Recruiting snowflake thread
Maybe the rest of you are smoking a cigarette or are asleep after today, but there are a few things I found interesting.
1. California has 45 four starts (247 composite). Michigan got 3 of them (all in top 20). Notre Dame got 1. How's the CA scheduling working out for them?
2. Normally, I think of the state of Ohio as having two four starts to every one in Michigan, but this time it was only 12-9. OSU obviously did well, but they could have done better had ND not signed the #1 and # 4 recruits in that state.
3. Illinois is about the same as the state of Michigan in terms of 4 starts on average, but it only had 6 this year to Michigan's 9. For whaever reason, Sparty leaned up there.
4. In the B1G footprint west of Michigan/Ohio exluding Illinois, there were 9 four stars. U of M got three of them, Nebraska 2, OSU and MIN 1 each.
5. The state of Virginia had 6 four stars. UVA and VTech got none. Instead, Marshall, Duke and Stanford each picked up 1. Two went to FSU; OSU got one.
6. Pitt did well in Ohio with some low 4 stars/high 3 stars. Narduzzi might be muscling in on some of Dantonio's territory?
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:09 PM ^
Signing of the Starts
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:25 PM ^
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February 3rd, 2016 at 10:11 PM ^
I'm sure he had good relationships with Ohio schools while he was at Miami, Cincy and MSU. I wouldn't say he is muscling in on Dantonio's territory. A lot of Dantonio's success is due to Narduzzi.
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:34 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:12 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:12 PM ^
Great class, one that will win a lot of games here. Excited to see what the coaches have in store for the next recruiting cycle, hopefully with a national championship to sell to kids. It's clear that Harbaugh is a very creative and tireless recruiter so I think we can expect many classes like this in the future.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:14 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:45 PM ^
While some of the higher ranked guys didn't pan out, isn't that class the core group of guys that has us thinking potential playoff candidates next year?
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:10 PM ^
Yes, but not the guys listed in Mr. Yost's post.
I just went through 247's class history of Michigan. Knowing that top 5-10 classes over time consistently translate to success on the field overall, I dare you to go through every Michigan class and not be enraged by how Michigan squandered a bunch of great talent. Contrast with Clemson, which has been at roughly 10 (never in the top 5) for the last 5 or 6 years and nearly, deservedly won the national title this season. Michigan underachieved based on the talent it landed.
I think it's clear from his recruiting "tactics" and his approach that Harbaugh has repudiated the mediocrity of Hoke, if not the man himself. Hoke wanted to do things the "right way," loved his players, and stayed loyal... to a fault. And the result is that Michigan landed some classes that had some hits and some misses.
Harbaugh clearly wants to reduce the number of scholarship slots that are taken by flat unproductive players. All classes will have some "misses," but by making fifth years performance-based and getting some guys through school in three years, Harbaugh is freeing up slots for young guys with the potential to grow. And I suspect/hope that his staff does a much better job developing players than any of the past three regimes.
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:03 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:14 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:15 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:27 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:29 PM ^
Damn it
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:28 PM ^
Did you just have a stroke?
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:36 PM ^
Just bad execution on the starts/start and leaned/cleaned joke.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:48 PM ^
Truer words were never spoken.
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:01 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:12 PM ^
February 4th, 2016 at 12:52 AM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:16 PM ^
fills many needs and with great qulaity kids. Only regfreet is we let a couple of OL get away and we need them. That's the only low light of the day
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:16 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:23 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:49 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:19 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:21 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:36 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:26 PM ^
I miss them already.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:26 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:39 PM ^
It is probably fair to say that nginx and 502 / 503 errors have heralded some of the best as well as some of the worst moments on this board, but yeah, today was a very nice day for Michigan and its future in football as well as for moderators who really didn't want to deal with the fallout that the alternative could have brought. All around, I am pleased with how things turned out.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:33 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:40 PM ^
I'm as eager to see MSU sink as the next guy, but I don't think there's anything to celebrate about a kid getting arrested.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:47 PM ^
While I wish them failure on the field, I want all young people to do well off of it.
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:50 PM ^
But don't they normally at least start school before they start having to bail out their players?
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:21 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:33 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:37 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:23 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:45 PM ^
As far as the dream recruit we want to get, he's close. Gary is a better prospect, but Peoples-Jones is a local kid that we are battling our top rivals for. If he goes Michigan, it's a huge deal; if he flips to a rival, not only do we lose him, but we have to see him for three or four years.
So his significance to Michigan fans will be reasonably close to that of Gary this year. He's the jewel of the class.
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:53 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:38 PM ^
Grammar & spelling need work, but these are all very interesting observations. Wise move making this a "snowflake" thread, too.
Things I noticed:
1. We lost some battles to Oklahoma, so on the surface it seemed to me that they were recruiting quite well. Their final class ranking? ...20th. Er, Ok. Or OK, I guess.
2. ND with another pedestrian class, ranked 15. I think we have to admit that Kelly is a decent coach, but other than the top 5 class that's currently buttressing their quality roster (a couple of whom are now going pro, I believe) they haven't knocked the world over with their recruiting. And their playoff window is getting narrower, in my opinion.
3. The SEC places 5 teams in the top 10, 8 in the top 20. There's a reason the SEC gets respect; however they acquire them, they get players. The good news for Michigan? Well...
4. Michigan's concern should now be competing with teams at the very top of the rankings, but they don't have to beat all of them. All of these competitive SEC teams beat each other up, and the result so far appears to be that the SEC will rarely, if ever, send two teams to the playoff. That means that Michigan has to beat only one of those teams in any given year to win a national title. They also have to beat only one other team, either from the PAC or the ACC (which is turning into a two-horse race between FSU and Clemson). Keep the pipeline competitive and it's doable. As long as we can get out of the B1G East.
5. It's time for some of these players to start being hits. Michigan has regularly nabbed a guy or two amongst the top 50 or so players in the country since the dawn of the Hoke era; lately, a lot of them have been busts. Now, Jabrill Peppers is everything we hoped he would be, and should be dominant next year. Not everyone has worked out that well. Kyle Kalis is starting, yes, but nobody thinks he's even our best lineman. Derrick Green and Brian Cole...
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:49 PM ^
I'm not worried about #5. We all saw how many players showed significant improvement under Harbaugh this year. The guy knows how to get the most out of his players. Some will be misses, but my guess is we see a lot of star players emerge from this class and future classes to come.
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:13 PM ^
Hope so. I believe Harbaugh gives us a chance to see some surprising players develop really well, and others reach their full potential.
I don't want to get ahead of myself, though. Harbaugh may be one of the top coaches in the game, and he may be great at developing talent, but we're looking toward the big leagues now. Michigan is looking up at OSU and Bama in the rankings, and both of those staffs know how to develop players themselves.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:39 PM ^
I’m a middle-aged Dad – UM Alumnus – 1984 School of Public Health. Son and Grandson of UM EE graduates. Raised successfully to hate MSU and OSU and to expect to always be on the favorable side of the scoreboard and the discussion regarding college football, academics and figuring out what is “right”. Like my fathers, I raised my son to do the same. He’s a graduate student at Purdue – and asked me today. “Is today like it used to be?”. I said – “yes, yes it is”. Today UM was a winner – just like they used to be. Harbaugh? Hackett? Thank you – you’ve made it much easier for my Son to understand why he loves UM, UM football and as Brian has said, why our “snowflake” is so special. Thank you all.
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:41 PM ^
Actually I think it's a little better. I'm confident JH will win the majority of his bowl games.
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:27 PM ^
February 3rd, 2016 at 10:45 PM ^
The 2016 class will go down as one of the best in Michigan history (to date). Also very confident future classes will surpass this one as people behold the monstrosity that Harbaugh builds.
February 3rd, 2016 at 11:27 PM ^
February 4th, 2016 at 9:31 AM ^
Or will we cheat rampantly and have So Cal beaches and girls like SC? No.
I dont think our Northern morals and geography are in favor of what you say.
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February 3rd, 2016 at 10:56 PM ^