Michigan Football Currently #1 Class (Average Stars) - Scout **UPDATED**
Michigan football is again, very quietly, rolling up an impressive recruiting class for 2015. In terms of average stars, it is #1 in the country at 3.91 at Scout. Due to the relatively small number of recruits the overall class ranking is #17.
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=14&yr=2015#/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=14&yr=2015
**UPDATED**
Information from farther down the thread
Class distribution of players 4* or higher on the roster
2014 - 8
2013 - 19
2012 - 15
2011 - 3
2010 - 1
Total - 46
September 24th, 2014 at 9:54 AM ^
The star system is flawed. You have to camp to get rated high and each service is biased to guys who camp with them. Not to mention the random bumps kids get when offered by programs with larger fanbases.
Our best defensive players (Ryan and FClark) were 3 stars. The Glasgow brothers were unranked.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:49 AM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
Is it the star system or the fact that they have the best HC and possibly best DC in the country? Plus the fact that they get 5 classes every 4 years with oversigning.
If all we had to do to win like Alabama was recruit like them we should not be 4-8 in our last 12 games.
September 24th, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
There have been studies showing a strong correlation between stars and performance in college and beyond (all-conference, all-American, pro career, etc.)
September 24th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
No doubt. But what causes that correlation? Is it the player's talent level alone or is it the fact that higher rated players tend to go to better programs which tend to have better coaching? I'd bet there is a strong correlation between playing for blue blood programs and being All-conference/American, drafted, etc.
The star system was created for fans not for coaches.
September 24th, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
Bingo. They combine very good coaching with a system that lets them "cut" the dead meat and recycle those scholarships into the new crop immediately. I am not going to get into the Nuss v Lane Kiffin thing but other than Bobby Williams and Kirby Smart, it seems if Saban doesnt approve of your coaching he is going to "recycle" you as a coach very quickly as well. It's perform or GTFO down there at all levels - players and coaches.
September 24th, 2014 at 12:12 PM ^
Stars work for the most part. Bama buys the best players, to a point where Saban almost exclusively takes DB's who are over 6 feet tall. They have one safety who is listed at 5-10 and one at 5-11 on their entire roster. Saban has similar requirements for all positions. For the most part, he isn't taking guys with any downside on either side of the ball because he doesn't have to.
This is part of the reason that MANBALL doesn't work in Ann Arbor; there are plenty of four stars, but not enough of a personnel advantage to make MANBALL work. Michigan has a lot of talent, but not Bama-level talent. however, it should be enough to do well in the Big Ten.
If another spread OC came in, he would be in a totally different situation than Rich Rod was, because, if it works out like it looks it is going to, Brady Hoke has enough class to not gut the roster on the way to a cushy office job in Schembechler Hall.
September 24th, 2014 at 1:01 PM ^
Manball works fine for Stanford, MSU, and Wisconsin.
To say manball cannot work here because of the lack of talent is not right. Manball with a bunch of 4 stars should have you competing for a Big 10 championship even if you are not legit nationally. i.e. 10-2 type of team who loses 34-17 to texas A&M.
Jimmy & Joe's (and their development) over X's and O's
September 24th, 2014 at 3:42 PM ^
is feeling slighted by your comments.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:04 AM ^
Devin was the number 1 or 2 dual threat, Shane was 5 star status.
Kalis was a 5 star.. Bosch was highly ranked.
Pipkins was a 5 star
..........................................................................
Quaterback play is what is holding the team back
3 star Miller and unranked Glasgow start over others, bc they managed to be way better
The other glasgow is also above a junior 5 star player.
September 24th, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
Yes yes yes. Just give us a quarterback with confidence, pocket awareness, accuracy and good decision making and we'd be fine. The D is good to very good, and will get better. We have solid to good skill position players, especially with the return of Butt and the improvement of Green/Smith and of course Norfleet/Funchess The o-line while not a dominating force is much improved from last year and getting better. The big hole on this team is at QB. That position is mostly responsible for the FBS worst -10 turnover margin. That stat above all is the determinant of our 2-2 record.
If Devin or Shane were even an average Power 5 qb, the sky wouldnt be falling right now.
September 24th, 2014 at 6:18 PM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 10:01 AM ^
This team is weird in terms of player development. I think we can all agree we've had a lot of stud guys not pan out (yet). But then we find lots of diamonds in the rough too, so it's not like there's no development going on. I have no idea why it's happening.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:36 AM ^
What's frustrating is the team seems to lack chemistry. When these last couple classes have formed, they seem like they have great chemistry. It just seems like we should see better results.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:06 AM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 10:48 AM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
about this response is the certainty: you must be Harbaugh, you know his thoughts so well.
September 24th, 2014 at 11:40 AM ^
I know it in the same sense I know Kate Upton will never marry me.
September 24th, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
but from what I can see, seems like Harbaugh is probably going somewhere in the next year or two. It appears as if he's ruffling a lot of feathers in SF even though they've gone deep into the playoffs on his watch.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:06 AM ^
Scout 5-stars on Michigan's current team:
Devin Gardner (2010)
Kyle Kalis (2012)
Derrick Green (2013)
Patrick Kugler (2013)
Dymonte Thomas (2013)
Shane Morris (2013)
Jabrill Peppers (2014)
Scout 4-stars on Michigan's current team:
Brennen Beyer (2011)
Justice Hayes (2011)
Blake Countess (2011)
Ross Jenkins-Stone (2012)
Joe Bolden (2012)
Ondre Pipkins (2012)
Dennis Norfleet (2012)
Devin Funchess (2012)
James Ross (2012)
Tom Strobel (2012)
Terry Richardson (2012)
Erik Magnuson (2012)
Jarrod Wilson (2012)
Chris Wormley (2012)
AJ Williams (2012)
Amara Darboh (2012)
Mario Ojemudia (2012)
Wyatt Shallman (2013)
Jake Butt (2013)
Kyle Bosch (2013)
Chris Fox (2013)
David Dawson (2013)
Jourdan Lewis (2013)
Deveon Smith (2013)
Maurice Hurst Jr. (2013)
Ben Gedeon (2013)
Henry Poggi (2013)
Taco Charlton (2013)
Delano Hall (2013)
Logan Tulley-Tillman (2013)
Michael McCray (2013)
Dan Samuelson (2013)
Bryan Mone (2014)
Michael Ferns (2014)
Drake Harris (2014)
Lawrence Marshall (2014)
Chase Winovich (2014)
Mason Cole (2014)
Freddy Canteen (2014)
So According to Scout, we have 49 players who are ranked 4-stars or above on the current roster (not even counting guys like Raymon Taylor, Ben Braden or Blake Bars who were ranked 4-stars by other sites).
Recruiting has not been the problem.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:07 AM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 10:10 AM ^
I was going back and forth, but my God. Why are we so bad when we have all of these 4* & 5* guys?
Can somebody directly ask Hoke in a presser? I mean, he won't answer, but the information will be made more available.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:12 AM ^
There is a flipside in that a lot of the guys on that list are young (1st or 2nd year). However, they do have 20+ guys who are in their third year at Michigan and were rated at least a 4-star by one recruiting website.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:40 AM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 10:41 AM ^
So either the player development issue is real, or we continue to miss on kids everyone else wants... I really thought this was the year we would see the benefit of this staffs excellent recruiting. What do you guys think?
September 24th, 2014 at 5:17 PM ^
I'm pretty sure the player development issue is real. The team is not THAT young and players seem like they are actually regressing. I mean you would think with all of the Michigan contacts and influence we can get a good amount of coaches with the necessary experience to teach these players.
With all due respect to Roy Manning, why cant they get an actual DB coach to coach? His recruiting is great and all but at this point, under achieving seems to be theme. Let him coach the LBs and bring in another CB coach and let Mattison focus on scheming overlooking the defense. Might as well have coach Hoke coach the DBs, started out with probably the same amount of experience at that position.
I'm still holding out hope that Hoke can be the correct guy cause he loves Michigan and if it works, we will have another long time coach, but I hope his loyalty doesn't cost him a job since players do like him as evidenced by the recruiting classes he is able to bring in. Even coach Beilein had to turn his staff upside down before his system started producing.
September 24th, 2014 at 6:45 PM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
I count 46, with 27 in only their first two years in the program. There are only 4 in their fourth or fifth year.
Folks don't want to hear it, but so much of our talent is young. Impatience doesn't change that fact.
September 24th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
I hear you but we have been told that the cupboard is bare or that the team is too young for going on 7 years now. Eventually all these youngsters need to grow up.
September 24th, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
You can't hold this staff responsible for the last seven years.
September 24th, 2014 at 1:01 PM ^
Not holding them responsible for anything but their record. The time to win is upon us.
September 24th, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
You're right, maybe I was throwing the guys in the bottom in there too.
Anyway, the point still stands: We are young, but we aren't that young as we still have 20+ guys who were rated 4-stars by at least one site in the program from 2010-2012.
A team like this should be able to beat Utah.
September 24th, 2014 at 1:48 PM ^
4* or better on Utah's roster
2010: 0
2011: 0
2012: 2
2013: 0
2014: 1
There's no excuse anymore.
September 24th, 2014 at 6:51 PM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 7:27 PM ^
Well, the OP has been making exuses all week.
Sure, they are young. But they have plenty of guys who have been around now for three offseasons. That 2012 class are 20-21 year olds at this point. Is that ideal? No, but its not the same as throwing out a bunch of teenagers to take on Wisconsin. And the reason you grab highly rated high schoolers is that they are supposed to be more talented than lower rated players. There shouldn't be this massive gap between guys who are RS SO and among the best 200 players coming out of HS and RS JR generic three stars.
I would say this: I don't think the offense is that far off. I agree with you above: Devin Gardner has just gone backwards. I think you judge the offensive line a little harshly because that's your area of expertise, but even when they keep him clean (which happened plenty of times against Utah), he's not making the right plays.
September 24th, 2014 at 9:02 PM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 2:19 PM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 10:10 AM ^
for the next coach, making michigan all the more attractive of a place to work and to get a top-notch coach to come here.
love hoke. would love to see him turn this around, pronto, but that appears extremely unlikely.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:11 AM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
So Hoke == Izzo? Got it.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:14 AM ^
To maintain that otherwise some kids might cut bait and go somewhere else as the negative recruiting continues to get more intense.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:22 AM ^
It's good news in terms of a snapshot, but right now it's hard to think there won't be at least two decommits and possibly more(happens every year) and I don't know that you can blame anyone who decides to do so right now. They say the proof is in the pudding and right now the team looks really bad.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:23 AM ^
This is starting to look like the charlie weis era more and more...
September 24th, 2014 at 10:28 AM ^
Half the first round guys totally tank. MANY all stars are from lower picks or schools that are not powers. This is after many "trained" draft eyes have seen them for about three years after high school.
So it is not unreasonable to conclude that assigning stars to 16 years old is not an exact science. I would argue they are wrong more often than right. Also last time I checked football is a team game played on high emotion. Stars don't measure work ethic,heart, brains, or most importantly ability to deal with conflict (spoiled 5 stars have a real tough time with this).
Give me a team of hard working late bloomers, kids who had to deal with hardships (including injuries), and played in a tough conference/state with good coaching fundamentals (sorry Detroit PSL doesn't qualify) and put them under a disciplinarian coach and you will frequently beat 5 star laden soft teams.
In conclusion 5 stars and 50 cents get you a cup of coffee.
Now If you have the real deal, once in a decade type talent, such as Charles Woodson, then I'm in on the hype - but I don't see that anywhere on this year's roster. Funchess may be the closest thing.
September 24th, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 10:51 AM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
It's realy sad that of all of our "athletic talent", Funchess is the only proven guy who would start on these teams. Maybe Ryan. If we had a Qb who didn't throw behind him, or high (getting him killed) Funchess' numbers would be even more gaudy.
September 24th, 2014 at 6:53 PM ^
September 24th, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^
Does this automatically qualify us for the 4 team playoff?