Record Number of Out of State Commits?
We are all well aware of the number of commits recently from out of state.
It looks like Michigan has 17 commits, with only THREE from in-state and ZERO from Ohio. This is not only not typical, it seems bizzare based on our history. I assume it is a record breaking number of OOS commits, but I think it may be shattering the record.
Does anyone know?
Also, it seems this might be the most OOS commits for any school in the Big Ten. I looked back at Meyer's classes at OSU (with his focus on Florida) and he still relied heavily on in-state talent. I don't think Ron Zook took that many Florida kids (but he did recruit well).
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Probably not right away, but I have a feeling there going to figure it out pretty fast.....
#enthusiasmunknowntomankind
will they know that you have to buy a winter coat?! /s
will be with you shortly
I was actually thinking about this and - bang - there's a post about it.
WDevoteeachu, I choose you!.... to get an answer for us.
BINDER!
Edit: I predict that before Harbaugh leaves Michigan (whether its 5 years or 25 years from now, he sits and watches WD put binders together for hours at a time just because he loves watching totally committed people.
They aren't giving up on Ohio, but Meyer has that state on lockdown right now. They are the dominant team in the state, just won a national championship, and have an ace recruiting staff. Additionally, Meyer has shown a passion for playing games with recruiting and seemingly going after kids just because rivals want them. Any commit from the state of Ohio is liable to be given a late offer by OSU if they miss out on someone else and likely flip. Ohio recruits will come in time, but it will take time to build relationships and get in on them early, something this staff doesn't have the luxury of in 2015.
That might be true...
But sparty has pulled in 7 recruits from OH in the 2016 class. We have 0, somthing is off
See my post below. Previous staff offered top prospects in Ohio. For whatever reason the Harbaugh staff chose not to re-offer them.
It's not what I want to see on an ongoing basis, but how cool would it be to wind up with a top 5 class . . . without a single kid from Ohio?
The Buckeyes' heads would explode. They are always whining about how "all Michigan's best players come from Ohio."
And MSU has been recruiting Ohio for years and have longstanding relationships with these kids. Not to mention they go after the under the radar recruits that Harbaugh has been targeting so far. When you need to scramble to build relationships, time is better spent elsewhere for now. I'm sure they will do better there in coming years but their local focus is clearly aimed more at 2017 and future classes than 2016.
It's interesting that both Hoke and Bo had strong personal connections to Ohio. Both recruited heavily out of Ohio. Harbaugh is not himself a guy who came to UM from Ohio and he may just not have the lay of the land down there. New staff comes in from the NFL, and they recruit from their strengths and connections. It's understandable, just as there is a reason that MSU is currently doing well in Ohio. The answer to all of this is on the field. Let Harbaugh exert some dominance over Sparty and go head-to-head with Urban, and our position in Ohio will improve accordingly.
Not entirely ture. Tress had Ohio on lockdown. It was his personal mission that all the best kids in Ohio ended up at OSU, he only missed on a few that he badly wanted (Jordan Hicks and Trey DePriest come to mind), he even would toss out offers to lesser Ohio kids rationalizing that bonds with Ohio high school coaches was more important than getting a marginally better player from a different state.
Urban has been good at getting the top-tier Ohio kids, but the middle grouping has really trended toward Michigan State (and Notre Dame) and part of me wonders if that has been a key reason for MSU's success. They have mined Ohio hard for players, and as Urban prioritizes marginally better out-of-staters at the expense of middle tier in-staters, Michigan State (and Michigan, but they seem less inclined) should reap the benefits on the middle group of Ohioans.
Maybe that's the rising tide lifting all boats.
Agree. I did a post on this a few months ago. Tressel was more OH centric than Urban is. Urban takes the top in OH and maybe goes for a few lower rated guys to mess with rivals...but as you said Tressel would take the kids that MSU is now getting.
MSU and Kentucky have been mining the guys outside the top 10 in OH. MSU has tons of relationships there and on field results to sell. The coach Harbaugh tried to get from Kentucky as a TE coach has a ton of relationships in OH. That was a swing and miss which hurts us near term in recruiting the state. It's a hole for us right now and cannot be a long term repeat of what happened this year.
But the competition is stiff - you have a NC team who has lost 1? regular season in 3 years in the conf and a back to back top 5 team both targeting that state heavily- both with far better relationships than we do. We have work to do to get back to that place we used to be in OH and its going to have to be largely done without a ton of OH recruits it seems.
Obviously they should keep signing the Ohio guys that want to play in A2, even if it seems most just don't want to play down there, but I actually think it's a good idea to keep their recruiting low key in Ohio.
There always seem to be guys like Kinnel that really just what to play at Mich., plus you probably can pick up a few quality players late in the cycle that always wanted to be Buckeyes but when there's no room for them they want nothing more than to show it was a mistake.
Let Urban&Dantonio bump uglies in Ohio and wait for the guys who want to escape come to them.
I think the idea is that it's easier to keep a pipeline going if a high school is geographically close by.
I'm sure we'll get our share of Ohio kids in any event.
Of course, many do.
But only the Devotee knows all!
Binder Time!
but wasn't this a bad year for MI football recruits? I thought there was like 7 Players total or something that were B1G caliber recruits. Seems like this could be a reason if true.
Nah. Pretty good class. 9 four stars or better on 247 composite.
There were 4 of those in 2015, 4 in 2014, 8 in 2013, 10 in 2012, 7 in 2011, etc.
So yeah, definitely not a bad year for the state of Michigan
My recruiting history book begins in 2002 in the modern rankings era that we're in.
Michigan signed 23 from outside the State of Michigan in 2010.
Rodriguez classes averaged 20 out of state signees while the Carr (since 2002) and Hoke classes averaged 14 and 16 respectively.
Carr barely got anyone from OH towards the end of his tenure including getting shutout in 2007. RR actually led the charge back into the state and got some pretty good guys in Roundtree, Koger and Shaw for his first class.
Isn't there a consensus, anecdotallty at least, that RichRod's lack of emphasis on Michigan recruits helped MSU?
Going by the 247 Composite MI rankings, Michigan only got FOUR top-5 ranked players in MI in his 3 years at Michigan.
Dann O'Neill (#2) and Boubacar Cissoko (4) in 2008, Will Campbell in 2009 (#2) and Devin Gardner (#2) in 2010.
Lost out on-
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2008: #1 Nick Perry (USC), #3 Jonas Gray (ND), #5 Fred Smith (MSU)
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2009: #1 Edwin Baker (MSU), #3 Chris Norman (MSU), #4 James Jackson (OSU), #5 Larry Caper (MSU)
- 2010: #1 Tom Gholston (MSU), #3 Rob Bolden (PSU), #4 Dior Mathis out of Cass Tech (Oregon), #5 CJ Olaniyan (PSU)
Were all of those guys disappointments except Perry? Baker/Caper had some moments at MSU but overall I don't recall anyone but Perry having a good college career.
Baker was much better than any running back Hoke or RR landed. Maybe Caper too.
Agree, but I'm saying from a high school hype/potential standpoint
but Hoke brought Green onboard.
Jonas Gray played a lot at ND. Didn't Chris Norman start for MSU?
Tom. Nice.
It still to this day never get old.
The older brother of Joe?
Rob:
Joe:
I think the offers were actually out there, and any perc eived lack of in-state recruiting success was more to do with a strong anti-rodriguez sentiment in the state.
This was all bullshit if you ask me, and I don't think it made a difference. At some point, people will just acknowledge that MD knows how to train and coach football players.
That was the first of RR's only two full classes at Michigan. There were a decent number of 4-star in-state prospects (11 on Rivals) and a big chunk (8) ended up at State. This fueled the "doesn't get it" narrative of Rodriguez as an outsider who didn't fit at UM.
In that class we signed Denard Robinson and Tate Forcier instead of in-state 4-star Andrew Maxwell. We signed Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield. State got Blake Treadwell (whose dad was on the staff there). They also got 4-star linemen from Iowa and Ohio who both left the program early (Nate Klatt and David Barrent). We signed Jeremy Gallon from Florida (2,704 yards, 17 TD). They signed Donald Spencer from Michigan (2 catches for 21 yards). OSU also landed a 4-star WR from MI, James Jackson who ended up transferring to Wayne State and doing pretty much nothing. They also signed a linebacker (Jeremy Gainer) who never played and left before his fifth year. We got Cam Gordon (from Michigan) who posted 138 tackles, 5 sacks, 15 TFL, and 3 INT and ended up in the NFL, despite essentially backing up a pretty great player in Jake Ryan.
They got Chris Norman who was a good player, but he's a guy we offered who apparently only visited MSU and was a Renaissance pipeline guy. They got Baker (who we offered but who only visited one school, MSU) who was good but we got Fitz from Ohio who put up pretty much an identical career (both in college and now in the NFL). And they got Dion Sims who we offered, but who again only visited State. While obviously a talented guy, he only put up 707 yards total in his MSU career.
So the narrative when these guys were recruited or were freshmen/sophomores was that MSU is winning because they are kicking ass recruiting in the state of Michigan. The facts don't reflect that view at all.
You did a hell of a job of translating my feelings into a historical reality!
Amen.
MSU had gotten way more traction out of OH players than MI players.
RichRod wasn't recruiting the burly plow driver OLinemen that the state has lots of, so many went to EL and now they have a running game we envy. The same holds true for all the Defense but at least Hoke did improve that side of the ball.
But Mich missed out on a lot of good defensive players from the state over the last decade.
Looking at that, I don't doubt Harbaugh is a vastly superior talent scout than his predecessors but it seems a disservice to stop sifting for gold in a state that has made your rivals rich.
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There is definitely not a "consensus." I blame Michigan's eight year self-destruction, starting with LC's last year and continuing through Hoke's last year, for MSU's rise. Just like Tom Izzo, Dantonio built his program thanks to Michigan putting themselves in a compromised position.
The good news: while I congratulate Izzo and Dantonio for excellent coaching jobs last season, I think both of their "windows" for truly elite status are almost closed. I think Izzo becomes Jud Heathcoate v2.0 and Dantonio becomes George Perles v2.0. In other words: worthy rivals but no longer dominant.
This is wrong on two fronts. Izzo and Dantonio owe none of their success to Michigan being down. Both have had elite success on a national level, above and beyond just being better than us. Izzo just went to the Final Four. Dantonio just finished in the top-5 for the second year in a row after winning a major bowl game (you have to go back to 1999 to find our second most recent such bowl win and the last time we finished in the top-5).
Also, them being good has nothing to do with whether or not we are good. When Michigan basketball went to the title game and followed it up with an Elite Eight run and a dominating B1G season, State went to the Sweet Sixteen (knocked out by Duke) and the Elite Eight (knocked out by eventual champ UCONN), and won a B1G tournament title. The last two times UM won a major bowl game, State posted 10+ wins.
State being good doesn't stop us from being good, or vice versa.
Flint was a Michigan town before the Bball team went on probation. For that matter, Michigan got almost anyone they wanted in the state, but that all changed with the probation and then hiring Ellerbe. Izzo took advantage and built State into a very good program and has managed to keep them there. Without Michigan's fall into the abyss I have doubts that State's Bball program would be where it is now.
Michigan's shit play under Rich Rod (and Hoke) helped MSU.