Nuss and Fred Jackson to visit Damien Harris

Submitted by BiaBiakabutuka21 on

Per Sam Webb over at Scout, one of the first recruiting visit by Nuss along with Fred Jackson will be to Berea, KY to visit Damien Harris.  This is very important as Harris is our highest rated current commit as well as the one most affected by Borges being let go.

Also, the fact that Freddy J is going with him may shed a little light on whether or not there will be any more changes to the staff.  Seems doubtful at this point.

Behind a $$ paywall $$ 

MGoBoard

Perkis-Size Me

January 11th, 2014 at 7:18 PM ^

Nuss just came from Bama, where running the football is the team's bread and butter. He's gotten to work with Eddie Lacy and TJ Yeldon, two of the better backs in the SEC of late. I think he understands how important keeping a guy like Harris in the fold truly is.

I'm not the biggest football mind, but all else being equal, I think bringing Nuss into the fold should strengthen Harris' commitment to Michigan. His body of work with running backs is pretty impressive. At least more impressive than Al Borges' anyway.

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 105508

Perkis-Size Me

January 11th, 2014 at 7:40 PM ^

I'm not saying Borges wasn't well-liked, as Harris probably liked him a lot if he decided to commit to him. I'm just saying that I think Harris should at least be pretty enticed by what Nuss has to offer. His body of work at Bama, and what he did with Lacy and Yeldon speaks for itself.

Joined: 11/30/2011

MGoPoints: 105508

reshp1

January 11th, 2014 at 9:06 PM ^

Fair enough. Again though, I think a lot of that is a product of the OL issues. We were letting multiple guys through so the RBs often had to make a quick decision on who to block. We also went to slide protections which left the defense's best pass rushers 1v1 with RB which is a tough match-up for anyone. Keep in mind he coached Vincent Smith too, who is pretty much the best pass blocking RB I've ever seen.

Joined: 10/31/2011

MGoPoints: 34177

Magnus

January 12th, 2014 at 12:42 PM ^

Brandon Minor was a good pass blocker. He was the other main guy in 2009. Then you had Smith as the feature back in 2010. What other running backs have earned playing time since then? Toussaint (who admittedly isn't a strong blocker), Hayes (who was supposedly our best pass blocker this past year), and freshmen. I'm not sure what you're looking for. It's not like we've had 20 running backs play over the past three years. It's mostly one or two guys each season.

EDIT: The calls for Fred Jackson to be fired/retire are frustrating, because it basically revolves around ageism ("I want our coaching staff to be younger!") and one year's evidence that the running backs weren't very good blockers. The dude has produced great running backs over the years, and he deserves to be fired because Fitzgerald Toussaint couldn't pick up unblocked defensive ends?

Joined: 07/17/2008

MGoPoints: 166007

umchicago

January 12th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^

what about our FBs?  they were recruited to do one thing, block.  i think they have been subpar the past few years.  i'm not necessarily calling for jackson's head, but players' performance does matter.  and it's on the coaches, else a coach with any success would last forever and never be let go, right?

Joined: 02/05/2009

MGoPoints: 33628

bamf16

January 12th, 2014 at 1:02 PM ^

What fullbacks?!

 

How many snaps did Kerridge see this year?  How many times was Gardner put on his rear end and we cursed Kerridge from our seats or couches?

 

I'll admit my impatience.  I've had enough of seeing guys like Nick Sheridan (great kid, horrible big time college football QB) Jordan Kovacs (great kid, great story, yet story indicitave of deep program troubles) and Fitz Toussaint being featured and relied upon because they simply are not good enough for UM to win.  Fitz Toussaint was a mediocre B1G running back, even before his injury.  And I don't blame Fred Jackson for Fitz's deficiencies in the running game nor in the passing game.  He polished the turd as best he could.  He never had the "stable" about which he had to brag to the media, yet I give him tremendous credit for his efforts to build up his players in public like I think a position coach should.  Now, it appears that it is turning around with a more talented "stable" of backs with the skillset and the implementation in the offense more familiar to Jackson.

Joined: 01/05/2014

MGoPoints: -100000

umchicago

January 12th, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^

they were in on any i-form and stretch runs, which failed miserably.  obviously, the fault isn't all theirs, but there were many missed blocks by the FBs as well as OL.  i'm not going to go thru all of the UFRs but there better be big improvement in the FB blocking too.

Joined: 02/05/2009

MGoPoints: 33628

bamf16

January 12th, 2014 at 1:54 PM ^

I read your post as referencing FBs in pass blocking only as we were discussing that aspect of the RB play, but I see you meant FB blocking in general and I missed it.

 

You're right.

Joined: 01/05/2014

MGoPoints: -100000

LSAClassOf2000

January 11th, 2014 at 7:11 PM ^

This is good news, of course, and I really do like that Doug Nussmeier is immersing himself in this role for Michigan and being active on the recruiting trail to boot. I have to think that this can only help us in the long term. Indeed, with Vrabel now leaving OSU, I believe that, by rankings, Nussmeier is now officially one of the best recruiters in the Big Ten. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130612

Sione's Flow

January 11th, 2014 at 7:13 PM ^

One of the quotes about Nuss I read over at Maize 'n' Brew can probably explain this visit easily "If Doug lost a recruit, it wasn't because he was outworked"  From people that have worked with him in the past, he's described as a relentless recruiter.  It's a good sign that he's hitting the ground running.

Joined: 06/05/2011

MGoPoints: 5193