2018 recruiting class: names trending Blue
It never ends. NSD just means we're done with one class. I hope you enjoyed your moment of relaxation. That is one more second than Harbaugh had of relaxation.
Now it's time for 2018 (born in 2000!) It will be a smaller class since the last two were massive.
We currently have two consensus 4 stars committed in Otis Reese and Emil Ekiyor.
Here's some key targets from 2018 that we have a large lead for in crystal ballz-
- Dorian Thompson-Robinson, 4 star QB from Vegas. Last Michigan ball was January 15th and we're leading for him at 63%
- Tyler Friday, DT, the #1 player from NJ and highest ranked player with a Michigan offer. We're 67% on him, but his most recent ball is to Rutgers for some reason. This will be corrected.
- Marquan McCall, the #1 player in MI. High school OL teammate of Ja'Raymond Hall's. He's 40% Blue but nothing has been put in on his timeline in months.
-
Aidan Hutchinson, #2 player in MI and a 6-5/234 DE, son of
SteveCHRIS. We are 100% balled for him because obviously. - Kalon Gervin, a 5-11/180 CB from Cass Tech. 88% Blue with his last 7 predictions being for Michigan, nothing since August.
- Kolin Demens will sign 10 years after his brother Kenny Demens did. Slipped a bit in the ranking, obviously we're 100% on his radar.
- Will Mallory, #11 TE in the country from Florida who holds Clemson and Alabama offers. Son of former Harbaugh teammate.
February 2nd, 2017 at 12:56 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:04 AM ^
This year was actually a .92 avg. The punter brought it down.
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:16 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:27 AM ^
The average per player matters EVERY year. Your comment was sort of funny "hey guys don't worrk about class rank this year after we just obsessed about it for 12 months.. it only matters in years we have a chance to be ranked high in it."
OSU just finished off a top 2 class with only 21 players. So yes the class rank still matters and it can still be a top 5ish class IF the components are spectacular ala OSU this year. I don't expect quite that level as what OSU did was unprecedented in history but it can be around 10th ranked if Harbaugh really hits on things.
That said everyone focuses on final rank too much every year IMO as that is far more dependent on volume, when it should always be average player rank.
February 2nd, 2017 at 4:33 AM ^
Average player rank is the gold standard.
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:07 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:50 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:58 AM ^
I understand your point but this analogy ..........ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no so good my friend. All good.
February 2nd, 2017 at 11:42 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 12:14 PM ^
Got into an argument with an FSU fan about this. At the time FSU's class had like 16 people in it and Michigan had 23 or 24. FSU had a higher average beacuse Michigan had Taylor and Woods. So the FSU guy argued that FSU's class was better because of the higher average. Except had you taken Michigan's top 16 guys (the complete size of FSU's entire class) then Michigan had a higher average. You shouldn't be penalized for taking lower ranked guys in a huge class in comparison to a class of 14 like Stanford who has a high average.
Let's say you have 11 recruits that average a 93. Michigan has the same 11 guys with an average of 93, and then 5 more guys with an average of 89. How is Michigan's class worse? They just have more bodies, with the same high end talent. The extra guys are just gravy.
February 2nd, 2017 at 12:09 PM ^
There is strength in numbers that help to mitigate any misses on top tier prospects. You need your 3 stars to hit more often than other schools 3 stars because everyone has misses.
Expected productivity should be the area under the rankings lines in those charts. The lower 3rd of your class will matter, whether it's on special teams or a sleeper that blows up and makes up for a 4 star that doesn't come to fruition.
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:09 AM ^
It's harder to fill a big class and keep a high average rating than a small one. The most important aspect of a class is hard to quantify. How well did you address your needs?
The 2016 class gets dinged for that because we needed more on the OL. The 2017 class is better than it's numbers because it addressed every need. Trade one WR for a similarly ranked OL and it would have been perfect. Perfect in the sense that you maximized the value of the talent, not that you got every recruit you wanted.
February 2nd, 2017 at 10:16 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:00 AM ^
Aidan Hutchinson is actually son of Chris Hutchinson, not Steve Hutchinson FYI
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:13 AM ^
Chris & Steve are not related, are they? (Other than through Michigan)
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:31 AM ^
Yes, they are related.
For biological relationships between living things on this planet, the only question is how closely related.
Me and Harbaugh? Related.
You and Tom Brady or Giselle? Related.
Me and a butterfly or oak tree? Related, more distantly.
Always a matter of degree.
February 2nd, 2017 at 2:19 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 2:47 AM ^
based on his avatar, i'd say go with some shrooms, a blacklight, and "fire on the mountain" on a loop.
February 2nd, 2017 at 9:03 AM ^
Stella Artois?
February 2nd, 2017 at 10:03 AM ^
Nah. "Stella Blue"
February 2nd, 2017 at 4:49 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 7:00 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 7:28 AM ^
Driving that train, high on cocaine?
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^
Better watch your speed.
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:05 AM ^
Interesting that a ball came in for DTR on Jan 15th considering he himself said UCLA's lead got even larger after Coach Fisch went over to Westwood.
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:02 AM ^
I think we have quite an uphill battle with him now that Fisch is gone. Not sure if we're in good shape with many other QBs in this class, although a top-rated one might be a luxury in this next cycle based on the last few we've landed.
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:20 AM ^
Not signing one is a mistake I never see Harbaugh making.
It was a big uphill battle when we lost Fisch and didn't yet have a replacement. Pep is showing that he will be a force in recruiting. I think he's going to be a big draw for his coaching too. It remains to be seen how that applies to DTR. His interest in Michigan wasn't based on Fisch, but hiring him should help UCLA.
February 2nd, 2017 at 9:30 AM ^
I thought we were honing in on Arthur Sitkowski. Has that changed?
February 2nd, 2017 at 9:45 AM ^
It looked like we were high on him in the summer. By the time the season started, not so much. Pep's input may change who we target. I'd prefer a dual threat like DTR to complement the players already in the fold, but I haven't heard what he's looking for.
February 2nd, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^
Dorian Thompson-Robinson's mother is 1989 Michigan grad (School of Kinesiology).
February 2nd, 2017 at 12:52 PM ^
I said he had another connection to Michigan.
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:09 AM ^
I'm guessing we load up on offensive tackles and tight ends. Not really sure who our # 1 five star target is like Gary in 2016 or Peoples Jones in 2017. Maybe Micah Parsons?
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:34 AM ^
FSU just landed 2 top 5 RBs in the nation in the same class. With due respect to this year's class, we need to finally hit a home run on a RB.
I am puzzled why TEs are not flocking to this university. OSU is getting higher rankedo nes than we are. I thought the Stanford offense would attract them galore.
And yes OL and DL EVERY YEAR - no more Hoke holes in the depth chart.
I think we can stick to 2 WRs max (which is fine with the 2 massive hauls back toback in 16 and 17) as this class is probably going to be 18-20 and that assumes a lot of people given firm handshakes on their 5th year and normal playing time/bust attrition of 4-5. Need to continue hauling in DBs as we have a lot of guys on paper who look fine but nothing proven so need to continue stocking up. Can probably stick to 2 LBs or so next year too.
If you want to go with 5 OL next year you are talking about 25% of the class being that one position alone, throw in 2 TEs, 1 RB, 1 QB, 2 WRs and you only have room for about 9 defensive players if we can somehow get to 20.
We have 75 scholarships to underclassmen right now...
February 2nd, 2017 at 5:39 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 7:17 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 2:44 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:38 AM ^
Yeah, since TEs rarely go pro early, remaining eligibility matters more than high school class. We had two TEs with freshman eligibility last year (Wheatley and Asiasi) and we'll have two TEs with freshman eligibility this year (Eubanks and McKeon). And it sounds like we'll be signing at least 1-2 more next year, so we'll maintain a nice distribution.
February 2nd, 2017 at 7:49 AM ^
For 2018, the #2 TE Brevin Jordan has UM in his top 3, and the #3 TE Jeremy Ruckert has UM in this top 5. Also, Jay has begun recruiting for 2019 #1 TE Isaiah Foskey. So, that is something. For recruits to be attracted to Harbaugh's affinity for TE's and Butt's success probably shouldn't have had a strong effect until right about now when Butt's headed to the NFL and Michigan's gaining momentum. We'll still have heavy battles with Clemson and Bama for those guys moving forward.
February 2nd, 2017 at 9:10 AM ^
Was going to say the same thing. We are in on the top TEs for next year. So we are just fine there. We will end up with one of the top 3 I believe.
February 2nd, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:48 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:13 AM ^
Aidan Hutchinson's dad is Chris Hutchinson, not Steve.
Must still be working on their pages in the Super Guide.
February 2nd, 2017 at 1:16 AM ^
UM may lead right now for DTR in Crystal Balls, but he said himself that UCLA hiring Jedd Fisch makes it very hard for any program to beat UCLA.
February 2nd, 2017 at 2:03 AM ^
Enter Pep Hamilton> Jedd Fisch
February 2nd, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 2:10 AM ^
You cannot believe what a recruit says. Other people know better what they will do. Tea leaves, or some shit I think.
February 2nd, 2017 at 9:42 AM ^
Yep. Just like Aubrey Solomon said Alabama has a big lead...
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:25 AM ^