Michigan beats Tennessee, Alabama for three-star tight end Eli Owens

Anytime you can pull a high school prospect out of an SEC state when that kid has an offer from the in-state school, it’s an impressive feat.

That’s exactly what Michigan football did early this year with three-star Alcoa (Tenn.) tight end Eli Owens, who committed to the Wolverines way back on Jan. 4 among a ‘Top Nine’ which also included Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Cincinnati and South Florida. Owens was the third high school prospect to commit to Michigan in the 2025 recruiting class.

At 6-foot-2 and 243 pounds, Owens is considered the No. 451 overall prospect, No. 23 tight end and No. 15 player from the state of Tennessee in this current cycle, according to 247Sports Composite rankings. He was primarily recruited to Michigan by assistant coach Grant Newsome, who served as the Wolverines’ tight end coach for the past two seasons but has since been moved to offensive line by head coach Sherrone Moore. This offseason, Moore hired Massachusetts offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Steve Casula to coach the U-M’s tight end room in 2024.

Casula added to Michigan’s tight end haul in the 2025 recruiting class by landing a commitment from high four-star Center Valley (Pa.) Southern Lehigh standout Andrew Olesh, who gave his pledge to the Wolverines on July 8. It’s unlikely that U-M will add another tight end in this recruiting cycle, but the coaching staff must be thrilled to have both Owens and Olesh in the fold.

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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