UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Hannibal]

I was hoping that it was Bredeson since Onwenu was long considered a lock.

[hack]

There was Gary chatter too yesterday. Just spec about who it was going to be, but that woulda been...

One of twitter's self-appointed mandarins says there's 3 silent commits, and that June's gonna be huge. We'll see.

[WM Wolverine]

Offensive recruiting class is shaping up very well. The tight ends in the B10 region were late in the their recruitment when JH took over and/or were long-time Ohio leans/fans. Upshur is getting offers from most everyone and his recruitment looks to be a long one. I'd expect M to land a Plan B tight end before Upshur decides...

Xavier Kelly and Caleb Kelly are being recruited to play the hybrid, 'buck' position which is a DE in Durkin's 4-3 and an OLB in his 3-4. Position Dante Fowler played for Florida and was drafted #3 overall... LB position group should get settled in June as a few LB'ers are visiting in mid June that have long had M as favorites. Just the inverse of the DB's, M top targets are national recruits that'll have long recruitments and take their official visits...

Quinn Nordin's K (3*, MI) offer is supposedly contingent on the M staff evaluating their current kicker, mostly Andrew David.

[iam416]

Though Onwenu was a lock, it's still important for M to get what I consider a recruit from one of the legit 6 national recruits in-state (I'm not a huge fan of Falcon...but 7 if you count him). That's a big get get.

WM:

I'm actually a little surprised at M's TE recruiting. There are lots of good ones in the region. I'm most surprised that they couldn't do anything with Farrell who, IMO, is a really good prospect and even better fit for JH's system.

[froot loops]

6'4" 368? Holy smokes, you'd expect a big tub of goo but he looks pretty good for that listed size.

[Hannibal]

I saw the list of other programs that Gary is interested in and I would be shocked if we land him.

Though Onwenu was a lock, it's still important for M to get what I consider a recruit from one of the legit 6 national recruits in-state (I'm not a huge fan of Falcon...but 7 if you count him). That's a big get get.

It is important insofar as getting completely skunked on in-state Rivals Top 250 recruits would be an unprecedented disaster for our program's recruiting. Landing one guy in-state from our top feeder school is a relief more than anything.

[iam416]

I'm not sure I'd make the stakes so high on Gary, but I'd definitely wager "not M" and "South".

I think Onwenu is a good get. I've been a bit perplexed about M's recruiting. There seems to be a definite "we know better than all others" or "we can take whatever and make them great" feel about it, IMO.

Bredeson would be huge. Of the other kids soon to commit, I'm still puzzled. But, I'm sure it will work out fine.

[Hannibal]

There seems to be a definite "we know better than all others" or "we can take whatever and make them great" feel about it.

Yes, there is very much a frightening amount of that.

[hack]

Agreed about that sense of relief. I too have a general feeling of unease about it right now, but I do expect that once winning starts that'll change. What else is reasonable to expect?

[WM Wolverine]

M never got a foot in the door to Farrell, I felt he was a Buckeye but not sure if they have room? Regardless, M supposedly has no chance there... M's staff seems all over the place with TE recruiting, lots of offers to TE's out of region and passing up a few in B10 territory. Sometimes academics play a role in these offers...

M is going to have a large class (23 - 25) with more attrition still yet to be official, they'll take a 3* that they like. Like Evans, Stewart or Enis. All of those guys play a position where M need numbers and in the case of Evans, Enis play multiple positions.

[hack]

Recruiting is a big mystery so far. Harbaugh is not working the miracles that Hoke did. Hopefully he will let his winning do the talking in a few months.

[WM Wolverine]

Not sure I understand the sentiment above. M is slow playing a lot of recruits in hopes of chasing some national talent... I understand Hoke was usually filling up his class by the end of May but that was with mostly kids from M, Ohio, Illinois, etc... JH is chasing recruits in Cali, Florida, Texas, NJ, etc...

As I've been pretty vocal about, June is a critical month for M recruiting, they are going to land a significant chunk of their recruiting class in the next month to 6 weeks...

If M misses out on the top 4 prospects in-state, it'll be a lil' disturbing and it looks like a very good chance of happening: Daelin Hayes, Khalid Kareem, Donnie Corley & LeVert Hill... Tough to lose out on all of those four and replace them with out-of-state talent. It sounds like the staff is doing much better in-state with the '17 class that is every bit as good and is likely an even better class.

[iam416]

Hoke is fairly crucified for every aspect of his program save recruiting. Up until his final lame duck season, he did a very good job of recruiting. Swenson, Onwenu and, say, Bredeson would be a great OL haul, but I don't think it would top Hoke's top OL haul. He also won a number of battles against OSU.

All that said, WM (and others) stated in no uncertain terms that JH is behind for the class of 2016 and when it comes to the early commitment period (pre-fall), WAY behind. This class has the feel of "scrambling" to catch-up and figure out the lay of the land.

I'm not sure what June will bring. If it's Bredeson and another national recruit, then that's great. If it's the RB from Indiana, the WR from Paramus and a TE no one else is recruiting, well, meh.

[WM Wolverine]

June is going to be a big month for M recruiting, lots of recruits with M as a favorite (or top 2) visiting, have visited and are close to a decision.

[WM Wolverine]

Shouldn't have a problem doubling the class size in the next 6 weeks.