Week in Review

Let's take a look at how the last week has gone:

-Joshua Garnett (OL) chose Stanford over Michigan. Not a terrible surprise because many thought he would stay on the west coast and Stanford is at least Michigan's equal academically. The only edge that Michigan had was its football history.
- Alex Kozan (OL) chose Iowa over Michigan. I think this surprised a lot of people considering he was projected as a center and would have fit in nicely with this class, especially considering the Caleb Stacey de-commit.
- Sam Grant (TE) chose Oklahoma over Michigan. Again, this was another surprise considering OU already has three TE's in this class and he would have had the chance to contribute at Michigan immediately.
-Armani Reeves- (CB) chose Nuts over Michigan. This one hurt especially hard considering the loss was to the Nuts. It was not unexpected because of his close ties with his HS teammate Williams. Still, this one hurt a lot.
-Caleb Stacey (OL) chose Cincy over Michigan. I know I am stretching the definition of a week but I think this news hurts worse now that Kozan and Garnett have spurned us.
-Hoke wins coach of the year award. Pretty sure he would trade that award for a different outcome the last week on the recruiting trail.

Anyone know who we have targeted other than Diamond?

All in all, it is tough to complain about the class that Hoke & Co. are bringing in but the last week sure was a momentum killer. With only a couple of days to NSD, it will be tough to pull out any upside surprises.

I think this is a much better summary of this past week. 

but to answer your question we are also targeting Muller and Henry and possibly Gibbs...

It's definitely been rough, it was pretty clear there were 5 targets the staff was really focusing on finishing up with...Garnett, Reeves, Kozan, Grant and Diamond.

Garnett was tough to swallow but shouldn't have been...it seems as though UM won him over in every aspect except distance, which, what can you do about that. I was always said it would be tough to get him off the west coast.

Reeves definitely hurts, before he committed to PSU it was down to the lions and UM. So when his recruitment opened up and UM showed interest I think a lot of people rightfully assumed UM was in the drivers seat. Meyer flew in late to the party but thanks in large part to pulling his teammate, was able to reel in reeves as well.

Kozan...I never really though this was a possibility, UM came in late to the game on this one.

Grant...this shocked me, it would be one thing to say "we came late to the game" but Oklahoma came in even later than UM did, and has more competition on the roster and coming in this year. Not to mention his teammate, Kalis, is coming to UM.

Bringing in Diamond would be huge. Muller (former RU commit now on the fence) would be a great late snag. 3* DT Willie Henry is new target as well.

It's a tough way to close out the class just because it began with so much promise.

There is something that happened in our recruitment of Grant that pissed him off... something about his offer being pulled earlier or something along those lines...  in any event, I think that Hoke made some big mistakes regarding recruitment of several players this year and a couple last year.  This will be a good class, but the reason it won't be a full class is on Hoke.

I am not sure Muller is a realistic possibility, especially if the reports about Cristobal are true. Muller came for his visit, I think, last summer and has virtually no contact until recently. Stranger things have happened but I view this as unlikely. As for Henry, I know very little about him other than the limited number of offers he has. DT is a position of need but no one seems excited about him. Gibbs only gets an offer him Diamond goes elsewhere. Seems like a pretty heady kid, though.

There is something that happened in our recruitment of Grant that pissed him off... something about his offer being pulled earlier or something along those lines...  in any event, I think that Hoke made some big mistakes regarding recruitment of several players this year and a couple last year.  This will be a good class, but the reason it won't be a full class is on Hoke.

Agreed. I think it was a product of the early success. Michigan put a lot of kids on hold and then couldn't rekindle the fire. For me, the one kid that makes this class a success is Kalis. If he would have flipped back to the Nuts this class would have been considered average. The thing we have going for us is that Hoke & Co. are really good coaches and the team should be better this year, even if the record doesn't reflect it.

I think it was a product of the early success.

He did the same thing to Lucien... the kid wanted to go blue but as a WR instead of DB... Hoke said DB or nothing... Lucien didn't commit... now look at our WR situation...

by the way, I think Henry committed...

Overall, this is a very good class. It will help to add some key depth / quality to positions like oline, dline, linebackers and safeties. The pickups of Kalis and Pipkins are what makes this a top 10 class.

It will be interesting to see what next year brings, since we will really need to add some talent to our offence. Starting with a potential 5 star qb, is a great start, but we will need some high end talent at running back, wide receiver and in our secondary.

I think we can clearly state that Hoke understands the game is won in the trenches, and we will never leave our oline and dline in the type of mess that RichRod did.

by the way, I think Henry committed...

..and the crowd goes wild!!!! (yawn)

Maybe it was just me, but when Hoke was first hired I figured it would take a couple winning seasons before UM brought in a top 10 class, a relatively unknown coach with a program coming off three years of the RR era doesn't exactly scream top 10 class. Things may not have closed the way we thought but this is still one hell of a class that exceeds expectations.

Maybe it was just me, but when Hoke was first hired I figured it would take a couple winning seasons before UM brought in a top 10 class, a relatively unknown coach with a program coming off three years of the RR era doesn't exactly scream top 10 class. Things may not have closed the way we thought but this is still one hell of a class that exceeds expectations.

Agreed, But I didn't expect to go to the Sugar Bowl and win. After that, You would think recruits would be lining up....Nope, just got quite. That's why I'm disappointed......

This is where the problem is in my mind.....Apparently winning doesn't bring in the best recruits all the time. We have a fine class but it wasn't the 11-2 record or Sugar Bowl that gave it to us......So what did? Find that out and cultivate it.


Most of our High end talent happened before the season stats were done......Seems more like OSU and PSU problems caused us to get some recruits, When OSU stabalized itself with Meyer, Most flocked back.

I think Hoke is going to have a hard time getting the best to UM.....Pretty simple....Look at UofM class before Meyer, Look at it afterwards......Not happy one bit.....

..and the crowd goes wild!!!! (yawn)

apparently he has a upside... I read somewhere that he runs a 4.7 at 280 lb... if that is anywhere close to being true, that is insane...

apparently he has a upside... I read somewhere that he runs a 4.7 at 280 lb... if that is anywhere close to being true, that is insane...

...and apparently he gets confused easily. Reports are that his HS coach was mistaken and Henry has not officially committed yet, not that anything is official til Wednesday.

Agreed, But I didn't expect to go to the Sugar Bowl and win. After that, You would think recruits would be lining up....Nope, just got quite. That's why I'm disappointed......

This is where the problem is in my mind.....Apparently winning doesn't bring in the best recruits all the time. We have a fine class but it wasn't the 11-2 record or Sugar Bowl that gave it to us......So what did? Find that out and cultivate it.


Most of our High end talent happened before the season stats were done......Seems more like OSU and PSU problems caused us to get some recruits, When OSU stabalized itself with Meyer, Most flocked back.

I think Hoke is going to have a hard time getting the best to UM.....Pretty simple....Look at UofM class before Meyer, Look at it afterwards......Not happy one bit.....

I never followed recruiting.  Still don't.  In years past, once the season was done, I was pretty much off the boards until mid-summerish (until year two of the RR debacle that is).    Crazy thing about that is, whether or not I followed recruiting, it didn't impact the season for me.   Other than maybe influencing expectations.  

Though, after a 3-9 season that came completely out of the blue for everyone, it kind of led one to look at recruiting/spring ball a little closer to maybe understand what the heck happened.


RR was hired in Dec 2007, seemingly out of the blue.  I mean the candidates were Miles, Ferentz (rumored whether true or not) Schiano then out of the blue RR.  Seems like the day he was announced, Manningham and Avant declared ( I know it was after that, but that's how it seemed).   Remember that laste Dec/early Jan?  Seemed like Michigan was gut shot.   But, all of a suuden, it seemed like RR salvaged a decent class.    Was actually hailed for this stroke of brilliance/ability.   Moving on...


It seems to me Michigan always had top 20 recruiting classes.  Whether true or not, that is how it always seemed to me.    We were always good enough to compete for a conference championship, but that was about it.  When matched up against the best of the rest of CFB... Well, the numbers speak for themselves.


It seems to me Jalopy you want to get back to that.  While a conference championship is nice, it really doesn't mean much when you get beat by another Conference Champ on a regular basis (not just a knock on Michigan but the Big in general).


If you recruit to win a NC, then a conference championship will take care of itself.  Bama plays Big Ten Football in the SEC.  The glaring difference is they recruit to win NC's instead of conference championships. 

But I digress...

Not claiming to be an expert, but even going into this last week we were always going to be the upset pick for Armani.  He followed his friend (brother).  I care less than what his coach, god father, etc said.  His actions spoke louder than any of those people's opinions.    If the reason he went to PSU was true, then his decision to stay or go should have been his.  However, considering the fact he followed Cam..

Maybe it was just me, but when Hoke was first hired I figured it would take a couple winning seasons before UM brought in a top 10 class, a relatively unknown coach with a program coming off three years of the RR era doesn't exactly scream top 10 class. Things may not have closed the way we thought but this is still one hell of a class that exceeds expectations.

This.... Well said Hail. 

Reports are that his HS coach was mistaken and Henry has not officially committed yet, not that anything is official til Wednesday.

word is that he will commit officially today... his coach jumped the gun yesterday and scout reported it... let me put it to you this way, I would be shocked if he doesn't commit to Michigan, and I don't throw those words around often

Chief,
It is amazing to me that lots of Michigan fans do not follow recruiting, although it is painful chasing around 17-18 year old kids who constantly change their mind.

The reason I follow recruiting is that it is such an integral part of how your team will perform. The RichRod years proved what it is like to not have depth or enough talent on the roster. As nice as it is to have a freshman who contributes, it mostly shows that you do not not have much depth. The programs that are elite and contending for NC's, have talented kids who redshirt, and learn the positions over a couple of years so that they are ready to contribute when their turn comes up.

Hoke and Mattison proved this year that they are great coaches, they managed to win games when our roster had many holes. I have alot of faith in them to coach up the kids and put them in positions to succeed. Their jobs get much easier if they can recruit well and bring in talented kids.

Chief,
It is amazing to me that lots of Michigan fans do not follow recruiting, although it is painful chasing around 17-18 year old kids who constantly change their mind.

I think that the correlation between a highly rated recruiting class and a good football team is surprisingly low. Couple that with the fact that the "name" programs get the benefit of the doubt when the major recruiting sites come out with their assessments and it becomes even less useful to get excited about recruiting ratings. It is why coaches at the college level need to do just what their job title implies, coach. Most of the incoming kids to a place like Michigan don't believe it but their success, or lack thereof, is based on the ability of their coaching staff to get the most out of them and keep their focus where it belongs.

Muller reaffirms to Rutgers, so we won't be getting him either...  I think 2 possible names left - Diamond and Gibbs... we'll see if there are signing day surprises.

""recruiting sites come out with their assessments and it becomes even less useful to get excited about recruiting ratings.""

A couple thoughts here...


1st, Rankings vary considerably among the services...  Ie, last time I looked, Kalis was #22 on Rivals top 100,  but only 132 on ESPN's top 150.   Lemming had Magnuson rated above Kalis, the other 3 services I looked at didn't.  There's a tremendous amount of subjectivity in those rankings. Rankings are interesting, but not the be-all end-all.   


2nd,  You hit the nail on the head about having to coach 'em up.  But Switzer, in his book, put all his success on his ability to out recruit his opposition and bring gifted athletes to Norman.  Not that he downplayed his coaching staff's ability, but he flat-out put his success on the talent.  I recall Bo one time commenting on Peay (sp?) at NorthWestern doing a great job of coaching, and that if Peay ever got some talent, it'd be a whole different ball game. 


You gotta have some talent to compete, but you also gotta be able to coach that talent.     Its unwise to downplay either aspect of the partnership of talent w/ coaching.