Since that Sugar Bowl victory earlier this month, Michigan has received no verbal commitments and actually had one player decommit.
What's more, the Wolverines have only two commitments since beating Ohio State in late November.
Reason for concern? Hardly.
Coach Brady Hoke and his staff did their work on the recruiting trails early. Very early.
Twenty of their current 23 verbal commitments had announced their intentions to attend Michigan before the Wolverines even played a game under Hoke.
The 11-win season and BCS bowl invitation in 2011 are likely to mean more for the Wolverines down the road.
"That certainly continues to push the momentum into next year," said Allen Trieu, a recruiting analyst for Scout.com, of Michigan's success on the field in Hoke's first season. "It helps more with 2013 and 2014 (recruiting) than it does with this year."
High-school players can start signing official letters of intent on Wednesday. Three of Michigan's recruits, however, graduated from high school early and already have enrolled. Linebackers Joe Bolden (Cincinnati) and Kaleb Ringer (Clayton, Ohio), along with defensive back Jarrod Wilson (Akron, Ohio), will get a head start on the rest of the class because they can participate in spring practice.
The recruiting rankings can change quickly as National Signing Day approaches, but Scout.com had Michigan's class ranked No. 4 in the nation behind Alabama, Texas and Ohio State as of Friday evening.
The class includes one five-star commit — offensive lineman Kyle Kalis (Lakewood, Ohio) — and 13 four-star players, according to Scout.com. Six of the future Wolverines are ranked in Scout's top 100 players in the nation.
It's quite an impressive haul for Hoke, who had to scramble to put together a respectable recruiting class last year because he was hired only three weeks before signing day.
"It is a very strong class from top to bottom," Trieu said. "It's easy for people to forget because a lot of these kids were committed earlier. Michigan hasn't made as much noise recently.
"But to have a class like this in your first full year is very positive. Kids (future recruits) notice that."
The Michigan class once was ranked No. 1 in the nation, but that was before some other schools started receiving commitments from elite players.
The Wolverines still are hoping for a strong finish in the final few days. Thursday's announcement by Joshua Garnett, a five-star offensive lineman, that he will sign with Stanford instead of Michigan was a disappointment.
Shane Morris, a five-star quarterback from Warren (Mich.) De La Salle High who already has committed to Michigan for the class of 2013, sent a message on Twitter shortly before Garnett's announcement that read, "I want @IamJoshG to be blue!"
After Garnett picked Stanford, Morris wrote, "Damn ..."
Michigan is still in the running for Jordan Diamond (five-star offensive lineman from Chicago), Armani Reeves (four-star cornerback from West Roxbury, Mass.), Sam Grant (three-star tight end from Lakewood, Ohio) and Alex Kozan (three-star offensive guard from Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
Trieu believes the Wolverines have a good shot to land Diamond. If so, Hoke would be on the fast track to rebuilding the depleted offensive line that he inherited. Diamond reportedly has eliminated Ohio State from his list, but still also is considering Arkansas, Auburn and Wisconsin.
Reeves, who originally committed to Penn State before changing his mind, is down to a battle between Michigan and Ohio State. At this point, it looks like a coin flip from afar.
"They need a second corner in their class, I think," Trieu said of Michigan. "He's a pretty important recruit."
Reeves' decision also will be interesting because it's Hoke vs. new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer. They will be going head-to-head over many recruits for the foreseeable future.
"Urban and his staff have done a great job as well," Trieu said. "It's going to be a fun year to watch those two go at it. That's how it's supposed to be — Michigan vs. Ohio State."
For the most part, the Wolverines' class is filling positions of need, especially in the trenches.
Although Kalis is the five-star prize, the player most likely to contribute immediately is 6-foot-3, 320-pound defensive tackle Ondre Pipkins of Kansas City.
Pipkins lived in Saginaw, Mich., as a young kid. His father, Al, was an assistant coach at Saginaw High. Pipkins has a good relationship with Saginaw natives and former Wolverines such as LaMarr Woodley and Roy Manning, who's a graduate assistant on Hoke's staff.
Pipkins put on an impressive performance at the US Army All-American Game, which convinced many observers that he could go on and become dominant in college.
Michigan is losing both of its starting defensive tackles, Mike Martin and Will Heininger, along with end Ryan Van Bergen.
"You've got a big-bodied guy with a lot of ability, ready to step in," Trieu said of Pipkins. "He can get off the ball and move like a smaller guy. He's going to be a disruptive force for his Michigan career."
Building depth on the offensive line is another point of emphasis for the Wolverines. Hoke said he'd never seen a program like Michigan with as few offensive linemen on scholarship as his team had available last season.
Hoke lost a commitment from Caleb Stacey, a Cincinnati native who decided to stay home and play for the hometown Bearcats. But there are five other offensive linemen still committed, including Kalis and four-star prospects Erik Magnuson (Encinitas, Calif.) and A.J. Williams (Cincinnati).
In reality, this class already exceeds expectations. But if the Wolverines somehow could add Diamond to the offensive line and Reeves to the secondary, it would be a nice finish to add even more momentum for the program.
