COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Michigan has found the second five-star quarterback of the Jim Harbaugh era by landing Jadyn Davis and now it’s in a position to say something to Ohio State it hasn’t said in 17 years.
The nation’s No. 28 player and No. 4 quarterback became the third five-star field general to come off the board in the 2024 class. He chose the Wolverines from of a top five also including the Buckeyes, Clemson, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Davis’ decision mixed with Julian Sayin’s (No. 12, No. 2 QB) unwillingness to even think about backing off his Alabama commitment, and Dylan Raiola (No. 1, No. 1 QB) deciding Columbus was no longer his future home, gives the Wolverines a recruiting edge right now.
They can turn to their rival with a two-game winning streak and say: “We have a five-star quarterback and you don’t.”
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That’s happened two other times since the 247Sports.com composite rankings became a concept at the turn of the century.
Michigan landed Chad Henne inas the No. 18 player and No. 3 pro-style quarterback in 2004. OSU drew a blank that same year.
Michigan got Ryan Mallett as the No. 5 player and No. 2 pro-style quarterback in 2007. Again, OSU got no one.
Now the Wolverines have Davis in a cycle that should have been more like the 2021 class, when both sides walked away with five-stars quarterbacks for the first time with J.J. McCarthy (No. 25, No. 5 QB) and Kyle McCord (No. 28, No. 8 QB).
(Plus there was the added-in variable of 2022′s top quarterback and player Quinn Ewers later reclassifying to 2021 just weeks before fall camp started, then spending a fall at Ohio State and not playing before he transferred to Texas.)
For now, that’s not on the table with Raiola as the only undecided five-star still on the board, though someone could also claim that status later down the road.
Ohio State isn’t striking out on quarterback prospects this year and it’ll be a while until that’s something to be genuinely concerned about. Depending on what happens with four-star Air Noland (No. 84, No. 8 QB) on his visit this week, the Buckeyes could quickly respond by locking in on their quarterback as well.
Davis’ decision once again represents what’s necessary to compete in the soon-evolving Big Ten and keep up with Ohio State, which will continue to recruit and develop NFL-level quarterbacks:
• USC and UCLA will join the Big Ten next summer looking to do the same, bringing 2023′s Dante Moore (No. 5, No. 3 QB) and Malachi Nelson (No. 12, No. 5 QB) with them;
• Notre Dame got in on the quarterback hunt by stealing Michigan’s legacy C.J. Carr (No. 40, No. 5 QB) last summer;
• The Wolverines first found McCarthy, who also came with a built-in disdain for OSU and now follows up with Davis three years later;
• Nebraska is doing everything it can to sell Raiola on playing for the same program his family once played for, but has to fight off reigning national champion Georgia and the Trojans to do it.
There’s a chance that three of the nation’s top five quarterbacks could end up at Big Ten schools. That would be a first.
This is the new Big Ten and it has the Buckeyes to thank for how it got here. The conference is gradually turning into a hotbed for elite quarterback talents. Davis is just the latest.
To see Ohio State’s full 2024 recruiting class, click here.