UM Offers 2014 RB and DE (surprise!!)

Submitted by winterblue75 on

Figured some could use a move on from Hand....is offering committed kids this late in the process for 2014 a bad sign?

 

Sam Webb @SamWebb77 5m

#Michigan offered 2014 Sugar Land TX RB Vic Enwere (Cal commit) & 2014 Berrien Springs MI DE JhonnyWilliams (Mizzou commit) this afternoon

TheLastHarbaugh

November 14th, 2013 at 2:16 PM ^

I would rather have Jhonny because he "gets it."

And "getting it" is not something you can teach.

Someone either has "it" or they don't.

Don't ask me to explain what "it" is because it's "it."

What is "it?"

It's "it."

What is "it?"

Can you feel it ,see it, hear it today?

If you can't, then it doesn't matter anyway

You will never understand it 'cause it happens too fast

And it feels so good, it's like walking on glass

It's so cool, it's so hip, it's alright

It's so groovy, it's outta sight

You can touch it, smell it, taste it so sweet

But it makes no difference 'cause it knocks you off your feet

You want it all but you can't have it It's cryin', bleedin', lying on the floor

So you lay down on it and you do it some more

You've got to share it, so you dare it

Then you bare it and you tear it

You want it all but you can't have it

It's in your face but you can't grab it

It's alive, afraid, a lie, a sin

It's magic, it's tragic, it's a loss, it's a win

It's dark, it's moist, it's a bitter pain

It's sad it happened and it's a shame

You want it all but you can't have it

It's in your face but you can't grab it

What is it?

It's it

What is it?...

It's it.

NOLA Wolverine

November 14th, 2013 at 2:11 PM ^

Find players and develop them. When they can play ball throw them out there as a starter in the spring game and then it's worth talking about them. One of the major takeaways from this year for me has been that recruiting is about 4 years out of phase with the football program, and that player development is so much more important. 

BILG

November 14th, 2013 at 2:17 PM ^

You need the artillery before you go to battle.  While it's true you need to know how to use your weaponry, it's always nice to be well armed.  Bama wins the recruiting battle pretty much every year and translates quite well for them on the field.  We need both.  Without recruits your ceiling is Dantonio level Sparty.  Without development and coaching your ceiling is Zook level Florida.

In reply to by Shakey Jake

BigBlue02

November 15th, 2013 at 1:09 AM ^

It says Michigan has been shitty the past 5 years. Where have you been...is this news to you? In the spartans amazing 5 game seroes, Michigan has had 1 team with more than 8 wins. If Michigan's ceiling was beating the spartans 90% of the time and never making a BCS bowl game, I would be pretty pissed off.

ken725

November 14th, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^

Agree, just look at the OL recruiting from 2009-2011.

2009: Taylor Lewan, Michael Schofield, Quinton washington

2010: Christian Pace

2011: Chris Bryant, Tony Posada

2010 and 2011 OL recruiting is really killing us now.

NOLA Wolverine

November 14th, 2013 at 2:34 PM ^

There's a difference between not having a guy and obsessing over differences between two high school kids as ascerned by sports writers on Rivals. I get that you actually need bodies to go and play the football game, but people around here love to obsess over star ratings and these 17 year olds coming in their first or second years and being all conference players and we've seen that to not be the case. Ondre Pipkins isn't Gabe Watson. James Ross isn't David Harris. Insert O Lineman isn't Steve Hutchinson. Why? Because they're still kids. I've read on more than one occasion people asking "well what is Terry Richardson doing? is he a bust? And why isn't RJS playing?" because people have no perspective on recruiting. We're talking about the 2016-2018 team when we talk about recruiting today. I'll stop beating the drum at the end of this post, but I just don't see the point.

alum96

November 14th, 2013 at 2:26 PM ^

"Without recruits your ceiling is Dantonio level Sparty."

a) So the ceiling is the #1 defense in the country?  Or #2 defense is you want to say "only good for Big 10 play" ... that's a pretty good ceiling.

b) What about Stanford and Wisconsin who often recruit in the 30s and develop players in a system?  Do you think every Michigan fan would trade a finger to have the stability and level of success of Stanford right now?  They dont get many top 15 classes.

The guy you responded to is correct.  You guys make it sound as if a 18th ranked class precludes a team from rampant success.  Univ of frigging Central Florida has classes in the 60s to 90s and was able to go into PSU and beat them, and beat Louisville on the road and took South Carolina to the end of the game.   Cmon now, stop using the crutch about we need a top 3 recruiting class or we cant expect any high ceiling.

Blue in Yarmouth

November 14th, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^

The big difference is those program have proven they can develop talent. Our staff (offensive staff mean) has proven they can't, so when we take these lower ranked kids or "projects" it doesn't bode we'll for us, at least on the offensive side of the ball.



If we had coaches like Wisconsin Stanford and MSU i would agree wholeheartedly with what you're saying, but for us getting lower ranked kids is a problem.

alum96

November 14th, 2013 at 2:57 PM ^

Then we need a new coaching staff because if you can only have success with top 5 recruiting classes every year you are not a very good coach.   And my jury is still out on Mattison as to whether he can be elite.  I see he is a good coach and can take a tire fire and make it good.  But there is upperclassmen all over this defense among the starters and 2 corners who have nearly 2 years experience and we still cannot execute a blitz 90% of the time, and still are afraid to play any form of press on the corners.  And when we really need a stop late in games we continue to fail.  There are plenty of 4 stars on this defense but a lack of playmakers that teams like MSU and Wisconsin develop. 

p.s. UM has very very few projects.  4 stars are not projects.  There are no excuses here. None.  UM has better or equal recruiting classes than Oregon the past 7 years and the 2 programs look eons apart right now.

Sometimes I read these threads and you'd think UM's average class was 50 the past 5, 10, 20 years.  They are almost without fail a 5 to 15th ranked class year after year and the worst years (i.e. 21 or 22) are the best years for Sparty or Wiscy or Stanford or other teams that have staffs who develop in house.

SalvatoreQuattro

November 14th, 2013 at 3:13 PM ^

UF. The guy is elite

 

In Year Three of the Dantonion  Era MSU went 6-7. Their defense gave up 26 pts per game and 380 yards per game. Now four years later they are on the verge of their third double digit win season in 4 years and they field a top 5 defense in the country.

Sometimes it takes time to build an elite unit.

lilpenny1316

November 14th, 2013 at 3:28 PM ^

He was DC for only two seasons, promoted in the summer of 1995 after Lloyd took over the HC job.  And he ditched us for ND after the 1996 season.  So he only had one recruiting season as DC.

Also, that was Charlie Strong's defense that won that national title in 2007.

I'm not saying he's bad, but Lloyd was the DC when that 1997 defense was in high school.  And Charlie Strong got his job at L'ville because of his work at UF.  

lilpenny1316

November 14th, 2013 at 6:42 PM ^

He was "Co-"Defensive Coordinator with Charlie Strong during that time.  To ignore Charlie Strong's influence on that defense would be a disservice.  That's about as good of a situation to walk in to share duties with one of the top 5-10 D-Coordinators in the country, and I'm talking about Strong, not Mattison.  

Like I said, he's good, been around a long time, and very lucky to walk into some positions that were not as daunting as this current one.

 

SalvatoreQuattro

November 14th, 2013 at 10:53 PM ^

He recruited many of the players that made up the 97' defense. He has proven that he can recruit and build a defense. He coached guys like Jason Horn, Will Carr, Rob Renes, Glen Steele, James Hall, Josh Williams...the dude can flat out coach and recruit for the DL. 

 

Ignoring Mattison' s influence on that UF defense is a big mistake.Not when he built the defense that won UM's sole national title since 1948.

 

There is a reason UF and the Ravens brought the man on board. The guy can coach defense and coach it really well.

Red is Blue

November 14th, 2013 at 4:41 PM ^

Now four years later they are on the verge of their third double digit win season in 4 years and they field a top 5 defense in the country.

Sometimes it takes time to build an elite unit.

 

 

I think MSU has done a great job, but sometimes you get a special group that gell and play great together. 

Blue in Yarmouth

November 15th, 2013 at 7:44 AM ^

I'm absolutely on board with a new coaching staff for precisely that reason (on offense anyway). The underlying problem with this team is that these offensive coaches have shown an inability to develop players.



I've said before, when you have on or two students who fail, that is likely the students having issues, but when you have a whole class fail, that's a problem with the teachers.



Now I'm not saying these guys aren't smart or don't know football, but there are lots of very smart people out there who can't teach. My brother is a good example; he is the most brilliant person I know and an amazing Doctor, but he was do brilliant that learning was very easy for him. So easy he never had to study for anything until he went to medical school after a masters in organic chemistry.



What this did was make him extremely intolerant of people who don't get things do easily and also made it hard for him to explain things on other people's level.



Now I am in no way making excuses for these guys (I want the entire offensive staff removed) but trying to find a reason as to how we got in this mess. If you look at AB history he seems to do alright for the first couple of years at a job and then fades which makes my theory sound plausible. He does well with players who have been developed by someone else, but after that he flames out.



Anyway, my previous comment about projects was also in relation to offense where we have taken players who are projects like LTT, Williams, Bellomy, Johnson etc. My point is if we stick with this staff (which I personally hope we don't), that isn't a good formula.