2012 recruiting

Now that the amazing 2012 class is officially complete, I'm curious which 2012 recruiting class position group is everyone's favorite. I'm lumping the TEs in with the WRs to give them a chance. Here are my thoughts.

OL: Magnuson, Kalis, Bars, Braden

Helps 1st tr: Kalis or Braden, not both

Potential/likely all Big Ten: All of them

Potential star: Kalis, Magnuson

WR/TE: Darboh, Chesson, Funchess, Williams

Help 1st year: Darboh, Funchess, Williams

Potential/likely All Big Ten: Darboh, Funchess, Williams

Potential star: Darboh, Funchess (mismatch against LBs/safeties will be fun to watch)

DL: Pipkins, Wormley, Henry, Godin, Ojemudia, Strobel

Help 1st year: Pipkins, Wormley

Potential/likely All Big Ten: Pipkins, Strobel, Wormley, Ojemudia

Potential star: Pipkins, Ojemudia

LB: Ross, Bolden, Jenkins-Stone, Ringer

Help 1st year: Bolden, Ross

Potential/likely All Big Ten: Ross, Bolden, Jenkins-Stone

Potential star: Ross, Bolden, Jenkins-Stone

DB: Richardson, Wilson, Clark, Gant

Help 1st year: Richardson, Wilson

Potential/likely All Big Ten: Richardson, Wilson (also like Clark)

Potential star: Richardson, Wilson

I've left off the RBs since they don't measure up to the rest of the positions, but it will be fun to see what Borges does with Norfleet.

I think one could make a case for DL, LB and OL given both the talent, depth and need. It's hard to go against the three likely stars at LB, but I'm going with the DL. Pipkins elite talent at such a position of need along with such high end depth with 6 recruits and 4-5 players with All Big Ten or better potential puts the DL at the top. I also think Ojemudia will be awesome after a couple years.

http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery/college-football-recruiting

This isn't exactly specific to Michigan, but it's a really cool dynamic graph produced with Tableau software. Simply click on a team on the top bar to view their recruits, what state they came from, how many stars they had (based on Rivals' data), etc.

For those of you who don't know, Tableau is a very useful data visualization tool. I'm an analytic consultant and we use it all the time for displaying data in an easy, digestible way to our clients. I've never seen anyone use it for public-type work, but is by far the coolest thing I've seen it used for.

Also note, I did not produce this graph. This particular graph was published by a fellow named Scott Wasserman.

Barring a late-breaking commitment—say, Alex Kozan—these are your final Big Ten recruiting rankings for the class of 2012. After Ohio State's late charge under Urban Meyer, the Buckeyes finish atop the rankings; Michigan is a relatively close second and from there it's a precipitous drop to Notre Dame and the rest of the Big Ten. You can find the previous edition of the rankings here—changes are not listed because there were far too many.

Chart? Chart:

*ESPN doesn't rate JuCos, so they are counted as unranked recruits for the sake of consistency (trust me, it makes sense when you look at the spreadsheet).
^The average of the average rankings of the four recruiting services (aka the previous four columns). The figure is calculated based on the raw numbers and then rounded, so the numbers above may not average out exactly.

On to the full data, after the jump.

Both UofM and Ohio reeled in great classes this year. Several blue chip recruits on both sides of the ball.

What this means is that we'll have great position battles throughout the ranks in the years to come.

After hearing Ondre talk about Schutt, I was wondering how all the battles would pan out.

Here is a breadown: (10 point scale - 10 meaning absolute domination, 1 meaning nearly even)

Michigan OL v/s Ohio DL

Mags versus Adolphus - Ohio by 5 

Kalis versus Schutt - Michigan by 6

Bars versus Spence - Ohio by 6

Braden versus Pittman - Michigan by 2

AJ Williams versus Marcus - Michigan by 4

Overall Michigan has a much stronger OL compared to Ohio's incoming DL

Michigan DL v/s Ohio OL

Pipkins versus Decker - Pipkins by 6

Ojemudia versus Dodson - Ojemudia by 3

Strobel versus O'Connor - Strobel by 5

Wormley versus Boren - Wormley by 7

Godin versus Elfein - ?? (Haven't seen Elfein in action)

Overall, I think Michigan has put together a better class in the lines compared to Ohio. While Ohio has some blue-chips in Spence and Washington, they seem to be lacking depth which Michigan brings in. This is more evident on the defensive side of the ball, where Michigan's incoming DL should absolutely demolish Ohio's incoming OL man for man.

The offensive line coming in, is probably slightly weaker compared to Ohio's DL (if we had Diamond or Garnett, we would be even or slightly better) but should hold its own with the superior coaching and more reinforcements next year.

Next up - Comparing the backfields with the skill positions

Over on ESPN, they have Michigan ranked #8 with 24 recruits signed. They are #4 and #7 on Scout and Rivals, respectively. But both of those sites show Michigan with 25 recruits.  Since I do not have ESPN Insider, I can't see the individual recruits, so the question I have is, what recruit of Michigan's is missing and would it make a difference in their ESPN ranking?

Per Allen Trieu on Twitter, Dennis Norfleet has committed to Michigan.

http://michigan.scout.com/a.z?s=162&p=2&c=1154382&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http%3a%2f%2fmichigan.scout.com%2f2%2f1154382.html 

The 5' 7" all-purpose Running Back is a 4 star on scout.