Mike Weber Top 3
RB Mike Weber told me he does have a top 3 within his top 5. Ohio State, MSU, Wisconsin but Michigan and Tennessee still in it.
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) June 1, 2014Meh. UM has been recruiting a number of good RBs; you can't get them all. Let's see how the season plays out.
I agree. I think the level of depth at RB and DB is cause for some recent recruits to look elsewhere.
I doubt that RB depth is scaring away Harris or Weber.
Still subscribe...? There was even less of a need to subscribe to those sites in the past when TomVH was here at mgoblog and was pumping out pretty much all of the newest news in regards to michigan football recruiting.
is still free on Twitter, which is where he posts all of his info. ESPN doesn't do message boards anymore.
Free Trials
Webb's recent comments on Harris seem to still indicate a "positive vibe" that he'll stay in the fold. Has that changed in the last day?
I never thought I would live to see the day that kids consistently favor MSU over Michigan in recruiting.
"consistently"
Please provide examples.
Even with our ineptitude on the recruiting trail, they've really only gotten Malik McDowell and he almost didn't even make it there.
So when you say "ineptitude on the recruiting trail," you're referring to a different team right? Surely not the one that has consistently landed top 25 classes, despite finishing equal to or worse than such perennial powerhouses as Syracuse, Houston, BYU, Middle Tennesse, North Texas, Buffalo, and Western Kentucky last year? Because that might seem to be a bit of an exaggeration on your part. Just saying...
Lawrence Thomas and Tom Gholston would disagree with you.
Jashon Cornell and Tyriq Thompson are a couple significant ones
Let's just continue to name recruits who have yet to commit, verbally or otherwise, and all have UM in their top group, as references to MSU doing better in recruiting than UM. Nicely done.
/s
period.
Recruiting is such a damn soap opera. We have the talent. We now need guys that want to run through walls for Michigan.
They'll win 9 this year. Calling my shot.
Raback that.
Can't be surprised to see this after a 7-5 season like the one we had.
the oline has been awful the last 2 seasons and the production from the running backs is almost non-existent. If I was a high level rb recruit, UM wouldn't be very high on my list either.
I'd be looking at coming in with a very experienced line instead of the overmatched line left for Hoke to develop. If I look at this line I would look at the direction it's going rather than where it was in the past.
I think a lot of recruits, especially rb's, want to see what direction the oline and UM are going. These kids are 16 or 17 years old and they see a UM program that has gone: 7-6, 8-5, 11-2, 7-6, 5-7 and 3-9 and over those years have had exactly one running back rush for over 1000 yds in a season - Fitz in 2011.
It's all connected.
Here are the average stars by Rivals by year:
2015 - 3.57
2014 - 3.44
2013 - 3.63
2012 - 3.57
2011 - 3.25
2010 - 3.19
2009 - 3.59
2008 - 3.67
2007 - 3.40
2006 - 3.63
2005 - 3.48
2004 - 3.59
2003 - 3.82
2002 - 3.55
So despite the gloom around here at times, there has not been any drop off in recruiting averages. The only low years are the 2011 split year that obviously was not going to be good and the 2010 year when I'm sure coaches were saying Michigan was going to end up on probation.
What hurt was the attrition as has been pointed out before.
This year is actually looking like it could be one of the best years for recruiting. We have several possiblities for running backs. This is by no means a big deal.
I'd rather have Ty Isaac or Damien Harris honestly. I wonder if we'll start negative recruiting to get back at the coaches who are negative recruiting against us. It isn't the high road but candidates always run negative ads because they can't win if they don't.
All three schools in his top 3 have had a RB in the second round in the past 2 years. Our most recent RB drafted was Mike Hart in the 6th.
All 3 schools in his top 3 have legit running games that gained positive yards in every game last year.
All 3 also were better teams than us last year.
Besides location, what can we sell him on?
Make shit up about Urban Meyer. If they're going to tell recruits that Brady Hoke was going to NFL last year then they should have no problem with us telling recruits that Urban Meyer is planning on retiring due to health conditions or something.
Tell his parents.
re: MSU. Talk to Dawson's mother about why she was so opposed to her son going to MSU. That school has a long history of recruiting thugs and criminals. Maybe Weber will get to be teammates with Jayru Campbell, who is about to be sent to jail. Dantonio readmitted a player directly from jail without suspending him. I am not saying that Dantonio never disciplines players, but why will he still not tell us why Max Bullough did at the end of the season?
Re: Ohio. In his prior job, at Fla, Urban had over 40 arrested (including alleged murderer Hernandez). The RB from Ohio who was drafted this year had previously assaulted a girl.More than one press outlet has suggested that Urban did little or nothing about the offenses of star players (eg Hernandez failed drug tests and assault at a bar). Yet, when players with integrity get injured or otherwise do not perform, he pulls their scholarships. When Urban's success on the field suffers, however, he first lies to recruits--saying he will stay---then leaves the program with exuses about his health--then takes a similar HC job a year later.
Re: UM
Aside from UM being the winningest FB program in history, it has a major advantage in academic prestige. Weber should look at statistics concerning how many players actually do not have long NFL careers. For the vast majority of players--yes, even recruits with 4 out of five stars based on high school performance--the quality of their college education becomes a major factor in life success. So does the company you keep.
Pure Gold
I meant "talk to McDowell's" mother (not Dawson's)
Yeah Brady Hoke can point to the fact that Michigan has been completely pure the last few years. No scandals or arrests at all. No DUI's, assault or felony theft charges. Dantonio should be completely transparent about Max B. like Hoke was with the Gibbons situation.
Please. The obvious comparison for the transparency of the Gibbons incident is the Payne/Appling incident, which MSU swept under the rug long enough for those guys to get through the tournament and graduate.
Plus, Michigan has been way more transparent with Gibbons than MSU has with Bullough.
As an additional note, the SB Nation article - HERE - does talk about how Weber has mentioned that geography and proximity are not necessarily considerations in his decision, so the fact that a majority of the schools that have offered him to date are in the Midwest might not, in the end, have much bearing on his decision. As for his timeline, we won't know for certain where he's going for a while, if this is accurate:
"OSU and the other programs recruiting Weber will find out where he's headed at next January's 2015 U.S. Army All-American Bowl, where he plans to formally announce his college decision."
I'm really hoping for D. Harris. Come on Universe do this for me.
Let's win some games with this current team before we worry about the future.