This is college football: 18 of first 87 picks LSU or Alabama
But hey, it's all good according to the College Football Playoff and sponsoring ADs.
Nothing to see or change or perhaps...investigate? Nothing at all?
If full throttle football factories with lax compliance are the norm, then please please join this fraternity Michigan.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:11 PM ^
I am increasingly subscribing to the theory that the 4 team playoff is ruining CFB.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:28 PM ^
Second round selections: 22 four- and five-star prospects. Seven 3-stars, one 2-star and two unranked.
— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) April 25, 2020
First round: of the 32 picks, only 6 players were not ranked as a 5star or 4star by one of the three major networks.
— Barton Simmons (@bartonsimmons) April 24, 2020
Of those 26 that were a 4/5 by at least one network, 247Sports had the most accurate ranking on 14 of them.
first round scorecard:
1. 247 2. ESPN 3. Rivals
oh wow man. I think you're onto something.
...what if we.....recruited more 5 stars?! It's brilliant!
April 25th, 2020 at 12:35 AM ^
Money is ruining it. Toss in Clemson, Georgia, and OSU and it's pretty apparent that whatever they are doing to get recruits makes a difference on the field and nets them increasingly better recruits.
Reminds me the Pete Carroll USC days when everyone was like, "Wow, how can they be so good?"
Turns out they were a pro team.
Been saying for a while that college football has very little intrigue anymore It’s basically OSU Alabama Clemson LSU and May Georgia who have any shot to win it all. Everyone else hopes to have a good 10 win season and maybe a decent bowl victory. There is no longer parity and it’s honestly kind of boring
people who think the recruiting playing field is level well I have some good game land in southern Florida I would love to sell you
April 25th, 2020 at 10:35 AM ^
I'll buy that land in Southern FL (LOL); but there is a clear separation of the NCAA Div 1 "Elite" teams and the rest of the field (Wannabe's).
You could give Oklahoma an honorable mention but the Big 12 is weaker conference than the B1G or SEC.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:12 PM ^
They win a lot and the best players want to come to win a national championship.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:20 PM ^
Is it really this simple though? I mean sure... Players want to win, have fun, compete. Most likely the top draw is full throttle focus on football with little compliance or emphasis on school or admission standards. I think that's my biggest issue. If admissions and eligibility standards are going to be this UNEVEN then it simply is time to divide up college football by at least part-time education institutions and pure football factories. Kinda gone this way already with the "S-uh-E-C" but now Ohio State is in this game... So why not just drop the charade?
The football/ NFL prep factories can form their own conference and Michigan can go join Vandy, Stanford, maybe UVA and others and just be in an entertaining second tier. At this point, that's fine. Let's end the charade.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:41 PM ^
So they are majoring in football and after college they make millions. Sounds the the college did its job
April 24th, 2020 at 11:50 PM ^
Even at those 100% football institutions, the great majority of players will not make a living playing football.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:50 PM ^
Even at those 100% football institutions, the great majority of players will not make a living playing football.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:49 PM ^
Why so they will get every 4 and 5 star?
Can't beat them then join them. Stop trying be something that no one really cares about. Accept the fact this is way it is in 2020 and join in the fun.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:54 PM ^
Michigan and Notre Dame would likely dominate a hypothetical conference of the elite FBS academic schools. I think this would get boring quick. Fuck all that, I want to see Michigan compete with the top brass like we used to. And it wasn't that long ago. A handful of teams have taken off to the stratosphere and we were left behind. College football is broken. Some level of parity needs to be somehow restored.
April 25th, 2020 at 12:25 AM ^
There hasn't been parity for 15 or so years. 9 SEC school have won the national championship? The rest our Clemson, Ohio State, and Florida State?
Before that USC and their crooked program.
The NCAA is just as corrupt. I think College football needs it's tax exempt status revoked. That would bring subpoena power and bring down these crooked programs.
April 25th, 2020 at 12:39 AM ^
There is no relationship between an institution's tax status and it's susceptibility to subpoenas.
governance.
Treasury would be the governing body. Not the NCAA.
Think Al Capone.
The only way to achieve parity in college football is to implement a "star" cap akin to a salary cap.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:13 PM ^
Shea will change all that. He's gonna be the new GOAT.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:15 PM ^
More likely the playoffs being stuck at 4 teams. If they expand it to 8 team, then Michigan may get to go finishing 2nd in the east with 11-1 record, and just being in the playoffs will boost recruiting.
April 25th, 2020 at 12:15 AM ^
Eliminate the conference championships and go to 16 teams.
Apologist morons argue against 16 teams as if they somehow "don't deserve it" and yet the entire market on week 1 of the NCAA tournament is upsets. They would happen in football too.
Strangely, the NCAA has not moved to an 8 or 16 team model despite the absolute ton of money they leave on the table.
April 25th, 2020 at 10:41 AM ^
Give the playoff conversation a rest. The past few years, or more have shown that 4 and maybe a 5th team deserves to be a real playoff contender. Even then when #2 plays #3, there's a blow out game in there.
Until there is real proof that 8 teams are truly worthy of being contenders, # 5-8 is simple awash and waste of time watching those "playoff" games.
April 25th, 2020 at 11:35 AM ^
I'm not buying that narrative at all. If so, why bother playing a conference season at all (where there are weekly upsets that you happily watch).
April 24th, 2020 at 11:21 PM ^
Alabama's and LSU's players look better coached than ours, in addition to often being superior athletes.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:29 PM ^
Funny how that works when those schools finish above Michigan in the recruiting rankings every year.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:51 PM ^
Maizen! You back already? Brian getting a nice influx of cash with all your new aliases.
April 25th, 2020 at 11:29 AM ^
Probably Yoder. It's cool though. I like his Twitter feed even though I don't agree with some of his stuff. Other stuff is funny, like his trolling of OSU fans. I don't get wrapped up in arguing opinions on Michigan football here or any other social media venue. I just don't have the mental or emotional bandwidth anymore to argue about something I watch for entertainment. Many others do though, and I respect that.
April 25th, 2020 at 12:46 AM ^
It is easy to coach up 5 stars.
DPJ would like a word with you.
Saban’s second string qb was better than anyone Harbaugh has rolled out at Michigan - including 5 star Shea. It’s not just recruiting.
Uh, Bama's back-up QB is not better than Shea. You saw the Auburn game. If you put Shea behind Bama's line and with 3 pro wideouts and a pro running back, he'd look better than that guy. Also Jake Ruddock. Also pre-injury 2016 Wilton Speight. Don't be an idiot.
Could he hit wide open receivers with relatively accurate balls, more often than not? If so, he’s better than Shea.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:25 PM ^
Recruit great players. Play great football. Win games. Compete for championships. Get drafted high in the draft. $$$$$
who would of thought!??
April 24th, 2020 at 11:34 PM ^
Well what do you expect? They recruit the best players year in and year out, they don’t have to drive more than four hours in any direction to recruit and field a team that can win a title, and they play for titles year in and year out. Alabama or LSU have played for or won the last five titles.
They both look a hell of a lot better coached than Michigan and are sure as shit more talented. So I’m not that upset over it.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:42 PM ^
Yeah it's a shame the state of MI or the midwest never has any talent. Makes you wonder how in the hell they ever won 58 games against OSU and 42 big ten titles.
The Midwest has talent, but nowhere near as much as the southeast. And certainly not enough that will field a full team that can win it all.
1) Ohio has plenty of talent, but that does nothing for Michigan because the top kids in that state will only ever play for OSU.
2) Essentially same principle with Pennsylvania. They have their share of talent, but the top talent doesn’t want to play for Michigan. If they stay in the B1G, they want to go to PSU or OSU.
3) Michigan produces some quality players in the Detroit area but we have a hard enough time convincing them to want to stay these days. They are regularly poached by other schools.
Agreed. I lived in Americus Georgia for a couple years and the difference between Friday night there and in Michigan and Northern Indiana was most remarkable.
I believe the/a solution here is two-fold: 1) Increase the CFP to 8 or 16 teams and 2) Put a hard ceiling on the recruiting classes. Here, average the scores of the top 10 schools the past several years-average them and make that the ceiling. It would be so easy to do.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:36 PM ^
Michigan either needs to join the Ivy League for football or get rid of the program.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:43 PM ^
Or, you know, get a coach in here who cares about recruiting. His defensive staff is borderline incompetent.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:49 PM ^
A new coach won’t matter. It is an institutional issue. Michigan will never do what needs to be done in order to win national titles.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:56 PM ^
STFU.
You sound like the moronic shitheads who said Beilein needed to recruit Detroit when Beilein was struggling to establish his vision for the program. Their implication was that Beilein was shying away from certain types of in-state players. (Yes, there were racial undertones.) In the end, many of those players he passed on turned out to do jack shit in college and beyond.
I don't know that Harbaugh will get us to the CFB Playoff. But if he does manage it, he'll do it his way.
The notion that Michigan isn't institutionally committed to winning is horseshit spouted by clueless idiots. No, we won't recruit JCs but the way to overcome that is to have superior evaluation and development like Harbaugh had at Stanford. We need to become a NFL pipeline across the skill positions.
April 25th, 2020 at 12:21 AM ^
Upvoted for your vitriol on the trolls.
Harbaugh had an elite quarterback at Stanford. This makes all the difference. We'll see if one of Dylan McCaffrey, Joe Milton or JJ McCarthy ends up as that guy.
Michigan has not had a better QB than whoever was at t(tm)OSU since Chad f'n Henne.
April 25th, 2020 at 12:48 AM ^
You mean like Hoke? Hope you enjoyed those seasons after his first year. He recruited well but could not coach.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:43 PM ^
It's a team sport. Surround yourself with superior talent and you look better as a result. Clemson was crap not too long ago. Just have to cultivate an environment attractive to athletes. Michigan will not be competitive until they make it as easy to get in, get good grades, and get paid like the other schools. Anyone expecting different is being unrealistic. You need a Heisman QB or a run of luck to carry a team like Michigan to a national championship when all your other players are a step slower than your rival.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:55 PM ^
Tired of the academic excuse at Michigan. Did that get in the way during Bo, Mo, Loyd? Nope! Did it get int he way of the 1997 squad which had a shit load of NFL players on it? Nope! Now its and excuse because Michigan is not the top tier of college football and it NEVER WAS!!! They were tough as hell under, Bo, Mo, and Loyd period. Now its a country club. Michigan makes exceptions for its athletes just like OSU, Clemson and Alabama and always has. Harbaugh has been good at Michigan but they just don't get the recruits the other schools do as evidenced by tonight's draft. Player development is also suspect.
April 25th, 2020 at 12:10 AM ^
This. Right now the defensive coaching staff is trash. Nua, Zordich, Shoop, and Brown are all dog shit recruiters. The dichotomy between the caliber of recruits the staff is targeting on offense vs defense stark. Get these middle aged old ass white dudes out of here and get some some young guys who can relate to these kids. Also Dudek is worthless UM needs a Mark Pantoni type.
MgoHillbilly. You're not wrong on most counts but the admissions is not accurate beyond our reluctance for JUCOs. Otherwise, we'll take kids who barely scrape by NCAA Clearinghouse--not a whole team of 'em--but we take some low qualifiers.
April 24th, 2020 at 11:51 PM ^
So what OP? Stop whining or bitching.
A few season ago we led the country in draft picks when we had 11 players drafted in the 2017 NFL Draft* from the 2016 team which should have won the Big Ten and reached the playoffs. (And all of those players were recruited by Hoke.)
Harbaugh needs to make that the norm for Michigan.
*Alabama had 10. Ohio State had 7.
April 25th, 2020 at 12:00 AM ^
Investigate what, kids going to schools that prove they can coach and develops talent?
Harbaugh is an asshole. Kids don't trust him and it shows. The sooner you figure that out, the better.
April 25th, 2020 at 12:03 AM ^
You're a OSU troll. You're not fooling anyone. Your posting history makes it abundantly clear.
This comment will probably get lost in this thread but I've got a solution to our football problem. Let's do what the best teams in the country do and turn a blind eye to cash payouts and sweet deals on cool cars.
Nobody gives a fuck. Bend the rules as far as you can.
Wouldn’t the players still need to be coached up and be put into positions to excel? How would turning a blind eye to “bagmen” solve Michigan’s coaching problems?
How will continually getting pounded by your rival, year in and year out, and losing in bowl games help with landing big time, playmaking recruits?
Michigan’s problems are far more wide spread than a lack of bagmen on campus.