Peppers may know future school in July
I can't believe this hasn't been posted yet, but it seems one of our top prospects (Peppers) plans to have a "pretty clear idea of he wants to go," after his trip to Stanford in July. This has to be good news for us, seeing as how he really hasn't had much to say about any of the other schools he has visited. Oh, and there was also the whole,"difference betweeen UM and Stanford is playing in front of 110,00 people" comment on twitter, that has to be a good sign as well. Can't get to excited just yet, but this is some tremendous news!
Edit:Oops, LINK!!! http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/collegesMichigan/post?id=11673
Edit 2: Not really own thread worthy so ill put it here. Moe Ways is visiting tomorrow, per theMblock, so you may want to fasten the seatbelts.
That more indicates to me that Stanford and Michigan are his top 2 and no one else is close.
That has already been said a handful of times. Obviously it can change, but all of the experts feel that is the case right now.
April 25th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^
Just wait until Michigan State makes its move.
That we get one last visit before he decides. I'd hate to have him sold on Stanford just because they were his most recent. Especailly because it seems like he loved Ann Arbor.
You left out the on-field product.
So their football and academics are comparable, and those are two of the top things recruits (at least the smarter ones, which Peppers appears to be) care about.
For the long term, you're probably right. But they've had a good streak now, and as you mentioned, their recruiting suggests that should sustain.
But Peppers might not be worried about how good they'll be in 10 years, he probably only cares about the next 3-4 years. They'll probably be pretty good for the next 3-4 years, and him going there would certainly help that happen.
Agreed.
I guess I've sort of been waiting for the bottom to drop out from Stanford now that Harbaugh and Luck are both gone. But they had another good season in 2012, and their recruiting has been far better than what they are used to, so I may be waiting longer than I thought.
Stanford Stadium is listed as having a capacity of only 50,000, yet in 7 home games in 2012—a season in which they went 12-2 with a Rose Bowl victory—they had exactly one capacity crowd, against USC. In the PAC-12 title game against UCLA, they drew 31K. Granted, they had just played UCLA the previous week, but still that's a pretty pathetic attendance for a title game.
In Stanford's defense, the student population is only 15K, whereas UM's undergrad student population is a bit under 28K.
April 25th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
Yeah, as far as fan culture, it's night and day. Like you said, the student population is much smaller, and although the 15k numebr you list is technically correct, only 7k are undregrads. Stanford also has a very large international student body who are traditionally less enthusiatic about college football. They don't have a history of attendance and they're in the Bay Area, where the 9ers and Raiders rule.
Not only that, but no Pac 12 team really has great attendance, and their fans don't typically travel well. We usually have 10-15k visiting fans for Big Ten games, but I bet Stanford doesn't have 5k.
April 25th, 2013 at 11:57 AM ^
The fact that Stanford's student population is 15K and Michigan's is 28K isn't much of a defense. Stanford's stadium is 35K bigger than their student population and Michigan's stadium is 82K bigger than its student population, and we still manage to sell out every game. The difference between the two schools is in the football tradition and culture.
Plus, somebody needs to remind Peppers of how the 1902 Rose Bowl turned out.
April 25th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
Yes, I agree student population shouldn't be the only factor, but it certainly is one. And if you compare student population numbers, compare apples to apples. Our undergrad has 28k, their undergrad has 7k.
So we have 4 times as many students as they do. Which means we probably graduate somewhere around 4 times as many students per year, and 4 times as many people have friends or relatives who go or went there, and so on. This is not an exact science but it certainly plays a role.
of both programs, I'd have to think we have an advantage over Stanford. Michigan's on the verge of fielding an elite defense in the next few years, and hopefully he'll want to be a part of that. Plus there's the Mattison effect.
I was focusing on the off field items. The on field performance is self evident.
For what it's worth, the smartest kids also probably focus a lot on themselves and their individual strengths and weaknesses to determine which school will position them best for success on and off the field. That includes taking location and coaching staff into account. After reflection, I can see a kid coming to believe Nick Saban's "process" would be hugely beneficial from a personal development standpoint just as much as I can see them believing a Stanford education is impossible to pass up. Similarly, being close to (or far away from) home could be more important than the name on a diploma. For all we like to brag about Michigan, pretty much any BCS level school can provide a fantastic education.
I agree with most of your post up until that last sentence. Pretty much any BCS level school can provide a good education, not a fantastic one. If you're a recruit (as most are) who, as a student, is either junior college or low level public college caliber, then you probably think the education at any BCS school is very good. But there are still lots of recruits who can appreciate the academics at Michigan or Stanford or ND over the Mississippi States of the world.
April 24th, 2013 at 10:14 PM ^
I don't know, before getting my graduate degree at Michigan, I went to a tier III school for undergrad. I've got friends who ended up at Yale Law and Northwestern Medicine, among other places and I actually learned quite a bit.
There is such a glut of wannabe professors that you'll find excellent faculty at any reasonable state school. There is definitely variation in quality, but the research dollars at big schools are huge everywhere, so there is even incentive for bright professors to follow a path of least resistance and distribute themselves across the country in pursuit of a larger percentage of those dollars.
April 25th, 2013 at 12:06 AM ^
There are some schools out there that are really annoying to lose kids too, but I can't even get mad when a kid picks Stanford. Awesome school, awesome location, and now a pretty gosh-darn good football team. Not a bad combination if you ask me, even if its not quite Ann Arbor.
If we're going to lose a recruit, I'd rather lose them to Stanford or one of the military academies than to anyone else.
I've been hearing that we lead for him so this is good news.
This is where we've just got to believe in Mattison's ability to recruit. Stanford's not an easy school to beat for these kind of high character kids in the past few years.
visit too. A2 in summer is sublime; second only to FALL. I hope he can see for himself that it can be nice here too.
Good thing he didn't come today, though, jesus . . .
do you think have asked him if he wants to go to a "Pep Rally?"
I really think he's all Michigan. Just wants to see his former number one to be sure. The fact that he expects to know after one more visit to a place he hasn't been tells me he knows everything he needs to know about us. And everything he's said about us has been great. For a kid that wants to be the greatest ever, and who seems to be hungry for fame given his additional music endeavors, I just don't think the fan base and Big House are things he can pass up. We just care about football A LOT more than the Stanford crowd.
And if we could somehow get Da'Shawn Hand to come here as well, then...just....wow. Hoke continues to amaze me in how effective of a recruiter he is.
Might be the wrong thread but since it was mentioned in the OP, is it "Mo" or "Moe" Ways? I figure we should get ready for it to become a regular part of our vernacular. :)
April 24th, 2013 at 10:05 PM ^
April 24th, 2013 at 10:11 PM ^
I'm sure Ace will tell us tomorrow in his Hello post.
Brian is the one who wrote the Hello post for Maurice Ways
April 24th, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^
Weather: Palo Alto > A2
History: UM > Stanford
D-Coaches: Mattison > Mason
Head Coach: Hoke > Shaw
Plus this: http://www.law.umich.edu/multimedia/Documents/woodart.html#
April 24th, 2013 at 10:34 PM ^
Sorry, I love Hoke, but I don't know how you can easily say Hoke > Shaw. What has Shaw done in his two years of coaching? Two BCS games. I don't think that this it's that easy to say. I think they're along the same level and they have similar traits as far as being cool and collected. They have similar coaching philosophies too.
Though, Hoke coaches Michigan, so may be Hoke > Shaw is easy.
Cupboard when Hoke took the job: Essentially empty
lets hope he picks the good guys like as in us and doesnt go the road of Joshua Garrnett and picks the Cardinals
Come get that #2 jersey Peppers...
to judge Stanford. The one BIG things that Stanford has over Michigan, imho, is location, weather and the fact they make it REALLY HARD to flunk out. It might be almost impossible to get in, but once in it's almost impossible to flunk out. And I am not talking about athletes but all students in general as Stanford is known for very lax grading policy (unless they have changed it).
The other factor will be, of course, distance. Assuming it comes down to a Michigan vs Stanford, will distance end up being a factor for the young man?
It pains me to say this as an alum, but I would disagree about the comparative academic reps of the two schools. Imo Stanford is on par with Harvard (where I work now) among applicants, grad schools, etc) alone and I know a lot of kids here at Harvard who would rather be at Stanford given the weather and location in the epicenter of mid-20s gazillionaire tech land.
That being said, I think that if you do well at UM you would succeed anywhere and get in anywhere. Conversely, while I think that if you do well at Stanford FB you can be a successful professional, but in terms of resources and reputation UM is in another class.
Ergo, he can do well anywhere but, if his sole goal is to earn a paycheck by working one day a week (Sunday) I think (ceteris paribus wrt coaches, schemes, etc) he should go UM. If he wants a degree that, rightly or wrongly, is among the 4-5 most door-opening in the world, he should head to PA.
April 25th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^
"That being said, I think that if you do well at UM you would succeed anywhere and get in anywhere."
So what's the difference? Isn't that what it's all about?
April 25th, 2013 at 12:00 PM ^
I'm not exactly sure what he meant, but I'll take a stab.
If you're a top student at UM, you'll have very similar options at your disposal compared to Stanford. But if you're somewhere in the middle or at the bottom, I think there's a bigger difference.
Don't get me wrong, Michigan is a great school that has a great reputation all over the country. Out here in LA, Michigan is seen on the same level as UCLA or Berkeley or USC, three great schools, and maybe a little better or worse depending on the program.
But like the poster above said, Stanford is just on another level. I know we like to say we're the Harvard of the West (or the Midwest or whatever) but Stanford truly is. They are the elite of the elite.
This kid is looking to play ball beyond college: he's comin to Michigan. Write it down.
Stanford scares me. Every since they swept in and stole Josh Garnett from Michigan, I've feared them. Clearly they know how to close with recruits. But if this means we're the clear cut top two, that's good news. 50-50 shot with a top five recruit is a nice problem to have.
April 25th, 2013 at 11:11 AM ^
I wouldnt say stole from us. The kid is from Washington state and went to a northern California school, they stole him from the Washington Huskies not us. We put the full court press but I think the distance factor was big for him. That and Stanford was developing beast of OLinemen. Dont blame it all for picking Stanford.
Now if Peppers ends up picking Stanford that would be a nice steal for them as Peppers is completely on the otherside of the country. Lets just hope he doesnt pick those b's from South Bend or obviously Columbus.
April 25th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
Yes, it's true that one can be successful at UM to the level of anyone from Stanford. However at the margins the school degree can make a relative difference between similar candidates.
Putting it another way, I think Bama players often get drafted higher (and may get more opportunities) than similar players at other BCS schools because, well, it's Bama. I think UM when compared to Stanford in football is in a similar (advantaged) position. Academically, I think Stanford to UM is similar to UM to Wisky, or Illinois engineering; maybe no real difference in reality but yes in perception.
When it comes to jobs and grad schools, etc., I think Stanford grads are in a comparatively better position. This belief comes from entirely too many med school admissions committee meetings driven by flawed logic along the lines of "well they did go to (insert elite, likely grade inflating institution here)"
In the end, it is a problem any college bound senior seeking to maximize prospects in professional athletic and non-athletic endeavors.
Just my opinion, though...
Edit: Meant to be reply to post above