UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[lineygoblue]

What its all about is a possible win over Ohio State at some point. If or when Michigan pushes thru to a victory, it will be a huge upset. It won't be because Michigan had/has a better recruiting class. They'll simply have to be the better team on the field on that given day.

Michigan's football history is filled with games where they held the recruiting advantage over an opponent, only to see that opponent run circles around them on game day, and lose. It doesn't happen often, but it can happen to OSU as well.

[iam416]

Football is a small sample sport. Doesn't take much to get a win. Ohio State has been whipped by lots of other schools. HARBAUGH!!!! is due. It's actually very surprising that OSU hasn't lost to M in so long.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU

[Jeff Buchanan]

..............It's actually very surprising that OSU hasn't lost to M in so long.

Sure, the small sample size thing explains upsets as perturbations in trend lines but as the sampling gets more data the trends sharpen and become more accurate predictors of results. Harbaugh's first 2 years at M represented the small sample size problem. During this period it was the head scratching losses to good teams. In Harbaugh's third year, you could see a trend developing with more losses to good teams, including bad post-season bowl losses in years 2 and 3, that started underpinning the meme that M under-performed given talent level.

Years 4 and 5 though, were, for me, the tipping point demonstrating that M's 5 year record of not beating good teams like PSU, osu in the regular season and Usc, FL in post season play wasn't because of bad luck or small sample size. 0-5 v osu and 1-4 in post season play aren't perturbation or an unexpected variation from the mean. It's representative of a level of performance that if this was a corporation and it's stock prices were dropping, like M's figuratively are, the CEO would be removed by the board of directors. It's a good thing for Jim Harbaugh that things don't generally work like that in CFB and especially at Michigan.

No, I expect Harbaugh to continue to lead teams that lose to better prepared and better coached teams including osu that has demonstrated beyond any doubt that every season that team faces Michigan, osu will be better prepared and on game day better coached than anything JH puts on the field ..... and that's a predictable outcome based on solid data.

[iam416]

I sympathize with your current state of mind, Buchanan. I vividly recall the darkness of the 90s. The sun will come up. I believe in HARBAUGH!!!! Who's got it better than you? Indeed.

I'd like to reiterate my sympathy.

[lineygoblue]

I'd like to reiterate my sympathy.

"I'd like to reiterate my total satisfaction at the current state of affairs of Michigan football"

ftfy

[*JD*]

What its all about is a possible win over Ohio State at some point. If or when Michigan pushes thru to a victory, it will be a huge upset. It won't be because Michigan had/has a better recruiting class. They'll simply have to be the better team on the field on that given day.

Michigan's football history is filled with games where they held the recruiting advantage over an opponent, only to see that opponent run circles around them on game day, and lose. It doesn't happen often, but it can happen to OSU as well.

Do you think things would be much different if JT being short was upheld?

[lineygoblue]

Do you think things would be much different if JT being short was upheld?

That's a good question. It would have at least broken a string of losses, and given Michigan an important win in Columbus, which has not happened since the last century. That may have helped in some recruiting, but as Harbaugh has shown recently, he can have a lot of excellent players, but not get them in peak readiness for that game.

As Jeff has stated so eloquently on many occasions, Harbaugh could get the top class in the country for the next 3 years, and still find a way to mess up against OSU.

They just don't prepare for that game the way they used to when the series was meaningful. Now, its just another soft spot on OSU's schedule.

ps .. and you are correct. JT had the first down just as much as Charles White had the TD in the Rose Bowl.

[WingsFan]

Three 4 Stars in in the last four days.


Kechaun Bennett, a four-star DE from Suffield (Conn.) Academy



Kechaun Bennett (Photo: 247Sports)

Bennett, 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, is the top-rated player in the state and No. 21 overall at his position. He chose Michigan over Notre Dame, Penn State, Cal and Tennessee, among others.

“I am super excited right now,” Bennett told The Michigan Insider. “This is actually crazy with me going to Michigan, especially being from Connecticut. This is wild.”

Michigan added two linebackers earlier in the week. Four-star Jaydon Hood out of St. Thomas Aquinas in Ft. Lauderdale, announced his commitment on Monday a day after Junior Colson, a four-star from Brentwood (Tenn.) Ravenwood, committed to Michigan.

[iam416]

HARBAUGH!!!! is ON FIRE!

[*JD*]

That's a good question. It would have at least broken a string of losses, and given Michigan an important win in Columbus, which has not happened since the last century. That may have helped in some recruiting, but as Harbaugh has shown recently, he can have a lot of excellent players, but not get them in peak readiness for that game.

As Jeff has stated so eloquently on many occasions, Harbaugh could get the top class in the country for the next 3 years, and still find a way to mess up against OSU.

They just don't prepare for that game the way they used to when the series was meaningful. Now, its just another soft spot on OSU's schedule.

ps .. and you are correct. JT had the first down just as much as Charles White had the TD in the Rose Bowl.

I doubt this. He's never come close to the top class and some games have been very competitive (2016 & 2017). Others have been cakewalks for tOSU. The bucks, however, have always had the upper hand in recruiting. Here's where they've ranked, since Hoke took the job (since some players were still on Harbaugh's first team) on 247's list. Also, how many 5-stars:

HOKE
2011:
tOSU 6th, 2
Michigan 30th, 0

2012:
tOSU 5th, 2
Michigan 6th, 0

2013:
tOSU 2nd, 1
Michigan 4th, 1

2014:
tOSU 3rd, 1
Michigan 20th, 1
`````````````````````````````````````````````````` `````
HOKE/HARBAUGH
2015:
tOSU 7th, 1
Michigan 37th, 0
`````````````````````````````````````````````````` `````
HARBAUGH
2016:
tOSU 4th, 1
Michigan 8th, 1

2017:
tOSU 2nd, 5
Michigan 5th, 2

2018:
tOSU 2nd, 3
Michigan 22nd, 0

2019:
Michigan 8th, 2
tOSU 14th, 3

2020:
tOSU 5th, 3
Michigan 14th, 0

2021:
tOSU 1st, 4
Michigan 5th, 1

Next Year:
tOSU has 3 verbals so far, ranked #69, 122, & 162.
Michigan has 1 player, ranked #193.

This isn't to make excuses for Harbaugh getting the donut so far, as even Purdue has beaten tOSU recently. I was just addressing the comment that he'd still fail if he ever out-recruited Ohio. Even the one year that Michigan had a higher ranked class, OSU still had more 5-stars. They've had 19 to our 6, since Jimmy Ballgame's first full class.

Frankly, it's disheartening. Something's got to give one way or the other. Whether it be a lucky upset, multiple recruits punching above their weight, NCAA violations down in C-bus, or a coaching shake-up here. If there's a season this fall, and if Michigan once again gives up 40, 50, or 60 points again, Don Brown has to go, at the very least. Maybe our (once expected) savior too.

[*JD*]

Three 4 Stars in in the last four days.


Kechaun Bennett, a four-star DE from Suffield (Conn.) Academy



Kechaun Bennett (Photo: 247Sports)

Bennett, 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, is the top-rated player in the state and No. 21 overall at his position. He chose Michigan over Notre Dame, Penn State, Cal and Tennessee, among others.

“I am super excited right now,” Bennett told The Michigan Insider. “This is actually crazy with me going to Michigan, especially being from Connecticut. This is wild.”

Michigan added two linebackers earlier in the week. Four-star Jaydon Hood out of St. Thomas Aquinas in Ft. Lauderdale, announced his commitment on Monday a day after Junior Colson, a four-star from Brentwood (Tenn.) Ravenwood, committed to Michigan.

This is good. If we can sprinkle a couple of 5-stars in, I think we'll stay in the top-10. I do like that we're loading up on some defensive players. Landing some RBs and WRs would be nice too.

[WM Wolverine]

Donovan Edwards RB might be closing in on a commitment... He looked around a lil around signing day but I believed he was blue all along... I thought he was very close to committing last fall.

[WingsFan]

Well, its good news but unless things change a lot with this virus I cant see any football till 2021. What if they start the season and after 1-2 games there is positive case (s) on players/coaches? Cancel the season? FWIW I know are Governor has been taken a lot of shit, but I think she;s done a fine job.

[hack]

I'm rooting for Harbaugh to get a gap year. Some time away, to think things over. Which of course is walking a fine line because also hanging in the balance is the last year with a Wagner on the basketball team.