UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[hack]

Agreed that it's too small a sample size, although, to be frank, I expected a few days ago to get none of these kids and that's in line with general sentiment. Whatever. Frustrating, but gotta go with the bigger picture here cause Hoke's been great otherwise and there's no reason to assume he's losing on on truly coin-toss kids. In each case so far there are mitigating factors.

I wonder -- has the Pharoah Brown story perhaps scared off some recruits wary of going to a program with an overly puritan approach? Surely some kids follow closely the plights of other recruits around the country. (FTR, not saying Hoke & Co. should have done that any differently. Just wondering.)

[iam416]

I don't think Hoke or Mattison are going to beg anyone to come to Michigan. Importantly, they are not going to play games or cater to players who want special recognition (love I think they call it) in an effort to entice them to M.

No. And no.

If Hokattisson, for whatever irrational reason, opt not to go after top recruits with everything they have, they're fools. And they'll only end up with kids who dream of playing for M. And that won't win shit.

There's zero way that's the case, though. They're very good recruiters who work their ass off and push as hard as they can for top-shelf players. They'll recruit the living shit out of players they want. Hell, they sent Hoke to an in-home with Reeves, then two days later sent Mattison for a visit -- that's recruiting like mad.

I wouldn't call it, pejoratively, "begging" or "catering" -- but recruiting hard -- like your boys do -- certainly has those elements to it. Almost has to when it's such a seller's market.

[hack]

Agreed that it would be a terrible idea to pass on kids who aren't already drinking the kool-aid in the same way the school does with coaches. The staff should be confident in its ability to bring in kids, even if a little high-maintenance, and get them to buy in to the program.

[iam416]

I wonder -- has the Pharoah Brown story perhaps scared off some recruits wary of going to a program with an overly puritan approach? Surely some kids follow closely the plights of other recruits around the country. (FTR, not saying Hoke & Co. should have done that any differently. Just wondering.)

Doubt it. I'd rate that as a total non-factor. And, TBH, the policy isn't a bad one. So long as Hoke is clear what happens when a kid verbals, so be it. Personally, I'd STILL recruit the kid -- I wouldn't drop him. But I would tell him that M will have to look for contingencies and his scholarship may not be open.

[Rocky Bleier]

I think Jeff was just saying that Hoke and Mattison feel they have a good enough product to sell without having to grovel at the feet of 18 yr. old kids.

[Rocky Bleier]

Sly Satan:

http://outkickthecoverage.com/five-star-recruit-landon-collins-mom-alleges-nick-saban-promised-job-to-recruits-girlfriend.php

[DennisT]

mgoblue saying Willie Henry goes blue.

[The Oracle]

Nothing to see there. Just the way the hyper competetive SEC is.

[Rocky Bleier]

mgoblue saying Willie Henry goes blue.

Meh. Depth, I guess.

[Hannibal]

Meh.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Offer list according to scout: Akron, Cincinnati, EMU, Hawaii, Ohio (the one without "State" in it), Pitt, Syracuse, and Toledo.

Edit: But we really needed another DT in this class IMHO. I don't know why they took so long to take one.

[hack]

Doubt it. I'd rate that as a total non-factor. And, TBH, the policy isn't a bad one. So long as Hoke is clear what happens when a kid verbals, so be it. Personally, I'd STILL recruit the kid -- I wouldn't drop him. But I would tell him that M will have to look for contingencies and his scholarship may not be open.

Tx, and, agreed.

[DennisT]

Who knows? Steve Emtman was a 2 star.

[Jamie H]

Well, Talent was saying he might be a sleeper. Despite any other argments I may have with him, I can obviously state that Talent knows 10 billion times more about Ohio high school football than I (or really most Michigan fans) do, so who knows?

[DennisT]

Now I'm seeing word there that he's not announcing until tomorrow. Who knows.

[Jeff Buchanan]

No. And no.

We've had this discussion on numerous occasions in the past.

(1). I'm not discounting the importance of recruiting talent.
(2). Talent obviously contributes in the overall equation for winning.
(3). osu recruited a lot of talent under jim tressel, including terrell pryor among others and turned that talent into a lot of wins.
(3). Most would agree that the facts support that osu played the NCAA rule book like a fiddle, stretching the acceptability, under the provisions of the NCAA rule book, of their recruiting and retention practices to the limit.
(4) They landed themselves a reduction in scholarships and a bowl ban for that stretching and are probably doing some reassessment with regard to the character of the recruits they want to pursue.

I think the jury of public opinion has pretty much ruled that recruiting is dirty and programs that see it that way and recruit that way get ahead. usc, osu, undoubtedly Auburn with Newton and now it seems the Ducks are cases in point.

Speculative of course, but I doubt Hoke and Mattson go down that road or even come close to it when it comes to closing. I'm pretty sure other programs do and do so with regularity (see the article on Saban/UA above). If that's what it takes to close on 4 and 5 star 18 year olds, in order to get the talent it takes to compete, I'll settle for "shitty football" played by a team with character.