Flowers Update
I guess you can chalk this up as a win for MGoBlog; but its not necessarily good news for Michigan.
Earlier today there was a bit of a dispute as TomVH told us things weren't looking good for Hakeem Flowers, whilst the guys at scout.com were very hopeful on UM's chances.
Well it now appears Michigan has stopped recruiting Flowers; I guess Hoke doesn't think they need a receiver in this class. Either that or he's got someone else lined up.
Anyway, for the guy who asked whether he should buy a rivals or scout account on the board earlier, I hope this answers your question.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:13 PM ^
Just saw that on mgorecruit.blogspot, too bad.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:14 PM ^
"Just saw that on mgorecruit.blogspot, too bad."
There's a reason for that...look who started this thread
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:13 PM ^
We do have a lot of WR's in the program...
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:13 PM ^
really just recruit Devin Lucien he has sick skills and is one of the fastest recievers ive seen coming out of high school in the last 5 years
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:16 PM ^
We're not getting Lucien, no matter how much "we should really just recruit" him.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:16 PM ^
Umm..you havent seen a lot of WR's I guess..
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:20 PM ^
seen his recruiting video he is flat out ridiculous
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:22 PM ^
He's fast, but 'fastest in five years' is a bit of a stretch
January 23rd, 2011 at 1:14 AM ^
In his defense, he did say one of the fastest.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:14 PM ^
As much as we may question it there must be a reason for it. Hoke and co. do have a better understanding of what we need than we do.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:51 PM ^
OH I don't know....I've been around here a couple years, been through a few poster meltdowns, had a number of site crashes, rehashed this team over and over, inside and out.
UFR crazy, seen these kids stalked, followed a damn plane all over the United States more than once and second guess more coaching moves than I care to remember.
These other guys been here what?......two weeks.
s/
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:14 PM ^
"Well it now appears Michigan has stopped recruiting Flowers"
Please tell me how you got this inside scoop?
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:15 PM ^
Scout premium boards...Tom's hearing the same thing, or at least something along those lines
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^
Thank you.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:28 PM ^
I'm 51% sure Tom just read the TomVH thread.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:37 PM ^
I'm so glad I only got a Scout subscription for just two months (one free). The crap they throw out there is SO not worth my money. TomVH breaks news first, and is way more reliable
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:15 PM ^
We look good for Chris Bryant & Rawls if things go as planned. Shot at Willingham keeps improving. Feel the recruiting staff will come up with some dark horse recruit before NSD.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:15 PM ^
watch as people flock to defend brady's decision.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^
And why not? We have 13 or 14 WRs on the roster, and 3 will be redshirt freshmen. We can afford to skip this year, and target a couple of elite guys next year.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:25 PM ^
It's easy to say that we can just "target a couple of elite guys next year" and push the problem away. But, coming from someone who's looked over the early 2012 class, WR is not a particular strongpoint, or at least 'elite' wide receivers. My only question is how he can turn away an almost guaranteed commit.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:50 PM ^
Unless he believes he has other 'almost' guaranteed commits at more important positions for 2011.
Rawls & Bryant would give us 16 commits and are arguably at positions of greater need.
There are two or three LB's still offered and we need at least one of those.
Add in Fisher, a TE and a QB which are all more important than another WR and were at 20. I would much rather have all of that than a slightly better than average WR who would most likely redshirt.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:26 PM ^
Half of those are slot guys, which, who knows what will happen with them in Borges' offense, and of the 3 RS freshman you mention, 1 is Ricardo Miller who is now a tight end, and the other 2, off the top of my head are Jackson and Williamson, both of whom seem like they'll be possession recievers or role players.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:35 PM ^
Just so you know, the Jets use Braylon Edwards - one of our best WR threats when we ran the pro-style - as a slot receiver. Slots and wide-outs are somewhat (not always) interchangeable. Many of our slots will transition into traditional wide-out roles.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:43 PM ^
Just because an outside reciever can succeed in the slot doesn't mean the opposite is true.
Almost all of our slot guys are too undersized to play as tradtional, pro-style, outside recievers. They were recruited for a very specific role in RR's offense (slot ninja), a role which no longer exists on our offense.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:28 PM ^
Well he knows the words to The Victors and that's what really matters.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:30 PM ^
Do you have anything constructive to say about anything?
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:51 PM ^
Do you have anything to say besides inane questions that are really just passive aggressive pot shots at other posters?
January 23rd, 2011 at 12:50 AM ^
I'm not sure which is better, the same posts complaining about the same thing...or the same posts responding to those posts. Let it go.
January 23rd, 2011 at 3:18 AM ^
The better post is definitely the one where some random dude on the internet tells someone to "Let it go."
If you're the type of person that gets off on telling others what to do, go become a cop, or a babysitter, or something like that.... but in conversations among adults it just comes across as douchey and pretentious.
So thanks for your input, but, no thanks.
January 23rd, 2011 at 3:31 AM ^
You know, you're right. You should keep posting the same tired diatribe about how Rodriguez didn't get a fair shake across this site. And the other posts about how Hoke is going to ruin everything are not only novel, but insightful as well!
You contribute absolutely nothing by constantly whining about Hoke. Just jump off the fucking ledge and renounce your fandom if you want to bitch this much.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:25 PM ^
ignore 3 commitments in one day (2 of which are very solid) within 10 seconds of new recuirting news.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:28 PM ^
Given that the Chicken Littles have been wrong about everything ("they'll never fire RR", "Denard won't stay", "everyone is going to transfer", "we'll never get any recruits", etc.), it kinda makes sense to trust Hoke over the naysayers at this point.
January 23rd, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
Those concerned with the way the football program is being managed and supported are now Chicken Littles. Especially when there is a double standard that Brady Hoke should be seen as a saint from Day 1 whereas Rich Rodriguez is a demon sent from the depths of Columbus to sabotage everything he touches.
But in all seriousness, please keep posting. The "Chicken Littles" need every opportunity they can get to write your ticket to Bolivia.
January 23rd, 2011 at 6:38 PM ^
Those concerned with the way the football program is being managed and supported are now Chicken Littles.
It's almost as if you didn't even read what I wrote. All here (and many elsewhere) are concerned with the way the football program is managed. That's why we're here. A fraction of those have been loud, angry and wrong about many happenings lately including, but not limited to, the firing of RR, current player attrition, denard's staying and potential for a salvaged recruiting class.
Without getting into the "double standard" with regard to treatment of RR and Hoke (but the reception RR got was much more positive on this blog, so I'm not sure which "double standard you're referring to), I'm just saying that the naysayers have been wrong (so far) with regard to every "doom and gloom scenario" with the coaching change and that, perhaps, they don't merit a ton of trust at the moment. But, hey, folks here like to type "Bolivia", so I'm sure that was fun for you too.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:31 PM ^
I find it funny that you're bothered by U-M fans wanting to defend their coach.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:20 PM ^
Rumor is he's a TE
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:23 PM ^
I kinda doubt he is anymore....
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:31 PM ^
Is there any rationale to that? Or just conjecture because we're not taking Flowers?
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:39 PM ^
I strongly think Miller will stay at WR in the new offense. He doesn't have the size nor strength to block Big Ten DE's. Yes, he can improve those areas with time and effort in the S&C program but I just don't see it. On the other hand, he would be a dynamic blocker on the edge against DB's at WR.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:48 PM ^
The other thing to consider is the number of TEs (or at least psuedo-TEs) being offered. I imagine if Hoke was comfortable with converting a few of the current players to TE he wouldn't be so adamant on taking another big guy in this class.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:27 PM ^
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^
Pure speculation on my part but I think the fact that Rawls qualified closed the door on a WR coming in this class.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:20 PM ^
If that's the case -- and you may be on to something here -- then it is a good move by Brady.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^
I don't like the decision but I suppose we'll have to wait and see how it works out.
Speaking of next year's wide receivers, Hoke should go all out for Dorial Green-Beckham starting in February. Not that we have a realistic shot as of now, but he has to be the most intriguing and coveted wide receiver in four or five years.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:20 PM ^
People will flock to defend the head coach's decision if it makes sense.
Look at the current classes of wide receivers in 2011:
Seniors: Hemingway, Stonum, Odoms, Kelvin Grady
Juniors: Roundtree, T-Robinson, Stokes
Sophomores: Jeremy Gallon, Jeremy Jackson, Drew Dileo
Redshirt Freshmen: Jerald Robinson, D.J. Williamson, Baquer Sayed (who is the boss).
If Brady Hoke is only going to be running two-three WRs at most in his regular offensive sets, the wide receiver positions are already fully stocked.
Furthermore, redshirting WRs really isn't the most necessary practice, they should be able to contribute in some fashion as true freshmen. In that sense, if you need freshmen in this class, you've got three listed above.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:23 PM ^
After next year, we're losing 4 WRs. There are very few proven, experienced guys left in that group after Hemingway/Stonum leave. I'm willing to give Hoke the benefit of the doubt, but this kid was pretty much blue. I don't see why he's turning him away when we could definitely use him.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:30 PM ^
I'm sure the coaching staff understands that the team is losing 4 WRs next year, and is preparing accordingly. The 2012 WR starters will likely be two of Roundtree, Stokes and Jeremy Jackson, and Hoke will likely bring in 1-2 WRs that can get the swing of things as true freshmen, with the view that they can be part of the rotation as sophomores. That is how it's done.
I would say this coaching staff is doing the right thing - there are too many wide receivers given Hoke's eventual style of offense, and there are far too defensive ends, defensive tackles, and members of the secondary for ANY style of defense a college team would run. He still needs to get numbers because the prior coach didn't bring enough guys into the program in 2008, 2009 and 2010 to counteract graduation/attrition, etc.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:34 PM ^
You make good points, and like I said, I'm willing to give Hoke the benefit of the doubt. I'm just interested in what his recruiting approach is, or at least why he showed early interest in Flowers when he came in, but then came to drop him. It's just confusing.
January 22nd, 2011 at 11:43 PM ^
It is definitely too bad for Lucien and Flowers, let me start with that. But, look at it this way:
85 available scholarships means that you should normally use about 3 and a half scholarships per position (if you include P and K). For a pro style offense with a traditional 2 WR set, that means a team should normally have 7-8 scholarship wide receivers on the roster.
I count 13 plus 1 walk-on (Sayed) who I think will play who have scholarships. Assuming Sayed hasn't obtained a scholly (seriously, having Sayed might mean something in looking at what's happening here), 13/85 = 15% of all scholarships at Michigan are being used for wideouts. That's simply too many.
I don't have the time right now, but I would imagine that the O-line and most of the defense are still severely "understaffed," and that is what is going on here - Hoke has 3 freshmen WR in the bag right now from the 2010 class, and he's gettiing numbers elsewhere.