January 26th, 2011 at 1:23 AM ^
Mattison'd.
January 26th, 2011 at 12:54 AM ^
http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1180979
Key passage here (regarding Mattison and why Blake stayed committed):
"That was a top of the food chain hire for Michigan as well as Blake," Wendell Countess said. "He said, 'what could be better than being coached by a guy who has been there.'
"Every kid's high school dream is ultimately to play on Sundays one day, and obviously this guy has coached on that level. He has seen it, understands it, knows it and [Blake] has an opportunity to be right there with that guy and be a sponge and soak up as much as he can technique-wise as well as what it takes mentally to get to the next level."
Hiring Greg Mattison has proven to be sheer genius on the recruiting trail. I can't wait to see what he can do on the football field.
January 26th, 2011 at 12:55 AM ^
Hell yeah. Mattison is just plain awesome
January 26th, 2011 at 1:10 AM ^
Here's how I picture his pitch to Countess:
"I've coached Charles Woodson and Ed Reed, I have a national championship ring and I've won 4 NFL playoff games in the past 3 years...C'mon..."
January 26th, 2011 at 12:59 AM ^
I think Mattison must be hypnotizing these kids or something. He goes in and seems to walk away with a commitment every time! I'm not complaining but it's just amazing. His reputation as a fantastic recruiter seems well earned, at least based on the small sample size so far.
I can't wait to see him work some magic for the 2012 class!
January 26th, 2011 at 1:03 AM ^
January 26th, 2011 at 1:11 AM ^
rollin, rollin, rollin, keep them doggies rollin...
January 26th, 2011 at 1:15 AM ^
Mattison is killing it right now. This is awesome.
January 26th, 2011 at 1:17 AM ^
Great news. And great to have MGoBlog back.
January 26th, 2011 at 2:05 AM ^
Mattison is the Man. Take that JoePa. The only team poaching recruits will be us.
January 26th, 2011 at 2:14 AM ^
I cant remember the last time I felt like we were this hot in recruiting. It's almost to a point were kids are jumping on the bandwagon ASAP cuz they don't want to miss this ride!! i like it!! Go Blue!!
January 26th, 2011 at 2:16 AM ^
I cant remember the last time I felt like we were this hot in recruiting. It's almost to a point were kids are jumping on the bandwagon ASAP cuz they don't want to miss this ride!! i like it!! Go Blue!!
January 26th, 2011 at 3:38 AM ^
Keep these defensive players coming....MATTISON!!!!!
January 26th, 2011 at 4:05 AM ^
He's climbing yo windows, snatching yo people up
January 26th, 2011 at 7:00 AM ^
January 26th, 2011 at 7:00 AM ^
January 26th, 2011 at 7:21 AM ^
I hope Countess is a good recruiter...his HS has a number of top performers from this year's National Junior Combine at the AAA game...it would be great if he could start paving the way for a new pipeline to MD for the team.
January 26th, 2011 at 7:33 AM ^
That takes care of the last soft verbal (unless you count Fisher). So if 22 is the number, counting those predicted to leave, then I'm hoping the final 6 are Barnett, Bryant, Willingham, Fisher, Cooper & Durham.
January 26th, 2011 at 7:55 AM ^
GMATT can drink whatever the fuck he wants. ABC bitches ABC .
January 26th, 2011 at 8:07 AM ^
I am very excited about the hard work this entire staff has done. They have done a tremendous job obtaining the reaffirmment of a desperate position of need then they also go out and get a kicker, several viable LB's, and they have attacked the DE/DT position. On the O side of the ball obtaining a QB commit and a TE. I hope they can finish as strong as they have started and ontain a few other commits from positions of need, like another OL or two, and another TE. I would not be one bit heartbroken though if they all they get from here on out are D players. Defense wins Championships and after the last 3 years, all I want to see is a competitive D on the field.
January 26th, 2011 at 8:27 AM ^
I'm sure Mattison is more PC about it, but I wonder if his basic recruiting pitch to some of these kids (Poole, Countess, etc.) is similar to this:
"Look, we've got (Floyd Raven/Stefan McClure/Leilon Willingham/Frank Clark/etc.) who might take our last scholarship at this position. You're either in or you're out, but these kids know that we're going to play defense and I can get kids to the next level. I hope you choose Michigan, but I can't guarantee that your spot will be there if you wait."
It seems he might be leveraging these players against each other and essentially saying "You snooze, you lose."
Regardless, whatever he's doing is working.
By the way, if a guy like Mattison had come on board to help Rich Rodriguez, I would have been all for Rodriguez being retained. I said back in November, "I'm okay with Rich Rodriguez sticking around if David Brandon hires a good DC and tells Rodriguez to leave him the hell alone." Obviously, Mattison probably wouldn't have come to Michigan to work under Rodriguez, but (a good offensive coach) + (a good defensive coach with some autonomy) could have been a juggernaut in Ann Arbor.
Hopefully Hoke, Borges, and Mattison can make it work.
January 26th, 2011 at 9:21 AM ^
I think that Denard running play action roll-outs and designed scrambles are going to be WAYYYY more deadly than Magee's incredibly predictable QB lead draws every third play. Sure, those picked up decent chunks of yards against inferior defenses but they also got Denard beat the hell up way too much.
PREDICTION:
The 2011 Borges Offense will be clearly better than the 2010 Magee Offense.
Don't look back!
January 26th, 2011 at 9:41 AM ^
January 26th, 2011 at 9:55 AM ^
The 2011 Borges Offense will be clearly better than the 2010 Magee Offense
I'm not sure if I agree with that statement, but you might be right. I don't know that Denard has the passing chops to get it done through the air, although I do expect Borges/Hoke to get more production out of the running backs than Magee/Rodriguez did.
January 26th, 2011 at 10:17 AM ^
It would be hard not to do that. IMHO, the almost complete lack of a consistently effective running game aside from Denard was the most disappointing thing about last season.
How much of that can be attributed to the RR staff is debatable, considering that so many of the RBs couldn't stay healthy, but I don't expect that we'll see a repeat of last year's Michigan State game, when Stephen Hopkins comes in and gains 6 and 7 very physical yards on successive carries, and then doesn't see the ball for the rest of the game. I'm still trying to puzzle that one out.
January 26th, 2011 at 10:31 AM ^
I've heard that RR's assertion that Mike Cox wasn't able to play due to injury was a "creative" description of the actual situation.
In camp, everyone (even all of the other RBs!) couldn't stop gushing about Mike Cox and what a beast he was.
We might have a Minor-type RB right under our nose who can provide instant production.
January 26th, 2011 at 11:32 AM ^
I've also heard this, but only on message boards. I haven't seen it from Cox himself, although it would explain why he was so happy to see Rodriguez depart.
January 26th, 2011 at 12:00 PM ^
So RR's explanation may have spared M.C. some public embarrassment. I saw him go the wrong way in one of the scrimmages, and if it's true that this was a consistent problem, of course he's not going to play. The fix is learn the system
b/c now they've got a whole new offense to learn. And if he keeps going the wrong way, guess who else isn't going to play him?
Gorgeous Borges
January 26th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
I watched the preseason scrimmage and saw Cox make a wrong read and then on another handoff, dance around in the backfield before losing a few yards. Rich about lost his mind.
I also remember at least one instance where Cox was in the backfield in a double RB set and was supposed to block at the snap, and instead ran what looked like a screen route, getting his fellow RB crushed. If guys like Shaw and Smith were able to pick things up and get most of the RB playing time in games, then I'm guessing it wasn't just Mean Ol' Rich holding back Mike.
You are right that he has a new opportunity to show what he can do, which must include learning the playbook and making the proper reads.
January 26th, 2011 at 12:21 PM ^
I also saw Cox gain lots of yards whenever he touched the ball.
If nothing else, put in a handful of plays that he knows, and then see what he can do.
January 26th, 2011 at 7:52 PM ^
After re-reading my post I think I was a little too negative. I'd really like to see Cox tear it up on the field in 2011 because I think he has some real talent. I will be anxious to see what he does in the spring game.
January 26th, 2011 at 10:08 AM ^
Calvin Magee knows what he's doing with an offense...The offense will be older next year but they'll also be learning a new system. I don't think we can take it for granted that the offense will match its 2010 production, at least in terms of ypg.
January 26th, 2011 at 11:41 AM ^
Reading that I wonder what pitch Satan uses since last I saw Bama was 10 over.
January 26th, 2011 at 11:59 AM ^
Maybe he's using the old Jimmy Johnson at Miami on them:
"Come to Michigan or get beat by Michigan."
January 26th, 2011 at 8:32 AM ^
and there was much rejoicing.
January 26th, 2011 at 8:48 AM ^
Mattison brings his famous 7 layer bean dip to these in-houses
BOOM! SEVEN LAYER DIPPED!
January 26th, 2011 at 8:56 AM ^
Mattison is absolutely tearing it up right now.
January 26th, 2011 at 8:59 AM ^
This make me happy.
January 26th, 2011 at 9:07 AM ^
If Mattison, Barwis, Denard and Brandon Graham were around at the same time, this blog would reach its exclamation point quota by 7am every day.
January 26th, 2011 at 9:17 AM ^
GET THAT MAN OVER TO ZETTEL'S HOUSE!
January 26th, 2011 at 9:33 AM ^
I love how that's another commit that's straight out said he want to be coached by mattison, we are on fire with amazing coaching hires and getting alot of great commits.
January 26th, 2011 at 10:34 AM ^
this is outstanding news. welcome aboard Blake! Great job by Hoke and co. for getting this guy confirmed.
Mattison seems to talk to these recruits one time and they are "all in". I can't wait to see the type of talent this guy will bring in with a full year to recruit.
January 26th, 2011 at 12:24 PM ^
all the talent that should have been Michigan's but ended up at ND after Mattison left. I can't remember being as bummed about the departure of an assistant as I was when Mattison left for ND.
January 26th, 2011 at 11:31 AM ^
it's (a) great (day) to be a Michigan Wolverine
January 26th, 2011 at 11:28 PM ^
Man I cannot wait until Friday to hear that we finally are getting Bryant & Clark and anyone else that might want to use the last Friday to make their announcement. Then the 4 excruciating long 4 days until LOI day. It 's like Christmas for football fans.
January 27th, 2011 at 3:21 AM ^
Imagine what Mattison can do with an entire year to recruit! I like the defensive guys we're bringing in too.