UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[iam416]

I think each ratings revision becomes better because the have more data. And the best data point they have is seeing kids against like competition -- just as JD says. I think by the time you work through the AA games and the practice weeks before that, you have a pretty good idea of what a kid is. I remember Josh Myers (OL) was a top 10 overall player about 2 years out from NLOID, but by the time signing day came around he was in the 70s. They saw him at AA practice -- couldn't pass protect that well.

Ojabo, IMO, skirted under the radar but now everyone is wise to his measurables. If he shows some good football skills this year and then plays in an AA game and does well then he'll continue to move up. Charbonnet is another kid who was definitely in for an upgrade. Not all M recruits are going to get that, though. I'd be surprised if Velasquez and Newburg move up much at all. Also, Rumler has fallen about 50 spots over the course of the past 8-9 months.

[Detroit Dan]

Apparently, the recruiting services and the "stars" are faltering these days. Thus, we really can't place as much importance in these as we have in the past. Is this significant, or just a statistical curiosity in the long run? Is it now more likely that any individual program can identify prospects better than ESPN and Rivals? The question answers itself. I have more confidence in Harbaugh and company than in the 247 composite.

[Detroit Dan]

As an FYI, each of the 3 Florida powers has won a national title more recently than M and each has had a dominant run (or 2) in the past 30 years.

I do agree that Georgia is/was a sleeping giant. But, they've been mucking around for the right coach for decades. Kirby is probably pretty damn good and, more importantly, they're recruiting is truly at or above Alabama-levels (though, I mean, who knows how those super-talented players FIT into the roster?). Alabama, of course, has proven that they never really drop off. Georgia will end up with 2 really great classes in a row, but we'll see if they can keep it up.

Finally, I disagree, entirely, with you assertion that South Carolina is perhaps more backward than Alabama. During your time here you've managed to somehow hunt and peck your way to barely articulated opinions that rate as foolish or worse. However, with that bit of vapidity we have a new champion. To be clear, Mississippi is the only state that *might* be as backward as Alabama unless you're using "state" broadly to include countries then it's also South Sudan, Liberia and Venezuela (currently).

Well, I've been reluctant to come back here since my comments about Alabama and South Carolina. However, the responses were not as sharp as I had anticipated. AlabamaAlum had basically nothing to say other than "You're an idiot". So not much there, other than understandable defensiveness.

Talent / iam416 provided the coherent response above. And it's all true as far as I know. Mississippi may be more backward than South Carolina. But that is immaterial to the big picture.

I admire Alabama, South Carolina, and Mississippi. But we all now agree that they were wrong about the inherent inferiority of black people. In no other field is this so clear as in football.

Anyway, let's not take this too seriously and hate each other over a game. Alabama has extremely intelligent fans, as does Ohio State. I hope Michigan wins, but respect your traditions and programs.

[iam416]

[Hannibal]

Rumors say that Herron will make his decommit official soon.

I'm sure that he won't be the last.

[iam416]

And so it has come to pass. Looking at the rest of the class, it doesn't seem like any of their quality verbals are likely to flip. At all.

[Jeff Buchanan]

From MGo:

(with the loss of Herron to (?) Stanford) ....... Michigan now has three defensive end commits, 5-star SDE Chris Hinton, 3.5-star-for-now SDE David Ojabo and 3-star WDE Gabe Newburg, and will presumably look to replace Herron in the class. They remain Lloyd-Christmas-There's-A-Chance interested in 5-stars Zach Harrison (a presumed Ohio State lock) and George Karlaftis (a Purdue commit). The Herron news may actually help somewhat with 3-star DE Aeneas DiCosmo, who seems to be down to Michigan and Stanford.

It's not great to lose any highly ranked 2019 recruit like Herron but the DE position is fine. Best of luck to him. Stanford is a great program and school.

[AlabamAlum]

Well, I've been reluctant to come back here since my comments about Alabama and South Carolina. However, the responses were not as sharp as I had anticipated. AlabamaAlum had basically nothing to say other than "You're an idiot". So not much there, other than understandable defensiveness.

.

Yeah, Dan, I did say that to you, but truth is a defense against slander. But no, not defensiveness, just fatigue; that was about the 5th straight time you have posted something nearly 180 wrong as fact regarding Nick/Bama. Something even a cursory Google search could have educated you on. Now, I will give you credit, the times I have spent educating you, you have admitted you were wrong, but it gets old. And, really, what is the point? I can't go into every cave and knock the feces out of every Cro Magnon's hand, and correct the errors scrawled on every wall. At some point you just utter an offhand comment and hope that evolution's slow but inexorable march to sentience continues on.

Excelsior!

[Rocky Bleier]

So glad that Harbaugh turned around that Stanford program. They beat us head to head on every recruit now.

[THE_WIZARD_]

HARBAUGH!!!!!!

[Rocky Bleier]

Another head-scratcher. Latest commit for 2019 is Quintel Kent from Cleveland St. Edward. He is ranked as the 130th WR by 247 Sports. His offer list includes Bowling Green, Kent State, Eastern Kentucky, and Ball State.

[WingsFan]

[iam416]

[Rocky Bleier]

Looks like they're going the Wisconsin route. Must have a lot of faith in Ben Herbert. I'm very interested to see if there is an obvious strength and conditioning difference v.s. ND.

[Detroit Dan]

The last couple of recruits have been lacking stars, i.e. Quintel Kent, Tyrece Woods. Still, I enjoy reading about their potential. That's part of the fun of being a fan -- tracking players and coaches over time. Perhaps the star system is messed up and Harbaugh is better than average in choosing players. A program is a combination of football Xs and Os, facilities, relationships, procedures, tradition, reputation, etc. I like Harbaugh, but that's mainly because I graduated from the University of Michigan and not Ohio State (although my father and grandfather were OSU graduates), Michigan State (some relatives went there), or Alabama (don't know anybody who went there but I do have a good friend who is a graduate of Auburn).

So I'll be pulling for Quintel Kent and Tyrece Woods. If they don't pan out, but we win games, that's fine. If the program slides because we couldn't get the top recruits, I'll probably start to follow some other team or sport. Michigan football has been pretty consistent over the decades in comparison with Tiger baseball, Red Wing hockey, Lions football, Pistons basketball, and even Wolverine basketball.

And I do like Harbaugh -- he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. I loved his entertaining tweets and recruiting escapades. I enjoy his extracurricular stuff, which has also been good P.R. for the program for the most part. And I appreciate that he seems to be concentrating more on core coaching responsibilities these days, as opposed to continuing publicity stunts.

This should be an entertaining year for Michigan football fans.