Is is normal for Michigan to have this many football recruits this early?
I haven't followed recruiting closely until the last couple years. My recollection is that RR was getting recruits much closer to signing day and I guess I felt that was more normal. I have no idea what it was like under Carr (i.e. - early or late or even).
Insight appreciated.
Yeah but that number is trending upwards
It seems like the new trend in football recruiting is far earlier commits, but the commits mean far less. Many more kids commit early in the process, but a fair % of those kids seem to re-open their recruiting and ultimately change schools.
While I assume that most of our kids will ultimately commit to play here, I generally view any verbal commit before November is a statement that school XYZ is my strong leader right now. I know that this is cynical, and definitely NOT true of the majority of kids, but it happens often enough.
This is an interesting point. I wonder if there is a way to look at this empirically. Is there a site that tracks both date of verbal commitment and whether or not a kid de-commits (or is that retrievable from Scout/Rivals/etc.??).
What would you say about a kid like Shane Morris who committed before half of the 2012 committed? Is he a strong lean or is he an exception to the rule and really bleeds blue no matter what. I know he does just wonder what your thoughts were?
I agree with you that Morris likely "bleeds blue." My point was more general - i.e. that a portion of the kids who commit (I have no idea how large of a portion - may be a small %) ultimately are just strong leans. But, with Morris, he seems like the type of kid who really just wants to play for Michigan. I think I even read that he has politely told other coaches that he is not interested in being recruited.
I think we are going to see this more and more now. The new rule implemented by the NCAA trying to slow down recruiting had the opposite effect.
Some fool posted the following on bucknuts.com
word is that Kalis did commit to Michigan this weekend, and is just waiting to announce.....
Don't have anything further on this, so time will tell !
Just like everything, the times they are a'changing. I believe we'll start seeing classes filled up before that year's recruiting class begins playing their final season of high school football.
Is it possible Kalis will wait until after the season to avoid harassment locally for coming to Miichigan. I know that recruits cross over from the dark side all the time, but in this case it's a de-commit at a perilous time for the Buckeyes. I mean Herbstreit left the State and he could afford a security detail. Those people are nuts (pun intended).
Complete rumor, but word is Kalis is now a silent commit according to ScoutExile over at 247 Blue Board. Apparently he's saying that the staff and a few of the OSU/Mich commits have been told, so it's just a matter of time....
http://247sports.com/Board/30/Michigan-Recruiting-Thread-2685013/42
Yeah, but Kalis already de-committed, which to the rabid a-hole section of the Buckeye fanbase is mortal sin enough. Plus, they already assume he is going Blue. I can't imagine delaying his announcement will significantly mitigate the harassment at this point.
At texas recruiting the past five years.Then look at their records and bowl games.That should answer your question.
Exactly! This is the right way to recruit: grab the best instate players early and start picking off the top available Ohioans next. Obviously, Tressell's downfall makes the second step easier than in the past but following the Mack Brown approach to recruiting is a recipe for success.
Good follow up to my post.Usually texas classes only have one 5 star but follow that up with nothing but 4 stars and like two 3 stars.That's the best way to recruit.
Life is good if you're Texas football. You're in the most talent-rich state, few kids want to leave Texas for college, and there's little disagreement that you, at UT, have the best academics, football, and campus in the state.
Not to mention that said campus is in Austin, which IMO is the only part of Texas worth being in.
This isn't quite true, but it's not altogether false.
We are stretching the truth a bit but you can't say they don't have a top five class almost every year.
Life is good until UCLA and Iowa State roll over you at home, if front of all your astonished fans.
Sorry, I'm not trying to undermine your point, although I suppose some questions about the "Texas System" could be asked. It's just that my mother's family are all Baylor Bears. Sic' em, Bears!
And Nebraska still managed to get their ass whooped by Texas...anytime you have an upstart Husker fan talking about how "Nebraska is gonna roll everybody in the Big 10" just bring up the whole Texas situation. And if that doesn't work then bring up how they blew a 20 point lead in the Big 12 CG.
The washington game as well.They got beat in their bowl game while they blew a sizable lead..
And 2-6 in conference. Maybe we shouldn't follow Mack Brown.
committed when he was born and is just screwing with OSU. I also heard he invented the question mark and the piano key necktie.
No way (in Geico caveman commercial voice)
HAIL NO this is not typical for Michigan recruiting
.....not after the last three seasons of football, and a new coach at the helm.
Gotta LOVE IT!
It's astonishing that there isn't a thread about this yet considering the rumor started hours ago.
...And they've done all of this without coaching a single game yet
Questions like this are somewhat interesting, but its really academic. For the most part, 'Michigan' does not have recruiting classes. Rather, its always the coaching staffs at Michigan that have the recruiting classes they worked for, selected, and signed. We are only in year 1 of the Hoke recruiting era. Like others have pointed out, looking at numbers and timing through time loses sight of the context (culture, technology, regulations) in which past classes were signed. Your question can tell us minor things in terms of coaching staffs, but in losing sight of contexts we learn very little.
A better question would be, how did year one of Hokemania compare to subsequent years, as well as recruiting classes of other schools within the same time frame? This is, of course, the question many analysts will ask, and do in part every year.
Well said. It is hard to compare this group of coaches to what happened in the past. It will be interesting to see if this momentum carries forward into uncoming years. At the moment, the Hoke staff has a bucket load of recruiting mojo. And since college football success is about getting the most talented athletes, this bodes well for the future.
It seems to me that on average, if you commit early and don't take any other visits, you are committed to Michigan.
If you take your other official visits, then, I'm betting a much higher percent de-commit.
Most kids just signed their LOI and we did not here much about verbal commits. You just knew Bo was going to have another great class come February!