2012 QB Recruiting

Submitted by detrocks on

As it seems that Devin is injured and it's looking more and more likely that Shane will start in the BWW Bowl, it got me to think about how the staff didn't recruit a QB in the 2012 class. 

If I remember correctly, even though we put out a couple of offers, the only QBs that it seemed that we were really heavily pursuing were Zeke Pike and Gunnar Kiel.   We finished second for Pike (which seems like a good thing now) and Kiel seemed to cool on Michigan after Shane committed.   I don't remember us going after anyone else or being close to signing anyone else.   Am I missing anything?   Did the staff just stop looking in that class after Shane committed?

It seemed like a bad decision then and is worse now given that Shane had to burn his RS and that our BWW QB lineup is a true FR backed up by a walk-on (Cleary) backed up by either another walk-on (Swieca) or a guy that just started practicing (Bellomy).

rockenstein

December 24th, 2013 at 10:54 AM ^

Wolf Stansson: Gunnar... you lost it for me.

Gunnar Stahl: [in disgust] You lost it for yourself!

[turning to his teammates]

Gunnar Stahl: Let's shake their hands!

[benches clear... Gunnar approaches Charlie]

Gunnar Stahl: Good work, Captain Duck!

Charlie: Thanks, Gunnar!

 

Talk about a guy with great character (pun intended)... If he's not a Michigan man, I don't know who is.

MJ14

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:06 PM ^

Kiel has bounced around to a lot of teams and Pike is/was a trouble maker. Michigan wasn't really in on any other guys that I remember and probably didn't want to take another guy like Bellomy just to take a guy. I'm sure they decided that other needs were higher and that they couldn't get the right guy. Looking back, I don't see any guy that it seems like wanted to go to Michigan and the coaches just didn't show interest

mgobaran

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:07 PM ^

Who cares. If the youngster has to play so be it. You're looking at a RS Freshman getting his first start vs. a true Freshman getting his first start. 

Yes, it was a mistake not taking a QB in 2012. But it is in the past. Let's move on. Our QB depth chart looks fine moving forward. Can't we just focus on that? 

MGomaha

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:10 PM ^

Why just let it go? There's a reason we had to depend on a true freshman quarterback as our back up and potential starter if anything happened to Devin. Should not have come to that. We should have taken a quarterback in the 2012 class, even if it was a guy with MAC/lower Big Ten offers.

mgobaran

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:17 PM ^

Chad Henne (a true freshman) got thrown to the wolves when Gutierrez got the shoulder injury. Why didn't we have someone else then?

If Bellomy doesn't tear his ACL in the spring, we don't have this issue. Or if RichRod doesn't burn Denard's RS, we don't have this issue. 

This isn't an issue that only Brady Hoke runs into. I have no issue with a True Freshman QB being the 3rd QB on the Depth Chart. Injuries happen. But I am sure there is no way in 2011/12, Brady Hoke is worried about having a RS Freshman as the 3rd QB in 2013, rather than a True Freshman. Not with the other glaring holes on this team.

teldar

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:41 PM ^

 There are a finite number of scholarships available on the team. I would rather have someone who contributes than have 5 QB's on the roster, 4 of whom ride the pine 90% of the time and one of whom gets some garbage snaps.  

Should Hoke have recruited another QB? Maybe. Is it going to be the end of the world? Probably not. Michigan's backup suffered a season ending injury. They have a former walk-on who was supposed to be pretty decent and a lot of people were happy when he committed. 

What do you want him to say? 

OMG!11!!111!!!!11!!! BurN The hOkE aT ThE sTaKe FOR all tHe StUPid DeciSiOnZZ tO noT TaKe moRE QBZ EverY YEaR!1!!11111!!1!!!

 

As he noted, injuries happen. 

Deal with it.

 

93Grad

December 23rd, 2013 at 10:53 PM ^

That is seriously your response? Jesus.

Thank god you are not the head coach. The head coach's job is to deal with it by having an adequate number of players on the team to weather normal attrition. Hoke failed to do that when it comes to QB this year. Fortunately or unfortunately it doesn't make much of a difference this year as we could have had 5 qbs or 2 and we still would have been crappy

ChalmersE

December 23rd, 2013 at 7:41 PM ^

Actually Clayton Richard, a former Indiana Mr. Football (and Mr. Baseball), was a redshirt freshman when Henne was a freshman. When Richard saw that he wasn't going to play much behind Henne, he eventually turned to baseball full-time. That proved a wise decision, as he has 46 MLB wins, including two 14 win seasons with sub 4.00 ERAs.

blacknblue

December 24th, 2013 at 12:18 AM ^

Shane Morris was the depth. He should have been the third string QB coming into the season and last line of defense. Somehow we managed to stumble into the Willie Beamen scenario, without the benefit of free agency to reestablish more depth behind forced to start third string quarterback.

MastaDon

December 24th, 2013 at 1:40 AM ^

And there's three scholarship QBs and two walk ons. It has only mattered for the copper bowl where one of the priorities is getting younger guys more practice and game time. Should he have recruited extra kickers/punters because Gibbons can't go and Hagerup is suspended?

A bigger priority at the time was trying to build depth at OL and LB where players rotate and get injured much more often.

MGoManBall

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:08 PM ^

Gunner Kiel, Zach Kline, Tanner Magnum, Chad Voytik, Jake Rodrigues, Tyler Matthews, Wes Lunt, Nathan Peterman, Patrick Towles, Connor Brewer. 

Those are the Top 10 pro-style QBs in the 2012 class. Actually. The only one out of the top 20 to do much this year is Maty Mauk. 

So I know hindsight is 20/20.. but I don't see any QB in that list that Michigan could have landed that I'd be more comfortable with than Morris. 

bronxblue

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:10 PM ^

If memory serves me right, they recruited a couple of guys but (I think) they thought Bellomy could be a serviceable QB while Morris was in the wings.  Plus, Gardner still was a strong option at QB.  Considering some of the other holes Hoke inheritted, I'm fine with them not wasting a scholarship on a sub-optimal QB after missing out on Pike and Kiel (which as we noted, probably was a bullet missed).

TruBluMich

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:13 PM ^

IF Shane ends up starting the Copper Bowl against Kansas State.  I still think Gardner is in pads just in case.  I can only imagine how painful it would be to play with turf toe, but he clearly played with the pain at some point.

BlueinOK

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:18 PM ^

A depth chart of Gardner, Bellomy and Morris would have been fine this year so it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to not take a QB in 2012. It's just bad luck that injuries occured. 

MichiganMan14

December 23rd, 2013 at 4:40 PM ^

There was no true logic in not taking a qb in 2012 especially since Bellomy was never a really promising recruit/freshman. Its kind of like under recruiting the wide receiver position for the past 3 years....you cannot win in the fall if you do not prepare yourself in the winter...spring and summer months. We have not met our recruiting needs and it has crushed us these past two seasons. We deserve every bit of it. In 2014 we will have to make up new excuses.

YaterSalad

December 23rd, 2013 at 11:08 PM ^

Quite the opposite. We have posted top 10 classes each year Hoke was here. Problem is rebuilding an empty cupboard. At some point we will get to the experienced depth needed to win in college football. Think about how long it takes you to learn a new job - then try it with practices, weight room, classes, tutors, and team responsibilities ... It might simply take time to learn an offense or defense. Taking or not taking a QB in 2012 is not the issue - having the other players we took learn fundamentals and the Playbook is the issue. That just takes time and effort.

newtopos

December 24th, 2013 at 4:42 PM ^

Our recruiting classes were ranked as following according to 247Sports the three years prior to Hoke's arrival:

2008: 10th

2009: 11th

2010: 16th

Yes, the 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes were good, and better than the 2008-10 period, but it is not as if we went from the 40s to the top ten.  Recruiting is not a panacea that cures poor coaching.

There is a reason why Auburn under Loeffler last year did not win a single SEC game, and is in the championship game this year under a new staff.  At some point, the finger-pointing at the RR era will not simply be overplayed, but will not hold any water at all.  (To look at it another way, has the cupboard been bare at every place Borges has coached?  Why has he not lasted at any major job in the past 15 years?  In what program that he coached has the offense gotten better over time?)

*Edit: One last note.  Oregon over this period (2008-present) has never had a top 10 recruiting class.  Stanford had one (2012, which preceded a 51st ranking for a small class in 2013).  Other than 2011 (the "Process" year with Dave Brandon), Michigan has consistently had more highly ranked recruiting classes than Oregon or Stanford.  A team does not need multiple top 10 recruiting classes to field a competent offense.