Michigan Football - 2024 Season.

[lineygoblue]

Personally, I want to clean house and start from scratch but that ain’t happening.

Starting with Warde Manuel.

[Mike]

We need to be prepared for the likelihood that these guys are gonna be running the show for a few years, minimum. There won't be much to look forward to until there's a regime change and then they'll have to rebuild what's left of the smoldering crater they inherited.

I said prior to the USC game that would be the last time we're ranked in the Sherrone Moore era. A miraculous comeback against a bad team staved off that fate for a few weeks but now we're here. I feel a sense of holy obligation to watch this week but after that Michigan football will no longer be appointment viewing.

[froot loops]

A big issue with hiring a young guy like Moore is his ability to hire a good staff. I haven't paid close attention to it to see if it is good or bad. I laughed at the Martindale hiring, but it seems to have been ok. The team peaked last year and you lost a lot of good players with no real quarterback, it's hard to keep it going especially if the school isn't prepared to do things other programs are doing with NIL and the portal. If they fired Moore and brought in someone else, would the new guy be able to bring in a ton a transfers or are they going to focus on recruiting? That question is pretty pertinent in this era, especially when you have normally cellar dwelling programs like Indiana doing things like what they did bringing in the JMU coach and players.

[Mike]

Michigan has brought in some good contributors through the portal in recent years and I don't think the NIL situation is nearly as bad as people make it out to be. When it comes to QB though, there are only so many high end guys out there. As Nick Saban has said, guys are in the portal for a reason. Will Howard was one of the big prizes last spring and word is he cost about $2M. I don't know if that's a good model to follow. It's better to recruit and develop your own guys and Michigan should be in a good position with NIL to keep their players from leaving for greener pastures (as seems the case this season).

Ultimately, you need coaches who can coach. The last few years Michigan had an elite staff and when paired with a veteran laden team with high football IQs, the results followed. Minter, in particular, was a wizard. Hard to tell yet if the new staff can recruit. They landed a 5* OT the other day so that's good, at least.

If they fired Moore and brought in someone else, would the new guy be able to bring in a ton of transfers or are they going to focus on recruiting?

If/when a new staff comes in I'd expect them to bring a bunch of transfers because we'll likely have a mass exodus of players as well. Doesn't MSU have like 80 new players this year or some huge number? I still think it's best for a program like Michigan to recruit and develop their own guys and use the portal for depth or to make up for a recruiting miss, not as the primary method of acquiring talent. Michigan is a destination school not a feeder program like a G6 school.

[Cody_Russell]

Let Moore clean up his staff and hit the transfer portal in the offseason. I think he’s smart enough to be aware of the mistakes. He’s young and will learn. Too many examples to mention that can tell you how a poor coaching staff can sink a situation. For example: Dan Campbell needing to fire OC Anthony Lynn in year 1 as Lions head coach.

It’s going to be a rebuild. At the same time, appreciate what you have in winning a championship. It’s something to be grateful of because 90%+ of other fanbases don’t have it. I’m willing to be OK with Sherrone Moore getting some time to figure it out.

Side note: Despite the incompetence on the field, picking up a recruit like this guy is good news and very rare for M:

https://247sports.com/Player/andrew-babalola-46139854/

[lineygoblue]

If you want a nearby example of how a HC is using the portal and getting players to follow him, look no further than Michigan's Basketball HC, Dusty May. He's flying under the radar right now, but he won't be a secret for too long. He's put together a solid team, and one of the remarkable things to notice is looking at the roster, see how many guys from last year's team are not on the team anymore.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I’m willing to be OK with Sherrone Moore getting some time to figure it out.

This is where I am as well. I think a demolition and rebuild is a bad idea. I'll give this season and Sherrone a mulligan. It appears Wink is adapting and has some skills if you give any weight to Seth's UFR Defense, Illinois. The defense is mostly fine (B) with pass coverage getting a C-.

In assessing M's D, one has to account for illinois beginning drives at their own 39, 40, 45, and 49, and Michigan's 38 and 16. Given that, Illinois only scoring 21 points with total yards in the low 300s is pretty good stuff. Two plays gave up close to 50 of that: A QB draw and fake punt. Not being ready for the fake punt was a blitheringly dumb error by ST which also suffered from an inexplicably poor punting game from Doman.

Anyone even those paying only cursory attention to M football knows what the central problem is with team 144.

[froot loops]

If you want a nearby example of how a HC is using the portal and getting players to follow him, look no further than Michigan's Basketball HC, Dusty May. He's flying under the radar right now, but he won't be a secret for too long. He's put together a solid team, and one of the remarkable things to notice is looking at the roster, see how many guys from last year's team are not on the team anymore.

This is why I think you guys will be OK in the long run. The university was forced to adapt in basketball, they will adapt in football.

[Hannibal]

I’m willing to give Sherrone a chance but he’s looking very reminiscent of Brady Hoke right now.

[WM Wolverine]

For better or worse, he'll get year 2. Zero excuse the offense is this bad with Kalel Mullings, Colston Loveland, and Donovan Edwards. No excuse to not get a QB in the transfer portal when you had zero Div I caliber QB's on the roster (Jadyn Davis is a true freshman)... or a competent receiver... Other teams stocked up at QB, receiver, OL while M mostly stood pat. That's mostly on Sherrone who was last years OC with an assist from the incoming OC, Kirk Campbell.

Wink maybe running the same defensive system as Minter and MacDonald but the latter two understand football far more than Wink. Hoping he's a one-and-done and they upgrade there. I've seen minor signs of progress on the defensive side of the ball but I'll wait till we play Sparty to say it's actual progress and not a fluke.

They absolutely must attack the transfer portal this off-season, talent was already thin in key areas and they didn't use it much last year. Talent will get even thinner without Will Johnson, Kenneth Grant, Mason Graham, Colston Loveland, etc graduating to the NFL.

[lineygoblue]

Rumor's floating about that Jack Tuttle is retiring from football.

Props for continuing to try. Best wishes to him.

[jacksonite22]

I’m willing to give Sherrone a chance but he’s looking very reminiscent of Brady Hoke right now.

He's looking like a guy that lost 16 starters, not a guy that inherited a good RichRod team in 2011 and gave everyone false hope out of the gate. Give me a fucking break. There are a ton of snowflakes in here whining like it's the end of the world. Has it been disappointing? Sure. But I'm willing to see what happens. Davis Warren came back and made the most out of his opportunity and the team didn't' fold when they got down early against Sparty. The use of Orji was tactical and precise. The timing of trick plays was perfectly executed. It's taken a while but there has been significant improvement.

[lineygoblue]

Sherrone Moore gets a pass for this season, and probably next season, considering how much his predecessor gutted the coaching staff when he left. Moore had to get guys in position, and hit the road running, due to how late everything was handed to him. But he has had the deer in the headlights look occasionally this year, and that is a bit disturbing.

He has to hit the portal hard, and he may have to dismiss a couple of his assistants when the season is over. Otherwise next season will be worse than this one.

[Cody_Russell]

Tuttle didn’t look like the same QB from 2023. Sneakily played well with the 2s and 3s as M boa constrictor’ed opponents last season. Dealt with elbow surgery from the offseason and a 5th concussion at some point this season… rough.

…

Some rumors out there about a massive NIL package for Bryce Underwood. While that would be an incredible pickup for M, I have to see it to believe it. Skeptical …

Though LSU fans are pretty upset at Brian Kelly right now.

[AlabamAlum]

Yeah, reports are Michigan has offered the kid $5 million. Hope he doesn’t go to LSU. Make it $7mm. Whatever it takes.