Shaun Crawford to visit OSU, per Bucknuts
https://twitter.com/bill_kurelic/status/409152144067948544
December 6th, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^
December 7th, 2013 at 1:23 AM ^
I'm pretty optomistic and I try not to get too down, but damn, I wish we'd get out of this funk we've(program on field and in recruiting) been in since November 2nd.
December 7th, 2013 at 1:27 AM ^
December 7th, 2013 at 9:06 AM ^
"Nov 2?!?! I was thinking more like Labor Day 2007."
No Shit. +10,000
December 6th, 2013 at 10:57 PM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
Like most things recruiting, I'll just take a wait and see approach with this. All I care about is getting his LOI on Signing Day. What happens between now and then, I'm not going to worry about.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:19 PM ^
He is two years away from arriving on campus so he probably is concerned Hoke won't make it that long.
More evidence of the damage fans ranting can cause on the recruiting trail.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:42 PM ^
2 bad seasons in a row, no?
All will be fine
December 7th, 2013 at 10:56 AM ^
yeah, it has nothing to do with being 7-5.
it's all the fans.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:19 PM ^
Not pushing the panic button, but it doesn't seem like very long ago that this class was ranked #1 and had all the momentum in the world. Now it is #11 on 247 and #7 on ESPN, with players deciding to schedule visits elsewhere.
I will be glad when NSD finally gets here.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:23 PM ^
I feel like this is becoming a trend. We start strong, OSU starts slow, but at the end of the day OSU takes over and finishies a few spots ahead of UM. On the one hand it's good to get top classes. On the other hand it's hard to ever overcome a rival that is already better than you if you can't out-recruit them. Unfortunately we will always be fighting this uphill battle as there is simply more talent in OH than MI. Hopefully our young talent starts to produce more wins on the field soon so can be the onces flipping top kids late. Maybe next year it can be UM flipping Webb instead of OSU flipping Crawford. Well, that's my hope anyways.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:31 PM ^
In fact it's marginal. I'm not worried about a talent differential with how UM's recruiting is going. I am, however, worried about a coaching discrepancy.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^
Meyer is easily a better coach
December 7th, 2013 at 12:06 AM ^
December 7th, 2013 at 1:25 AM ^
December 7th, 2013 at 6:22 AM ^
December 7th, 2013 at 9:14 AM ^
How? He's not the defensive playcaller and his offense put up 42 points. He's the offensive mind behind it.
December 7th, 2013 at 9:45 AM ^
Are you saying there isn't a big difference between #3 and #6 (OSU and UM according to ESPN last year) or there isn't a big difference between #1 and #10? Because for example UM only had one guy ranked over 84 (Green) whereas Bama had 10 (and OSU had 8). I think that's a pretty big difference. Derrick Green was our highest rated recruit by far and that was a big deal for UM to finally land a guy like that, whereas OSU has 8 of them and Bama has 10.
While I agree with you on coaching the offense (maybe head coaching too, but I'm reserving judgement on that for now), I'm not certain OSU holds any coaching prowess edge on the defensive side of the ball.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:49 PM ^
This class was never destined to be #1 with the amount of scholarships we have for this class.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^
Here...Will Campbell 5 star. Jake Ryan 3 star. Cissoko....Stribling.
Now I don't want to lose recruiting battles to our arch rivals...but I think our focus needs to be more on technique and development. Our guys will find talent.
In a couple years, with depth everywhere, quality everywhere...if we can't do it...THEN I will be worried.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:38 PM ^
Hoke has actually done a slightly better job. Narduzzi's defenses were pretty average his first three seasons. It wasn't until year four that they started their ascent to dominance.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^
If that's the case we should expect to see a Big Ten Championship next year, or at least 11 wins, right? Is that what you're expecting in 2014?
The situations are not the same and it's pointless to compare them.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:41 PM ^
Both coaches took over programs that came off disasterous ends to the previous regimes, both coaches came from middling schools, and both coaches won national titles as assistants at previous stops.
Are they exactly alike? No. No situation is. But there is enough to suggest that patience is a good idea.
I am not saying that UM WILL win 11 games next year. Not at all. My comparison is mainly to give hope that things will turn around.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:56 PM ^
December 7th, 2013 at 12:01 AM ^
That DL was arguably the greatest UM ever fielded. Hammerstein and Messner would probably disagree, but that DL was the key to the entire defense.
Hoke also won at his two previous stops as a coach. So he has had success as both an assistant and as a HC.
December 7th, 2013 at 1:23 AM ^
How many national titles or - hell - conference championships does he have? The whole "Hoke was a winner before UM" is really old, especially for a coach that barely cracked .500 prior to UM.
December 7th, 2013 at 6:09 AM ^
December 7th, 2013 at 8:20 AM ^
The trouble is he inherited that overwhelming (for the MVC) offensive talent. And early indicators are not good at Michigan regarding offensive player development.
December 7th, 2013 at 8:55 AM ^
TCU had five players drafted that year to SDSU's two. That was typical for a top MWC team in that period--the year before, Utah had five drafted including two 2nds; the year after, Boise had six. Seven players were taken in the first two round during those years; SDSU had none of them.
They had talent close to the best teams in their league but I don't think you could call it overwhelming.
December 7th, 2013 at 11:37 AM ^
Players from that 2010 team that ended up drafted:
Vincent Brown - WR - 2011 3rd Rd
DeMarco Sampson - WR - 2011 7th Rd
Ronnie Hillman - RB - 2012 3rd Rd
Miles Burris - LB - 2012 4th Rd
Ryan Lindley - QB 2012 - 6th Rd
Jerome Long - DT - 2012 7th Rd
Gavin Escobar - TE - 2013 2nd Rd
Leon McFadden - CB - 2013 3rd Rd
TCU had 8 guys drafted that was on that roster and they went 13-0. The Utah team that you are referencing went 12-0. SDSU had talent on offense, at least, to rival those teams that completely overwhelmed their opponents. They went 5-3 in conference and were the third highest-scoring team.
December 7th, 2013 at 11:52 AM ^
"He inherited horrible programs with no real football cache. Assuming he rebuilt Ball St. ethically and without egregious violations, then how hard is it to see that he had quite a task on his hands? Lots of growing pains for a first time HC at an historically downtrodden program."
I just don't get where this narrative comes from that Hoke inherited a "downtrodden" Ball St. and made it into something great comes from. It just isn't supported by facts at all.
Ball St. under Bill Lynch (Hoke predecessor): 37-53, 41.1%
Ball St. under Brady Hoke: 30-39, 43.4%
Ball St. in 3 years prior to Brady Hoke:
2000: 5-6
2001: 5-6
2002: 6-6
Ball St. under Brady Hoke:
2003: 4-8
2004: 2-9
2005: 4-7
2006: 5-7
2007: 7-6
2008: 12-2
That doesn't look like a "difficult rebuild". That looks like a 5 year run of pretty much exactly what came before under the previous coach, and then one outlier.
December 7th, 2013 at 2:39 PM ^
The notion that Brady Hoke took over a BSU program that was a dumpster fire and then built it up into a championship program glosses over a boatload of uncomfortable facts.
December 7th, 2013 at 11:17 PM ^
December 8th, 2013 at 9:37 AM ^
"In my own mind, the emphasis was on "historically", as in, has Ball St. ever really been a powerful program?"
Ball State all time winning percentge: 52.4%
Brady Hoke at Ball State: 43.4%
December 8th, 2013 at 12:33 PM ^
Of course, more than half of that all-time record was compiled in juco and small-college ranks. Not quite sure why it's relevant.
December 7th, 2013 at 6:37 AM ^
the Hoke love fest is all about what people want to believe rather than facts to back it up
December 7th, 2013 at 9:25 AM ^
I believe Woodson was the key to the entire defense, and suggesting otherwise is simply crazy talk.
December 7th, 2013 at 1:21 AM ^
December 7th, 2013 at 7:39 AM ^
We were in some dogfights this year. We won a couple...we lost a couple. I think four of the games we lost by a TOTAL of 8-10 points. Just as ALL OF MY MSU FRIENDS REMINDEDED
ME over and over again (think they lost 5 games by a total of 7 points last year?) Translation...even tho we played horrible we still ALMOST won 10 games.
Keep the faith.
December 7th, 2013 at 10:06 AM ^
MSU, OSU, PSU, NW...none of these teams will be great next year which is good for us. ND will be tough on the road. PSU we finally get at home. OSU will be tough, but always is. MSU loses a lot on defense. NW loses Colter. I see us as a 9-3 team next year. With the conference as weak as I expect, we could contend for a conference championship, but we still won't be a great team. I have faith, but I think we're more than a year away.
Next year if we stay healthy we should take a step forward and continue to improve. But, we still have questions marks. We will still be a bend but don't break style of defense because we simply don't have enough talent. I really think we need our talent to get older before we become what we want. Are guys like Gordon, Taylor, Clark, Morgan, Beyer servicable...sure. But we need the younger more talented (if you go by recruiting rankings) guys like Wilson, Charlton, Ross, Wormley, Thomas, Pipkins, etc. to become Jrs and Srs before we are really gonna be good on defense. I think the same goes for our offensive line guys like Kalis, Bosch, Kugler, Dawson, etc. before we'll have a good running game.
December 7th, 2013 at 9:15 AM ^
I would estimate that 687 of your current 4115 points have resulted from you bringing up Dantonio's first three seasons.
December 6th, 2013 at 10:37 PM ^
December 6th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^
He's going to come here. He wouldn't be telling the nation he wants to wear #23 at Michigan because if you put the most recent Wolverine Heisman winner's numbers together (21 & 2), you get 23.
And if he doesn't, panic and run around screaming.