Oral history of Denard's recruitment

Great piece, very interesting. I hope they do more of these for other guys.

the face of Michigan, Denard. What a class act.

but bringing Denard to Michigan was a great decision that he doesn't get enough credit for, IMHO.

But he didn't commit early, he's not a true Michigan man!

Good read, thanks for the post.

whether you liked rich rod or hated him, you have to give a lot of credit where credit is due. he got denard to ann arbor, away from urban meyer's clutches.

that we had locked up Newsome and Beaver...weird.  In retrospect, glad those didn't work out and the path was cleared for Denard.  Quite a gutsy decision by him to venture away from everything he knew, his family, friends, etc and come play up in cold weather for a new coach at a program shifting to a new system. 

"The final week of his recruitment, the Miami Herald reported he had Florida and Tennessee in his home that Tuesday, Georgia, Auburn and Central Florida that Wednesday and Thursday and then the entire Michigan offensive coaching staff that Saturday -- the final day coaches could be on the road."

That there was this much competition for Denard Robinson, at least to me, makes his time at Michigan all the more special and unique simply because he chose Michigan over all these other schools in the end and the records he shattered were shattered while wearing a winged helmet. It was sort of interesting to read that the entire offensive staff came along on visits - that's dedication and focus on the part of the Michigan staff in trying to create a sense of belonging, as it was termed, and we got Dilithium as a result.

Great, well-written and well-conceived piece, I thought. Thanks for sharing, Leaders And Best.

Crazy. After that ND game in 2009, if you would have told a majority of the fans that Denard would be the star and led Michigan to a BCS win by the end of his career and forcier would be a future candidate for the "where are they now?", they'd laugh at you.

Denard and the players who stayed are the shining lights of the arguably the darkest period of Michigan Football.

Isn't this a written history?

I love the image in my head of RR and Denard making snow angels in Ann Arbor.

Rodriguez: There was a little bit of snow on Michigan Stadium. I remember our concern was he's from Florida, it's cold. I know he was kind of excited to see snow for the first time. I dropped down and said, 'This is what they do when you have time. Let's make a snow angel.' So we dropped down and made snow angels together and threw snowballs at each other and had a little fun. Had a good time with that, so it was like, 'Ahh, the weather will be OK.'

Does anyone believe he would have taken the Florida deity known as Tebow off the field?

is the one who should get credit for recruiting Denard, along with RR.   RR had the legitimate example to point Denard to and say 'See what I did with Pat White?  That'll be you at Michigan" and mean it.

Shoelace's flapping in the wind...was great to have him for four years!

Not his play on the field, but that smile of his

Honestly read this 4 times today and absolutely loved every read.  Will miss Denard more than most and will follow his career avidly.

The bit about it being between Florida/UCF and Michigan as his top two made me laugh and say to myself, "Haha . . . recruiting."

He brought us the most exciting Michgian player in decades.  Denard is the brightest star in the worst drought in Michigan football history.  Perhaps only Tom Harmon in his era was as exciting. It will be a long time before we see another player like Denard Robinson.