UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[iam416]

Winner, winner chicken dinner, Hack.

These recruiting services aren't randomly picking out players. They see film. They track them through camps. They see them at all-star games. They see their offer lists. They're rated highly b/c, well, by most (if not all) indications, they're really good. Mattison, Meyer, Meathead, Dantonio, Saban...they see it on film, too.

The true mining is in the 3* area, IMO. When the services miss (on the low side) it's usually at the 3* level. And there's gads upon gads of those kids. So, there's plenty of opporunity to find an underrated 3*. But all staffs do that. F, Saban even signs lots of 3* -- and even lets some of them commit. Heh.

[lineygoblue]

I dunno, Talent. A lot of MSU fans might disagree with you as well today, considering where Pittman and Dodson ended up. Meyer didn't want those kids in East Lansing, and he made sure it didn't happen.

He went full-bore after Brionte Dunn, to make sure he didn't end up in Ann Arbor, even though he knows that Dunn isn't the prototypical spread type RB.

Now, he's putting the full court press on Dymonte Thomas, to keep him in Ohio. rather than see him don a Michigan uniform. Thomas doesn't play a position of dire need, but yet he wants him.

So, I agree that at some point, Meyer will have to sit with his staff and make their own evaluations, and make offers accordingly. But in his first effort, he's spent a lot of time going after Ohio kids to keep them in Ohio. Not much evaluating going on there.

[iam416]

There's really nothing further to say. I'm not going to spend the time correcting the massive errors in that post, especially on the M recruiting thread.

[JRB]

Meyer's recruiting MO at Florida was to offer just about everybody in the top 250 or so, and then to refine the offer list as his staff watched the kids more and got feedback from them (some offers are immediately "commitable", some are not, etc.). Some staffs evaluate before offering. Meyer's staff, as best I can tell, evaluates as their offer process is ongoing. I imagine Meyer's staff at OSU is going to carpetbomb Ohio with offers, and then zero in on the ones they really want. It's more of a procedural difference than a philosophical one.

[iam416]

He's going to have far, far more offers out than Tressel did. Buchanan and I discussed this a bit. He's not carpet-bombing Ohio, though. He seems to be offering in small batches. He offered 3 last week. I expect another couple soon. But, beyond that, who knows. Tressel usually offered the very best in Ohio early, but other Ohio offers had to wait until they saw you in camp -- they didn't even trust the film for a lot of their offers.

As you said, he certainly does distinguish b/t commitable and non-commitable. And I think he's going to have to for 2013 b/c he's going to be choosing more than recruiting.

[whodean]

Hoke doesn't like the 4-year commitments

What's your take on the four-year scholarships that you and many other Big Ten schools began offering this year?

Hoke: I've got a feeling they'll revisit those things. There may have been a rush to judgment about how some of those things are pushed through six or seven months ago. I never saw a problem with the one-year, renewables. Maybe [the solution] is somewhere in the middle and they become two-year deals.

[Rocky Bleier]

Les Miles cements his reputation as an ass:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/38366/video-les-miles-rips-gunner-kiel

[JRB]

Les had a very rough day yesterday. LSU did not sign the sort of class they would have expected to bring in at all. They're not used to losing the best kids in Louisiana, and yesterday, six of the top ten Louisiana prospects(by Rivals' estimation, anyway), including the top four, went elsewhere.

[Hannibal]

Dem coonass boosters gotta start ponying up some more cash.

[iam416]

And, to make matters worse, The Nick stole his lunch money a few times.

Hanni:

Heh--exactly my thoughts.

[Hannibal]

Even though they haven't ended up with top 5 recruiting classes, it wouldn't surprise me if we learn a few years from now that Brian Kelly has brought a lot of shady tactics to Notre Dame. The guy is shady as hell. A surprise flip of a 5*recruit from a cash factory like LSU is just one of the many signs.

[Optimus Prime]

Regarding Kozan , has he signed elsewhere? Diamond tomorrow? Honestly, what wisdom is there in waiting past the signing day?

[Hannibal]

In Diamond's case, you get more attention and hype.

[Rocky Bleier]

Wait for the highest bidder?

[WM Wolverine]

Diamond is announcing with all his classmates, many that play other sports... Kozan might be waiting on Diamond (who I hear is M's, this coming from one of M's recruits), he's obviously not solid with Iowa yet...