbally committed to Michigan.
It’ll be interesting to watch how the Wolverines bounce back from this and whether they can continue to attract players like Marshall in the future, but it’s undeniably devastating to lose a top-50 overall player to a subpar college football team.
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