Article Discussing Matt Weiss and Michigan Football Recruiting
Nothing groudbreaking in the article, but there was a very interesting quote from Matt Weiss.
Now certainly, I’m not playing Fortnite with anyone at two in the morning, but — just like I tell the recruits that. The guy that’s playing video games with you at 11 o’clock at night or whatever, that’s what he’s going to be doing when he should be trying to help you become a better player and he should be game-planning and figuring out ways to make the offense go — he’s going to be playing Fortnite with some 16-year old.
Wow! There's a helluva book in here somewhere. I find it hard to believe that coaches may actually be playing video games with teenagers during the recruiting process. If there is a former recruiter who would be willing to anonymously detail the more crazy stories from out on the trail, I'm sure it'd be a wildly entertaining read.
I figured that was actually pretty common especially with the younger coaches. I read the Coach Moore’s interview as well and thought it was interesting that he basically came out and said he wasn’t recruiting directly as much do to his transition to coordinator. I’m hoping once that transition happens he can focus more on that part of things.
Coordinators generally don't spend as much time recruiting. That's pretty much the rule all around. When you're a coordinator, it's just a different job that entails a lot more communication with coaches on the staff, watching more film, designing plays, refining the playbook, etc.
Of the top 32 recruiters in the nation in 2022 (per 247), the only offensive coordinator in the group was Texas's Kyle Flood.
I don’t know much about Texas’s inner workings of their staff, but I’d wager with Sark’s coaching background that he has a pretty heavy hand in the offense and that allows Flood to spend more time recruiting.
Exactly...Sark is running that offense.
I have heard of some recruiters who - climb trees, go-kart racing, and even have sleepovers.
What about playing Football shirtless? Does that count?
August 7th, 2022 at 10:37 PM ^
Only after a dinner of steak and milk.
August 7th, 2022 at 11:30 PM ^
Agreed
All of this and playing video games are cute gimmicks.
For better or worse, most of these battles have, and moreso now, will come down to the bag/payment plan.
Exactly. All anyone cares about today is the bagmen. No recruit, nor any family member of any recruit, could possibly care about Colin K's complexities with Jim H and yet Colin's subsequent summary:
"He’s someone that is gonna fight for you. His relationship with you goes beyond just football. He loves you as a person. My relationship I’ve maintained with him, his dad Jack, and his family..."
Jim Harbaugh wasting time hanging out with recruits at a personal level has reached the point where it is cause for termination.
Do I need a "/s"?
August 8th, 2022 at 12:19 AM ^
Yeah, the irony of who Matt Weiss boss is...
I got the feeling Cade is in a pretty good spot with Weiss.
In watching the video of this presser, it's clear JJ McCarthy is the one being developed for starting in the future, i.e., Cade McNamara is the starter. And I don't see any reason to think he shouldn't be that way. McNamara is quite a leader.
The video is 2 comments down.
I could be wrong, but I thought the same. If true, there’s likely 2 huge QB recruits on the coaches’ plates, JJ and Davis.
August 7th, 2022 at 11:16 PM ^
Most guesses are Cade starts. Some are hoping/guessing JJ gets a start later in the season. If Cade takes the next step, I don't see how JJ will replace him. Will be an interesting year. Having that kind of QB room is a luxury. Can't wait for the season to start.
Weiss basically said there are very limited next steps available to Cade. He duly notes Cade's value but when he includes that arm strength, foot speed and agility are things that coaching cannot change...alrighty then. Cade is a bright young man and an outstanding leader but when you play at this level the ability and need to perform physically is profoundly critical. And let's be very clear, while Cade appears to have a very good pre-snap read and then does well in going quickly to the check-down he is unable to find all those wide open, second-read receivers running free for huge plays-there is no mastery of the offense here. And then there is the whole RPO deal with Cade-which every defense, rightly so, ignores. But we have an OL that is "lights out" good...will be better this year than last...don't worry-be happy.
There seems to be a pathological aversion to error in play here. I understand the reasoning and am, even, sympathetic but I do not agree-even with a coaching hat on. Playing and coaching by conventional wisdom and status quo means only takes you so far...great coaches and players are winners because of their ability to know how and when to go off-script. In this regard, Michigan got exposed against Georgia-we'll see if they learned anything. It took Kirby quite a few years to figure this out (and maybe was simply more lucky than good). Can Jim and this staff become elite-I think they have enough talent on this roster over the next several years to make a run at it? Stay tuned.
I find it hard to believe that coaches may actually be playing video games with teenagers during the recruiting process.
Why is this hard to believe? Part of the reason Notre Dame was in such good shape with Dante Moore is because they served him freaking waffles on his visit and he liked it enough to note it in interviews. These are high schoolers. Don’t forget that. Weiss’ comment sounds like he thinks he’s above doing what’s necessary to recruit high schoolers
I didn’t get that impression at all from his comments.
August 8th, 2022 at 12:22 AM ^
It does seem like he's annoyed that that's a thing recruiters are doing and that he's having to make a point of explaining / selling why he's not doing that.
Things were pretty good for a while with Notre Dame. But it ended quickly in March. I still don't know what is so great about Oregon though.
Nike NIL $$$
Sounded more to me like he’s about doing what is necessary to get his players ready to play instead of playing Fortnite with teenagers.
If a teenage QB commits to a school because the QB coach played Fortnite with him and didn’t want to go to Michigan because the coach spends his time putting his players in a position to succeed, then… good riddance?
Recruiting is about building relationships too, I know the NIL stuff but a kids got to have some level of comfort with his coach.
August 7th, 2022 at 10:32 PM ^
Almost like you can recruit and not spend additional time playing Fortnite with teenage kids when you should be focusing on developing the kids on the team and improving the outlook of your position group.
August 7th, 2022 at 10:47 PM ^
Yeah I mean he’s pretty clear that Michigan is looking for players that love the game and sounds like he thinks his approach resonates with that type of mindset.
August 7th, 2022 at 10:18 PM ^
He comes across as a guy who isn't going to try to be something he isn't, which in the short term may hurt him with a recruit or two but (provided he's successful at his actual job) will pay off. And that isn't to knock guys who do like to connect with kids via video games, social media, etc., only that if those coaches are going to say "hey, look I'm playing Fortnite/CoD/Madden with you, that means I care about you as a person" it's totally reasonable for another coach to say "I don't play those games but I'm focused on making you the best player you can be". There's no "right" answer when recruiting kids.
And I'd also like to caution a bit against people reading too much into early-season recruiting successes, especially during the off-season - ND isn't going to crater by any means but they've got a lot of uncertainties coming into the year and recruits will likely take notice if they struggle with a new staff.
August 8th, 2022 at 12:26 AM ^
He also comes across as a guy that would prefer coaching in the NFL where being who he is doesn't have to be explained or rationalized because it's exactly what you need in a coach - without the recruiting aspect.
Absolutely. I think the majority of college coaches would say the same, as dealign with HS kids has to be incredibly taxing. With professional players it's transactional to a much larger extent; football perhaps a bit less so than basketball due to short careers and salary caps but you're mostly dealing with millionaires who are at the pinnacle of their professions and they'll act accordingly.
I don't think it's a judgment call either way when it comes to a coach's approach to his job - there are trade-offs in whatever approach one takes. Do I think Weiss wants to be in the NFL? Absolutely. But so do the vast majority of those coaches who are playing Fortnite with 16-year-olds at 4:15 on a Thursday afternoon and sharing sometimes-incomprehensible memes on TikTok.
August 8th, 2022 at 11:09 AM ^
A solid take… that Urban Meyer seems not to have understood.
This sounds like the correlation between Call of Duty and Kyler Murray's annual late season struggles
It's also in this video:
This is great. Thanks.
Though analysis often helps my understanding, it's always good to hear guys speak themselves, get a sense of who they are and how they express themselves.
Same with seeing interviews or candid moments of players.
Maybe he should be giving Fortnite a shot. He's one of our weaker recruiters.
For whatever reasons that Weiss didn’t connect with Carr and Moore, he has a much better vibe with Jadyn Davis. How our O does year will go a long way with Jadyn.
". . . if you want to be good at football, Jim Harbaugh, Matt Weiss and company are working to make Michigan that destination. If you want creature comforts or to simply bond with your recruiter over video games, then there might be better destinations out there for you."
August 7th, 2022 at 10:12 PM ^
He’s implying that recruits committing to other schools aren’t serious enough about football. It’s a way to deflect the blame for his recruiting mistakes. There really isn’t much more to read into it than that. The kids committed elsewhere care about football and they will do well at those schools. Let’s not pretend that other schools don’t take football seriously or those kids don’t “play for the right reasons.” You don’t need to play video games with recruits, but you do need to put some effort into building a relationship. He’s blaming the kids for not building the relationship which is nonsense. The quote is just fluff to play to recruits, the fan base, and his boss.
He says he’s learning quickly and improving at recruiting quarterbacks. Let’s hope that’s the case. If he is awesome at creating game plans and calling plays, that will make a huge difference as well.
August 7th, 2022 at 11:34 PM ^
I am not sure where you got that he is blaming anyone. He is talking about his philosophy and contrasting with others. Blame sounds like a stretch.
August 7th, 2022 at 11:34 PM ^
He did say he is learning the importance of relationship building. He's doing some on the job learning for sure.
You complain a lot. Maybe you should show him how it's done since you seem to know everything there is about recruiting.
If you sleep at a Holiday Inn Express you are qualified for everything from performing open heart surgery to posting on this blog.
How things have changed. I can't picture Gary Moeller or Lloyd Carr playing video games with recruits back when they were assistant coaches. Imagine Woody Hayes asking assistant coach Bo Schembechler how a recruiting visit went, and Bo telling him, "It went great. We played Fortnite."
August 7th, 2022 at 10:06 PM ^
Gary Moeller would've kicked everyone's ass in Techmo Bowl. Bo would've been playing pong with recruits. What a blast.
It took all of Schembechler's restraint not to slap the hat off of Chris Spielman's head.
This is a little less crazy than what you're describing, but it does give some good background on past UofM recruitments: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39090919-the-road-to-ann-arbor
TomVH always gets an upvote from me
My only issue is we should have known we would struggle to connect with Dante in February/March and targeted other QBs. Now it's too late to get anyone. I get the difficulty- when you have a player like Dante Moore in your backyard you have to do everything you can to bring him in, regardless of how he fits your team. It's just a little frustrating to end up with nothing at the QB position, when we could have been recruiting other solid QBs.
Covid 2-4 leads to JH almost persona-non-grata leads to pay cuts and incentives leads to hurt feelings leads to flirting with NFL which leads to JH not involved with Dante that leads to Gattis to Miami which leads to Weiss coming in late and that leads too Oregon door opens that leads to NIL opportunity that is what it is.
Butterfly effect of pain! Time to move on not a pattern likely to repeat IF we can get on the NIL wagon.
IMO, too much/or not enough butterfly effect in how you lay that out.
Without the 2-4 Covid season maybe JH isn't as driven and organized and Michigan ends up with 3 regular season losses, no BTC, and no playoff.
And maybe Gattis stays for this season if JH doesn't flirt with NFL, but Moore leaves b/c he feels his work is what really made the offense click and he isn't being credited. And our O-line play drops and our recruiting is even worse this cycle and next.
Also, Gattis' comments when he left sure seemed to indicate that it was a lot more than just feeling passed over for possible consideration for HC. Maybe he leaves after this year due to simmering issues and Moore bails on a UM commitment right before signing day and we are in a worse QB recruiting situation than ever.
August 8th, 2022 at 10:08 AM ^
Still think it's weird we haven't offered Cinci commit Brady Drogosh yet. He's a Warren De La Salle kid and is a huge Michigan fan. He was at the OSU game this year
You speak the language of your target. That’s Insta, Tik-Tok, PubG etc…if you’re not going to their hangouts, you’re not understanding who you’re trying to reach.