UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Hannibal]

He did a good job of salvaging that class. He picked up Kellen Jones, Raymon Taylor, and Chris Barnett. He also padded it with a few questionable guys. Unfortunately, Jones and Barnett never made it to a practice.

[iam416]

As I've said over and over, recruiting is fundamentally comfort and relationships. It's very difficult to do much in 3 weeks. And, TBH, JH's staff is already behind for 2016 (though they still have Mattison). There's still plenty of time, though, for JH to do really, really well for 2016.

The flip side of that is that coaches really like to see kids at camp and visit with kids and parents for awhile to get a sense of the type of kid and player you're offering.

It's a really tough position all-around. Anyone expecting JH to rescue this class is being, I think, optimistic. What you're realistically hoping for is that he gets 3 or 4 kids that are, at least, program contributors. Then you turn your eyes to 2016 and start expecting a top 10, maybe top 5 class.

[Hannibal]

Eh. I dunno about that. How long did it take Urban Meyer to flip Dunn back to OSU? About two minutes?

RichRod for that matter grabbed some really impressive commits for the '08 class, although he did have a three week head start relative to Harbaugh.

[iam416]

Dunn was never committed to M. And Dunn would have been an Ohio State lock but for the nonsense. UFM also made a run at Kalis and Thomas and was rebuffed.

UFM had an extra 6 weeks on JH, too. And, most importantly, he had the Penn State implosion. So kids like Noah Spence, Tommy Schutt and Cam Williams were looking to go elsewhere. And the other thing is that Ohio has a lot of Ohio kids that just want to play for OSU, so once the situation was clear, UFM had a credible opportunity to flip Pittman and Decker.

At the end of the day he actually finished with a better class than M, but the "high profile" kids were mostly busts. Spence was awesome, but the B10's insistence on considering ecstasy a performance-enhancing drug puts him in the bust category. The kids that really contributed from that class were already signed on--Ohio kids who weren't ever going to go anywhere else: Adolphus Washington, Joshua Perry, Pat Elflein, Jacoby Boren and Tyvis Powell. And the Decker flip was huge. Thomas and Cardale were also in that class from FUMA. But I consider that class to have slightly underperformed its ranking. The next class -- when UFM could evaluate players all year and build relationships and do all the stuff you want to do when recruiting -- THAT class is the hellaciously good class. That's the goal for JH.

To put a final point on the 2012 class....the only kids that UFM signed that contribute are Decker and Tommy Schutt. Spence was a badass, but no more. Camren Williams plays sparingly, as does Armani Reeves. Kyle Dodson had a career-ending injury. Others have left the program.

So, if JH can get one legit All-B10 player and 2 or 3 program contributors in the next three weeks, that's exactly on par with what UFM managed in terms of hindsight results.

[Hannibal]

Dunn had, by all accounts, silently given a commit to Michigan.

[iam416]

Dunn committed to Ohio State. I don't think he ever rescinded that commitment. M folks may have felt that he a "silent" and going to flip, but it never materialized. I'm not saying it wasn't a battle, but UFM had the advantage of Dunn wanting to play at OSU.

[froot loops]

Harbaugh can salvage the class. There is no doubt, but it might not show in the recruiting rankings.

Mark Dantonio's second best recruiting class was his first recruiting class. 11 guys from that class contributed, that looked it was going to a dog's breakfast at first. Most of them contributed right away. Dantonio had an advantage as he was already a head coach in the Midwest.

The great thing about salvaged recruiting classes is you are less shackled by the star process and you can get guys who are more fully developed but it came later in their high school career. What you may view as a questionable offer could contribute quickly. If you are looking at what Saban and Meyer are doing and comparing it against it, there is going to be disappointment but at this point that isn't realistic viewpoint.

[lineygoblue]

What bothers me about this recruiting season and Harbaugh, is that many will already start considering him a "failure" if he doesn't flip about a half dozen of the top players in the country. I think that's expecting way too much.

My guess is that he might be able to snag 1-2 of the higher rated uncommitted players, and if he's very fortunate, he may be able to "flip" 1-2 players that were at one time committed to Michigan, but looked elsewhere when Hoke was fired and/or Michigan was stinking things up so bad.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a JUCO or a 5th year transfer come aboard.

He's probably a bit behind on the 2016 class, but he can make up that ground with summer camps and just plain hitting the road and talking to people.

And finally, Dunn would have flipped to Michigan had Ohio kept Fickell as HC. Meyer's availability changed a lot of things about ohio football.

[iam416]

He's probably a bit behind on the 2016 class, but he can make up that ground with summer camps and just plain hitting the road and talking to people.

He's definitely behind. I can tick off 10 really good Ohio kids that already know the OSU staff well. But he can also definitely make up ground. No doubt. He should land a top 10 class for 2016 (realistic expectations) and potentially top 5 (if things go really well).

And finally, Dunn would have flipped to Michigan had Ohio kept Fickell as HC. Meyer's availability changed a lot of things about ohio football.

Heh. I really don't want to think about where OSU would be without UFM let alone with Fickell as HC. Dear god.

[entropy]

stay away from our TE's..

[WM Wolverine]

I'd write something, but you may as well just reads talent post above. Expectations for an excellent close are Highly unrealistic.

[klondike]

Drake Harris may now want to transfer..Don't know if this is bad anyway considering the kid is a head case and injury prone.

[lineygoblue]

If he wants to transfer he'll have a hard time finding a team that wants him with his knee problems.

[The Oracle]

Hammy

[Hannibal]

Found via mgoblog. Michigan is apparently trying to flip a QB commit. Might be OSU's Joe Burrow. He is part of a 2 QB class.