UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[The Oracle]

Roquan Smith supposedly now between UGA, UM and A&M. Be a nice close, but gotta think UGA.

[BuckLion]

Roquan Smith supposedly now between UGA, UM and A&M. Be a nice close, but gotta think UGA.

Just saw that. If he goes to UM, that brings the class to exactly #30. Not an A+ given Harbaugh's name and what I thought that could have potentially produced (top 20 finish), but damn good finish. 35 (or 36 whatever it is) is still very good even if it doesn't happen though.

[Cody_Russell]

Bama with SIX five star recruits is just ridiculous

In 2006, USC had 8 "5 stars" and 13 top 100 players. Most of those players didn't turn out well with the NFL... but are some names that people might know like CJ Gable & Stephon Johnson. Taylor Mays ended up being a high draft pick.

RichRod had a very good transition year class and Hoke's ended up ranked.

This is easily the worst class Michigan has ever had. Expectations were low and it failed to meet them.

You are right. Rich Rod's transition class was ranked 6th by Scout. I'm surprised.

Brady Hoke's transition class was ranked 29th by Scout.

Harbaugh is at 36th... not bad.

[drok]

I'm not overly happy or disappointed by this class. Half this staff were NFL coaches a month ago and hadn't evaluated any HS film or had any relationships with any players. So yeah it would have been nice for the Harbaugh name to get us to top 20, but in a month he signed 8 kids and did it by flipping 6. And still maybe another one to come. And I really like the QB he pulled. I'm not going to get to worked up about this class.

[Mackenzie]

Just finished reading and listening to JH's recruiting day press conference. I think he comes off very well. Say's lots of nice things particularly "in the building relationships is important" category which makes me feel very confident that, going forward, Coach Harbaugh, given some time to develop those relationships with recruits, will do very well in having kids believe in him and in M. He is intelligent, well spoken, confident, genuine, and even a bit "folksy" in some of his comments. At one point, enjoyed telling reporters the "confirmation name" of one of the recruits as well as referencing faith and prayers. Obviously, likes the kids he has has coming to M. Even has some kind thoughts for kids who didn't pick M by pointing out how difficult choosing a school can be for both the parents and athletes. I think that, long-term, M is in good hands.

[lineygoblue]

I just got off the phone with a Michigan fan who has held season tickets since the 1960's, .. I mean he went to games when Bump Elliott was still coaching. He was pretty upset at how lowly ranked this signing class is. He's slashing his wrists.

Anyway ... this was the end of our conversation just a moment ago ...

Me: "So, what are you saying? Would you prefer that Brady Hoke still be occupying the HC"s office?"

He: "If it meant that we could have Clark and Weber, yes. "

He seriously said that.

There are no words.....

I hope he gives Harbaugh at least a couple games before he gets on the "Fire Harbaugh" bandwagon ....

[Cody_Russell]

lol

Brandon Martin breaks news via hashtag: #decommit

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/97753/martin-breaks-news-via-hashtag-decommit?ex_cid=sportscenterFB

[Da Geezer]

Liney:

Wow. He'd rather have Clark and Weber than JH. That is beyond short-sighted.

Harbaugh handled his conference so very well today. Let's remember that he started with 6 recruits, and no time to build relationships. We ended with 14, and perhaps the first "Harbaugh" QB. We also have Peppers and Isaac coming in as virtual freshmen

Not great, but 'that's how the pickle squirts" according to JH

[lineygoblue]

I know, Geezer. I had to hang up with the guy and told him I'd talk to him later.

For me, I'm very impressed with how JH hit the ground running, and shook every tree in the country, looking for loose commitments. He didn't hole up in his office, and feel sorry for himself, that he didn't have time to get in on the "top" players in the country. He literally battled all the way to the last minute with Weber.

I enjoy listening to the players reasons for why they committed to the schools that they committed to. In particular I found Weber's comments interesting. You can tell almost word for word what ohio's coaches have been saying to him about Michigan. They never disappoint.

I see the same thing you see, Geezer. For all intents and purposes, Peppers and Isaac will both be incoming freshmen. Peppers may have a medical redshirt, and Isaac will have 3 years eligibility remaining. These guys haven't even scratched the surface in what they can contribute to Michigan. Plus, the guys we actually DID get are an interesting mix of players that could very well fit real needs, very early on.

So, its not a dream team recruiting haul like some expected, but its not a bad effort given the circumstances. I think we'll see more so-called 'star power' going forward.

[iam416]

The class isn't on JH, but it's not a very good class. There's lots of reasons for it, but the bottom line is that it is more or less a lost class. It will produce roughly 4 or so contributors.

Gotta nail 2016.

[Hannibal]

It might not be on Harbaugh but the final result hit the rock bottom of expectations (*sigh* once again) when it came to shoring it up. Any shit recruiter could have flipped some 3* detritus away from programs like Northwestern, Iowa, UConn, and Cal. RichRod landed five 4* guys in his transition class, plus future contributors Omameh, Odoms, and J.T. Floyd, and he is a terrible recruiter. Harabugh's lone success was flipping a 4* guy at the position that he is most famous for coaching. And he's not even a 4* guy on all of the services. Out of all of the decommits and guys who were favoring Michigan at one point, Harbaugh did not flip one. Not one single guy. He didn't flip back Clark, he didn't flip back Weber. Not Crawford, Campbell, Harris, or Roseboro. Nobody. Not a single one.

Any way you slice it, this class hit the stone cold, rock bottom of expectations, or worse. Once again, we were treated to the familiar talk of:

"It's not fair to compare <insert name of Michigan failure here> to the success of <insert example of success here> because of <insert excuse here>. You've got unreasonable expectations give it time."

[Rocky Bleier]

Agree. Clark was a Michigan commit at one time and went to a school that doesn't throw to TEs. Weber grew up a Michigan fan and a one time commit, but Harbaugh couldn't flip him. Both kids seem a little flaky to me, though. Clark changed his mind every other week, and Weber first got butt-hurt because Michigan pursued Damien Harris. We'll see if Clark can block and if Weber pouts when Frank pulls in a couple more RBs next recruiting season.

[iam416]

They were scrambling big-time for anything. The only two kids they really pre-existing "INs" with were Clark and Weber.

Clark is an atypical recruit. He might have ended up at UCLA even if Hoke had stayed. But, yeah, M definitely had an in with him, the staff wasn't even very far behind UCLA in terms of recruiting and Mora managed to get him. UCLA had a really nice day.

They probably would have flipped Weber back from any other school. UFM sold him on the obvious -- "looky at how we develop RBs!" -- and also, interestingly enough, used Desmond Howard as an example of a kid who could leave his home state and be very successful. I, of course, find the first point satisfying in view of the discussions several years ago about UFM's inability to produce 1000 yard RBs.

[Rocky Bleier]

I don't see the RBs doing much besides running through gaping holes. The O-line has been the big story under UM.

[iam416]

In any event, 2016 is of paramount importance to JH. This is M's 2nd meh class in a row. You can withstand 1 miss. I think 2 makes a dent and 3 will kill you. He has to come up with a top 10 class, IMO. He won't have huge numbers to work with -- I'm guessing around 21-22 when it's all said and done -- but it has to be a oozing with quality.

Then in 2017 when the numbers really open up he can add quality and depth and keep building.

In the meantime, he needs to learn someone on that roster to play QB at a winning level. Job 1.