Ohio recruiting

Things discussed:

  • Just me today as Craig's on a plane and Brian's in the Alps.
  • Jordan Marshall: Credit to Mike Hart. Also credit to Michigan, since it's hard to find a better fit for a guy who comes from a power offense.
  • Ohio recruiting: We walk through the history since the 2000s, has something changed? Yeah, they couldn't show their faces there after 2018.
  • The 2024 class: Way ahead of most schools. People being impatient need to look around nationally; NIL and smaller classes because of the portal have suppressed freshman recruiting.
  • Jadyn Davis? Sam lays out a gut feeling. Short version is no worries.
  • Portillo talk.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

[via @ZachLinfield on Twitter]

Recruiting Board lives here.

Second Signing Day doesn't really matter as much anymore, but it's tomorrow, so let's talk recruiting. Any more 2023s? Transfers? How much has Harbaugh's latest NFL dalliance, Weiss's computer crimes, or things that don't matter but get reported anyways set them back? How mad is that SEC coach that Harbaugh declined the Broncos? How much do recruits care about success in College Football Risk? Are other schools really mad that Michigan is dominating that because taking out Oregon is the key to winning a 5-star recruitment tomorrow? Well, no. But let's check in, get a little annoyed, and throw out some links.

If you want to know what's on the other side of some of those paywall links, 247Sports is offering 60% off a year's subscription today, On3 is just $29.99 to get you through the entire offseason (8/31), and Henschke's been doing a great job at Rivals.

FINISHING THE 2023 CLASS

Michigan is trying to add 5-star track star Nyckoles Harbor, who's announcing at 1PM tomorrow($). Adding the highest ranked uncommitted player on Signing Day could help the narratives. But as a football prospect I caution not to expect much for a year or two because Harbor wants to focus on track first, and stay on offense after, whereas his lofty ranking has a lot to do with his #1 overall upside as an edge. According to Sam Webb, Michigan is completely onboard(~15 minutes) with Harbor using his freshman year to focus on getting to the 2024 Olympics, but both Webb and EJ Holland warn that Michigan had better get completely onboard($) with the modern NIL game if they're going to play in today's world.

If Michigan does get the 6'5"/225 sprinter who recently ran a 6.64 in the 60 meter (that is fast), you cannot stop me from using academics-minded, track star/two-way end Willis Ward as the comp, but that's no sure thing. Though Oregon's track program is currently ranked behind Michigan's, they're a track powerhouse, an NIL powerhouse, and the Ducks got Harbor's last visit. Word out of that trip is NIL is now a bigger consideration($), the implication being Michigan is competitive on brand reach but not on the first suitcase.

As of today the only crystal balls in are from South Carolina's 247 writers; they believe SC put in the most work and that the Harbor family, which is tied to the DMV($), won't uproot. Steve Wiltfong seems to think Oregon and SC are favorites, but mentions Michigan's confidence too. Brian Dohn also thinks it's an Oregon/SC battle($). Maryland, which seemed a likely destination just a week or so ago, seems to have been supplanted by Oregon($), while Miami (YTM)'s pure NIL pitch appears to have fallen flat.

Michigan's also been trying to close with a couple of DL. At this point it seems unlikely($) that they'll land Wisconsin decommit IL 3* Jamel Howard, the nose tackle they were close to nailing down on early signing day. Since then LSU and Miami have gotten involved and the Michigan Insider crew cautions Wisconsin is still in play.

So if Michigan does add anybody tomorrow it's because they flipped CA 3* DE/DT Cameron Brandt from a Stanford commitment. Brandt visited Michigan on January 20, but it took awhile for confidence to grow. On3's Chad Simmons said he'd give Stanford the edge($) yesterday, but it seems Michigan got word this afternoon, as Rivals' Josh Henschke and everyone at 247 started predicting a flip. The TMI crew also talked about Brandt at the tail end of their podcast; if Harbaugh to NFL rumors were a sticking point it appears that's been addressed.

[After THE JUMP: 2024, next commits, Kentucky coach is tweeting through it]

DD6-1

I'm back. To all three of you who missed the weekly user content post thank you for your patience as we got HTTV shipped, and then I unplugged and spent five days in the Canadian wilderness. There were loons, a bear, a moose and a bazillion bitemes, then I spent the ride home with a Space Coyote. This diarist of the week issued Part the Third of his awesome series on DG's spring game performance. A sample:

Play 13 - 4:50

Slants with a play action fake to get the LBs to clear out from the underneath zones. Very simple play…

The backside is actually more open on this play, but DG can’t know that because he is accurately going through his progression, which reads that the first man is open (which he is for a TD, good read).  On the field side, the slot is more or less intended to clear out that underneath zone from the nickel back/ LBs/ safety by running an initial slant.  He doesn’t run a great route but it isn’t too important. The outside WR then runs behind that to a news vacated area, which is also wide open.

These seem to be developing a theme: defense has the 3rd read wide open and gets pressure but the play never goes to the open guy because something short with a small window but higher in the progression order opens up first. I wonder if this is an effect of the defense knowing the offense, or an effect of Gardner's progression being slow, or as the OP seems to suggest, just one of those things. Coyote goes easy on Devin for doing what he's coached to do but I wonder if a senior with a lot of game experience will be more apt to go off the page and punish the defense for catching tendencies. It's may be irrelevant since our senior QB is a sophomore in West Coast passing schemes, but as Space Coyote notes a sophomore Henne once threw to the 2nd read on a very similar play to cap a last-play comeback win against Penn State.

Oy Boy! Last time saveferris penned a roll back the clock I asked for more, and we received. This time the quantum accelerator put us in the pads of Bill Taylor, c. 1971, when Michigan conquered space and Ohio State but couldn't defeat Stanford in the Rose Bowl. As could only happen here, there's an argument in the comments between a historian armed with knowledge of the weather that week and a member of the band who was on the field that day about the grass conditions in Pasadena. Upon further review:

Looks pretty dry guys. How the hell did you remember that? My mom was a junior at Michigan that year and swears she can't remember anything except studying and getting good grades (and how cheap coffee was at Blimpy's). Also trying to imagine MMB choosing a selection with such strong political overtones today.

A second leap was made by Blazefire to 2007 so he could warn us to not get too confident over last year's leap, but Henne/Hart injuries didn't make the defense give up 36 points to an I-AA team man.

In other postseasons that Michigan can get screwed in/out of, Stephenrjking and oakapple are playoff wranglin'. The former is a worth-reading discussion on poll bias and how any system that leaves the least up to human pollsters is probably the best for determining a champion. The latter also discusses qualification models like polls, a selection committee, and autobids, and makes a good point about this being a very different animal from basketball's selection committee, which has never seen a champion from the lower 50% of seeds.

Getting crowded down there. Our resident UMgradMSUdad says Nebraska recruiting is starting to shift from Texas (17 players in Pelini's first two seasons, 7 in the last two full classes) to Ohio with the move to the B1G. Since it's mostly 3-stars they're going after, long-term this annieprobably affects Michigan State, which under Dantonio took a lot of the guys Ohio State passed on and fought Nebraska the most in this study, more than Michigan, which is competing more directly with the in-state juggernaut. It helps them that Pelini's from Cardinal-Mooney (Ray Vinopal) in Youngstown, which in my study last year came out very Penn State-ish. This was bound to happen to some degree by letting them in. Nebraska is a traditional powerhouse from a state that doesn't produce a lot of talent, so they're going to pull more from their conference footprint than contribute to it. If the net result is it hastens the Spartans' inevitable return to Spartiocrity I'm okay with it, but the Cornhuskers have traditionally built from the Big XII's footprint; if these players are more and more coming from the Midwest it's going to thin the ranks of the Big Ten. File under obvious.

Etc. The Blockhams is tackling the dog. Soon the dog will be killed by the baby tackler's perfect Kovacsian form and replaced with a shaggy dog named Brian who is working on his blog all the time (MAKE THIS HAPPEN!). Space wallpaper (of Space!).

Best of the Board

FAMOUS PEOPLE SIGHTED, INDUCED TO SAY STUFF

We had a few people attend the myriad traveling events football players and coaches do during offseason and come back reporting on the proceedings.

  • Hoke at Agonis. Correspondent hart20 recorded Hoke's comments to a group of people in Dayton, Ohio, mostly on things from in and around Dayton, Ohio, that people from Dayton, Ohio, care about, like Ball State, Kaleb Ringer, and Roy Roundtree, but also the Gentleman's agreement (something about golf) and conference realignment.
  • Woodson at Sunda. Reporting not-live from Chicago, we go to samsoccer7 and coverage of Charles Woodson's new wine. This was originally published on the boards on May 18 but I re-set the clock so it can get its time as a deserved diary. Some good stuff in there, my favorite being why he didn't do the Heisman after the punt return v. Ohio State. Sorry grapenuts, nothing about the wine.
  • Steve Everitt at Golf Tournament. Brady Hoke's Pet Viking (glad I contributed at least one MGoMeme around here) in an MGoShirt: Ja!
    WHENCE THE DUAL-THREATS OF YESTERYEAR?

Whatever happened to all the 2009 (Class of 2010) Elite 11 QBs? Leaders And Best tracked them down and found way more washouts and transfers than projected starters. Devin Gardner is second only to Tennessee's Tyler Bray in guys on this list you'd want to have at this point.

FIFTH IN HEAPING PILES OF SCRATCH

This year's athletic department budgets as reported on their Title IX forms. I think the "subsidies" in there relate mostly to major stadium improvements. Anyway Michigan raked in over $122 million in revenue and spent about $112 million. Alms for the band indeed.

NON-POLL QUESTIONS

Join the following discussion points. My two cents added here as examples, and because I can get away with it!

  • What the hell is Devin Gardner's number now?
    Seriously, is it 12 or was that just a very mean joke to play on someone who has to pay per page edits to a printed preview book? I've heard Funchess is 19 too. People with information, please inform
  • What would you do if you were Brian for a day?
    Bring back negging so I could neg-bang everybody who complains about the lack of neg-banging.
  • Which Big Ten team are you really glad you're not a fan of today?
    MSU – Too good to not care, always knowing you weren't good
  • What was your most memorable Big House experience like?
    Imagine if you could wrap all that is Desmond Howard and being 11 years old into one afternoon.
  • (It's too late but…) Think of funny names for the sponsor levels
    Come for the humor. Leave for the lack of relevance to your life.
  • Six funny press conferences
    I approved this guy's concept for a daily board post even though the first was very Bleacher Report-y, figuring he had the drive to keep improving. Then it ended after two I guess. The first, eh, forget about it. The second: Tune in, if only for the chance to remember John L. Smith's pouty face. Every time I watch that I see my little brother, age 8, staring straight ahead, explaining how he's pressing the right buttons but the Nintendo's screwing it all up!

FINAL SOFTBALL UPDATE

sfb-splash-2-051212

The season ended against Alabama in the NCAA Super Regional (i.e. Round 2). But this is a game where pitchers dominate and we had two dominant freshmen. Memories: Everybody dancing to Amanda Chidester's "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" coming-to-bat song, Caitlin Blanchard getting hit by a pitch to beat Louisville in the regional, going perfect on the season against OSU/ND/MSU, including a weekend shutout over Michigan State, and this:

Player ERA W-L CG IP BB/K OP-Avg | AVG HR OBP SLG OPS
Haylie Wagner 1.53 32-7 28 252 52/159 0.207 | 0.132 6 0.457 0.553 1.010
Sara Driesenga 2.53 9-10 7 124.1 45/63 0.253 | 0.340 4 0.305 0.303 0.608

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

(warning: may cause you to become trapped in amaranthine contemplation of Les Miles. HT: Orson)

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