For just a second thought I mistakenly hit the Rivals link

That board melts anytime the temp gets above 32. It's disgusting. It's rather amazing at the number of fans that forgot when RR took over he inherited 21 defensive players out of a total of about 70 and those he inherited on offense included a grand total of one returning starter and an entire OL that for some reason had no experience whatsoever.
 

Actually enjoyed Speilman's questions because they were legit. But the answers to the defensive woes are many.  Why did we have only 21 defensive players when RR take over with 15 scholarships unfilled?  And it was a given he was going to concentrate on offense first. I heard so many damn cliches during his first year with "He's remodeling the whole house when all that was needed was a bathroom restoration," and similar metaphors being bandied about as if they had any fucking merit. He came here to get rid of a stale odor, even if it involved a few sludge spills along the way.
 

If you people who keep suggesting he hasn't recruited defensively, remember please losing two DTs in his first year via decommitments, same thing w/dbs and the fact that the glorious play you are seeing from our two sr. lbers are remnants from a bygone era that was dying before your very eyes.

Because we can only recruit 25 in any given year, he couldn't even fill the entire roster until his second full class. Among those were 16 defenders. I can't imagine him going any other route than  getting his skill players on offense in his first year. Afterall, everyone was fully aware, especially Martin that RR didn't coach the pro formation.

In his third year he is overseeing one of the 3 top offenses in the country  with the most prolific qb in cfb running the show in his first full year as a 19 year old starter.  Because Demens and Fitz are taking over in the later part of the season, next year we'll return 9-10 returning starters on both sides of the ball.  BTW, he has a commitment from the no. 1 RB in the country and was able to RS the top rated spread qb in the nation from last season's hs bounty.

I'm as frustrated as any other UM fan in the country over our defensive woes, but I have no doubt that we'll see huge improvement from this season. I can't imagine any team, and I don't care what  conference you play in, depending on so many freshmen to stop top-notch offenses. It simply doesn't work. But freshmen become sophs and sophs become juniors and on and on and on. If I were witnessing a team that was giving up I'd be worried. This team, despite what happens fights to the end. That's the important thing because M will soon be "the experienced team" once again and the young talent we're watching grow up is equal to or better than any in this conference.  

If Speilman(a buckeye) can see it and declare, "this team will grow old together and be something special," and Griese chipping in with his declaration of DRob's improvement in the passing aspect of his game and say too that he'll just continue to get better and better, why the hell do so many opt to take the negative from what is good here and what will more than likely become something truly special?

Fans on this board asking questions like, "Is he throwing his players under the bus again," make me want to toss. He is an honest man. He says what he believes but he has never stated anything but the truth when addressing the media, and that included taking blame for coaching short comings.

This board is better than that. That's the reason I went from a yearly subscription at Rivals to monthly and then eventually getting tossed because I made a decision to back this team and one can simply not do that without supporting the head coach. RR didn't go from one of the top 5 coaches in the country to a football idiot just by changing his address.  He's the same guy that so many of today's bright young coaches opted to travel and learn from his seminars and then copy a true innovator. He'll make it happen and when it arrives, he'll do it on an annual basis.  He's planted the seeds and this program will return to the top.

Those that continue with the "We are Michigan. What the fuck good is 7 wins?, etc., simply choose, either by ignorance, or a belief in Rosenberg's espousals the name Michigan automatically equals 8 wins forgot just what the hell he inherited here, and what became even worse after all the defections. He started from scratch my brothers.  It's my guess these people believe TX, for some inexplicable reason,suddenly fielded a team of two stars and their coaching staff grew dumb during the off-season.

Like I said, this site is better than that. Let the cry babies and those subject to mood swings move on over to the wolverine.com. I guarantee you won't be lonely there.