ESPN Way Too Early Top 25-Michigan #3

Submitted by Davymac97. on

Title says it all.  Brief write up about our recruiting class and how Rashan Gary and Devin Bush could step in right away.

I think this is the highest I've seen Michigan ranked in any of the "way too early" polls. 

Personally, I don't get as excited as I used to about being highly ranked early on in the year but the there's no turning back the locomotive now!!
 

Thoughts?

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14742276/alabama-crimson…

Gentleman Squirrels

February 9th, 2016 at 10:50 AM ^

Too high I think. I don't know about how other teams are next season, but we have question marks at the quarterback and linebacker position. Our O-line also needs to take a major step up next season. I think top 10 seems accurate, but more in the 8 or 9 range would be better.

YTBI

February 9th, 2016 at 12:00 PM ^

As an OSU fan, I expected them to drop in the rankings with some of the lackluster performances last season and was rather shocked when it took awhile for that to happen.  One of the problems of polling early on is that all you have as a frame of reference is the previous season.  I really wish polls didn't come out until week 4.

alum96

February 9th, 2016 at 12:54 PM ^

Yep.  Anything less than 7-0 going into MSU would be a shocker.  We have 8 home games and only 4 road games ...and 6 of first 7 games are at home with only a road trip to NJ stuck in there.

The 3 road games that matter are back loaded in late October forward.  UM will be top 5 going into EL and then UM has to show they are not a pretender with the @MSU, @Iowa, @OSU gauntlet.  Unless the QB is a massive disappointment this team should have everything it wants going into EL.

WolvinLA2

February 9th, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^

8 or 9 is essentially where we were this year. So you're predicting no improvement?

I see us having the #1 defense in the country between who we return, our recruits and Don Brown. And I trust Harbaugh to work his magic with an already talented O'Korn. Our OL will be fine (as will DeVeon and Drake Johnson) and we'll have a near-elite group of receivers. I don't think #3 is far off because not many other teams have a full package like that.

jmblue

February 9th, 2016 at 11:36 AM ^

Too high I think. I don't know about how other teams are next season

Well, that's the thing. ESPN presumably does know about other teams and has projected that we should be better than most of them.

Given that one of our QB options is a guy who's already started a year and a half, QB isn't really that big of a question mark. If O'Korn doesn't win the job, whoever does must be pretty good, to beat out a player that experienced.

That leaves one position group (LB). That's not bad.  Most teams have more questions than that.

Tater

February 9th, 2016 at 2:06 PM ^

OSU and MSU are losing a lot of players this year.  While I have more faith in OSU's ability to reload than Sparty's, both teams should trend down a bit while Michigan is trending up.  ESPN obviously sees Michigan as the best team in the Big Ten: thus the #3 ranking.  

If ESPN ranked the top team in the Big Ten #8 or #9, it would be a huge slap at a very good buisness partner.  They may be insipid, but they're not stupid.

WoodleyIsBeast

February 9th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^

We are certainly in on many, many guys that wouldn't consider us without Harbaugh.  It's interesting to think about some of the guys that would probably be here if Jim had come a few years earlier(Damien Harris, George Campbell).  

Harbaugh proved that he can take existing players and progress quickly.  This is not the Hoke Sugar Bowl situation, everyone is buying in and I can't imagine the love we will get after this upcoming season!

Davymac97.

February 9th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^

I've heard some people say they think this will be the highest ranked class Harbaugh signs because of the hype factor.

I disagree.  As we win more and more (which we will) , we'll start to have our pick of recruits from across the country.  

This class was about building relationships with high school programs and coaches in areas Michigan doesn't normally (or at least hasn't for a long time) recruited succesfully.  

It'll get easier now.

M-Dog

February 9th, 2016 at 12:40 PM ^

My God, that was a phenomenal class.  We had the #1 or #2 recruit in the nation in something like 5 different positions.

It was pre-Rivals, so it does not get the publicity it should.  

And, as I recall, all of those players worked out.  There were no busts.  It is essentially the core of the team that beat Alabama in the Orange Bowl.

FauxMo

February 9th, 2016 at 11:48 AM ^

Great, now I feel bad. Let me try this again...

 

You are a unique and beautiful snowflake. Every thought you have ever had is beautiful and precious.

CorkyCole

February 9th, 2016 at 11:04 AM ^

Big question mark is linebacker. Question mark is QB. That's my take anyway. A brand new QB shouldn't result in a #3 ranking no matter how big the question mark is, however. I agree with your 8-10 assessment, but I do think that's a conservative ranking.

WolvinLA2

February 9th, 2016 at 11:34 AM ^

Alabama has a question mark at QB and they're #1. QB is important, but unless you have nobody worthy of seeing the field (which is not us) you can make up for that question mark with everything else. Hell, Alabama switched their starting QB halfway through the year last year and won the national championship. We have a 4th year guy who was a 2-year starter before coming to UM and who already has a year of Harbaugh coaching under his belt. That's isn't exactly a huge question mark.

CorkyCole

February 9th, 2016 at 12:22 PM ^

I agree that it's not a huge question mark. That was my point. But it is a question mark, and Alabama has four+ #1 recruiting classes in a row - we do not. We ended the season strong, but claiming to be the #3 team in the country when the reason our season ended strong was mostly due to QB play is a bit of a stretch when we have to replace said quarterback. I'm not concerned about the QB position, but it would be a reach to assume O'Korn ( or whoever plays QB if for some reason O'Korn doesn't start) will not be a drop off at all, especially at the start of the season.

I expect Michigan to end up as a top 10 team, but I can't roll with the expectations of getting to the playoffs in Harbaughs second year when our toughest games are on the road. I will stick to the conservative 8-10 spot and let Harbaugh do his thing. I'm not saying we can't make the playoffs or finish that strong, but I don't expect it to go that route. Improvement definitely.

Bodogblog

February 9th, 2016 at 12:33 PM ^

Alabama also has a much stronger record of success.  We're not in that territory yet.  We played one elite team last year and got killed.  I say Sparty was a fluke and we should have won that game, but even accepting the loss it was a very even affair.  And they were demolished by Alabama.  It's fair, in my mind, to ask if Michigan would have been similarly beaten against them.  In that context - meaning OSU, Alabama, setting the benchmark as top-tier teams - the #3 ranking does seem too high.  

Alabama switched QBs, sure.  But they had a bone-crushing OL and the Heisman winner at RB.  M doesn't have that, based on what's coming back.  In order to be truly elite, M is going to need outstanding QB play.  Straight verticals to Chesson that connect, deep corner routes on both sides of the field, that sweet square-in that Chesson and Rudock ran twice last year, all of it.  That stuff will be open even if the running game isn't top notch, and would allow Michigan to beat truly elite teams even if the defense has breakdowns.  But that type of QB play is definitely a question. 

Lacking a great OL or running game - remember we abandoned it completely at the end of the year -, M needs great QB play to be elite.  I think we can win the conference with incremental improvement over last year.  But we won't beat Alabama (or whoever beats Alabama) in the playoff without it. 

Quailman

February 9th, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^

JOK has a chance to be very good, but yes, right now he is an unknown quantity. We don't know how he will play in the Big Ten, or how he meshes with his new receivers. We know he was awesome as a Frosh, not that great as a Soph, and its been a year since he was on a football field in a live game.

He may end up being awesome, but right now thats unknown. That's not a knock on the kid, just until we see him out there we don't know what UM has a QB.

WolvinLA2

February 9th, 2016 at 11:54 AM ^

I don't consider that an unknown quantity. And unknown quantity is Malzone or Gentry. We have no idea what they'll look like on the field. We have a year and a half of game tape on O'Korn, we have the fact that Harbaugh hand picked him to transfer and we have a whole year of practice reps. That's a lot of knowledge. This is not a guy seeing a college field for the first time. They use the same sized football in AAC as they do in the Big Ten. He's not a 3-year returning starter, but he's certainly not an unknown quantity.

Quailman

February 9th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^

We have a year and a half of game tape on JOK, the first half is very good, the second half is bad. Which does UM get? Do you know that UM gets AAC ROY JOK, or four picks against UT-San Antonio JOK? We know he had a whole year of practice reps, but those are just that: practice reps. A lot of guys have had great practice reputations and didnt match them on the field. He may have played on the same sized field in the AAC, but UCF, Tulsa and SMU are not OSU, Penn St and MSU. 

I think in the end JOK will be a very good QB for UM. But when you are making preseason predictions based on what we know right now, what he gives UM is a question mark. 

WolvinLA2

February 9th, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^

I'm not suggesting he's not a question mark, I'm suggesting he's not a complete unknown. We have a decent idea of what we have with O'Korn because he's played college football before. There's lots of room between "complete unknown" and "returning starter." O'Korn falls somewhere in between.

TIMMMAAY

February 9th, 2016 at 11:55 AM ^

While he's not completely unknown, it remains to be seen if his freshman year was a flash in the pan type situation. I just get nervous when everyone starts talking about being a top five team, I guess it's some sort of defense mechanism. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about though really, we'll see what we have once B10 season starts. 

Quailman

February 9th, 2016 at 12:25 PM ^

Nice strawman.

Chesson has shown progression throughout his career, culminating with a very good end to his junior season. That is reason to believe that Jehu has figured it out and will perform at a similar level.

O'Korn played very well early on, then struggled mightily and was benched. Those are two different situations. It's reasonable for TIMMMAYY or for anyone else to be nervous about if O'Korn can return to that level or not.