Michigan football recruiting: 4-star offensive tackle Evan Link commits

A run of misfortune for Michigan football’s offensive line recruiting is finally over.

The Wolverines scored a commitment Monday from four-star offensive tackle Evan Link from Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C. Link, who is part of the 2023 cycle, was in attendance for the BBQ at the Big House recruiting event over the weekend.

“First and foremost I would like to thank every coach that believed in me and my abilities on the field,” Link wrote in a message on social media. “I can not (sic) express how grateful I am to each and every coach that made the effort to get to know me and my family throughout this process. I would also like to thank all of my friends, family, teachers and high school coaches — without their support and guidance I would not be who I am today. It has been an amazing process but in the end I have to make a decision. Therefore, I am very excited to announce that I decided to commit to the University of Michigan! Go Blue!”

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For Michigan, the addition of Link is critical for a 2023 recruiting class yet to secure a verbal pledge from an offensive tackle. Link, 6 feet 6 and 290 pounds, made an official visit to U-M in mid-June but also visited Penn State and Stanford. He ultimately chose the Wolverines from a list of scholarship offers that included Florida State, Miami, Tennessee and Wisconsin, among others.

With Monday’s news likely came a sigh of relief for co-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, who continues coaching the offensive line. He swung big following a 2021 season in which the Wolverines won the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line in the country but failed to land any of the nation’s top talents at the tackle position. Moore dedicated significant time and resources to five-star Kadyn Proctor (committed to Iowa), five-star Samson Okunlola (Michigan did not make his list of finalists), four-star Charles Jagusah (committed to Notre Dame) and four-star Cayden Green (committed to Oklahoma) only to come up empty.

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Moore's early list of targets were all players ranked in the top- 100 nationally and the top 11 at their position on the 247Sports Composite. Link is rated the No. 27 offensive tackle and the No. 294 prospect overall.

He joins West Bloomfield’s Amir Herring, a four-star prospect who projects at guard or center, as the only offensive line commits in the ’23 class.

Contact Michael Cohen at mcohen@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @Michael_Cohen13.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football: Evan Link, a 4-star OT, commits