Michigan football's success over the past three seasons has been built in the trenches, and the Wolverines have continued to reinforce their lines of scrimmage in the 2025 recruiting class.
Back on May 3, new U-M offensive line coach Grant Newsome landed his first verbal commitment since switching from tight ends coach when four-star Franklin (Mich.) Wylie E. Groves offensive lineman Avery Gach gave his pledge to the Wolverines. Michigan beat both of it's biggest rivals, Ohio State and Michigan State, in the battle for the 6-foot-5, 290-pounder. Wisconsin was also included in Gach's final four schools.
The moment 4⭐️ OT Avery Gach made it official! He's committed to @UMichFootball 〽️
— 247Sports (@247Sports) May 3, 2024
"GO BLUE BABY, LET'S GO!" -- @AveryGach pic.twitter.com/Lx0eckwqLp
According to 247Sports' Composite rankings, Gach is considered the No. 252 overall prospect, No. 13 interior offensive lineman and No. 2 player from the state of Michigan in the 2025 recruiting class. The Franklin native has garnered a whopping 40 scholarship offers from FBS programs, with the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, Notre Dame, Miami and others involved, along with his final four. Here's what 247Sports' national recruiting analyst Allen Trieu had to say about Gach:
"High school offensive tackle who can be a swing guy at the next level. Tenacious, physical player who goes to the whistle and finishes plays. Shows functional strength and pad level in addition to the pure willingness to want to move defenders off the ball, all making for a dominant run blocker. Still technically coming along in pass set and pass pro. Physicality shows up in his punch there also. Left tackle in high school who may be more suited as a right side option or interior player at the high-major level. Has added good weight and strength and will continue to do so. Is a solid base-level athlete, but can also continue to improve on pure explosiveness and lateral agility. High-floor type prospect who will give a high-major school depth at several positions and should be a dependable multi-year starter at the Power Five level."
Back on June 26, Gach was named the "Offensive Lineman MVP" at Rivals' Five-Star camp.
Gach would later be joined by three-star Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy interior offensive lineman Kaden Strayhorn in Michigan's 2025 recruiting class. The Wolverines have seen several of their offensive line targets commit to other schools this summer, but U-M remains in the thick of the race for arguably their top target: five-star Overland Park (Kan.) Blue Valley Northwest offensive tackle Andrew Babalola, who is also considering Stanford, Oklahoma, Missouri and Auburn.
Currently, Michigan has 16 high school prospects committed to their 2025 recruiting class, which ranked No. 12 in the country and No. 3 in the Big Ten behind only Ohio State and Oregon. The Wolverines' average player rating of 91.63 is the eight-best mark in the nation.
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