It wasn’t great news when Nate Marshall, the top-ranked commitment for Michigan football in the 2025 class, decided to take an official visit to Auburn.

Auburn and Miami have been working hard to flip the 6-foot-4, 265-pound defensive lineman who is ranked 41st overall in the 2025 class according to the 247 Sports composite rankings and fourth among D-lineman. He committed to Michigan football back in April after the spring game.

It was a surprising commitment, to be honest. I was certainly pleased but the Wolverines haven’t landed many top-100 commitments over the past two cycles, due to their NIL approach, and defensive line recruits generally cost a pretty penny.

From Fenwick, Illinois, Marshall is the top-ranked commitment in the class right now, and losing him would sting. Yet, Sherrone Moore said that Michigan football has to be the right fit and if kids are just looking for the guaranteed money, Michigan might not be it.

Yet, if that means missing out on the top talent, Michigan might need to amend that strategy, which is something I’ve said for years. If Ohio State can play for play, why not Michigan?

Auburn trending up to flip Nate Marshall

At any rate, it feels like that could be a factor here. Auburn is putting together some recruiting wins but I’m sure NIL is playing a role in that. Michigan football also can’t really sell the development aspect as much because it has a new D-line coach and a new defensive coordinator.

Wink Martindale will do a stellar job, but he still has to show he can develop dudes for the NFL. The position coaches have to prove that too. I’m confident they can and Joe Esposito has a lot of history to back up his ability to develop players but that might be working against U-M.

Coming out of the visit, Marshall told Jeffrey Lee of Auburn Live, “”It’s Auburn or Michigan. I would say it’s pretty close, especially after this visit.”

That’s not exactly what you want to hear and it feels like if Michigan football wants to hold his commitment, the Wolverines will have to find a way to get momentum back in their favor.