jtmc33

August 26th, 2009 at 1:54 PM ^

It will be nice to have a sure handed return specialist who is not a starting CB.

I hope Warren does not "win" the PR job... we can't afford him playing anything but CB because of the lack of depth.

Watching Warren on punts, and Cissoko on kick-offs is going to be stressful this year.

Hannibal.

August 26th, 2009 at 1:17 PM ^

Teams composed of "solid" players don't compete for national championships. Period. I agree that we should be patient before passing judgement on RichRod's recruiting and, for the record, he deserves a lot of praise for bringing in the top 10 ranked '09 class. But our '10 class looks pretty mediocre right now, and it is overloaded with skill players and not other areas of need.

The King of Belch

August 26th, 2009 at 1:22 PM ^

Better watch out with that "truth" stuff, man. You'll be erased in half an hour.

Fact is, Dileo is the kind of guy who should be walking on a LSU or getting a scholarship from Bowling Green. Louisiana might be deep--but 46 D1 players deep? Come on.

WolvinLA

August 26th, 2009 at 1:34 PM ^

I don't think anyone is expected Drew Dileo to be a major star right away, but every team is comprised of it's leaders surrounded by other talented players. If you'd like to cheer for a team that only brings in 5 stars, you're SOL. RR sees good in this kid, and he hasn't been wrong too many times yet. Give the guy some credit.

Also, Rivals has him as the #26 player in Louisiana. The kid at #31 is playing at LSU next fall, FYI.

In reply to by The King of Belch

Maize_and_Drew

August 26th, 2009 at 2:57 PM ^

I was just pointing out that while recruiting sites are usually pretty good at finding and ranking talent, they can sometimes miss on a player - especially if that player comes from a small school in a talent rich area like the south. Dileo fits this profile. RR is known for finding diamonds in the rough, so it's possible he sees something in Dileo others are missing. Let's see how his senior season in HS goes before we start the "He should be a walk-on at LSU" threads.

In reply to by The King of Belch

BigBlue02

August 26th, 2009 at 3:29 PM ^

Even though in your last post, you stated that the "fact is, Dileo is the kind of guy who should be walking on at LSU." The actual fact is that on Rivals, a player ranked lower than him in LA is attending LSU on scholarship while your "fact" is that Dileo isn't good enough for said sholarship. Now let me hear your backtracking. I do find it quite funny that you posted your little rant about anomalies and anecdotal evidence after completely ignoring the actual facts of the situation.

MichIOE01

August 26th, 2009 at 1:48 PM ^

However, you can't have 25 studs in each recruiting class (even if you're USC). So I'll take a solid player who seems to be a hard worker, who the coaches have obviously done their research on.

Best case: he develops in to a great player
Worst case: he's a career backup, and and insurance policy against injuries

Now I'm not saying we should pack a full class of players like that, but I don't think there's too much to worry about here. Especially with the actual season about to start.

BigBlue02

August 26th, 2009 at 4:49 PM ^

First off, the class looks mediocre right now because football season hasn't even started and numerous highly ranked recruits haven't committed yet. We still have a legitimate shot at 4 or 5 top 100 guys, so I wouldn't be so quick to say our class is mediocre. Secondly, the class looks much better when Devin Gardner goes from being barely ranked in the top 200 to easily making the top 100 and possibly being ranked the top guy in Michigan. I don't actually remember - how did our class look at this time last year? Were we top 10 from start to finish?

Welllughhh

August 26th, 2009 at 1:32 PM ^

Before we talk about a players rankings in state or overall can we please wait till after their senior seasons are over. These players have worked their hardest in the offseason to become better players and in preperation in becoming D1 athletes.

They could have remarkable senior seasons which would move them up in the rankings slightly or majorly (ala Taylor Lewan).

hailtothevictors08

August 26th, 2009 at 1:35 PM ^

that we cant win with only 3 star players (at least not championships) ... but i have a good feeling bout Dileo and lets face down yr creates a tough recruting environment and yet we still have gardner (5 star), mrob, ricardo miller, and pry cullen christian (not a bad amount of true legit playmakers)

ShockFX

August 26th, 2009 at 1:54 PM ^

"Woohoo! Remember when Michigan used to plunder LA for their best players? "

Jai Eugene didn't actually come to UM, you know that right?

Watts Club Moz…

August 26th, 2009 at 2:39 PM ^

Apparently we're forgetting how Ronald Bellamy and LaTerryal Savoy have redefined the receiver position.

I'm sick of hearing people bitch about Dileo. I'm going to be rooting hard for this kid to make an impact just so the rest of the world will STFU about him. Of course then everyone will claim they knew he had "heart" and "grit" and all the other nonsense adjectives used to describe white wideouts.

IBleedMaizeNBlue

August 26th, 2009 at 4:53 PM ^

Short memories, friends.

Anthony Thomas
Chris Howard
Ron Bellamy
Bobby Powers
James Hall

To name a few. In the late 80's and throughout the 90's Michigan used to get their pick of the litter in LA. Now that LSU is a powerhouse we are struggling.

Goblue89

August 26th, 2009 at 1:57 PM ^

Before anyone rips on RR and Dileo, remember that Clay Matthews was a former walk-on at USC and look how that turned out? He turned himself into a 1st round ahead of several of his teammates who were rated higher. Never under estimate a hard worker! I think the kid is coming in for punt returns and kick off returns only...with how bad we sucked at both last year I am happy to use a scholarship on a kid who averages damn year 40 yds per kickoff return.

Like some posters above have said, if he has a solid year and LSU suddenly offers him, people will be changing their tune. And when said offer from LSU comes and he decommits (FWIW, I don't think he will do this) it will be interesting to read how upset some people are that we lost a great talent.

I will go out on limb and say that the majority of people are concerned about him because he is white WR. Compare his measureables to that of Tay Odoms his senior year. They are very similar...how did Tay workout for us last year?

The King of Belch

August 26th, 2009 at 3:02 PM ^

Well he has come under a pretty considerable amount of criticism on this and other M boards, hasn't he? The first post after the OP seems a slight to Odoms with the comment about dropping every other return opportunity. I don't know if Dileo's lack of pigmentation is what bothers people. I see plenty of doubt cast on the committments of Tony Drake, DJ Williamson, Antonio Kinnard and Terence Talbot. Shit, maybe people just don't think UM needs to be grubbing for this type of recruit this early.

And it would be GREAT if Dileo had a great senior season and his offer sheet grew to include more than TWO other schools (Stanford and Tulane--per Scout).

In reply to by The King of Belch

Hannibal.

August 26th, 2009 at 3:21 PM ^

No to mention Cornelius Jones, who will probably only see the field at his recruited position if Michigan suffers a disastrous string of injuries and also has crappy recruiting at QB for the next three years. Basically, he is RichRod's David Cone.

In reply to by The King of Belch

MichFan1997

August 26th, 2009 at 3:20 PM ^

of the negative talk about Tay on this board done by uh, oh i don't know...The Barking Sphincter? I don't remember for sure, and I'm not about to go search for it, but I'm pretty sure that's who it was.

Frank Drebin

August 26th, 2009 at 1:57 PM ^

How soon we all forget that RichRod was 1 game away from playing for championships and won 2 BCS bowl games with a lot of 3 star players and lower. This class right now is better than almost any class he had at WVU. As he says, it is all about coaching and execution, not star ratings. Wait until you see these kids play before you start ripping them apart because of some star rating. One more thing, he is a White Wide Receiver!!! This already drops him from the top 10, probably top 20 because white receivers are slow and can't make plays. (sarcasm)

Tater

August 26th, 2009 at 2:11 PM ^

Have they tried Vincent Smith back there at all? He won't every break one all the way because he can be caught from behind, but in high school he was shifty, reliable, and really good at reading blocks.

I would be happy to have someone back there who wasn't a threat to take it all the way if it meant he would have an above-average YPR and would hold onto the ball.

Tha Stunna

August 26th, 2009 at 2:57 PM ^

While I vaguely agree with the general sentiment that loading up heavily on 3 stars is bad, singling out a single kid for being low ranked is pretty dickish. Let it go and focus on something else for awhile.

Also, Pat White and Mike Hart and 3 star blah blah. I'm required to mention both of them in every recruiting post, right?

tomhagan

August 26th, 2009 at 3:18 PM ^

took risks and flyers on long shots as well (such as a 300+ lb overweight long-snapper from Las Vegas who will probably never see the field at UM)... this kid Dileo looks to at least have a shot at doing something at UM considering his skills and quickness. In this case, rankings dont mean as much as what skills he could bring to the offense and punt/kick return.

Orion

August 26th, 2009 at 8:17 PM ^

I don't think taking 5-6 kids from the state in the last decade really amounts to plundering.

Anyway, I'm not really worried about his ranking. If I may use the cliched phrase, the kid fits the system. Besides, he's a good student and seems like a good kid so even if he doesn't come in and light it up, it's still a plus for us. At some point we're going to need backup players too.

mgovictors23

August 26th, 2009 at 9:08 PM ^

I really don't know what to make of the Dileo situation. On one hand he seems like a guy that could be a good returner, but on the other hand he just doesn't seem to have any good offers at all. I'll put my trust in coach Rodriquez with this, he seems to be able to find diamonds in the rough.