Recruiting "best guess" questions for Magnus, other insiders and anyone else who's interested...
Magnus (and others),
It's still REALLY early, but COVID-impact notwithstanding, how do you see us closing out this recruiting class (generally speaking)? It seems like more guys are committing early than ever before. I've heard coaches are pressuring them due to the pandemic.
We all know that there's been a lot of bitching about stars (and in some respects, rightfully so)...I just ran through every 2021 top prospect by position and outside of Edwards and Spindler (who may be a ND lean right now), it's tough to see it getting much better. What are your thoughts?
Here's what I was able to gather simply from 247Sports.com.
QB (1):
JJ McCarthy
Notes - need filled.
RB (2):
Donovan Edwards (4* - ovr: #38)
Prophet Brown (4* - ovr: #339)
Notes - this feels like a problem, we need two and it seems like we only have two that are firmly at the top of the board and neither is a "shoe in," but I don't see anymore high level options - this felt like a theme, having to hit on most the options that are left.
WR (2-3):
Markus Allen
Cristian Dixon (4* - ovr: #171)
Xavier Worthy (4* - ovr: #208)
Andrel Anthony (3* - ovr: #495)
Kamonte Grimes (3* - ovr: #392)
Notes - there were are few others listed as "prospects," but didn't feel like we had a realistic shot. If we can get Worthy and Anthony, I'd consider that a win.
TE (2):
Louis Hansen
Thomas Fidone (4* - ovr: #98)
Jack Pugh (4* - ovr: #319)
Notes - either one would be a huge get, but again, it just feels thin, like we're not in true contention with enough guys...too easy to strike out, thoughts?
OT (2):
Giovanni El-Hadi
Rayshaun Benny (4* - ovr: #191)
Tristan Bounds (3* - ovr: #633)
Notes - this one is the most disappointing...there are a TON of natural OTs in this class and we seem to be swinging in missing (Benny looks like a OG/OT tweener type prospect) - very frustrating that we were in on at least 4 top OTs who've already committed (or heavy leans) elsewhere.
OG (2):
Greg Crippen / Raheem Anderson
Rocco Spindler (4* - ovr: #44)
Drew Kendall (4* - ovr: #110)
Notes - hope to hit on both and maybe Spindler can play DT for us, but where is the 4th or 5th option?
OC (1):
Raheem Anderson / Greg Crippen
Notes - need filled.
WDE (2):
TJ Guy
Josaiah Stewart (3* - ovr: #438)
Notes - again, need one and only have one more name that feels like it's realistically a Michigan lean today (that said, some of these guys listed as SDEs will probably stay WDEs in college).
SDE (1):
Dominick Giudice
Kechaun Bennett (4* - ovr: #324)
Arden Walker (3* - ovr: #846)
Colin Mobley (3* - ovr: #433)
Darryl Peterson (3* - ovr: #479)
Notes - I hadn't heard of most of these guys, not sure if that means we're not really at the top for any of them, regardless, the top end guys seem out of the picture.
NG (1):
Notes - this is concerning, we need an elite player in this role.
DT (1):
George Rooks (4* - ovr: #202)
Ikenna Ugbaja (3* - ovr: #1032)
Notes - Ugbaja seems like a realistic option, another Don Brown New England tweener...his film is kind of rough, he's bigger than a lot of guys and gets put on his ass 3x in his own highlight tape.
RUSH END (1):
Quintin Somerville (4* - ovr: #102)
Notes - Uche's role.
WLB (1):
Jamari Budden (4* - ovr: #294)
Notes - LB hard to project exact position.
MLB (1):
Casey Phinney
Jaydon Hood (4* - ovr: #292)
Notes - need filled, nice that we're in on another since our LBs play multiple positions.
SLB (1):
Tyler McLaurin
Junior Colson (4* - ovr: #126)
Notes - LB hard to project exact position.
VIPER (1):
Notes - this is concerning, we need an elite player in this role.
CB (2):
Ja'Den McBurrows
AJ Green (4* - ovr: #193)
Ryan Barnes (3* - ovr: #550)
Notes - doesn't feel like we lead for Green or Barnes, but at least we're in the mix.
FS (1):
Rod Moore
JD Coffey (4* - ovr: #180)
Notes - need filled, nice we're in on another.
SS (1):
Donovan McMillon (3* - ovr: #432)
Notes - need more than just the one option.
K (0):
P (1):
Tommy Doman
Notes - need filled.
I guess the concern is...if we hit on all of the uncommitted guys listed, GREAT! There's some real talent listed. But that doesn't seem realistic and we don't seem to have a lot of realistic options that are Michigan leans outside of what's listed. Are there other top guys that we have realistic shots at? Should any of these guys be removed?
Thanks!
Ok, I've heard A LOT about this from a few different angles, none of which is from the Belleville side. So I don't want to write specifics because it isn't fair when it's one-sided. But if you have any questions I'll try to answer.
Harbaugh has a complicated relationship with a few local coaches. Same as a few other coaches, but those involved pulled offers early on, etc. For better or worse, he prefers coaches who don't make it about themselves. Jim prefers HS coaches like Biff Poggi, Patridge, and Devin Bush Sr. Coaches have kinda taken a back seat to handlers, family members, and trainers in recruitments so they feel a little bit left behind at times. I could see why they feel disenfranchised when they have coached their star players and they aren't as involved as they should be. They certainly care about the kid, but at what point are you hurting them--because at the end of the day your job is to develop them as students and athletes. It's not your job to be their hype man, it's not your job to manage their recruitment, or help them get into the NFL. So some coaches interject their personal feelings into their daily conversations with kids: this school don't develop kids from Detroit, they won't take care of you when you're there, they're phony, you're not going to get the playing time you deserve, etc.
IMO a HS coach owes it to his kids to not let any personal feuds impact what his kids want or what's best for them. I'll paraphrase this nicely from what a source told me, "there's a reason why you coach in HS and they coach in college. If you want to move up in the coaching world, you have to put time into your craft and work with those above you to learn. If someone claims that your program is unorganized, and you get pissed off at them, maybe you should try and get your house in order, before you start throwing stones at other programs."
Now there are plenty of super qualified HS coaches who could've moved up but were happy with their lot in life and are comfortable. Jim isn't without blame here, but this has gotten blown out of proportion and is super petty. And at the end of the day, who has these schools (outside of Iowa randomly) produced that have gone on to do anything in the NFL at other schools (Alabi, Webber, etc)?
This was about as clear as mud. Are you trying to say that the Belleville coaches try to make things about themselves and Jim doesn't deal with that?
Lol I'm sorry, yes that's pretty close. Let's just say that because you know a kid from age 8 and are involved in their lives, doesn't mean that YOU are the reason for their success. And if they don't succeed it's not your fault, it's the college's fault. So you can take credit for when it goes right, but not when it goes wrong? On the whole, most kids that come from that program aren't adequately prepared for college football IMO.
I’m not going to pretend I know anything about the facts but I will say this.
If you pull an early scholarship to make room for someone else, any coach is going to protect their current players by dissuading future players from that coach’s overtures.
A college coach is only as good as his recruiting, if there is a rift in a relationship the onus is on the college coach to fix it. Egos have to be left at the door, you need access to the player pipelines and losing those in your own state is borderline negligence. Nobody gives a F who is right or who is wrong, if you can’t recruit out of a school you damn well better repair the relationship. How hard is it to say “Sorry things have not went well, you are a great HS coach and we’d love to have you visit UM and see what we can do for your recruits”. Hell, while you’re here we’d love your feedback on how we can better assimilate our recruits, what are you hearing about the transition to D1?
If it happened, badmouthing a local pipeline’s practice habits is as ignorant and unnecessary as it can get. What value does that add?? Recruiting is about relationships and the onus is on the recruiting coach to build that relationship. Nobody gives a shit who is right and who is wrong when you can’t get the players you need from a school because you’re not welcome.
So Harbaugh accused Belleville of being unorganized? Or Belleville called Michigan unorganized?
From what I heard some things were said to motivate players and it involved certain "calling out" HS programs not preparing them for college football. That essentially it wasn't the players' fault, their HS coaching staff didn't prepare them. Guess those private convos got back to Belleville and they were not happy. That's paraphrasing of course lol
A bunch of Michigan coaches went to a Belleville practice and apparently it was a disaster. Later at Michigan practice Harbaugh referenced Belleville/practice habits specifically and word got back to their head coach.
The head coach of the University of Michigan says your high school program's practices are unorganized. Do you:
A) Take heed of this criticism and look to improve, or
B) Insist that the head coach of the University of Michigan doesn't know sh** and tell all your players not to go to Michigan?
Bingo. That's why everyone thinks this is so petty.
So he called out Andre Seldon Jr. in conditioning? (since they hadn't had a spring practice yet) or why was he calling out Belleville when nobody on the team has come from there? Also who is at practice that is snitching to Crowell.
Why do we "need" two runningbacks in this class? Not even sure we need to take one honestly. Evans, Haskins, Charbonnet, Corum is a pretty loaded backfield
Evans is irrelevant. This is 2021 recruiting, and he won't be around after 2020.
Chances are pretty slim that Haskins, Charbonnet, and Corum will all play their entire careers at Michigan. That's just the reality of college football. You have to plan for attrition. Remove any single one of those guys, and you have a pretty slim backfield.
IMO, you want at least three guys who can play from endzone to endzone. So I'm not talking about a short yardage guy, a 3rd down guy, etc. I'm saying you want 3 guys who could be your "primary" back, and then you can maybe fill in with a goal line guy, a scatback guy, etc.
Buddin isn't happening. Belleville issues too much to overcome in this one. Michigan made one last push to get him to commit but have decided to move on. Not worth the effort at this point.
Michigan fans are the best at concern trolling themselves. I’m sure JH and the staff aren’t at all working on any of this stuff and are just hoping to land the guys they want. Fire everyone, shutter the program. Most miserable fan base in the country.
That's pretty much word for word what Sam Webb said...
Didn’t really hear of read what Webb said, but apparently I agree with it. We gotta cut the shit with all the negativity.
I haven't followed recruiting all that close this year, but if we pick up Edwards and Spindler this seems like a pretty good class. The lack of ready to play high level CB and DT recruiting continues to worry me. OSU has crushed us with power running and elite speed wrs..especially the last two years. Seeing how their coaches have publicly said that they study MI recruiting board daily, they have to be licking their chops to see we have not changed that philosophy yet.
After reading all of the comments, here's what I'll guess...would LOVE this class. 25 commits. As of today, it would end up as high as a 284.47 overall in total team rankings. Would love to see us also add a 2nd TE who can play H-Back + FB (Jack Pugh) or a big possession WR, a second RB (Prophet Brown) and a VIPER (could be McMillon), but wanted to keep it to 25.
284.47 would've landed us at 7th last year (we were #14 at 256.34 last year). However, if you want to be sad. OSU is ALREADY at a 296.00 for THIS year.
Here's what I've got...
QB (1):
JJ McCarthy
RB (1):
Donovan Edwards (4* - ovr: #38)
WR (3):
Markus Allen
Cristian Dixon OR Xavier Worthy (4* - ovr: #208)
TE (1):
Louis Hansen
OT (2):
Giovanni El-Hadi
Garrett Dellinger (4* - ovr: 80) or Tristan Bounds (3* - ovr: #633)
OG (2-3):
Greg Crippen
Rocco Spindler (4* - ovr: #44)
Drew Kendall (4* - ovr: #110)
OC (1):
Raheem Anderson
WDE (2):
TJ Guy
Quintin Somerville (4* - ovr: #102) or Josaiah Stewart (3* - ovr: #438) or Darryl Peterson (3* - ovr: #479) or Kechaun Bennett
SDE (1):
Dominick Giudice
NG (0):
Notes - (2) DTs + Spindler
DT (2-3):
Rocco Spindler (4* - ovr: #44)
Rayshaun Benny (4* - ovr: #191)
George Rooks (4* - ovr: #202)
WLB (1):
Junior Colson
MLB (2):
Casey Phinney
Jaydon Hood (4* - ovr: #292)
SLB (1):
Tyler McLaurin
VIPER (0):
CB (2):
Ja'Den McBurrows
Ryan Barnes (3* - ovr: #550)
FS (1):
Rod Moore
SS (1):
Donovan McMillon (3* - ovr: #432)
K (0):
P (1):
Tommy Doman