RR: Five spots left in recruiting class-aargh
In his radio show yesterday RR addressed recruiting with that comment. Given our severe shortage on defense I was hoping there was a way to add one or two more somehow, but it seems not. I'm at the point of hoping for an offensive de-commitment from someone just so we can bring another defender in.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:45 AM ^
they can still count toward last years class according some research done by umhero:
http://mgoblog.com/diaries/ncaa-scholarship-limit-review
November 20th, 2009 at 10:13 AM ^
Some of the offensive players we already have will move to defense. I believe James Rogers already has, he just isn't ready to play yet. RR seems to like to recruit a lot of offense and and let them compete for positions. When it becomes apparent to some players they are not going to get the playing time they would like they will move to positions where they can get on the field. Its a process and it takes time. I also think it makes a lot of sense in this day and age and the explosiveness of the spread.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:12 PM ^
Most kids who are good in high school play offense and would like to continue to play that in college. Giving them a shot at offense and then switching them to defense may allow Rodriguez to pick up some good athletes that just don't know where their best position is.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:16 AM ^
I think the "only 5 spots left" statment is PR. UM currently has 20 commits and the "official" limit per year is 25.
RR doesn't want to come out and say that UM will take 27 or 28 as it would only give more ammunition to the media types who want to paint him as a mustache-twirling villan who recruits like "those SEC guys...who also have funny accents. CONSPIRACY!"
November 20th, 2009 at 2:42 PM ^
I agree on the PR; as based on the diary by umhero...
http://mgoblog.com/diaries/ncaa-scholarship-limit-review
which corrected my previous thoughts we apparently can count Tate, Bill Will, and a few others that enrolled early last year against the 2009 recruiting class. Which would allow us to sign more than 25 if needed.
A former podcast on WTKA by Sam Webb stated that this rule had changed and we could no longer count ee towards the prior class and his sources were the coaches, but the information in the diary seems pretty black and white since umhero pulled it straight from the NCAA books.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:18 AM ^
I'm pretty sure we'll see a decommitment, if only because it seems to happen every year.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:28 AM ^
Some of you guys are so hard-headed it blows my mind. Even when RR says we are signing 25 that isn't enough, you've just convinced yourself we are signing 28 no matter what anyone says. First of all, I do believe that the Big 10 rule changed so "oversigning" isn't an option anymore but even if we were allowed to, we still need to get to 85 scholarships. We have 62 scholarship players returning next year so if we signed 28 players that would mean 5 guys currently scheduled to return (transfers, 5th year seniors) would not be back. I'd say Cone and Wright will be gone and we will sign 25. One of those 25 might be Witty so in reality we might only have 4 left.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:35 AM ^
It will be interesting if some big recruits want to commit how we will handle the limited spots.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:32 AM ^
If I could have just 5 players left on the board then I'd take Christian, Grimes, Jefferson, Beachum, and Jones. But I do think we have possibly 3 more slots available and agree with Magnus on a decommit or two. So in that case come on down Richard Ash, Josh Furman, and Kenny Shaw. I know it's a pipe dream but hey we're all allowed to dream.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:50 AM ^
Do people here not understand that a kids high school position has little bearing on where he will play in college? We have had numerous LBs who came in as RBs, etc. Offensive skill positions can easily convert to defense once they hit college and the best part is they usually have hands made of something other than stone.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:39 PM ^
That's what I like in particular about versatile players like Jefferson (who is a good HS offensive player), Beachum, and a guy like Furman. They just have good athleticism so get them on campus and then decide where to put them.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:47 PM ^
The second best defensive end in the country, Jerry Hughes at TCU, played runningback in high school and thought that he was going to play it in college.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:42 AM ^
seems to be very productive in the Friday night lights. He's a guy I'm actually looking forward to see on campus.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:44 AM ^
People do not understand that point. They will not. I've been repeating that for months. They think that only high school safeties can be college safeties, only high school defensive ends can be college defensive ends, etc.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:17 PM ^
But I remember an article many years ago in SI (?) describing how Miami (YTM) made its team faster. Apparently one of the things they did was to move fast high school players as necessary to get the most speed on the field. For instance, high school defensive backs were often switched to linebacker.
This dates back to the eighties or nineties when they were winning national titles left and right...
November 20th, 2009 at 11:45 AM ^
Dileo actually isn't very productive. He doesn't get the ball a whole lot. I mean, he produces fine for the amount of touches he gets, but there aren't many of those. They must have a lot of other talent.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:00 PM ^
seems like good production to me. And this does not include punt and kick off returns, of which I think he adds at least 1 more TD.
Does getting the ball alot = production? TD's = production.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:23 PM ^
I think he means Dileo is not prolific despite his productivity.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:16 PM ^
five spots...nine guys i still want.
1) christian
2) furman
3) beachum
4) grimes
5) murphy
6) knight
7) jefferson
8) baxter
9) stills
November 20th, 2009 at 1:04 PM ^
I think we have more than five spots left. This is pure speculation, but I'm guessing we will have some transfers after this season. Hopefully not on the scale we had last year, but I think some attrition is expected at any program.
Now who wants to speculate on who's going to transfer?
November 20th, 2009 at 1:32 PM ^
I can't pick only 5 players I would take. Regardless of the chances of getting them I want in no particular order...
1.)Cullen Christian
2.)Jefferson
3.)Furman
4.)Beachum
5.)Grimes
6.)Christian Jones
November 20th, 2009 at 2:05 PM ^
1.) Grimes or Christian (Pitt might mean trouble for us)
2.) Jefferson
3.) Murphy (only because I think he's a package or bust with Grimes) or Furman
4.) Beachum
5.) Stills
If our 5th is reserved for Witty then drop Stills off the list, but his speed on the outside would be awesome.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:25 PM ^
RR will sign 28 this year. 3 will enroll early (january) which will count against last years total of 22.I gaurantee he gets 28 this year. I'm hoping for christian,grimes,knight,jones,big tex,ash,murphy,ash. People might start singing a new tune when we land Christian,Stills, and Ash.
November 20th, 2009 at 5:21 PM ^
So who is leaving this team in order for us to sign 28? We need 5 players that currently have scholarships for next year to not be back. Which 5 are we "giving the boot?"
Also still not sure on this whole 25+ 2 or 3 thing. I think everyone just wants to believe we will sign 28 because everyone thinks all the top guys that are visiting will magically fall in love with UM and pick us. If we boot 5 5th year seniors and give those scholarships to freshmen, dont complain in 2011 when we have only 12 scholarships to give out and we need about 4 or 5 offensive linemen. Gotta see the big picture.
November 20th, 2009 at 5:29 PM ^
Who is the second Ash? Is he so big he's counted twice? I would add Furman to that list if Ash the second is a typo
November 20th, 2009 at 2:40 PM ^
Isaiah Bell was listed at 209 coming out of high school, and some camp/game reports suggested that he was probably closer to 215 or 220. I agree that Furman can add weight and that he's kind of a beanstalk, but Bell isn't the greatest comparison.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:45 PM ^
Why can't Furman stay at Safety, at 6-2 200 with 4.4 speed I would love it.
November 20th, 2009 at 5:20 PM ^
He's 6'3", which is quite big for a safety, and he's built extremely slight. With college S&C he looks like he'll gain at least 20-25 pounds. And we REALLY need LB's.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:40 PM ^
he would be near Taylor Mays, Granted Mays was a 5 star coming out of High School. He is the main reason I was asking. I think it may be a toss up between LB and Safety needs for this class. I think Johnson is our only true Safety commit right now, but I hear he can ball despite the low ranking.