Handicapping the 2012 Recruiting Class
Coach Hoke and his staff have been very active on the recruiting trail this year and even though we've still got ten months until signing day our top prospects for the class are taking shape. I thought since many of us follow this pretty closely we might, as a group, be able to effectively handicap the candidates for the remaining spots.
It seems to me we have the following positions to fill:
QB - 1
RB - 1
FB - 0 to 1
WR - 1 to 2
TE - Devin Funchess, A.J. Williams, and 0 to 1 more
OL - Ben Braden, Caleb Stacey, and 2 to 4 more
DE - 2 to 3
DT - 2 to 3
LB - Kaleb Ringer, Royce Jenkins-Stone, and 0 to 2 more
CB - 1 to 2
S - 1 to 2
With this in mind, I've created a poll where the amateur recruiting experts on this board can vote for their best guesses. Maybe collectively we can identify our next class.
If you choose other in the poll, please identify your other player in the comments section.
your polls for dt and de won't let you select multiple people besides the first option.
other than that like theidea of being able to see what mgobloggers collectivelly think
Fixed. You'll have to re-vote for DE and DT.
It seems the guys who get the most votes are mainly the guys who were most recently interviewed by TomVH.
There are probably a lot of people like me, who don't pay all that much attention to all of the targets and just voted for the names they recognized.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:35 AM ^
That guys put this repetitive shit on this board almost daily and act as if they invented it.
People here have no more than a tangential relationship to recruiting. When you think about it, what more can we do but go with name recognition? Take WR- the only name on that list people are familiar with are Diggs and Burbridge, neither of whom is likely to come here. But who's going to vote for another WR of unknown talent and unknown interest? So...this is more like a wishlist than a handicap. democracy in action.
no surprise there
Where's Leviticus Payne?
This kid Other must be one hell of a versatile player.
his cousin is the fabeled michigan robot that better start contributing soon
Great idea and good fun. A few comments:
We will definitely take at least one more LB - the only question is whether we take one or two more.
Godin should be listed under DE as he is a 5 tech which means SDE (if the 5 techs count as tackles then we would be looking for 3-4 tackles and only 1-2 rush ends).
Don't mean to be picky as I really appreciate the effort. Thanks
It was fun playing recruiter! Overall, we should have a great class for 2012. May be a top 10 class if Hoke and company can get 9 or more wins and a win against OSU at home!
Not sure if this comment deserves a separate thread, but I lack the points to do that anyhow. So on the topic of Hoke and recruiting and continuing the theme of "random recent dinner conversations" in other posts, I had the pleasure of meeting a 5th year senior from Ball State 2 nights ago. He was receiving an academic scholarship, business major. He also started for Ball State's football program.
So I asked him if Hoke had recruited him and what he thought, etc. His comments were basically. "Hoke is the most genuine guy I've ever met. You guys at Michigan probably don't realize what you have there yet, but you will. He sat on my couch and was just compelling. I may not have been able to play in some of the other conferences (he was their punter), but people gravitate toward him. You saw that with that D-Coordinator he snagged from the Ravens. I'm telling you, Michigan is going to be just fine with that guy at the helm."
A lot of players get bitter when their coach leaves, so I'm not sure that says more about Hoke or this kid, but it was a nice conversation, made me feel pretty good, so I thought I'd pass it along to the rest of the MGoBlog community.
...of regarding M as being such a unique and special place spills over in several tangible ways. Since Hoke believes the "leaders and best" thing is not just a line in a song:
- We're going to recruit the leaders and best and not settle for anything less - because we shouldn't have to, and
- Those affiliated with M are going to become the leaders and best - because every stakeholder in the M tradition expects nothing less.
People learn best in two ways: having something (a) clearly taught and (b) consistently modeled. Thus far Hoke is saying AND doing the things that reflect his fundamental belief: Michigan is the singular institution that anyone who has the opportunity should be willing to crawl across broken glass to be a part of.
That attitude, sincerely stated and lived out, is contagious.
I think this is a combination of wishful thinking and truth, since we actually are in pretty good position with some of these recruits such as Thompson, Wormley, Godin, Ross or Bolden etc.... I also think we don't get Dunn or Marshall unless something drastic changes. Kiel or Mauk are interesting though considering I doubt both go to ND, so we will have to see about those two. Either way it was a cool idea to put it up on here to poll everyones wish list, even though its still early. Hey you never know though if Auburn or OSU gets spurned for their dealings Pike and Dunn could both change their minds..
If Mauk chooses Notre Dame, then we MIGHT have a chance with Kiel. But other than being from the midwest, Kiel doesn't really have any connections to U of M. I'm guessing he'll head down to SEC or ACC country, but that's not based on anything concrete.
If we somehow get Kiel, I will poop my pants
on purpose.
I will hold you to this statement.
If Kiel stays local he will be at ND
Thats probably a good assessment... In my opinion though I think we have a better chance at Kiel than Mauk.. What do you think?
I think we have a better shot at getting Mauk, although frankly I'd prefer Tyler O'Connor and most of the other guys we've offered.
April 24th, 2011 at 12:51 PM ^
Austin Appleby will be the QB in this class. No, that's not based on anything.
I heard Kiel was focusing on ND, mizzouri and oklahoma and if he chooses anyone other than ND Mauk is irish
Havent heard anything recently about him. Earlier on some people were saying that the michigan offer was the one he was waiting for. Just wanted to see if there was anything new on him and if Michigan is still in good position with him.
I don't see why Michigan would have fallen off, but apparently he hasn't really commented on his recruitment in a while. So it's hard to say where Michigan stands right now.
It's interesting, I feel as if we (the laymen) have heard very little about RBs this year, other than the fact that Hoke wants to take one every year, and that Dunn can tap into the Speed Force and kill linebackers with his mind.
Understanding that Dunn is something of a pipe dream (unless OSU gets the hammer dropped), I was wondering what you thought about our RB options? I look at the list and shrug. Which ones are worth taking, why, and do we have a shot? In your opinion, of course.
I don't think RB should be a priority. We already have 8 of them on the roster for 2012. You don't need 8 tailbacks. I think you take an elite guy if you can get him (Marshall, Dunn, etc.) but there's no need to take a mediocre guy.
That being said...most of the guys we've offered are pretty good. I would be excited about Keith Marshall, Bri'onte Dunn, Wes Brown, I'tavius Mathers, or Jonathan Williams. Theyre all exceptional talents who I think would do very well out of the I-formation. Unfortunately, I don't think we have a great shot at most of them.
The guys we seem to have the best chance with are Greg Garmon and Donovan Roberts, both of whom I'm lukewarm on.
April 24th, 2011 at 10:38 PM ^
Yes, but Dunn leads the voting at 27% so he must be coming to Michigan...
I was a little surprised to see O'Brien being pretty high on people's lists. He's been off the radar for awhile now in the stuff I've read. Is this wishful thinking or did I miss something? (Mrs. Brimley, as usual, votes "miss something", or "head up ass" if she's really worked up).
April 23rd, 2011 at 11:00 PM ^
Your id got me to thinking of Brimley, MI. Nice.
I'd make all of the polls multiple choice and include the commitments. We all know kids tend to have fluctuating loyalties.
...IDK option would probably make these poll results significantly more accurate.
As much as guys 17-22 grow and pack on muscle, I like taking a lot of LB's. They are athletic, good feet, lateral movement and can grow into DE's.
I'm surprised so many people believe we'll sign Richardson. I still think he'll head out of state.
umhero pulls the pop quiz trick.
maybe donovan roberts
April 24th, 2011 at 12:03 AM ^
on the OL....my crystal ball says we will land either Max Tuerk or Kelby Latta
What about Jaleel Johnson? He looked ridiculous in that combine video.
and many O-lineman we need more that one WR. Seems like an opportunity for some talented WR for early PT.
Comments