More top lists for 2021 recruits
Michigan made a couple more top lists recently, along with those for Rocco Spindler and Jaydon Hood, which I posted about yesterday.
Will Latu's top 4 includes USC, Utah, and Washington (LINK). He's a 4-star, the #15 athlete, and #273 overall, and he projects to linebacker. Michigan just offered him in the past few weeks during quoronatine, so he's never visited campus.
Ryan Keeler's top 5 includes Ole Miss, Rutgers, Texas Tech, and Virginia (LINK). He's a 3-star, the #36 strongside end, and #566 overall. All of the crystal balls have him pegged to Rutgers. Keeler is/was a teammate of J.J. McCarthy at Nazareth Academy.
I guess it’s safe to assume Nua is the only reason Latu is considering Michigan
SooNua or Latuer, we'll know what he decides.
He's really just interested in Cottage Inn's bread bowls.
Sparty crush: 'Cuse me but I think I saw Shea write 'poNyfreAk' on your backpack.
Me: I, uh...
Go away.
Rocco is one Im starting to feel really good about.
Now that I think about it, could this be the most highly rated OL class in school history?
Anyone wanna tell this guy what almost always happens when we get our hopes up regarding a national recruit?
????????
"Almost always" whether its the G-League, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, professionalism, etc. etc. etc. The bags come and the bags taketh away and destroy all joy in the world where everything good dies.
"...could this be the most highly rated OL class in school history? "
The 2013 OL class was the highest rated and it turned out to be a disaster. In fact, that OL class was one of the reasons the loaded 2016 team didn't win the Big Ten much less play for the National Championship. The OL was the weakest position group on the team.
To refresh people's memory:
- Patrick Kugler - 4 star, 97.1, 68th composite, 97th 24/7Sports
- Kyle Bosch - 4 star, 96.1, 85th composite, 103rd 24/7Sports
- David Dawson - 4 star, 95.5, 96th composite, 65th 24/7Sports
- Chris Fox - 4 star, 94.9, 109th composite, 136th 24/7Sports
- Logan Tuley-Tillman, 4 star, 92.8, 168th composite, 129th 24/7Sports
- Dan Samuelson, 3 star, 87.5, 422nd composite
6 players.
Only 1 player turned out to be a contributor: Kugler.
Bosch ended up having a good career at West Virginia and became an all-conference player. But for accounting purposes w/r/t Michigan, he was a washout. He transferred before he could make any meaningful on-field contributions in Ann Arbor.
Think about this: A class that highly ranked with 6 players only produced 1 contributor and 0 NFL draft picks. Ouch.
And this problem was compounded by the following: Hoke turned away Ethan Pocic (a high 4 star) from Illinois and then took a flyer on Samuelson. Pocic went to LSU, earned 2x SEC all-conference honors, became an All-American as a senior, and was drafted in the 2nd round by the Seattle Seahawks. Pocic is still in the NFL.
As good as Hoke was at getting quality DL who panned out, he was equally bad at recruiting OL who panned out and became quality players. The only player he recruited who turned out to be legit NFL caliber is Mason Cole.*
*However, I will give Hoke credit for Grant Newsome. He was a legit talent. He became a starter as a redshirt freshman in 2016 and had the makings of a dominant player at that position with a bright future in the NFL. I will ALWAYS *HATE* Wisconsin for what they did to Newsome. (And I don't use hate here lightly. Hate is what puts 100,000 kids in unmarked graves.) At the time, I didn't think it was a cheap shot but I've since changed my mind. You want your son to be a guy like Newsome and you want your daughter to marry a guy like Newsome. That injury cost Newsome millions of dollars and perhaps a long, successful NFL career.
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To balance out the doom/gloom, here's a positive take based on some info: I think the 2019 Michigan OL class, which wasn't as highly ranked, has a chance to be the most successful Michigan OL group to date under Ed Warinner's coaching. The coaches are quite happy they were able to redshirt the 2019 class thanks to the 2019 OL (which just had 4 players drafted).
2020 is the first season in the Harbaugh era there will be a legit 2 deep in the OL. It's no longer about having a 6th or 7th starting caliber player. Now the coaches are thinking about a 9th and 10th player.
Thanks for the research. Five 4 stars is a pretty ridiculous haul to strike out on.
Not sure Id blame Hoke for some sort of evaluation flaw, though. That's just poor player development.
Not really. Bosch had substance issues. Fox never recovered from a HS injury. LTT had legal problems. No one expected a lot from Samuelson. That leaves Kugler and Dawson. Kugler may have met his actual (as opposed to expected) ceiling. Dawson seems to be one of those guys who just doesn't have the drive to succeed.
Perhaps you meant to provide further context but your post reads like excuses. (I didn't mean this disrespectfully. I'm simply making an observation.)
In my eyes, it's up to coaches to evaluate recruits as not just players but also as people.
Given the issues you pointed out, it seems Hoke (or whoever was mostly responsible for evaluating, vetting, and recruiting OL) did a poor job.
Even if we look past the issues, it's not like these players found their way to the NFL after transferring which suggests Hoke's staff wasn't very good at identifying OL purely as players.
And like I mentioned above, Hoke stupidly turned away Ethan Pocic (who did become a quality college player and a NFL draft pick) to take Dan Samuelson. Terrible.
Let's go back even further. Look at the 2012 class: Kyle Kalis, Erik Magnusson, Ben Braden, Blake Bars. None of them were drafted. 0/4
Compare that with Harbaugh's OL recruits so far.
Bredeson, Onwenu, Ruiz, Runyan Jr. (partial assist to Hoke). Moreover, players like Mayfield Jr. are already getting NFL hype. (Scouts noticed the job he did against Chase Young.)
Of course, Harbaugh's had a few misses (like JaRaymond Hall). But our OL is now performing well since Warinner became OL coach. But the current DL isn't up to the level Harbaugh inherited from Hoke (in 2015 and 16). In short, it's kind of a strange reversal.
I responded to this statement:
"Not sure Id blame Hoke for some sort of evaluation flaw, though. That's just poor player development."
I don't in any way excuse the OL player development under Hoke. Darrell Funk was a complete disaster. But I don't think the correct assessment of these 6 is bad development. I'm offering an explanation of what went wrong with these specific individuals, not excuses.
Ah, I see.
Thanks for clarifying.