this doesn't really upset me at all. RBs are a dime a dozen, and it seems like it is pretty easy to have an effective running game with decent backs and a great OL. With Smith already in the fold I think we are okay even if we don't take another back.
RBs may be a dime a dozen, but elite RBs sure aren't.
They've had a strong o-line and historically bad luck with running backs yet they always(?) manage a thousand yard rusher.
So what? 40+ players rush for 1,000 yards in D1 football every year. Ergo, 1,000 yards rushing does not an elite college running back make. What I want, and what every Michigan fan should want, is an elite running back; give me Adrian Peterson, Reggie Bush, LaMichael James, etc. Those are the guys that can turn a team like Michigan into a serious championship contender.
To be sure, I'm not saying Michigan can't win it all with the present and presumed future talent--good coaching can go a long way, as we witnessed last season--but the Ty Isaacs of the world are why teams like USC, Oklahoma, and Oregon are in the hunt year after year.
Chris Howard, Chris Floyd, Clarence Williams, and freshman Anthony Thomas. Pretty serious championship contending running back group there.
You just made the opposite point... The fact that there are 40+ 1000 yard rushers a year shows that you don't need an elite running back to have a great rushing attack. Who cares if the guy goes on to play in the NFL ultimately? As far as Michigan is concerned, it's about the team. It doesn't make a difference if it's 1000 yards Barry Sanders style with no line support, or if it's 1000 yards thanks to a massive Oline. It's the same number of yards and the same number of touchdowns.
Your post makes no sense. Let me proffer a thought experiment to help you out:
Suppose Michigan's offensive line turns out as everyone here expects it will. They're the best line in the country, pummeling opponents, pancaking D-linemen, and so forth. Now, you have two running backs ready to play behind that O-line: Reggie Bush in his college prime and Mike Hart. Whom do you want carrying the pigskin?
Mike Hart, he never fumbled (except against Florida), never gave up, and was a Michigan Man.
The guy we don't have to bribe with a house to come to Michigan. Next question.
an elite back is less important than an elite passing game. math dear watson, it's all math.
i wont lie, my initial reaction was utter shock. i was sure that Michigan was his place. oh well.....
Take the things that recruitniks say with a grain of salt...especially when they're program-specific authors (compared to national writers less likely to blow smoke.) i.e. watch out for the Michigan guys who have a habit of making everything sound rosey all the time.
The rivals guys, the scout guys, and the people who regurgitate their information have been extremely optimistic on Isaac to Michigan. Yeah, things change over time, but one can anticipate that.
When a guy (like Poggi or Issac or Rojo) doesn't say much, you can't trust what the recruitniks are saying. Their business model depends on good news, and when it isn't there, they'll fill the void one way or another.
See the irony of having a "Hoke just handles recruiting" post now?
I suppose "losing" a highly touted recruit soon after that post provides some irony- but it seemed to be more about that actual process of recruiting than the quality of recruits (although that too is insanely high).
The staff seems to really connect to kids and be classy about recruiting which is what the post pointed out. Because a recruit went elsewhere doesn't mean anything about what we did. Maybe he likes nice weather, or the pop-culture/Hollywood scene for example. ,Michigan isn't for everybody, and its best players go where they will enjoy being- hope that USC can be that place for Ty (except for potential Rose Bowl clashes as others have pointed out).
True to most of that, but the emphasis of that post was Hoke's impressive record and feats in recruiting. Then it is immediately followed by a whiff on an elite prospect from the Midwest who like many others picks USC or Texas or any elite SEC school over Michigan. We can talk about Hoke's recruiting chomps all we want, but the fact of the matter is his success tends to be bred from the close ties these kids already have to the program. Rivals ran an article about why the elite recruits from the West have not been committing yet like the elite recruits from the South and Midwest. Mathis had an interesting quote about why so many kids committed to Michigan: "When I went to the Adidas camp in Detroit, those dudes had really been [following] their teams since they were a baby. That's like their family's teams. I understand why they committed. That's their school." Hoke seems to be doing well with these recruits and other Midwest recruits but losing out on the elite and national recruits. Here is an elite talent incredibly far away from USC and once again USC is swooping up and claiming him. Additionally, Hoke did take two RBs ahead of Isaac which definitely impacted his decision. That is a whole other debate as to the coaches having better eyes for talent than us and stars not being the end-all-be-all. Nonetheless, Smith clearly lacks the speed Isaac has and it sucks to lose out on that. I think His Dudeness is just commenting on the irony of us lauding Hoke's recruiting ability-which is great-but then losing another national recruit.
Taking two running backs before Ty didn't "definitely" impact his decision. He said all along he doesn't care how many running backs are in his class. He is about to be joined with Justin Davis at USC.
That's not irony - it's just bad timing.
But more to the point, losing out on one recruit - or on many recruits - does not make one a bad recruiter. If you put together great recruiting classes, you handle recruiting. Barring some kind of signing day armageddon, Hoke's 2 for 2.
It's both.
Additionally, His Dudeness-although a pessimist-was not saying that Hoke is a bad recruiter because clearly he can put together a class. It is just ironic and disheartening that we lose out on another national recruit who appears to be a dogfight recruit with another elite program. We haven't been able to lock down some of these national or elite recruits and it showed in the last class and it shows in this class. Obviously you aren't going to win every recruiting battle, but to ignore the losses by proclaiming we have great recruiting classes is shortsighted.
Just for context, His Dudeness makes an appearance every time that something mildly negative happens under Hoke to rub it in.
I wanted Isaac, too, but it's not a terrible thing to lose out on elite prospects. We aren't going to win all of these battles, and the more we're involved in, the more we'll win. If the coaching staff only targeted Michigan locks, we'd end up with really lousy classes.
Understand, that's why I called him a pessimist. And yes, clearly we are winning battles for kids who aren't Michigan locks, see Fox, LTT, Bosch etc. Just seems if we lack the horses to win some prime-time recruiting battles, and this existed before Hoke.
I'm just always here. The rest is just coincidence. As for this "rub in" I claimed that the Handles recruiting" post was stupid because that is what every coach does and people were all "Ohhh you suck because you think Hoke isn't the greatest mail sender in the world." It gets really old when people freak out about everything Hoke does. i understand you want your messiah, but the man had one good season and has a very nice class lined up that has yet to be signed. Oh and he got Brandon drunk enough to actually pay an assistant coach a reasonable salary. For that we thank him, but he hasn't done as much as some like to post every five minutes about. That's all I'm saying. As much as you hate me and think I am the anti-Hoke I went to Michigan, I love Michigan Football, I want Michigan to win at everything from football to womens water polo. I just hate when people stick their noses directly into peoples assholes and can't be objective. It's annoying. If we don't learn from history channel we are bound to repeat history channel.
We have two OT's in Lewan and Schofield. Kalis seems to be eventually headed to the G spot, but he will be starting out as a potential back-up to either OT spot. Braden, although physically might be ready, technically and mentally seems to need time to develop, and we do not know if Magnusson will be able to step in early. At OT, we lost out on Garnett, a potential G or OT, and Diamond. Additionally, we lost Stacey, putting a hole at the center position, which granted will be filled by Kugler. If Jack Miller isn't ready to go as a RS sophomore or gets hurt, then we are going to have to try and fit Kalis or someone else into C unless Kugler can play as a true freshman, which is just scary as hell. Would have been nice to have another option in a RS freshman Stacey there. In an class that needed 5, the coaches seem open to taking 6, offensive linemen, we lost out on two national prospects and a local prospect to a lesser team. Also, RB, beyond Dunn we couldn't gather interest from anyone even though we clearly had no starting RB until halfway through the season. These are the small holes that made our recruiting class fall out of the Top 5. Still a great class (4-7 depending on the site I believe), but a couple misses nonetheless.
What Hoke has done is atypical statistically. He still "handles" recruiting (I know you aren't contesting that). It seemed the "fit" culturally, depth, and..... competitively.... was USC. The only ones really saying geography was a factor was the Michigan and ND fan base. Isaac was going to have to fight to get game time in his frosh season at least - remember there is talent ahead of him. He'll get in frequently in his frosh year at USC. I am still very interested to see how he runs when he doesn't get an open lane with one cut to the endzone. Greene is a mauler, so is Smith and Shallman in this class. Win just as many games with 5 yard averages and a phenomenal passing game . Good luck to him, we will not get every person we want - that's not the way God made it.
Damn.
Stupid palm trees, 80 degree weather, beaches, and Song Girls.
Damn you Lane Kiffin's hot wife!!!!!
Huge bummer, really didn't see this coming (despite the pessimism lately). Best of luck to him I guess
Michigan has a plethora of capable running backs. That just means we have 1 more available scholarship to focus on the D Line.
Your optimisim is pragmatic, logical, and realistic.
Best of luck to him. Still escapes me why anyone would want to play for kiffen, but to each his own i guess
Reggie Bush can probably explain it for you.
Didn't Reggie Bush play for Pete Carroll?
Yes, but Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at the time, and based on Kiffin's reputation, there isn't much of a reason to believe that the culture out there has changed any
I forgot he was in the NFL for a very short time. Thanks for learning me.
Actually there are numerous reasons to believe it has changed greatly. Kiffin himself has been Bill Bellichick in personality and media presence compared to his Tennessee run. The reason is you don't need to create hype around USC. It is the de facto pro team in the glitziest city in the country. If anything you look for ways to keep it more low-key
AD Pat Haden, Rhode's Scholar, with the personal motto that he doesn't want to ever do or say anything that that might embarass his mom, inherited Kiffin and had no reason to keep him. He came in with the mandate to clean things up after the Bush fiasco. He likes Kiffin and defended him strongly when he was found innocent of violating rules at Tennessee.
Kiffin has banned all the movie stars and celebs from practice which is now at 7 am. It's way different than when Pete was running things.
Kiffin has that wonder kid brat persona that people hate, and he is California cocky, but he's toned it way down.
USC is a great spot and Kiffin is an awesome recruiter. Plus he could dangle a shallow depth chart at this position. I don't blame Isaac at all. If you are second to school like this for a player like this, feather in your cap if you are Michigan.
You really have a boner for Kiffin, we get it, you like him alot..
explain how being second, is some sort of accomplishment? This is a Midwestern recruit, that had Michigan as his leader, and he ends up going to USC. Somehow, I don't see this as a "feather" in Michigan's cap... quite the opposite actually.
I thought Bush went straight from high school to pros, can't find any record of him playing at usc... next time do your research. /s
Think back to when you were 18 years old... Beautiful TAN girls in bikinis, warm weather, one of the top college football programs in the nation. If the guy has no strong ties or bond to a particular college, how can that not be tempting?
I can understand that part of it. Just have trouble wrapping my head around isaac describing kiffen as "Genuine"
Lane Kiffin is as genuine as the boobs on a L.A. porn movie shoot.
Apparently Kiffin is incredible when you sit down and talk to him one on one. Reputation only means so much if you are great in person, and thats what kiffin and saban and spurrier are, when you get into a room with them all those stories mean nothing because your personal experience with that coach made you feel comfortable with the school. I don't think it is really that crazy of a reaction, especially if you have enough confidence in your abilities to not be one of those guys that gets lost in the shuffle.
Why do I have to be 18? That all sounds great now.
Time to turn the heat up on Derrick Green. Best of luck to Isaac at USC except against Michigan.
as a representative of the Isaac or bust subsection of the fanbase. We want more DL.... for MANBALL. Shallman and Smith are more than capable of carrying the load.