LB Jeremy Patton to Baylor
https://sicem365.com/s/10231/breaking-four-star-linebacker-jeremy-patton-commits-to-baylor
Ja'Kobi Albert commits on Wednesday. But it looks like Auburn.
Football recruiting posts should be included with a drinking post.
That goes without saying
I assume that is whole milk of magnesia.
Playing a lot of Dime in the future.
When I saw his video, and saw how fast he is, and how he hits, punishing on some hits, I thought he's perfect for this new Michigan defense that may have 2 or 3 safety/LB types on the field for some packages. But maybe you are right now, 2 dimes on the field. Maybe not the size needed, but with the speed needed. Just don't want to see draw plays, and such, where those dimes have to come up and take down physical RBs. But such might be the state Michigan football is in at the moment.
That really sucks, as he was their top target! Missed on Cheeks, Patton and most likely Albert. They better start the relationship building for next year’s LB class, because it sounds like they’re going to be short on this year’s class. It seems distance ended up being a factor. It is looking like they may lose out on WR/RB Dillion Bell also, as he is trending towards Georgia.
He's from Tehana, TX.
Really happy we brought in a new coaching staff with a focus on recruiting. /s
I hear ya. I feel the same way. The reality is there is only so much you can do after a 2-4 season and a HC that took an unprecedented pay cut. They need to show something on the field to get guys excited about committing. We may not be a finished product, but if we can minimize some of our weaknesses we do have some playmakers that can do some things and get kids excited. There is a lot of young talent on this team and there are some good veterans like Haskins, Bell, Hutch, Ross, & Hawkins to provide some leadership. The staff and team just need to find a way to develop an offensive identity, get the o-line to gel, provide some resistance in the middle of the d-line, and find a second CB. I know that's a lot, but there is a lot more talent on this team than a lot of other places. I'm sure lots of teams would like have guys like Corum, Edwards, McNamara, Johnson, Henning, Baldwin, McGregor, Colson, Mullings, Mazi, Dax, Moten, Seldon, etc.
I agree with your first few sentences. Harbaugh is a lame duck since Warde cut him off at the knees. Nobody wants to play for that coach.
We'll see if Adain Hutchinson agrees.
August 1st, 2021 at 11:05 AM ^
I'd like to see the Mineral King chime in with his opinion.
Haven't seen him for a while. Ever since Shea Patterson took his last snap.
August 1st, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
Been really disappointed to not hear any of the coaches mention Seldon
I do think it's a hard situation to recruit into right now. Harbaugh was almost fired last year. It's really gonna come down to this year. This is another reason I don't think Harbaugh survives something like a .500 season, and I think it's crazy people see that happening and see him staying on. 2 terrible years in a row doesn't look like building anything. You may say it's a new staff, but it's still Harbaugh. This isn't Hoke taking over for Rich Rod. This class isn't going to hold together like last year if that happens. However, I am more optimistic about this season than most others here it seems. Something like 9-3 with obvious progress and what looks like a plan for the future can bring in recruits, hopefully with a fairly competitive game with OSU. An offense that finally makes sense and puts up some points and a defense that may struggle but looks like they just need a talent infusion.
Michigan continues to be able to pull in just enough talent to keep them viable-with the possibility of winning at an elite level. But that line they are treading on keeps getting thinner and thinner. At this time this next class is on the verge of slipping into a truly mediocre range with very few difference-makers...not enough to pull the rest of the class along.
Stop. UM has not brought in enough talent to ‘almost’ win at an elite level. If OSU is elite, we are far from it.
Yeah, I never liked the 'get younger coaches so they can relate to the recruits better' thing. I don't think Alabama and Ohio St are jonesing for younger coaches.
I don’t really think those are the two programs you should be comparing us to. They can roll out the retirement home as their coaching staff and it won’t matter as long as they continue winning like they are. Programs who aren’t winning like that and going to the CFP every year have to do something to make up ground recruiting.
Especially some of the o-line coaches: I get it; Warinner was a great line coach, a not so good recruiter and a terrible OC (for us at least)....but to get a replacement who's only asset was he's younger....not sure how that will work out.
August 1st, 2021 at 10:20 AM ^
Sherrone Moore is probably the best recruiter at Michigan. He was the lead or secondary recruiter for most of Michigan's highest rated recruits including 5* Dax Hill, 5* Will Johnson and 5* JJ McCarthy, 5* Donovon Edwards, 4/5* Mazi Smith, and high 4s* AJ Henning, Giovanni El-Hadi, and Braiden McGregor.
If Kerry Coombs can make a living as an ace recruiter despite being a shit position coach, then I think we'll be okay with Sherrone.
August 1st, 2021 at 10:31 AM ^
Hey that's shit defensive coordinator to you, pal.
He 59. But when I first saw his picture I thought he was in his 70's.
I'l \l take guys that have decades of experience.
August 1st, 2021 at 10:28 AM ^
I see your point (and agree with it mostly, although Ohio State and Alabama have shown vastly different approaches to staff building), but I don't think it's unfair to say that at least a degree of Brian Hartline's success recruiting top WRs is due to the fact that he's young. He had almost zero coaching experience (1.5 years as a grad assistant I think?) when he took over.
The difference is that Ohio State's staff also has guys Larry Johnson, who could be the least charismatic person on earth, but it wouldn't matter because of his reputation in the sport.
August 1st, 2021 at 12:15 PM ^
The only reason Walter Nolen has Ohio St on his list is because of his respect for Larry Johnson. There is no chance he is going to Ohio St. He just wanted Ohio St listed because of Larry Johnson.
This can be expected after a 2 win season. Jim will have to get back up to that 10 win level with 3 star players before we can attract the higher talent level.
Well, shit.
Yikes, getting pretty rough when your “top target” 3-star picks Baylor over Michigan.
This coming season is going to have huge implications on the next 5-10 years. If we can somehow scrounge an 8 or 9 win season, hopefully recruiting will pick up.
If we bomb out and miss a bowl game and get a new head coach that can get top 5/10 classes, we would be in a better situation than sneaking out a fluky 8-4 season.
This was basically the calculus I was doing when I jumped on the "Fire Harbaugh" train. After 7 years of good but not not quite great results and a horrible 2020 season, our future had 3 outcomes. 2021 with Harbaugh winning 9+ games and the future looks bright. Sweet! But not likely. 5-7 or 6-6 where we either miss a bowl game or weasel into a bowl game where we get blasted. Horrible, likely puts Harbaugh out the door.
Then there's the weird, 7 or 8 win season where we're not quite bad or not quite good, we don't beat anybody noteworthy, and firing or keeping Harbaugh is a weird grey area discussion. Which derails recruiting because the future of the program is REALLY murky. And you can't really fire Harbaugh then because next year might (MIGHT) be worthwhile. But retaining him doesn't feel much better either.
Whereas, if you just bit the bullet and grabbed a Matt Campbell-type, 2021 doesn't really matter no matter what happens and you get to fully look forward to 2022 rather than hoping to have a final opinion on Harbaugh after that season is over.
All that being said, we're firmly on this path now so there's no use worrying about what-if scenarios. Here's hoping Harbaugh pulls off the comeback and we all leave this discussion in the past, much like the "Fire Beilein" conversation from so many years ago
Baylor went 2-7 last year and plays in a conference that is in the midst of imploding. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that W/L record and program stability were not huge factors in this one.
The kid wanted to stay close to home. Sometimes things are exactly what they say on the tin.
For at least two weeks it was looking good for Michigan that they would land a commitment from Tenaha (Texas) High athlete Jeremy Patton. The Lone Star State standout even privately told Jim Harbaugh and company he was coming.
But as Saturday’s decision date drew near, Patton started to realize his future wasn’t going to be that far from home. With that, he announced his commitment to Baylor.
“I sat down and talked with my mom and pops and talking it over with my grandma made me realize how much I want to be around my family,” Patton told 247Sports.
Not really sure what else Harbaugh and co can do at that point. They already have him as a silent commit and then he changes his mind. Crazy that this happened twice this cycle as Jordan Phillips also gave a silent commitment to Michigan.
Translation- "Baylor's is way ahead of Michigan NILwise."
... or the kid realized he wanted to stay closer to home... ya know... like he said.
It’s Harbaugh’s fault for not moving the states of Texas and Michigan closer together!
Wow, the apologists are out in full force tonight. Texas kids have no issues going to OSU, but distance becomes a factor with Michigan.
August 1st, 2021 at 12:42 AM ^
I hate recruiting, I’m not a harbaugh fan, and the only reason I’m scrolling this far is because I’m drunk….but with that said, OSU recruits have nothing to do with this. Every kid is different- for everyone that wants to leave two probably want to stay, and we got one who wanted to stay. Meh. It happens.
It's as simple as kids are willing to over look distance and a billion other factors when you know you're going to win rivalry games, conference championships and get CFP appearances. That's why Ohio State has no problem getting kids from Texas and everyone else while we constantly deal with the distance factor.
If we were more well positioned to compete for titles and big wins, kids wouldn't worry as much about distance or academics or what have you. Sadly, it is what it is and we have to recruit our asses off to overcome the fact that recruits can't guarantee that they'll see a championship in 4 years if they come here.
I had been holding an outside hope that Walter Nolen would choose Michigan. But about a week or two ago, I read his father saying 'Michigan is up North and we are down here'. That laid a blow to my outside hopes. It's like you say:
That's why Ohio State has no problem getting kids from Texas and everyone else while we constantly deal with the distance factor.
I wonder if Michigan had the record over the last 10 years that Alabama has had, would Walter Nolen's dad have felt that?
August 1st, 2021 at 12:06 PM ^
Ok, I get your point then fucking recruit the shit out of ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Michigan if we need to rebuild with kids closer by.
Congrats on the drunk thing
August 1st, 2021 at 11:34 AM ^
Why are we lumping recruits into one pile as if they’re all the same with the same mindset? This kid wanted to stay close to his family. Another kid might not mind going 1100 miles away. Different people have different mindsets about what is important to them. Saying “Texas kids,” as if the same thing is equally important to every recruit is flat out lazy.
Looking back on his visit, maybe it was easy to predict he'd eventually spurn Michigan, especially if you believe in the power of first impressions:
Let’s start with an update from Jeremy Patton previewing his upcoming decision on July 31. The Tenaha linebacker officially has a final five and he weighed in on each of his finalists …
Michigan – “What put Michigan on my list, I would say the visit. The visits in general helped everyone out. Doing Zooms was good, but not like getting a real feel for real people. When I got there, the first night, it was like, ‘Nah this isn’t what I was used to.’ But as the days went on, I saw the campus and had breakfast, coach Harbaugh stood out to me. He’s really different. A real genuine dude, but the weird type. The first thing he did was sit right by me and said ‘I’ll grow on you.’
https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/another-recruit-has-funnyweird-harbaugh-take-i%27ll-grow-you
This same shit happened to us with Bijan Robinson. We thought we had him in the bag, thought he gave us a silent (along with Jaylan Knighton) and then committed to Texas out of nowhere. Our fan base resorted to calling for Alford, our RB coach’s head. He then responded by getting the number 1 and 8 RBs the next cycle. With a good season this year, next year’s LB crop may look at the thin depth and you guys might snag a couple 4 stars.
Bijan Robinson wanted to be with Stan Drayton. He wanted to be with the coach that coached Ezekiel Elliot. When it became clear to him it wasn't really Ohio St per se that coached Ezekiel Elliot, but specifically Stan Drayton that coached him when he was RBs coach at Ohio St, and had since left Ohio St and was now coaching RBs at Texas, he went with Texas.
https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/ohio-st-loses-2020-rb-recruiting-battle-texas
Sam stroked this guy hard. Dude is like the kiss of death lately
Don’t let Sam talk to any 4 or 5 stars and we might land one!
This will cheer you up: he's still talking optimistically about Walter Nolen.
Hey Sam, speaking of stroking, whatever happened to Milton's Heisman?
It's annoying that this recruiting cycle is starting to prove the doomsday posters right, but.. this is becoming a concerning pattern on the recruiting trail: Michigan leads for one of their top targets, recruiting analysts mostly agree Michigan is leading and put in their predictions, the prospect completes their on-campus visits and commit somewhere else. Burnham, Phillips, Dillon Bell (it appears), and now Jeremy Patton.
I understand Michigan is coming off a remarkably terrible season, and breaking in a new staff, but these prospects should be well within Michigan's range to close on despite all that. These aren't Top 50 level prospects that basically have their pick of any program in America.
While it's possible Michigan is just going through yet another streak of tough luck, it also makes me wonder if they're not putting together a compelling NIL package (if news comes out that is what's happening, that says to me this staff and athletic department is even more obtuse and aloof than I had even imagined), or if recruits just flat out don't buy what the staff is selling or like what they are hearing. Their LB board this cycle is now in pretty critical condition as is WR and if the pattern continues DT will be in the same boat as well.
I was the first to say early on in this cycle to just let the staff go through their evaluations and allow the recruiting industry to catch up due to the pandemic. But I am beginning to agree with the doomsday posters.. this is starting to look and feel like the new recruiting strategy is not working.