UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Jeff Buchanan]

........ not to mention both Hoke and Mattison are working the phrase, "we can get you to the next level" and GM has the cred to say that.

Rich, Gibson and Grob couldn't do that.

[Hannibal]

I still want to see this staff recruit some guys on offense to prove that we don't have a new RichRod on the defensive side of the ball.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Don't disagree .... but, RB Rawls may turn out to be pretty good making the apparent need to recruit skill players on O lower. Do see the need to score a good WR prospect but the blue-chippers here are waiting to see who M signs as a QB in 2011. That one is not over and M is in a few good ones. Worth watching re your point. OL recruiting has been solid.

[Chuck Mallory]

Wm tiger..you know your football but the one thing that I will never agree is your statement that Michigan hasn't been good for 5-6 years. Michigan football hasn't been good since LC retired. In 06 we were a few plays away from playing for the national title, in 07 yes we shit our pants against ASU and Oregon but injuries hurt us the rest of the way and still beat the hell out of defending NC Florida on the bowl game. Michigan football hasn't been good for three years, the years RR was the coach.

[WM Wolverine]

Not since '06, which is 4.5 years ago.

[SeanB]

What is perplexing to me is all this love for what this staff has done so far (don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking it!), and yet not a single down of actual football has been played.

I can be patient, probably more patient than others here, but Michigan football continues to be work in progress, and the verbal commits of some nice HS recruits won't change that overnight. Perception is one thing...winning football games is entirely different.

Right now, Hoke can do no wrong, the man-love is flowing freely. Let's see how we look at the end of October!

[Jamie H]

The love for this staff is that they have gotten kids excited at the prospect of playing Michigan football even after the last 3 years of shit that has been put on the field. That is a Herculean task.

Obviously they will have to follow it up with wins this fall, but the foundation for wins in the future is being laid right now.

[Chuck Mallory]

Not since 07 which is 3.5 years ago...not 5-6 years.

[Chuck Mallory]

Also, Hoke has got a commitment from, according to the experts, maybe one of the top players in the country for '13. Definitely the top QB. And some really nice defensive recruits so far, something that hasn't happened in a while. Why wouldn't people be excited about that?

[WM Wolverine]

07 was a 4-loss team (less than average by our standards), lots of talent left that team, cupboards weren't bare but it was close to empty... 1 of 11 starters returned on offense. '08 squad never had a chance to be mediocre.

[Da Geezer]

Could we stipulate that the teams will be referred to by the year in which their home opener was played. That 07 team had several players (Hart, Long, Henne) who stayed to win a NC. They were decimated by injuries and lost 4 games. When they got healthy, they crushed Florida, looking like the national contenders they would have been.

Around 97-98, Drew Henson committed two years early and proceeded to recruit a class around him that was ranked # 1 in some polls. If you get a chance, read the May 16 article on recruiting in SI. The restrictions are goofy for representatives of the college. Morris has no such restrictions, and it sounds like he is recruiting. I think Morris is the best "get" of the Hoke era.

[jack_crancer]

That same team also got beat by Appy State and routed by Oregon while completely healthy... so don't give me the injury excuse.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Yep ...... there was a long thread at Rivals the other day discussing the issue of toughness and when it left and when it returned. Of course, RR's teams have been widely criticized, and unfairly IMO, for not being "tough" ..... and of course, one of Hoke's oft attributed assets, although he has never suggested the team was "untough" during the RR years, is that he is restoring toughness to the program.

Schembechler is known to have called both his teams and to call teams that he watched play as not being tough enough.

IMO, Carr's teams in his later years got fairly criticized for appearing to throw their jerseys on the field and expect opponents to shrink back in fear. I think the 2007 team, BEFORE the injuries, was too overconfident and lacked a leadership figure who questioned their desire and focus on winning - that HAD BEEN Lloyd Carr but by 2007 he was 2 years past retirement and had lost some of his fire.

Rodriguez's teams played with toughness and intensity and the Illinois game and both ND wins demonstrated that. The rest of the time they were getting run out of the house. Its hard to play with intensity when your team is 20 points or more behind and I shudder to think how many times that happened the last three season by the early third quarter when the opponent started to throttle back implementing a sympathy strategy.

For the record ...... Hoke has not yet coached a single Michigan football game as their HC. We don't know if he is tough yet or not so I'm not going to advance that argument and those that have, particularly over at Rivals and elsewhere - not here - are full of it.

[lineygoblue]

That same team also got beat by Appy State and routed by Oregon while completely healthy... so don't give me the injury excuse.

Scoot over and let me stand next to you, Jack. I was at that Oregon game, and it looked like an NFL team playing against a HS team.

There was absolutely NO excuse for how poorly Michigan played that day.

I can understand losing to the Ducks, because they were a very good football team with Dixon at the controls.

But, there is absolutely NO excuse for the unpreparedness and lackadaisical approach that Michigan took to that game. That is all on Lloyd Carr.

Fortunately, Oregon was in no mood to run up the score that day.

[*JD*]

Hart missed some of the App game, IIRC. We still should've won easily. The Ducks kicked our ass, though.