Mostly agree here, but it's really a positional value thing. We should definitely be looking at bags for WRs and CBs. I'm not as sold on QBs though because they almost always suck as true freshmen so why not just raid the portal for somebody who already got paid.

As for Harbaugh, Warde, and the NCAA circus, something has to change. Ono is going to have to put his finger on the scale or else Jim is definitely leaving for Las Vegas.

Like, you have to (a) love ball and (b) work exceptionally hard, all the time, to be a major recruit.

No, you don't.  You absolutely don't!  Star ratings are based on NFL measurables, not your love of the game.  There are players working extremely hard stuck in who-dat world because their arms are too short or whatever, factors they cannot control, and five-stars who are coasting on little more than winning the body frame lottery and some time in the gym.

Is there even an anecdotal case of a guy who showed up on campus after getting the check who then just didn't go to practice or whatever?

Plenty!  Not so much playing hooky but certainly dogging it.  Let's start with OSU's DEs and DBs, who have all the natural talent in the world but wound up mostly meh because they're coasting until they get drafted, again, purely on body type.  To say nothing of the Texas A&M business model.

These stories aren't merely common; they're ubiquitous and timeless!  They come out every year in every corner of the country, and have at least as long I've followed football so certainly decades prior.  I didn't think it was possible to follow sports at all and not hear about the overhyped wunderkid underperforming because of a silver spoon stuck in his mouth.  It's literally a cliche!

I love this comment. But I am so conflicted.

I have of course loved the results the last few years, but the team-first culture has been really great too. Players like Corum and Sainristil, the team is full of them! So do your best to maintain results, but also maintain the culture too. OK, that's the premise for me.

To (hopefully) maintain the culture, we just need to keep on keepin' on, recruiting the way we are. But will that lead to top recruits like JJ and Will Johnson often enough to keep us at the top of the heap? If so, then cool.....but if not.....

Individual feelings of pay-for-sign aside, it exists, and it's only expanding -- look at Miami now! Is it going to get to the point where even the rare player who would have come to a team without money up front is going to say, "you know what, I'm going to get mine too....."? I think it probably is. If Michigan is left as one of the only major programs not doing this (this may be the case right now), then it is almost certain to be left behind.

But can we dip our toe in, so to speak, and only "bag" for selected positions? If you're gonna go in part-way, I say jump in fully. Play the game the way the Ohio States play it, acknowledging that this is how CFB is right now, caught between amateur and pro and trying to find the way. But that's only my opinion....Michigan (apparently) isn't going that way.

That said, the NIL train is rolling, get on board, or get left behind.

I think the biggest difference in your analogy is that it is still against the rules to offer a so-called signing bonus for recruits.  We don't wade in those waters.

 (Look at Charbonnet - great player who didn't stay because, no fault of his own, the opportunities weren't there for him.)

The opportunity was there for Charbonnet. He rushed for 726 yards and 11 touchdowns as a freshman.  I don't think he liked sharing the load with Hassan Haskins, who had 622 yards and 4 touchdowns that same season.  

I'd quibble with signing bonuses as a good comparison.  Signing bonuses can come with strings attached - like no quitting for X number of months, or you have to pay it back.  Because of the nature of NIL it's all wholly unregulated, and because of the "rules" against inducements that don't get enforced on anyone but Michigan, you can't attach strings to these players who get paid up-front.  That means they are free to take the biggest bag on signing day, and then transfer at their leisure almost anytime after.  THAT would be the reason for Michigan to avoid that type of player.  

You can win big occasionally by getting lucky when some of your three and four star talent turns out to have a few hidden gems.

You can also win big occasionally with good recruits and world-class coaches.

To win big consistently, like Saban does, you need the coaching talent and the five star kids.

I try to say this same thing but fumble all over my words. I will just copy and paste this going forward. Well done! 

Any chance you are interested in an AD position?

Why would I want to be Oregon? The team that went 1-2 against any team worth anything on their schedule? As far as Alabama and UGA, you make good points, but I don't think many have the illusion that Michigan is ever going to be pulling in 3 or 4 five stars per class and filling the rest of the class out with mid/high four stars primarily. 

Not according to their fan bases. Georgia fans are convinced they don't pay upfront money because they're Georgia and don't have to. LSU fans/media too. 

Who knows anymore? 

I fear if Michigan loses Harbaugh with our approach to NIL we will become ND.

Keep Harbaugh I don't care if he's suspended for a year just keep him.

"Which is coming, regardless how you feel on the matter" as in this could come next year, or in 10+ years if/when Jim walks away from football? Because all you put out was a a feeling, just like everyone else has about Jim. Unless you are Jim Harbaugh himself, or his inner family, I doubt you have any insight to the matter.