Florida 41, Michigan 15

[iam416]

STFU. They also have offers out to a number of kids who will be UAT commits like Kayvon and Ish and basically every other uncommitted 5* that will join the Death Star. So, the 16/23 number will go up.

[Jeff Buchanan]

You and talent know recruiting better than I do. But those numbers - 301 and 10/11 rankings - by themselves, as is usually the case with one number in isolation, are insufficient. I don't think they tell the whole story. Are they all commitable offers or is Harbaugh just casting a wide net and seeing what turns up?
Recruiting is a 2 year process. Sometimes longer than that. It takes a while to actually evaluate a guy's skills and his character. There's a weeding out process on both sides. Recruiting games to be played on both sides unfortunately.

I do think you are correct about recruits being attracted to winning, coaching stability,putting guys in the NFL and so forth. Lack of those things is destabilizing to recruiting. No question. M is winning under Harbaugh, there is coaching stability, M puts guys in the NFL but it's losses are spectacular in their impact and would seem to point to an inability of M to compete on an elite level. At least that's my perception. But that's not the complete story.

IMO, Michigan loses out on impact players - most of these are college ready when they sign and go on to start their freshman seasons and by the time they enter their 2nd seasons, they are difference makers. Elite programs are loaded with these types; they're on the two deep. I can't prove this with data but it seems to me, regardless of the number of offers, these types go elsewhere. What we don't know is that during the recruiting process does an early promising relationship cool due to discovery of character or fit issues? My view is that there is a good possibility this is the case. JMO, YMMV...... but I do know Michigan, the impact of hubris on everything that is a part of it, including football, and the things I'm talking about that influence football player selection to the football team.

[froot loops]

Harbaugh is a quirky guy, I haven't read much on his recruiting approach at Michigan but what I read about him with Stanford was it was kind of out there. I'm not sure he is the most dogged recruiter in the way I'm sure a guy like Meyer or Saban is. Harbaugh puts guys in the NFL but not like Saban does. I view recruiting as pure hustle, you have to really work at it, if you are going to recruit in the way where you are competing and being successful with the top programs you are going to have to double up the efforts.

[hack]

IMO, Michigan loses out on impact players - most of these are college ready when they sign and go on to start their freshman seasons and by the time they enter their 2nd seasons, they are difference makers

Well, I don't know about that. Peppers was a differencemaker. DPJ was this year, though they didn't ask very much of him in comparison with what he could provide. But there is a trend of putting the best athletes on defense. I wonder how things might have been if Peppers was made an RB and not a DB. I bet that would have translated into another win or two plus a higher draft ranking for Peppers.

[WM Wolverine]

Peppers was where he belonged, M just needed a running back that could make plays.

[WM Wolverine]

Yup, recruiting both has been an issue for too long.

[hack]

Peppers was also a running back who could make plays. He also was a back-7 guy who could make plays, but on offense he would have stood out as a difference-maker. On defense he was one of many difference makers. With that hellacious '16 defensive line, it's clear to me with the luxury of hindsight that putting all the playmakers on one side of the ball wasn't smart. Where you had the choice -- and with Peppers you did -- you could have found some balance there.

[WM Wolverine]

Yeah, but what was best for Peppers career? He was a deserving AA viper, if M has a very good RB, there isn't a need for him on offense to make plays.

[hack]

But we didn't have a very good RB, and there was a need for playmakers on offense.

Peppers draft position and his perception as a back-7 tweener suggest RB would have been best for him as well as best for the team.

[Hannibal]

Agreed Peppers should have been on offense. Hudson has shown that you don't need to be a generational athlete like Peppers was to be an effective viper.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think we're going to see a base 4-3-4 defense and a lot of zone from Brown v. UF. First because, yep, osu. Second because Bush and Gary are gone - while Gary was not as much of a factor as we might have thought he would be, Bush was dominant in Brown's more aggressive 3 man fronts that invited teams to run. When they did, the ball carriers got stuffed. Not having Aubrey Solomon playing may or may not be a factor. I don't think it will be. The writing was on his blackboard.

I would expect Mullen to attack Brown's scheme/player weaknesses (Brandon Watson, Metellus and whoever else shows up at the S position) with a bunch of short zone passes and Brown will try to mitigate that with more coverage in the short zone. Florida will run the ball well against M's weak interior DL with more zone behind it. They'll get the edge more often than not with Bush out.

I don't think Harbaugh and Hamilton will change jack shit on offense. There will be the usual 60/40 run/pass split, a UF defense that will counter with at least 8 guys in the box on standard downs and I doubt you'll see Patterson (or Hamilton allowing it) changing plays to take advantage of that when it occurs. Nor will you see variation in the offensive game plan based on what Mullen puts out there. Harbaugh will attempt to dictate the flow of the game with a pounding running game that will average < 4 ypc agasint a pretty good UF D no matter what the Gators do, how many points they score or what the score differential is.

Yes, there's a pattern in 2018 and it was obvious v. osu. It's not great unless, like, it works. It clearly didn't against good teams, e.g., ND and osu, and I'm not confident it will work v. UF.

38-27, Florida.

[hack]

You've actually succeeded in making me interested. One wonders what if anything different we'll see.

[Hannibal]

I'm thinking blowout win for Florida, or at least a comfortable one. I'm going with 37-17. But it could be an even bigger embarrassment if the team quits like they did the last time that we played against Dan Mullen. Everyone with NFL potential is rumored to be sitting out. Gary and Bush have already announced and Solomon is gone. Hill and Long probably aren't going to play. Higdon is likely out too but I don't think that's a huge loss. Black isn't happy so it wouldn't surprise me if we hear about him transferring too. 62-39 is starting to make a lot more sense.

[hack]

Higdon's out. He's presumably a guy who could help his draft position, right? There's just too many guys jumping ship now to imagine there isn't something unifying at least some of them. Seems like a divided lockerroom to me. Again, may be something that transcends The Game, or it may be just that futility is too hard to deal with. Yet another class leaving without a win. It's got to be taking a toll.

[WM Wolverine]

Don't want to play in the bowl game? You don't get to go to the bowl festivities.