BOOOOOM! The Michigan Wolverines beat Notre Dame for the second day in a row on the recruiting trail, getting the commitment of 2026 three-star DL Alister Vallejo! STORY:
Defensive line coach Lou Esposito just landed his second commitment in as many days, as 2026 three-star Alister Vallejo announced his pledge to the Michigan Wolverines on Tuesday evening. Michigan beat out Vallejo’s other two finalists, Notre Dame and Kansas.
BREAKING: Class of 2026 DL Alister Vallejo has Committed to Michigan, he tells me for @on3recruits
The 6’3 310 DL from Liberty Hill, TX chose the Wolverines over Kansas & Notre Dame
“Michigan felt like home. I’m all in—Go Blue!”https://t.co/jvTgfxR5gu pic.twitter.com/YjguBE1SW2
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) June 10, 2025
Just yesterday, Michigan also landed four-star edge rusher McHale Blade , who also chose Michigan over Notre Dame and a slew of other offers.
Listed at 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds, Vallejo plays football at Liberty Hill High School in the state of Texas. He was a late-riser, getting his offer from Michigan back in April when he was on campus for an unofficial visit.
“Before we left had breakfast and coach Esposito brought me and my parents into his office and talked ball and scheduling stuff and then he offered me,” Vallejo told The Michigan Insider’s Brice Marich at the time ($). “I was just happy and was a bit unexpected. He says I could be a very versatile piece in their system.”
A versatile piece, indeed, as 247Sports’ Gabe Brooks detailed in his scouting report of Vallejo back in April:
Verifiably big with requisite frame to survive and potentially thrive in the trenches at the high-major level. Checks multi-sport box with encouraging shot put data. Excellent production for an interior D-line projection with 18 sacks, 26 hurries, 5 kick blocks across past two seasons (sophomore-junior). Serious forward juice with impressive linear closing speed relative to mass. Shows promising redirecting ability. Moves around with some role flexibility in a primarily odd front. Big/strong enough to back up traffic, athletic enough to penetrate and make plays on the ball. Can get caught flat-footed. Still room to improve balance and body control i.e. eliminating wasted motion upon disengagement and pursuit initiation. Potentially scheme-versatile iDL with dominant high school tape against solid comp. Projects as a quality high-major D-line piece who could develop into an NFL Draft candidate down the road.
As a junior last season, Vallejo recorded 51 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 16 quarterback hurries and seven sacks. And of the five kick blocks he compiled over the last two years, four of them occurred last year alone.
Vallejo is the third commitment along the defensive line and the ninth total pledge in the Wolverines’ 2026 class.
Vallejo is the No. 48 defensive lineman, No. 62 player from Texas and No. 443 overall prospect on the 247Sports composite. Check out his best highlights from his junior year in the video player below.