UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[lineygoblue]

Dunn still hasn't taken his official visit to Michigan. He's been here at least twice on unofficial visits, but his official visit is supposed to happen sometime over the next couple weeks. At least Hoke will have one more good opportunity with him.

[iam416]

I would relax, Liney. I think he's going to M.

UM3's impact on recruiting will be "seen" immediately in a number of official visits from players OSU had no shot at 24 hours ago. But those players, IMO, aren't likely to commit. UM3's impact on recruiting will be "felt" in 2013. That's how I think it will go.

[iam416]

Final note for the day on the Dunn front -- looks like Coach Fickell will stay. As some of you know, Dunn has a really good relationship with him. He might be able to bridge the gap between Dunn and UM3. This is actually a really interesting recruitment b/c it has so many elements in play and pieces that weigh for one side or the other.

I still think he ends up at M, but Fickell staying doesn't help that cause.

[Hannibal]

The emergence of Fitz Toussaint makes landing Dunn less critical, but if we don't pick up Dunn, landing a blue chipper is a must for 2013.

[iam416]

I was thinking the same thing, Hanni. It would seem to me that the OSU RB position, while maybe a bit deeper, is far less settled.

I was also wondering why Dunn is making a big deal about the spread when it seems to me that M is still a couple years away from Borges' preferred offense. I guess they may make the complete switch over with Gardner.

Anyway, losing Dunn would stink. I look at what LSU has done with Spencer Ware (Cincinnati Princeton) and brings a tear to my eye. Dunn could be that kind of downhill, asskicking back.

[Hannibal]

Kyle Kalis got his fifth star at rivals. First 5-star Michigan guy since Will Campbell.

[whodean]

Whats the word on all the kids that visited?

[Michael Pitts]

Kyle Kalis got his fifth star at rivals. First 5-star Michigan guy since Will Campbell.

He's also the #4 OT in the country and #1 prospect in Ohio according to Rivals.

[Hannibal]

The long night is over.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Yes, but as the new dawn sets in, there are a few clouds on the sky.

The 2012 schedule.

Safeties.

An untested new C replacing an All Big Ten C with a ton of experience and leadership skills.

DTs. Two of M's best ever leaving and a 5* replacing one of them who has not reached his 5* billing/potential.

[Rocky Bleier]

IMO, its not good that he's going to talk to Meyer. Maybe its just the pessimist in me, but I can't see him coming away from that meeting and decommitting.

I hope I'm wrong. We need a stud RB, and Dunn would fit the bill nicely.

We all know that Meyer is a helluva liar. Meyer will have the kid believing he'll be the second coming of Earl Campbell if he goes to Ohio. Never put anything past that snake.

[iam416]

Oh, man, I love the sound of that.

[Hannibal]

Yes, but as the new dawn sets in, there are a few clouds on the sky.

And there always will be. We'll still have shitty losses and we'll still have forgettable 8-4 seasons. And our AD is a numbskull. But the truly dark times, the misery where things went against us for ten years, are over. This applies for basketball too. IMHO it kicked off when Drew Henson left and it ended the day Brady Hoke was hired. The turnaround has been stunning. It's like a curse has been lifted from the Michigan athletics programs. Ten years in the wilderness. In the course of a decade, we lost a starting QB in fall practice, we lost the nation's #1 running back to pot, we lost numerous players to the draft who didn't even benefit by leaving early. We lost games where we were the better team because of special teams. We lost players at critical position to injury numerous times when our rivals didn't. We lost a 5* QB to a system change. We lost Bo. We lost to MSU when they got a bonus second on the clock. We lost to OSU literally in every way imaginable. We lost critical decommits. We had a bullshit investigation into our practicing routines. We had an incompetent AD who bungled a coaching hire. Too many negative events to remember. When it comes to all of the stuff that can go wrong with a sports program, we were at least a couple of standard deviations above the mean.

11 months ago, we had a miserable football team, a shitty basketball team, and a meh hockey team. Since then, we have assembled the #1 recruiting class in the Big Ten (and we're not done yet), Tressel finally screwed up and left a paper trail, we swept Sparty in basketball, we won an NCAA tournament game, picked up our best hoops recruit since the Fisher era, went to overtime in the hockey national championship game, beat ND with our luckiest victory of the past 30 years, beat OSU, destroyed Nebraska, and compiled only our second 2-loss season in the past 11 years. What a year it has been for Michigan athletics.

Ten years of winter. It's over now. Spring time is here. I have sensed this for a while, but I didn't want to say it out loud until we beat OSU. Our rivals who have delighted in our torment probably don't appreciate the perfect storm-ness of it all, and they are going to get a rude awakening in the coming years.

[Rocky Bleier]

Oh, man, I love the sound of that.

I prefer to have a coach who isn't a known liar.

[lineygoblue]

it kicked off when Drew Henson left and it ended the day Brady Hoke was hired.

I agree on the starting point, and you may be right about it ending the day Hoke was hired. But for me, I need one more step. I need to see a sound Michigan football team head into Columbus and do the same thing they did Saturday in Ann Arbor. Beat them in their own house. Then, I'll believe Michigan football is back to where it should be . We need to be just as big a threat in their house, as we are in our house.