UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Jeff Buchanan]

...... I'm coming to visit you when I retire! :smile:

You can visit my son, Sean, in Saline, MI.

Today I'm in ATL. It was 68 until a cold front blew through. Its about 50 or so now.

On Friday, I'll be working on my future duplex in Fort Lauderdale where it will be sunny and 82. Turks and Cacos for 5d after that. Sometime early next year I'll be living permanently in Fort Lauderdale. Come on down.

[UMStan White]

"Stan, has Notre Dame lowered their academic requirements?"

Not that I have read or heard

[Rocky Bleier]

I was asking because they took Aaron Banks.

[Rocky Bleier]

You can visit my son, Sean, in Saline, MI.

Today I'm in ATL. It was 68 until a cold front blew through. Its about 50 or so now.

On Friday, I'll be working on my future duplex in Fort Lauderdale where it will be sunny and 82. Turks and Cacos for 5d after that. Sometime early next year I'll be living permanently in Fort Lauderdale. Come on down.

It'll be a few years before I can retire. But I've definitely had my fill of winter.

[Hannibal]

Don at MGoBlog posted this:

Not a single 5-star, and only one 4-star—the rest are lowly 3-star projects. Clearly, Harbaugh and Drevno have no idea what they're doing when it comes to recruiting and developing OL talent.

To be fair, this year's O-line class could still be a really good one by normal standards. It's just that normal standards don't apply right now, because Ohio State is pulling in the best recruiting class in their program's history and we have only beaten them once in the past 12 years. We also lost two blue chippers late last year, did not replace them in-kind, and then burned two redshirts. As of now, there is only one guy in the roster who will have 2020 eligibility and only two blue-chippers who will have 2019 eligibility. We have been here before and it never ends pretty.

[iam416]

Yeah, I don't know what I'd do with this year's class in terms of OL -- I think 7 is the most I'd ever take in any class. But, that said, M isn't going to get where they want to get with 3* recruits alone.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Just curious ...... Is there a relationship between HS star rankings for OL guys and matriculation to the NFL? I know there is one overall but I've never seen it broken down by position group.

Also, it would be interesting to know how many lower ranked OL kids playing at the FCS level get to the NFL.

I would think these correlations would not be as strong as they are for the skill positions.

[entropy]

IMO.. big difference between talking about 5 star skill position talent and 5 Star OL talent. Very tough to predict who will be successful along the OL. Certain coaches seem good at developing the talent.. others do not.

When you have/had a coach that could do it, it really sucks when they're no longer with the program.

[Hannibal]

When you have/had a coach that could do it, it really sucks when they're no longer with the program.

Tell me about it. RichRod had one superb guy (Greg Frey) and now he is at Indiana.

[iam416]

Anecdotally, there were 7 OL drafted in the first round in 2016. 1 5*; 5 4* and 1 NR (Conklin).

I don't know what the success rate of OL is or if it varies significantly from other positions. However, I'm certain that coaches feel like they can identify good OL and my guess is that corresponds, roughly, to ranking.

If the question is whether or not WR are easier to identify than OL, then ok -- maybe. If the question is whether you can win like M fans want to win with a 3* OL, then no. Period.

[froot loops]

That Conklin was non-rated was more of an indictment of the recruiting services, the guy was sweet in high school and had better measurables than a lot of the highly rated players. The guy was fully formed when he entered college. It is a mystery why he fell through the cracks, his dad was a successful coach and a Michigan legacy. Conklin should have been highly rated. He's been the only MSU lineman taken in the first round since Mandarich.

You need the highly rated offensive lineman, you can work with other lineman but you will run into issues. You can always find skill players, it's hard to find offensive lineman.

[iam416]

Yeah, I mean he didn't even have a rating -- that's walk-on stuff. He had to have fallen through the cracks.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Anecdotally, there were 7 OL drafted in the first round in 2016. 1 5*; 5 4* and 1 NR (Conklin).

I don't know what the success rate of OL is or if it varies significantly from other positions. .........If the question is whether you can win like M fans want to win with a 3* OL, then no. Period.

I have no basis to disagree with this. I'd say the variance among OL guys is high though. Conklin is a good example not withstanding Froot's explanation.

I think (1) there are not a lot of good OL prospects around - the pool is small and competition is stiff as I remarked up thread. (2) Coaching probably has a lot to do with OL performance and Hannibal makes a good point about Frey. I'm a bit worried about Drevno despite his resume. What he was working with in 2015 was not all that bad. What he's got coming up isn't either so, you'd expect improvement and if there isn't, well, ........ Backs? Who knows.

Anyway, with 3* OL talent, it doesn't seem likely that kind of line will produce a CFP contender.

[Rocky Bleier]

Ruiz and Irving-Bey announce today...

[The Oracle]

....for Michigan.