Ranking the 10-most underrated Michigan football players of the past decade
Michigan football has had some elite players who have come through the program under former head coach Jim Harbaugh, but not all have come to Ann Arbor with the expectations that they would be elite.
Harbaugh and his staff did an excellent job of identifying and developing talent throughout the years, and many players who have become Wolverines have significantly outplayed their recruiting rankings. With that in mind, we’re taking a look at the players we’ve deemed to be the best at exceeding expectations once they arrived on campus, ranking the top 10 who have thrived once they put on a winged helmet.
CB Mike Sainristil
Original ranking: No. 589
Star-rating: 3-star
Sainristil may be on the Michigan football Mt. Rushmore given everything he did for the Wolverines. A team captain, vocal leader, tone-setter, and playmaker, he was the complete package, despite being a three-star. He came to Ann Arbor as a wide receiver but switched to nickel back in 2022 and thrived. It’s difficult to pick one big play that stands out the most — from his pass breakup on Ohio State TE Cade Stover in 2022 to his game-sealing interception against Washington in the national championship game, it always seemed as if he wouldn’t just make big plays, they were particularly timely.
Impressive that he could go down as one of the best Wolverines of all time considering the lack of hype he came in with after flipping from Virginia Tech late in the 2019 cycle.
RG Zak Zinter
Original ranking: No. 265
Star-rating: 3/4-star
It’s hard to believe that Zinter was a three-star in 247Sports’ proprietary rankings (he was a four-star in the 247Sports Composite). Perhaps the best interior lineman Michigan has had, despite the long line of great linemen who have come through Ann Arbor, Zinter was lauded by the coaching staff back in 2021 as maybe the best player on what ended up being a talented offense. A team captain, Zinter was the heartbeat of the offense, and that was evident when he went down in the 2023 Ohio State game when Blake Corum flashed his number after scoring the go-ahead touchdown.
RB Hassan Haskins
Original ranking: No. 975
Star-rating: 3-star
Haskins had a quiet recruitment as Michigan football staffers worked to keep the back under wraps, and the Wolverines managed to secure him — and switched him to linebacker. After spending much of his freshman year on defense, Haskins switched back to offense and thrived, becoming the best back in a loaded backfield. He ended up outplaying stars such as Zach Charbonnet, Chris Evans, and even Blake Corum. And when Corum went down with injury in 2021, Haskins carried the load — quite literally. His five-touchdown performance against Ohio State will forever cement him legend status in Ann Arbor.
EDGE Kwity Paye
Original ranking: No. 481
Star-rating: 3-star
A Don Brown special from New England, many Michigan football fans loudly complained when Paye’s commitment was accepted by the staff. Oh, how wrong they were. It didn’t take long for the freakish athlete to find his way off the edge, which led to him being a first-round NFL draft pick in 2021. Far outperforming his ranking, Paye was one of the best pass rushers to come through Ann Arbor, which is saying something.
WR Ronnie Bell
Original ranking: No. 1,473
Star-rating: 3-star
Michigan football fans were in full meltdown when the Wolverines accepted Ronnie Bell’s commitment just before early signing day in 2018, but the former basketball star (who only had an offer from the maize and blue on the gridiron) ended up outplaying the cadre of four-and-five-star receivers who were already on campus when he arrived. With a penchant for getting open and stretching the field (especially on third downs), Bell became reliable, and almost like a tight end in his ability to be a checkdown for quarterbacks under duress. He was paid off handsomely for his efforts in college by being selected by the 49ers in the 2023 NFL draft.
LB Michael Barrett
Original ranking: No. 751
Star-rating: 3-star
A quarterback in high school, it wasn’t quite clear what Barrett’s role would be when he arrived on campus. Eventually planned to be the VIPER for Don Brown, there were mixed reviews once he took over that role. But when Michigan needed more versatility at linebacker after losing to rival MSU in 2021, Barrett was the answer it needed, and his trajectory moved strongly upward once he started seeing the field regularly.
In the past two years, Barrett not only became a solid linebacker, he was one of the best players on the field. He earned team captaincy and became an indispensable part of the defense. Quite the upward mobility for a player who came to Ann Arbor without a position.
All three Glasgow brothers
Original ranking: None of the three were ranked
Star-rating: 0-stars
Yes, we’re cheating here, but all three deserve the same consideration. Center Graham Glasgow (who is still playing in the NFL with the Detroit Lions), defensive tackle Ryan Glasgow, and linebacker Jordan Glasgow all went from 0-stars with walk-on offers in Ann Arbor to being starters on scholarship who ended up being drafted into the NFL. All three were legends in their own rights and each had a turn of being a star player at their position. Graham was the best offensive lineman Michigan had at the time; Ryan was the best defensive tackle Michigan had at the time; Jordan was a special teams star who flourished and became one of the most reliable defensive players when he bloomed from safety to linebacker.
They’re not talked about much now that their college days are all far in the rearview, but all three faced really insurmountable odds and ended up thriving.
S Josh Metellus
Original ranking: No. 719
Star-rating: 3-star
A two-star at the time of his commitment, Michigan securing Metellus seemed more like a package deal to get his sought-after high school teammate Devin Bush Jr. However, Metellus became a big-time player in his own right.
Though many Michigan fans, to this day, still discuss his dropped interception against Ohio State in 2017, Metellus was a great player for the Wolverines, starting for three years at safety and blossoming into an NFL player in the process. He’s now a starter for the Minnesota Vikings, where he’s also a team captain.
C Andrew Vastardis
Original ranking: No. 2,935
Star-rating: 2-star
From walk-on to two-year starter and team captain, it doesn’t get much better than Andrew Vastardis’ ascension. Though he had a little bit of a tough go due to injury in 2020, he became the heart of the offensive line in 2021 — the best unit on the field for the Wolverines that year, to be sure. He helped lead his unit to the first of two Joe Moore Awards and was a road grader at the center position. Perhaps because he didn’t pursue a pro career following his tenure as a Wolverine, Vastardis doesn’t get talked about enough. But he made the best of his situation and came out not only with a scholarship, but being a key component of the first team to beat Ohio State in a decade and win a Big Ten Championship in nearly two decades.
CBs Vincent Gray and Gemon Green
Original ranking: No. 700 and 382, respectively
Star-rating: 3-stars
One of two times we’re cheating on this list, the Michigan cornerback duo in 2020-21 had some terrible times before they had great times.
The Michigan staff was always high on Gray, but like his counterpart in Green, he struggled once he was thrust into a starting position in 2020. But in 2021, both players suddenly improved greatly, and both did a solid job throughout the year. Gray got more play in 2021 with Green missing time at the end of the year with injury, and the former did particularly well having to guard the Ohio State wide receiver trio of Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Green stuck around for another year and played well opposite DJ Turner (before he was sidelined midyear with another injury), but these two underrated multiple-year starters at defensive back really showed why you can’t stargaze too much at recruiting rankings.
