Recruiting Ohio (and MI)
Can anyone explain how this staff hasn't made recruiting Ohio more of a priority?
1.) OSU has gone more national recently making more OH kids available.
2.) MSU has basically gone in and built their foundation there with great success.
What makes this puzzling is that Ohio has always been a major part of our recruiting landscape and is a hotbed for talent.
It seems like it would be a no-brainer, yet we have no OH kids signed for 18 and only 3 from the previous 2 classes.
Are we sacrificing quality kids that are right in our backyard (MI&OH) and spending too much time trying to be national?
***EDIT***
Some More Notes
1.) Recent Wolverines from OH in the NFL - Taco Charlton, Dymonte Thomas, Chris Wormley, Jake Butt, Ben Gedeon, Willie Henry, Frank Clark, Jake Ryan, Jarrod Wilson, Patrick Omameh, - About half of our NFL players are from OH/MI
2.) Current Wolverine starters from OH - Kinnel, Furbush, McCray, Robbins
3.) Current MSU starters from OH - Bachie, Campbell, Dowell, Frey, Hartbarger, Layne, Josiah Scott, LJ Scott
4.) 9 of 18 MSU recruits for 2018 class are from OH - Michigan 0 of 15
5.) OH has the 5th most players in the NFL behind FL, CA, TX & GA
October 25th, 2017 at 3:24 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 4:46 PM ^
I LOVE my Maize and Blue, but why would a stud OH football player choose Michigan over OSU? A football player today has grown up with OSU being an absolute juggernaught, while Michigan mostly floundered or been somewhat relevant. Furthermore, you probably weren't even potty trained the last time OSU lost to Michigan.
So, you get to stay in your home state and have all your family watch you, play for a team that has won National Championships and contends yearly for National Championships, and the cherry on top, they have OWNED their rival for nearly 15 years. I love Michigan like crazy, but why would a high school stud in OH choose Michigan over OSU?
October 25th, 2017 at 5:13 PM ^
Not everyone is obsessed with and has an emotional attachment to a college team like us folks on the board. Sometimes the helicopter parents overwhelm the recruit during the process, and they want to get away. Going from Ohio to Michigan is good because it's a close enough drive to come home on weekends, but far enough away to get freedom from Mom and Dad.
I think the biggest factor is just how the depth chart shakes up. OSU might be really deep on a position the year of your recruiting class, while Michigan might have immediate playing time. Obviously it varies from kid to kid, some don't mind riding the bench to be a part of a winning team.
October 25th, 2017 at 5:22 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 10:45 AM ^
How have all of those factors worked thus far in the recruiting battles against OSU? You might see value in all of those things, but obviously more highly touted recruits find more "value" in Columbus.
October 25th, 2017 at 8:15 PM ^
You should ask Charles Woodson. Or Trey Burke...
October 25th, 2017 at 8:49 PM ^
Charles Woodson chose a "Michigan" that is far different than the current status of the Michigan team. Same with Desmond Howard.
October 26th, 2017 at 12:49 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 3:27 PM ^
so, there's that
2017 we got 3 from Ohio
October 25th, 2017 at 3:47 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 7:42 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 3:27 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 3:29 PM ^
A few reasons. Both Michigan and Harbaugh are nationally known. Harbaugh came in with a splash and has been trying to develop some pipelines in talent rich areas like New Jersey, Georgia, Florida, Texas, and California. He has gotten Gary, Solomon, Long, Crawford, Asiasi (sad face), now Mustapha etc from these areas.
Secondly, going in to Ohio his first couple seasons and trying to pry kids from Urban that quickly was most certainly never going to happen. I would expect a bit more effort in Ohio in the coming classes.
MSU is very good at getting underappreciated kids from MI, OH and IL. They aren't winning head to heads with Urban and even Harbaugh for the most part. Their strategy is not and will not be Harbaugh's. But it works for them.
This is my take anyway.
October 25th, 2017 at 3:39 PM ^
This, pretty much.
Michigan has never had to contend with an OSU recruiting force like Meyer in the modern era. He's even more formidable in that state. Beyond some low-effort exploration, it doesn't seem smart to be spending much time in Ohio at the moment.
October 25th, 2017 at 9:37 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 3:33 PM ^
2017
6 to OSU
1 each to Kentucky, PSU, Wisconsin and Michigan
2016
4 to OSU
2 to ND
1 each to WV, Pit, Auburn and MSU
so OSU is still the dominant in state recruiter - they haven't left the state
October 25th, 2017 at 3:35 PM ^
Year: 247 Class Rank
2016: 8
2017: 5
2018: 13 (but we know this is a weird/ small class)
2019: 7
You can complain about Harbaugh's complex offensive style or Pep's college coaching experience or Jay's lack of RB coaching or too many cooks in the kitchen or Drevno's boringness, but you cannot complain about Harbaugh's recruiting.
October 25th, 2017 at 3:52 PM ^
They are probably going to end up with around 22 recruits this class. At least 20.
2018 is really not a small class. Although it is weird how they aren't in on as many top guys like they were in 2017 or even the start of the 2019 class. Either way, it is underwhlelming relative to expectations.
October 25th, 2017 at 4:17 PM ^
I think someone on here asked if we ever take a class and recruit for "depth". It may be the case that the coaches don't feel like their odds of securing impact guys in this class are good and are looking to get a jump on 2019 where there may be more/better talent that is interested in Michigan.
October 25th, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
We are about to lose our highest ranked commit to AL. That number is gonna fall for 2018.
October 26th, 2017 at 3:20 PM ^
On the OT recruiting you sure can.... every offensive lineman recruit kept going to guard.
Hall, an OT, now a G
loses Hamilton
Runyan to G
Bredeson to G
pass on Swenson
Ulizio
Filiaga... im hearing he is now a G ????
Where are the tackles?????? People bitched about it here while it was happening.... three years to get some.... is Mayfield the only one ? Maybe Hayes too, but don't be surprised if he goes to TE.
October 25th, 2017 at 3:38 PM ^
We have been recruiting very well in the state of Michigan.
We dominated the state in 2017 (which was a strong crop of kids), signing 7 of the top 8 players.
We have commits from 3 of the top 5 in state for 2018 (a weaker class in-state)
2016 wasn't quite as good as we only signed 2 out of the top 5.
October 25th, 2017 at 3:54 PM ^
My thought on Michigan was to a lesser extent. I was thinking of the Belleville kids primarily.
October 25th, 2017 at 6:37 PM ^
I'm not positive, but I think it's less that the H.S. class of 2018 in Michigan is a "weaker year", and more that the H.S. class of 2017 in Michigan was an "insanely" talented year in the state of Michigan.
DPJ was the overall #1 WR in the country. I'm not sure how many #1's in the state of Michigan we've ever had at any position. And then of course the list goes on.
October 25th, 2017 at 9:39 PM ^
That's a good question, so I looked at recent history. Here are the number of recruits (from the state of Michigan) that scored above a 0.8900 (4-star that equates to roughly top 300 nationally) on the 247 composite by year:
2018 - 7
2017 - 10
2016 - 9
2015 - 4
2014 - 4
2013 - 8
2012 - 11
2011 - 6
2010 - 8
Avg - 7.4
So it looks like 2018 falls in around the average. It seems a little lower because there aren't any top 100 recruits (or even that close) among those 7 4-stars (Michigan has verbals from 3 of them; 1 to Kentucky; 1 to MSU; 1 to Syracue and 1 undecided).
October 25th, 2017 at 3:39 PM ^
in Michigan, California, and now Texas I would focus outside of Michigan unless a recruit is an absolute can't miss stud from the state.
Meyer figured it out from day one and is killing it with kids from talent rich states like Texas. Kids in Texas simply have better coaching, facilities, and competition. And they play football all damn year.
October 25th, 2017 at 3:57 PM ^
It seems like Harbaugh recruits the top 5-10 kids in the state of Michigan (depending on the year and the individual player) very hard but does not target too many players beyond that.
October 25th, 2017 at 5:30 PM ^
but Harbaugh is recruting too many "players beyond that" from other states and it's starting to show on the field, especially with the OL recruits. Harbaugh is not at USD anymore and doesn't have to compete with Robert Morris or Charlotte for recruits.
October 26th, 2017 at 4:19 AM ^
It makes sense, actually. Others would be welcome as preferred walk-ons anyway.
October 25th, 2017 at 6:51 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 7:09 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 7:42 PM ^
It’s why he makes kids at his QB camps play soccer or field ground balls. He’s looking for athleticism.
October 25th, 2017 at 10:44 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 3:40 PM ^
Dantoneio has Ohio roots and gets his share of sloppy seconds down there. Early in the year, I thought that UC might make some inroads on similar guys, but that might not happen for a year or two.
October 25th, 2017 at 7:40 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 11:15 AM ^
He didn't live or coach there, so probably not as deep.
October 25th, 2017 at 3:43 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 3:43 PM ^
October 26th, 2017 at 8:40 AM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 3:52 PM ^
I know we've had this discussion before here - the talent shift, which is product of migration within the US over the past several decades, affords Michigan some better opportunities to fill spots with highly ranked talent elsewhere now. A few people have said - I believe - that places like Ohio and Illinois, which still do crank out talent, are not quite what they used to be. That, and if you're a national brand, why would you confine yourself like that?
October 25th, 2017 at 3:59 PM ^
If osu is passing on an ohio kid because they can go get someone more talented Michigan is at a recruiting level they should probably be passing on that kid too. Of course you can find some gems but the reality is that Michigan is recruiting the ohio kids osu actually wants while msu is recruiting the kids neither of those schools are going after. Sometimes it works out and you get Lj scott, most of the time it doesn't and you get messiah deweaver.
October 25th, 2017 at 4:48 PM ^
Messiah DeWeaver is an odd person to pick out there since he's never played and the person Michigan took over him is also riding pine. But whatever.
MSU gets 3* guys from Ohio who fit our system. They might not fit into Michigan's system. But I'd say our success rate on them is pretty high.
October 25th, 2017 at 5:02 PM ^
I picked him because I remembered that he was from ohio and both ohio and michigan passed over him and he hasn't made a dent at msu either. Obviously Michigan can't talk a lot of smack right now because we lost this year and msu is on a good run but the goal at Michigan is to be more than an underdog story who can ride a once a decade coming together of talent to a shutout loss to bama in the playoffs. MSU has easily outperformed Michigan over the last decade but the goals at Michigan are closer to the goals at osu and to achieve those goals you have to recruit closer to the osu/bama level than the msu level.
And yes I know msu has beaten osu a couple of times but I'd still pretty easily take osu's last decade over msu's.
October 25th, 2017 at 6:00 PM ^
May I burn in hell for defending MSU but seriously, we haven't had back to back seasons with less than 3 losses since 1988-89. MSU had 3 in a row from 2013-15. It just sounds ridiculous to talk down to them at this point. In fact, we haven't had 3 back to back seasons like that since 1976-78.
October 25th, 2017 at 6:39 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 7:10 PM ^
I never said anything about blue blood. Of course we are. Look, I'm not happy about what I wrote either but facts are facts. There's no getting around those numbers I'm talking about. I just don't consider 3 or more losses an elite season. And we haven't had that kind of sustained success for a decade in a long long time.
I guess it comes down to what a person thinks is elite. I am talking about wins and losses, not branding, prestige, or money. I hope we are elite again now and building to championships and we won't have to have these same conversations soon.
October 25th, 2017 at 9:36 PM ^
October 25th, 2017 at 11:00 PM ^
True. I think that is right. Our recruiting is in decent shape I would say. I like where it's at. I would ease up on California so it doesn't become a time waster and really dig in even more in Florida and Texas as well as the other pipeline schools in the East. Mix in the best of Michigan and a few from Ohio and it's al good.
On the other hand though, I think part of the reason why MSU has a little bit more of a chip on their shoulder (other than their douche coach) is because they have most of their players from the Midwest and Michigan/Ohio in particular who are already emotionally invested in the rivalry. before setting foot on campus.
October 25th, 2017 at 8:22 PM ^