UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Chuck Mallory]

My point was that Michigan was still a "good" team that year. They bounced back and went on to win like 7 strait before getting beat by Wisc and OSU to end the season. Certainly wasn't a great team but I think you can ask ND, MSU, ILL. and they will tell you that Michigan had a good team.

IMO, people that claim Michigan hasn't been good in 5-6 years are just making another excuse for RR by trying to place SOME of the blame on the previous coaching staff.

I realize that in 08 the offense was so decimated that no coach could have put together a real quality team (no excuse for the D however). I place the blame on this to the people that made such extreme changes and caused the players to leave or declare early. Fans wanted a big "change", well they got it and you see the results. My personal opinion is that if Michigan would of stayed in house or went after a coach that had Michigan ties or even the same type of offense then players wouldn't of left like they did and we wouldn't of seen such a dramatic drop off in Michigan football.

[Jamie H]

Michigan was a potentially good team in 2007 that got submarined first by not being prepared for App St. and secondly by key injuries to Henne's shoulder and Hart's ankle. Yeah, the Oregon loss was bad, but I chalk that up to a massive hangover from App. St. I mean, these guys stayed on to make a run at the NC, and then they blew it to a Div 1-AA school? I think in their minds the season was already over and they took the Oregon game completely off.

Remember, when the team finally put it together against Florida, they marched up and down the field like Florida wasn't on the field. If Hart hadn't uncharacteristically fumbled inside the 10-yard line TWICE, Michigan would have put up 50-60 points.

So they didn't end up being a great team, but they had the potential to be great, as we saw against Florida. They just didn't put it together until it was too late.

[lineygoblue]

I tip my cap to that 2007 team for how they finished against Florida. They went right into Florida itself, and beat the "mighty" Gators and their Heisman overhyped QB Tebow. They sent Lloyd Carr out with a well-deserved victory.

I know that there were a lot of injuries that hindered that team's success, but there was no excuse for losing to App State. And, in my opinion, Carr didn't fully utilize the offensive talent available on that team until the Cap One Bowl.

[Jamie H]

There wasn't any offensive talent on the team for most of the season because both Henne and Hart were playing at about 25%. Yeah, no excuse for the App St. game, but injuries WERE the reason the rest of the season was disappointing.

[jack_crancer]

I'm sorry but a team like Michigan should have plenty of talent at back-up positions like QB and RB. But then again, it took a special back like Mike Hart to make it seam like Michigan could run the ball.

[Jeff Buchanan]

"I place the blame on this to the people that made such extreme changes and caused the players to leave or declare early." CM

I can agree that extreme changes contributed mightily to 3-8 but cannot agree that those changes caused any quality players to leave that, if they had stayed, would have produced a team equivalent to the average quality of M teams under Carr .... i.e., would have won 9 games in 2008.

My bet is that RM was pissy, his Dad was working the Arkansas staff and was not going to stay even if RR had offered to work the offense around him. Was Rich that stupid to have told him to walk and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out knowing he had Threet and Sheridan? Maybe but I doubt it.

Who else left that would have made any kind of major contribution?

The defense sucked not because of Scott Shafer but because he was undermined by Gibson and Rodriguez, on Gibson's faulty advice, forced Shafer to play a defense he was ill-suited to coach and did not have the players to play it properly.

The rest is history.

[Jamie H]

Sure, they SHOULD have had backups, but they didn't. Mallett was too young to be good yet, and the RB's just weren't that good.

[Hannibal]

Mallett wasn't too young to be good. Lots of freshman QBs play better than he did against Wisky and OSU that year. He was awful. It looked like he regressed as the year went along. Debord's shitty playcalling didn't help as they constantly set him up to fail by being totally predictable.

[Jamie H]

SOME freshmen QB are ready. Mallett clearly wasn't. He wasn't emotionally ready.

[Jeff Buchanan]

From all appearances, Mallet and his advisors had one goal for Mallet and that was to get him into the NFL. Like Tate, he was surrounded by people telling him he was so great he didn't have to work that hard to get where he and his advisors wanted him to get to.

We can criticize Rodriguez for letting him get out of the barn but what if Rich knew he wasn't committed to Michigan and his team mates but rather to himself and his own selfish goals?

Frankly, I think that is exactly what Rich knew and he didn't want to waste any time on someone who didn't want to play for Michigan.

[*JD*]

This would be an awesome double-whammy:

http://detnews.com/article/20110526/OPINION03/105260441/1004/SPORTS/Michigan-makes-big-impression-on-two-sport-star-Zach-Banner

[lineygoblue]

Yeah, I read about him this morning on Rivals. Talk about a lock-down guy on the left side.... sheesh ...

[*JD*]

A scholly and starting position in football and being a back-up center in hoops would be great.

[lineygoblue]

He seemed to be pretty fired up about a Michigan visit.

That's all we can ask. Give our coaches a fair chance to win his LOI.

Shane Morris would love having that guy protecting him ...

[WM Wolverine]

Allen Gant SS/WLB set to decide tomorrow evening. M is a 'new' offer to him and he's a legacy. Likely 3-star and M is his 'best' offer. M has a very good chance here, they were involved in recruiting him for some time before offering.