UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[WM Wolverine]

It'll be harder for us to flip recruits after bowl games when some coaches get fired. Doubt it'll help us keep recruits. I expect more and more recruits will continue to commit early and sign early...

Little incentive to sign the one sided LOI for recruits early unless they are 100% solid.

[WM Wolverine]

Class of '18 Recruiting Board

Offense
QB: Joe Milton & Tyler Shough
RB: Christian Turner & James Graham
WR: Jahan Dotson
TE: Mustapha Muhammad
OT: Jalen Mayfield, Ryan Hayes, & Daniel Faa'lele
OG: Emil Ekiyor

Defense

DT: Tyler Friday & Michael Thompson
DE: Aidan Hutchinson
LB: Otis Reese, Kolin Demens & Shayne Simon
CB: Myles Sims & Gemon Green
S: German Green

[iam416]

If I'm reading Mgoblog correctly, any tall OL recruited by Frey is the next Jake Long. So, congrats on two outstanding pickups.

[Hannibal]

If I'm reading Mgoblog correctly, any tall OL recruited by Frey is the next Jake Long. So, congrats on two outstanding pickups.

Taylor Lewan, actually.

But -- understood.

[iam416]

It's the offseason. I'm a little off my game. Yes, Taylor Lewan. Not quite as good as #1 overall, but still future first-rounders.

[Hannibal]

I do have confidence in Frey's ability to develop guys who come into college at 265 lbs, but they are not going to be immediate impact guys and probably won't be stars either. Omameh was a good OG under Frey as a sophomore but his ceiling with good coaching was probably Honorable Mention all B1G. We need immediate impact guys at OT who can be 1st team all B1G. We have seen repeatedly what happens otherwise with guys who don't meet that level.

And Lewan was listed in the rivals database at 272 lbs. The two guys who committed recently are listed at 250 lbs. That's smaller than the blocking TEs that we have been getting. I know that they still have their senior years to go, but 50 lbs is a hell of a lot of good weight to ask a guy to put on in just a couple of years. If ever.

[iam416]

This class will be an interesting follow. The last two classes have been so huge they could take "hidden gem" recruits. They still had their 10-13 legit top-shelf kids, but filled it out with a lot of such recruits, especially in 2016. This year, with numbers at more of a premium, they need to either (a) reduce the "hidden gem" recruiting; or (b) get them right.

Currently, you're probably looking at 10 commits that are "solid" type recruits at best. Sims is probably more than that. But, in any event, they need to start adding some elite kids, IMO. I'd say right now they will absolutely finish 3rd in the Big 10 East. It's ok to get out-recruited by PSU this year b/c they're not stacking this class on top of any great classes. M still has a clear 3-year advantage. It's not so ok if OSU gets them by a lot.

[Hannibal]

Harbaugh has shown a willingness to jettison the "okay" kids but you are right -- there need to be some elite kids in this class too.

Also -- our complete non-presence in Ohio continues to be deeply concerning. We're not even losing battles there, for the most part. We're completely invisible. Ohio might as well be Louisiana for us. We're not doing ourselves any favors by completely abandoning everyone that Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio, and James Franklin want from that area. Shit we're not even beating Kentucky for Ohio kids.

[Hannibal]

41 Ohio kids in the 2016, 2017, and 2018 classes on rivals are 4* or better.

Michigan has gotten one commitment from that bunch. One. Just to give you some perspective -- Cincinnati has two.

Wow.

[iam416]

Yeah, and OSU isn't taking high volume in-state kids any more. They probably look at 4 to 7 and that's it. The rest are available. I think there are at least 6 really good players in Ohio that OSU won't take, and right now I think Fickell will get his fair share of them.

But, those players don't necessarily help HARBAUGH!!!! He can get good, solid low to middle 4 stars in a lot of places. And he does. He needs the 4 or 5 elite kids in this class.

Also, re Ohio, Nolan Rumler should be a M commit for 2019, and he should be highish 4*/top 3 or 4 in the state. OSU will push hard, but M has been a prohibitive favorite for awhile -- if they lose him then that would be really surprising to me.

[Hannibal]

Also, re Ohio, Nolan Rumler should be a M commit for 2019, and he should be highish 4*/top 3 or 4 in the state. OSU will push hard, but M has been a prohibitive favorite for awhile -- if they lose him then that would be really surprising to me.

That's a good start but there need to be three or four of those on an annual basis.

And at least one of those -- at least -- needs to be a head-to-head battle against OSU for a kid that they really want.

[iam416]

I think Christopher Oats and Xavier Peters can play for anyone, but they're both OLBs and I'm not sure where M is at that position. Trenton Gillison is a really good TE, but M has their #1 TE on lockdown and I guess they like other TEs better. I also really like Aenas Hawkins at DT, but again, I'm not sure where M is w/ DT or if they like his frame for what they do.

Next year, heh, Zach Harrison is measurables ridiculous. 6'6", 240 WDE that is setting records in the 200. But he's from Columbus area. The other really good kids from Ohio (other than Rumler) aren't in spots for M.

[WM Wolverine]

Hayes & Mayfield are both heavier than their listed weights, still both have lots of strength to gain before they are ready to compete at the B1G level. Hayes plays tight end and could be used as a 6th OL/TE as a true freshman. Both are great athletes with high ceilings however neither would ever have a chance of cracking OSU's 2-deep...

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M for this class has mostly filled all it's 'needs'. The strength & numbers of the '16 & '17 classes left very few needs for '18: mostly OT. This isn't a critical class for M as the recruits will have a tough time to compete with the '16/'17 recruits who have a year or two more experience. IME M needs to land as much best talent available.

M is chasing a handful of longshot, blue chippers (recruits OSU might recruit) who I don't have listed on my recruiting board, we'll see if they visit in June and their interest in us is more than casual. They are:

Amon-Ra St. Brown WR, Kamrynn Babb WR (OSU leftovers), Isaac Taylor-Stuart CB, Jeremy Ruckert TE (expect him to be a Buckeye too)... M also really likes Josh Jobe DE and will recruit him despite him being committed.

New names will pop-up in-season however it's going to be tough for HARBAUGH to make it a top 10 class unless he can land a couple more of the blue chippers NOT currently on my recruiting board. The '19 recruiting class will be more critical for M. That's a recruiting class after a projected really small class ('18 will be only 16-18 members), M will need a bump up in talent level after a small class.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Just a gut feeling from 10k because I don't follow it at ground level but in general and since the time talent was being quantified by the recruiting services, seems like M has recruited very few elite players nor have they developed over that time more than a handful of them.

Not sure why that is but I think some of it is attributable to M's reluctance to take risks on highly skilled HS athletes with academic or character issues. I'm well aware of how fans from other programs laugh at that notion. But what other reasonable explanation is there for M's sort of second place finishes for what amounts to decades of modern football.

I do not think it's perks or $$$ hand shakes to recruits and players. That is a laughable excuse. I do think it's a lack of difference makers in sufficient numbers per starters per team. Is the Genesis of that as I propose above or is it something else?

[Hannibal]

Hayes & Mayfield are both heavier than their listed weights, still both have lots of strength to gain before they are ready to compete at the B1G level. Hayes plays tight end and could be used as a 6th OL/TE as a true freshman. Both are great athletes with high ceilings however neither would ever have a chance of cracking OSU's 2-deep...

If this is true, then neither of them are good enough to be at Michigan, unless we are accepting second class citizenship in football.