Michigan signed the bulk of its 2026 class on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period, but had to wait until Thursday morning to have five-star running back Savion Hiter officially join the team.

Hiter, the nation’s top-ranked running back and No. 8 overall prospect, according to the 247Sports Composite, reportedly held up signing with the Wolverines while some contract details were refined. Michigan had signed a class of 26 players by Thursday afternoon.

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, speaking with Jon Jansen on the “In the Trenches” podcast released Thursday, described how signing day has changed in the revenue sharing/NIL landscape and why sometimes players delay signing and others make last-minute decisions to go elsewhere.

“It’s part of the process,” Moore said on the podcast. “It used to be, you’re just waiting for the faxes to come in, and if a guy made a decision, you kind of knew that he was switching or not. Now it’s, you really don’t know, because schools can call in and they can offer another number, and they can offer a big number, and sometimes you can’t deal with it, sometimes you can’t fight it.

“And you want as much as they can to come to Michigan, because it’s Michigan. But the reality of the business is it’s different. Now, it’s a business, and there’s a lot of pieces to it, so we got to do as much as we can to keep the guys that we want and that we need here.”

Moore, who has not yet met with local media about the early signing period, which ends Friday, told Jansen he’s pleased this class fills needs and that Michigan will dig into the portal to help the team next season. Michigan finished 9-3 this season and is awaiting it’s bowl destination.

“This is going to be the second top-15 (class). Last year was a top-10 class,” Moore said, referencing the 2025 class that featured No. 1 recruit, quarterback Bryce Underwood. “It’s going to be maybe a top-10 class as we finish it out.

The Wolverines currently are ranked No. 11 nationally by 247Sports.

“Really started up front. We built it inside out. We brought in five or six linemen on each side of the ball and feel really good about all of them,” Moore said. “Feel like they’re all going to be physically mature. Some going to be ready faster than others. From the edge positions, linebacker position, the big skill guys, the tight ends, feel like we got some guys that can really impact us. And then the skill guys feel like we got some electric guys on the outside, on the inside, pieces and a quarterback that can help us win.”

Other highlights from the Moore interview on “In the Trenches”:

On what Hiter brings to Michigan: “I don’t want to put too much on him to start. I want him to be him. But he’s electric. He had a six-game highlight film, and he had 55 carries for 1,110 yards, with, like, 15 touchdowns. He averaged 20 yards a carry. It’s like a video game. He’s an elite specimen physically, a great human being. I imagine he’s gonna be immediate impact for us.”

On late add Brady Marchese, a four-star receiver Michigan flipped from Georgia and signed Thursday: “Dynamic playmaker who we’ve recruited for a while, was committed elsewhere, and in the last hours of recruiting, that’s how it is, right? You’re always working. You always continue to find ways to change the roster. And really needed a guy that could affect us in the slot, but also in the return game and different pieces. Explosive. Great ball skills.”

On edge Carter Meadows, the Wolverines’ highest-rated recruit overall (No. 6) and UM’s second of two five-stars in the class: “He is explosive, he’s physical, he has raw ability, stuff you can’t teach. Obviously, with his length and size (6-6, 225), he’s just going to continue to get bigger and better.”

On adding five offensive linemen and six defensive linemen: “On the offensive line, we were so young but still brought in guys to build off of that youth. On D-line, we’re going to lose four inside guys, so we had to make sure we filled those voids, and continue to fill those voids as we still go through the portal.”

On Alister Vallejo and Titan Davis, four-star defensive linemen: “Titan’s got high upside, very similar to (former Wolverine) Kris Jenkins in personality and in build and size (6-5, 270) and physicality. Played more edge in high school. Going to probably slide inside to a three-technique, or four high when we play our odd packages, but a physical kid that can play multiple spots. (Vallejo), similar play style, ability to (former Wolverine) Mason Graham. Whether he projects to be a first-rounder like Mason Graham, that’s a whole different story. But I mean, mannerisms, how he walks, how he comes off the football, his hands, his fundamentals, his technique plays like Mason, so that was super intriguing, and had high production this year.”

On Jordan Deck, a four-star safety: “Very cerebral player loves football, loves competition, studies the game at a high level, has a high football IQ. I remember being in the office with him and asking him, what does he want to work on. He talked about tackling and showing me tackling form of how good he wanted to be and how good he wanted to tackle his ball skills.”

On quarterbacks Tommy Carr and Brady Smigiel (Smigiel’s senior season ended early because of injury): “The family’s pretty scared. The family thinks at that point we’re going to drop the kid, that we’re not going to abide by the scholarship. Where there are some schools that will do that, we are not one of those. So once you commit to us, we’re committed to you. And you know, that conversation went pretty smoothly in the fact that they were very relieved. You still got everything we’ve we’ve talked about, and we’ll keep that bond the same. … Tommy had a great senior year (at Saline). Somebody we’ve had an eye on for a long, long time. Very excited to get a Carr back at Michigan.”