CBs for Filiaga, Becton, Ruiz and Nico, Irving-Bey
December 16th, 2016 at 5:14 PM ^
I know they are obviously no guarantees but rather hear that than ballz to the bad guys!
GO BLUE!!
December 16th, 2016 at 5:15 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 5:17 PM ^
He is the only T left on the board really. And all 4 of our current commits look like projects that won't be ready for a few years.
December 16th, 2016 at 5:25 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 5:33 PM ^
he's the new guy right?
December 16th, 2016 at 5:34 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 5:39 PM ^
he is definitely a project. Lot of upside but Filiaga is probably the only guy left with a reasonable shot at contributing next year, which is pretty important.
December 16th, 2016 at 5:41 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 5:54 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 6:06 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 6:16 PM ^
....cuz Harbaugh hates recruiting, or don't you know that!!!
/s
December 16th, 2016 at 6:22 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 7:17 PM ^
than "thin". The 2013 class, which will be fifth year guys has been a disaster in terms of attrition (Bosch, Fox, LTT) or slow development (Dawson, Kugler). And the 2014 and 2015 classes were mostly just disastrously small, so we always knew 2017 (and to a lesser extent) 2018 would require a lot of young guys to contribute, especially with the injury to Newsome.
I agree though, it seemed like a slam dunk that this staff would recruit this cycle extremely well because of the opportunity to contribute early (even though we'd still be woefully young and probably take a step back had we landed Wilson, Leatherwood or other five stars).
December 16th, 2016 at 6:18 PM ^
He "just got here" relative to OL recruiting and development. It takes a few years to get it rolling at the OL position. It took a while at Stanford. They weren't Orange Bowl Stanford until several years in.
December 16th, 2016 at 6:24 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 6:40 PM ^
recruiting side. This is his 3rd class with 24 months to build this class. Hamilton decommitting late was a big blow. Bredeson was a high quality recruit and Onwenu should turn out fine - but the numbers are not there. Newsome was a Hoke holdover? Our 2017 guys might turn out great, but so far they are not elite recruits.
On the development side, I agree 100%. Probably need 1 more year to gauge the process. This year's OL improved to reach "very solid" status but not top tier. It's not clear if Onwenu, Bredeson and others can form a top tier OL.
December 16th, 2016 at 8:16 PM ^
Really curious to see how The Saga: Onwenu plays out.
I can't remember a time seeing a guy so physically massive. Any players that even approach 350 are usually 6'6" or 6'7". Onwenu is a literal tank.
December 16th, 2016 at 6:33 PM ^
I mean, we missed on a top 30ish guy. Still in it for a bunch of 4 stars. He landed the top OL (and overall player) from Wisconsin last year, which seems like a major coup, and he got the top OL (and overall player) from Michigan last year - both top 100 guys.
If we were expecting the five stars to roll in, I guess he's having a difficult time doing that, but seems like the only disappointment? This year was tougher too since there weren't necessarily elite OL from Michigan this year, so he had to compete nationally for the five and high four stars.
December 16th, 2016 at 8:11 PM ^
Not only that, but the recruiting sites rank the players based on their own "metric". It's not a foregone conclusion that every coach places the same value on recruits that the recruiting sites do.
Certain coaches place differing levels of value on each variable, like character, intelligence, leadership, grit, arm-length, motor, mis-match capability, scheme-fit, etc.
Also, the 5-star thing is actually more reflective on the players NFL prospects. And statstically, team-wise, your CFB success is much more dependent on your ability to raise the level of your 3 and 4-stars, and, of course, most important, out-scheme and execute.
December 16th, 2016 at 9:30 PM ^
Looking at the past 3 classes, i wouldn't exactly say Harbaugh has had trouble recruiting OLinemen... (Bredeson, Onwenu, Newsome, and then this year's quadtruble of Herbert, Hall, Honigford & Stueber.... not to mention the guys that are still a possibility)
December 17th, 2016 at 7:21 AM ^
December 17th, 2016 at 1:14 PM ^
expectation amongst some of the fanbase was that he should be able to recruit better at Michigan. So if he was getting 3/4 stars at Stanford people expect a "Michigan effect" that would allow him to get 4/5 stars. We're solidly in the 4 to high-4 range with a lot of guys, just haven't landed the whales yet.
December 16th, 2016 at 7:31 PM ^
We have the most wonderful projects, just wait until you see them. *waving tiny hands* You're gonna love 'em, I gotta tell ya.
December 17th, 2016 at 8:26 AM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 5:24 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 5:27 PM ^
Can any of our 2017 OL commits/targets project to playing guard instead of tackle? Looks like we're recruiting nothing but OT's, with TJ Slaton being the only listed OG (and Ruiz at C).
December 16th, 2016 at 5:31 PM ^
I'm expecting/hoping Onwenu to be in the mix at RG. Bredeson on the other side. Not sure though.
December 16th, 2016 at 5:41 PM ^
the existence of Bredeson and Onwenu is why we are recruiting OT more than OG this cycle.
December 16th, 2016 at 5:42 PM ^
Yeah I like Bredeson at LG, but RG is open competition between:
David Dawson - if he gets rewarded with a 5th year
Patrick Kugler - Same situation as Dawson; needs to earn a 5th year
Big Mike Onwenu - hype as both a DT and a OG; still raw but could surprise
Stephen Spanellis - Generic huge dude 3*; definitely in line to compete
Jon Runyan Jr - He's got the last name down, but is he ready?
Overall, that list doesn't seem to produce a RG that's going to be better than what we got out of Kalis this season.
December 16th, 2016 at 6:08 PM ^
Kugler looked good at C and in a bad scenario, we could kick Cole out to T again and still be in good shape. I'm not too worried about it.
December 16th, 2016 at 7:04 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 8:45 PM ^
Looking at the adjustments that were actually made after Newsome's injury, it is more likely the lineup would be Bredeson-Kugler-Cole-Onwenu-JBB or a freshman. That's not a good line. Depth and experience are a big problem. The coaches screwed up when they slow played Terrance Davis last year and Aaron Banks this year.
December 16th, 2016 at 10:33 PM ^
The LT-LG looks solid, but center through RT is wholly unproven. I'd have to wait to see that it isn't bad to believe it
December 16th, 2016 at 11:39 PM ^
fear of that lineup too. That Dawson/Ulizio/frosh RT looks downright scary unless Filiaga or some frosh really steps up. Onwenu will be young and untested. Kugler, eh, should be ok, but if it was so important to keep Cole at C (who struggled a bit himself) that we had to struggle with JBB at LT while shuffling for a Newsome replacement this year, it doesn't bode that well for Kugler.
December 17th, 2016 at 12:03 PM ^
Unless Newsome misses some games to start, I'm seeing Newsome, Bredeson, Cole, Onwenu, JBB. That's not bad at all, but RG/RT need to prove themselves after a year's worth of development. They could be backed up by Herbert or Hall, Dawson, Ruiz, Kugler, and Filiaga. If Wilson had committed to us, I would see him taking RT and Filiaga LT. But now with less size and depth, and with the loss of Braden, Kalis, and Magnuson, the issue with the O-line will be the same as this past year: attrition in the fourth quarter. This is why losing Wilson is such a big deal, even if he's not totally mechanically developed yet. Unless we can find another 6'8 body somewhere, we need both Filiaga and Ruiz to both commit and to step up in order to have any improvement from last year in that phase.
December 17th, 2016 at 12:56 PM ^
I hate to say it, but Newsome is almost certainly going to miss some time. He spent 38 days in the hospital. That type of thing doesn't happen with a normal knee injury. It was a potential career-ender.
December 16th, 2016 at 5:32 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 5:57 PM ^
December 17th, 2016 at 2:55 PM ^
What makes you think Filiaga is better suited for OG? He's 6-6 and 335, the #14 OT according to 247 composite, ahead of Micah Clark, Aaron Banks and Bainivalu, among others.
As for Clark, I've thought about that but he's only 265 pounds according to 247 so he won't help next year. There would be pleasure in stealing our rival's top commit but UM needs to find someone who can produce next year or else use the scholarship at another position.
December 16th, 2016 at 6:13 PM ^
Just to add, JOsh Newkirk said he is the most college ready of the OL he has seen on the road this year.
December 16th, 2016 at 6:31 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 6:33 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 7:35 PM ^
Everyone said Kyle Kalis and Patrick Kugler were "college ready". (See: Brutus) Very few said Mason Cole was.
Eat all this content with salt.
December 16th, 2016 at 7:51 PM ^
Kugler came in undersized at 270 or something like that, he was not college ready
December 16th, 2016 at 10:34 PM ^
Eeeeveryone was saying Patrick Kugler was as close to a sure thing at center as they come and basically that if there was such a thing as a 5* center, that Kugler was it
Here we are 4 years later and he hasn't managed to start amidst some very questionable lines
December 16th, 2016 at 10:49 PM ^
December 16th, 2016 at 11:04 PM ^
December 17th, 2016 at 9:48 AM ^
"finished" yet.
December 17th, 2016 at 8:58 AM ^
As a former OL coach, what I've often seen in determining how likely it is that a guy can make the jump from high school to college immediately are the following things.
1. Size. Is he the right size off the bat? It doesn't matter how athletic, how smart, how good of feet a kid has if he isn't the right size. Sometimes this can even be guys being too big (Filiaga may fit this mold at the time being). Sometimes guys need to shed some LBs to get a little quicker.
2. Footwork. Can they play with consisent control of their feet? If you don't have good footwork already, learning the footwork that college coaches want their guys using will be much harder to do. It also relates to pass protection as a very large number of kids in high school need to work on their pass protection coming in. Most D1 level kids at OL are already very capable in run blocking (it's a natural feel type of thing that they simply just develop), but pass protection is where most can't cut it immediately.
3. Mentality/Learning the plays. Our HC always told freshman there were 4 steps to getting on the field quickly, and the two were "Know your assignment, ya can't play if you don't know what to do," and "Give each play everything you got." If kids come in passive or even too agressive (yes it's possible) then they simply don't have much shot at seeing the field immediately. Also making the jump requires adjusting to a different mentality than was required in HS, every single person on the field is 10x better than who you played in HS (most of the time).
It's not an exact science, if it were, recruiting analysts and everyone wouldn't get it wrong so often, but look for these things (can't really see #3 I know) cauz they are often key.