UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[WM Wolverine]

Luke Ford (#2 TE, Illinois) had a great visit, we'll be competing for him with Bama.

[iam416]

What's strikes me most about that board is that the highest ranked "at least likely" commit is Friday at #64. And he may end up being M's ONLY top 100 player.

[WM Wolverine]

How many top 100 players did Tressel sign from '01 till he was given his show-cause?

[WM Wolverine]

Friday's been super quiet so no idea how likely he is. Recruiting board will be updated with the upcoming BBQ visitors along with Luke Ford who just visited...

After two excellent classes that I think if the hype is correct will prove to be even better than they were ranked. It's going to be difficult to recruit behind those two classes;l unless you're Bama or OSU. No, this won't be a top 10 class. 2019 class will be when M will need to stock back up on talent and hopefully be back to a top 5 class...

Combine the '16, '17 & '18 classes and M is in great shape.

[iam416]

Hmmmm. I wouldn't ordinarily look all that shit up, but eh, whatever...

2001: 4
2002: 6
2003: 5
2004: 3
2005: 3
2006: 4
2007: 1
2008: 8
2009: 4
2010: 2
2011: 5

The 247 site is sketchy for anything pre-2007 (and, oddly, for 2012). They definitely recruited poorly in 2006 and 2007 and ended up with one of Tressel's more mediocre teams in 2008 where a number of freshman from the 2008 class ended up playing.

But, at the time those numbers were at or near the top of the B10. Coach Tressel was putting together rosters talented enough to win the B10.

UFM's numbers are:

2012: 4? (I can't remember if Dunn was top 100 or not -- and 247 does not rankings for that year)
2013: 10
2014: 10
2015: 5 (8 in the top 110!)
2016: 6
2017: 11
2018: 11* (as of 7/24/17)

[WM Wolverine]

Lost a post to the internet, cliff notes:

Surprised Buckeyes were recruiting at that high of level, didn't think JT was recruiting at that caliber towards the latter half of his tenure. I thought Lloyd was recruiting relatively closely in terms of the recruiting services. That said, I always felt Lloyd was taking too much low hanging fruit (others leftovers) and taking low upside guys at the expense of better athletes with more potential. Recruiting services have improved a great deal in the past decade and I see less recruits where I disagree with their recruiting rankings a great deal. The addition of 247 has helped but the trend was already in motion before 247 came aboard...

This isn't a critical class to M as the '18 recruits will be sitting behind the '16, '17 recruiting classes for a several seasons. Opportunity to sell playing time isn't there...

M doesn't have much in-state talent that is top 100 overall, they netted their top 3 recruits they really wanted in-state. McCall they had personal, off field concerns and M wasn't recruiting him heavily. They've similar concerns with Julian Barnett DB/WR ('19) who is a blue chipper, like McCall there isn't any issue with talent level but attitude issues that M needs to see a change in him before they'd offer.

[iam416]

He recruited well, but he was, unsurprisingly, a conservative recruiter. He prioritized Ohio kids too much, IMO. His best class was basically orchestrated by Michael Brewster, who really wanted to play for OSU.

Anyway, that was Tressel. UFM is different.

M doesn't seem to have any natural advantage this year. There isn't a great in-state class. There isn't a #1 player who played for your assistant. It's a little more of a grind this year for HARBAUGH!!!! If MGO is to be believed, however, 2019 will be off the hook!

[WM Wolverine]

'19 should be close to '17 in terms of talent level; it should be Harbaugh's best class or very close to '17. Lots of early interest in blue chippers from around the country, many of whom M is doing extremely well if not leading.

Not a good in-state class in '19 again but not terrible like '18. However, the good talent in '19 isn't as likely to be M bound as the '16, '17 & '18 classes were. Some of the good talent is more open to going out-of-state.

We don't give 2 shits what Brian's minions at MGoBlog think, please quit pretending they are representative of the M fan base. There is quality content and posters at MGoBlog but they are far too rare to bother sifting through all the junk to find something worthwhile.

[iam416]

Any thread over there focused on UFM makes me smile.

[WM Wolverine]

Luke Shoonmaker TE (3-star?, Connecticut) joins the '18 class. Completely new name to me so I'll need to research to find his talent level, he'll hopefully be the 2nd TE in this class with a Muhammad or Ford the #1 TE. Says a tiny bit about M's chances of landing both Ford & Muhammad which was always wishful thinking to land two TE's of their caliber in the same class...

No TE recruits in '17 and just McKeon & Eubanks in '16 with Asiasi having left the program. Bunting, Wheatley and potentially Gentry are ahead of McKeon & Eubanks so the above will have time to develop in the program before they are needed. It's a position I'm not ecstatic about the current talent level with the Asiasi departure so I do hope M can land a blue chipper like Muhammad or Ford in '18.

[WingsFan]

Big issue in his rating is position IMO. Kid has played QB majority of the time. He is not a D1 QB prospect. Makes for a much tougher projection, looks to be a bit of late bloomer also. Staff has also shown to do a nice job unearthing kids late and closing strong. Think some people are in a panic is not due to how Michigan is recruiting, but how osu is recruiting.

[iam416]

I don't think you win titles relying "diamonds in the rough". I don't know if this kid can play or not, but there's zero question he was no higher than 4th on their TE board.

[WingsFan]

Why Michigan, one of the few schools that truly utilizes a TE, has missed landing a top ranked TE so far? One would think if you were a touted TE, you'd want to secure your place with a team that actually uses you.

[WM Wolverine]

Devin Asiasi signed here in '16 and he should be really, really good but not for us. They didn't have much of a need for '17 so M was only willing to take a blue chipper. In '18, they have more opportunity to sell so hopefully they can land Ford, Muhammad or similar talent.

Mallory & Brevin Jordan were recruiting losses to the Hurricanes.

[iam416]

Why Michigan, one of the few schools that truly utilizes a TE, has missed landing a top ranked TE so far? One would think if you were a touted TE, you'd want to secure your place with a team that actually uses you.

Jake Butt had 1200 yards receiving, TOTAL, in his two season under Harbaugh. Roughly 650 and 550. Last season, Mike Gesicki had 680 yards. There's this in-grained believe amongst the HARBAUGH!!!!! followers that he uses the TE out the ass. I assume this is based on the fact that Stanford used a bunch of TEs and several were drafted.

However, the numbers certainly don't jump off the page. Further, schools like OSU and Alabama can basically ignore the TE and still produce TEs that get drafted (ahead of Butt -- and his blown out knee).

So, what's the argument to a kid? Come to M and get 600 yards receiving instead of 200? And end up getting drafted in roughly the same spot?

If you start with the assumption that recruiting is fundamentally about comfort and relationships, at least when it comes to separating like schools, then the rational analysis never really gets involved. But even if the rational analysis were involved, it's not a particularly compelling case for a kid to pass on the school and staff he likes best. The ultimate rational argument is the NFL draft and OSU, e.g., has shown you can basically ignore the TE and they can still get drafted.

Anyway, Muhammed is a top-shelf guy that wants to play for M. I'm not sure you can realistically expect anything more.