Michigan now #1 on 247 Class Rankings
With the committment of Jaron Dukes, Michigan is now #1 on 247 sports 2013 team rankings.
Go Blue!
http://247sports.com/Team/Ranking
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:23 PM ^
About time.
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:52 PM ^
oh, the difference a year makes
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:24 PM ^
Excellent! If you aint first, you're last!
February 22nd, 2012 at 9:59 PM ^
I was high when I said that.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:24 PM ^
That looks about right where we should be.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:50 PM ^
be right. We should be in this range but not any lower. I think this is good.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:24 PM ^
I know this can't be accurate because MSU is #19, way too high for Dantonio's liking.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^
Why is it that on every thread, someone says something about MSU?
Who cares....
Some people here enjoy hating MSU more than they do supporting Michigan. Go start an MSU hate site instead of trying to turn this into one. This site is about Michigan.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:52 PM ^
fergawdsakes
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:01 PM ^
So your suggestion is that we just pretend our rival programs do not exist? Isn't a healthy dislike of your rivals a common component of fandom? I really don't see the problem.
February 22nd, 2012 at 8:04 PM ^
We just don't bring them up in conversations that have nothing to do with them?
February 22nd, 2012 at 6:13 PM ^
because they are fun to make fun of
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:04 PM ^
with that, but I say Hate that little brother.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:26 PM ^
This is way too early for team rankings, but I'll take it. I'm also wondering what their basis was to update their player rankings AGAIN. WHat big events have happened? Also, anyone know what may have caused Butt's drop? Do you think they saw him drop a pass and decided he wasn't among the top 247 or something....
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^
Well, they didn't rank Jaron Dukes until after he committed to Michigan, so...That made up the gap. Right now, it's going to be numbers which drive the rankings. Once teams start getting the numbers, it'll be based on quality. A&M was ahead because of their numbers. We caught up because of quality and numbers.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^
It's not WAYTOOEARLY. If we fill out the rest of the class with three stars, we'll still have a top-10 class in 2013. Our verbal list constitutes an elite class right now. One year before signing day.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:54 PM ^
He was rated as a DE, so maybe they don't like him as much/haven't seen enough of him as a TE. He's still the #9 rated TE, and #8 is 210 overall, so Butt is just outside the 247 right now.
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:33 PM ^
Seems like he fell right through the cracks
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^
As far as events go I believe the "Best of the Midwest" camp was a few days ago. That might have resulted in some of the changes in rankings.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:28 PM ^
Brady Feather Muckin' Hoke.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^
Feels good to be on top. Now we just have to stay there. GO BLUE!!
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:30 PM ^
but hopefully these solid recruits will attract more 4 and 5 stars to commit.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:31 PM ^
I'm so surprised
February 22nd, 2012 at 8:26 PM ^
One can effect change.
I don't blame you. I blame the english language.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:38 PM ^
The real question is how were we not ranked #1 before? Isn't ten 4 star recruits and one 3 star recruit significantly better than 5 and 8, respectively?
This just tells me that 247 puts too much weight on class size.
February 22nd, 2012 at 6:07 PM ^
It's possble maybe that they don't see a large enough gap between 3* and 4* or that extra 3* player really makes a difference but that would be ridiculous. I mean, we have double the number of 4* and a quarter the number of 3* players. I know this means little now and will mean nothing after a week or two, but one more average player should not be making that much of a score difference.
February 22nd, 2012 at 8:04 PM ^
It's a point thing. Each recruit has a point value based on their ranking. They add the points up and get a total. Michigan has pulled ahead on volume plus quantity. Texas A&M has 13 recruits already, so even though they aren't quite as highly rated, they were ahead.
For what it's worth, Alabama already has a five star, seven four stars, and a three star. That's probably the best class by average star ranking that has more than two commitments.
February 22nd, 2012 at 9:52 PM ^
we have 10 4*s and 2 3*s while they have 5 4*s and 8 3*s, yet we are ahead in points by .24? Something ain't right.
February 22nd, 2012 at 11:23 PM ^
Agreed. If you have one recruit (ie. oregon/usc) then the points equal the rating of the player (98/97 respectively). Michigan has 12 recruits totalling 1107 points, yet their total points on the list is 712.4.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:43 PM ^
We all must keep in mind these are verbal committments, anything can happen in a year. Also, Urban and Ohio will recruit these kids harder, especially because they are in-state and committed to their biggest rivals.
Although I don't know Brady Hoke personally, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of his personality and how he interacts with parents, recruits, players, coaches, etc. Words that come to mind: Honest. Straight Shooter. Tradition. Michigan. Hard Work. The Team. Family. Academics. History. Privilege. It's not about other schools with him, it's only about Michigan. That's where I think he is different from Urban Meyer. I feel like he may be all about his past successes, the NFL, and from recent news - comparing OSU's committment to education to ours. A kid and his family who commit to Michigan and Hoke are not likely to be swayed by someone like Urban Meyer.
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:59 PM ^
Good post. But if they have highly rated friends or family committing to Ohio, it gets tricky.
February 22nd, 2012 at 8:31 PM ^
The thing that stood out to me this past signing day was that every single verbal commitment faxed in their written commitment. I agree with everything else you say. And I'm guessing you agree that those follow-through's are significant. Fergodssakes.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:47 PM ^
We were #1 around this time last year as well (well.. Maybe it was June 2011, but still early enough in the recruiting cycle).
Looks like there's a good chance this class will finish in the top 10 again. But as we all know, coffee is for closers and Hoke will need to close on this class to make it a top 5 one.
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:02 PM ^
I'm more interested in where we finish.
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:02 PM ^
Urban couldn;t take any kida last year, and I'm sure Hoke knows to keep up the contact in order to keep Urban out of the picture this year. If we keep this up AND hold steady, we are looking great for a top 5 or 10 recruiting class!
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:05 PM ^
...but if we can keep up this pace, a similar distribution of star rankings and keep these kids in the Michigan fold until they are officially signed on, then there isn't any reason that we're not in the top 5 for recruiting classes at this point next year.
It's already an elite class and these are just verbals. I hope they stay on, and even at this point, I would still dare say...
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:10 PM ^
February 22nd, 2012 at 6:03 PM ^
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:11 PM ^
First thing that comes to my mind is Daisy and cut off shorts.
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:28 PM ^
Would be even better if Jaron was from Flint haha.
Welcome to the fam Jaron!
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:41 PM ^
Nice to see we have the number one recruiting class right now but Bama will probably end up being the number 1 class. They are going to get the top 2 guys and there class is just going to be stacked. We should finish in the top 5 though which will be really nice and def. way better then the Rich Rod years.
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:54 PM ^
Great to be in this position...I like that we do alot of work landing recruits early. Having 10 4-stars is incredible--only two other schools even have 10 or more recruits total at this (early) stage.
So a question: In the past I've heard that more attention is given later in the recruitment cycle to recruits who haven't committed yet, and they are sometimes seen as stronger simply because people are noticing them more. As a result, the earlier commits are a bit under the radar and, as ratings get adjusted closer to NSD, underrated. Does this seem right? If so, any thoughts that our 2012 class might be even stronger than what we're credited because the early commits are under-valued?
February 22nd, 2012 at 8:40 PM ^
It's almost certainly true that late-signees get more scrutiny than early-signees. So it's probably true that most scouting services tend to overvalue them. And sometimes a countervailing effect comes into play, one in which a school that dominates the rankings is semi-automatically credited with finding an early-signing needle in the haystack, and that bumps up the esteem for the recruit.
But if a recruting service plans to be in it for the long haul, they want to get it right. So maybe it evens out.
I hope that helps.
February 22nd, 2012 at 8:41 PM ^
D'oh!
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:59 PM ^
February 22nd, 2012 at 6:35 PM ^
So I'll probably be downvoted to hell for this, but is anyone a tiny bit concerned about the lack of elite WRs were in on?
February 22nd, 2012 at 6:42 PM ^
Still ridiculous Shane is not a 5 star
February 22nd, 2012 at 6:56 PM ^
Insert more bitching.
February 22nd, 2012 at 7:08 PM ^
This is a pretty remarkable start when you consider that more than half the FBS schools are still waiting for their first 2013 commitment and 85% have 2 or fewer lined up so far.
February 22nd, 2012 at 7:17 PM ^
How big does this class need to get to stay in the top spot? Can we do it at 20, or is the top class going to be bigger than that?