Visitors this weekend
Michigan is hosting several visitors this weekend, the first weekend where official visits are allowed for the class of 2023. But the bigger news may be in the 2024 class, where #1 overall QB Jadyn Davis is in town, along with 2024 WR Channing Goodwin. The two are teammates, and Goodwin is the son of former Michigan lineman Jonathan Goodwin.
You can find the full visitors list HERE.
Also saw that Raylen Wilson was visiting Georgia this weekend. He’s mentioned how much he loves George Helow, but I can’t help but be worried about his recruitment.
Stud FL LB’s are difficult to get and keep. Devin Bush was a great get and keep. Marvin Robinson had such great promise but he fizzled. Hope we keep him.
Was Marvin Robinson a LB?
I think as a recruit he was listed as Lb, but then switched to safety. I believe that was the problem. He was a “tweener”. But I could be wrong. Lol. That’s stretching my mind back to the RR days.
Scout had him as a safety, but Rivals and ESPN had him as a linebacker.
I can't believe there is little interest from this fanbase on big recruiting weekend visitors. When did this fanbase become MSU's pre-Dantonio years?
Seems like Michigan is in on a lot of highly touted quarterbacks, offensive lineman and defensive lineman, but do not lead for any. Even Herring seems to be trending for Nebraska. I get it is still early, but Moore, Elston and Weiss are falling behind for recruits.
Michigan's staff is not in love with Herring. He would probably still be a take, but I get the feeling that's more for the relationship of Michigan to West Bloomfield. If he were the same player but from the state of North Carolina, that recruitment probably would have fizzled out by now.
I really don't get it given some of the other names of the OL board and taking projects last year.
What don't you get? Maybe they've scouted Herring and decided that he barely clears their bar. Maybe they saw something in Lorenzetti that they like.
So...Michigan believes Herring does not "clear their bar", but all the recruiting experts and many other major programs do believe he clears 'the' bar?
Not sure if serious.
1974's comment:
Maybe they've scouted Herring and decided that he barely clears their bar
Your take on 1974's comment:
So...Michigan believes Herring does not "clear their bar"
Staffs often disagree with the recruiting services about kids and they also have to consider their system. Offensive line is one of the hardest positions to project so you just have to trust our staffs work.
Herring was listed as a tackle early in his recruitment, but he measured in at about 6'3". When you're 6'3", you're limited to center or maybe guard. Just like in the NFL, there aren't a ton of center positions. There's usually one true center on a team and then the next guy is a swing guy who can play guard.
Michigan took two centers in 2021 (Raheem Anderson, Greg Crippen). The question is how badly you want to take another center two cycles later.
Michigan has been consistent and successful in that they rely heavily on their own evaluations vs the herd.
I understand he’s from Michigan but if he wasn’t we probably are not having this discussion.
Eh, I spent a lot of years getting emotionally invested in the recruiting process. I'll just be cool with whoever signs and hope they stick around.
As an aside, I think we should drop the term 'commitment' in recruiting. Let's just go with interested and signed. I think we're ruining the meaning of commitment.
I'm pretty sure they just don't love Herring as a prospect for what they want to do. He's not a monster mauler gaurd like Keegan/Zinter/Olu are. And he doesn't have the frame to get that big.
Doesn't mean he's a bad player. I've heard he's excellent in pass blocking but my read is he's not quite what they are looking for in their system
Harbaugh’s decisions (which he has every right to make) certainly has impacted this class. It is what it is. We just need to have a good season, and the rest should take care of itself. And I think we will have a solid season.
Thanks, Magnus, for putting these together. BTW, I took your poll asking:
Who will be Michigan's leading rusher in 2021?
It was a tough call between Corum and Haskins, but I went with Corum. Do I win a prize if I'm correct?
Of all the voters who pick the correct running back, I will do a drawing and award a $1,000 prize.
I guess you just made your entry. We'll see how 2021 goes.
Corum will take it this year. I would look for Edwards to lead in RB receiving yards and beat the all time single season record for RB receiving yards
Jonathan Goodwin went to Michigan ‘98-‘02 and then played for Harbaugh on the ‘Niners in 2011 and started every game at center winning a team award for toughness, courage, and intensity. He played for Harbaugh for 3 years including the Super Bowl season and started every game. You would have to think they have a great bond.
Channing Goodwin is also the nephew of Harold Goodwin. Harold played at M from 1992-1995 and was a (graduate assistant) coach on the 1997 team.
Uncle Harold is currently the assistant head coach and run game coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
I believe JG, as a former Saint, is mentoring Cesar Ruiz in New Orleans a bit.
Would be nice to get a solid commitment or two. I get it, it’s probably going to be a slow and perhaps subpar recruiting cycle.
The 2 most likely commits are Jyaire Hill low 4 star safety from Illinois and Deakon Tonelli high 3 star Tight end also from Illinois.
Questions for Magnus
Over your many years providing us with details about Michigan's recruiting, do you have a reasonable guess as to the percentage of recruits each year who visit Michigan more for the opportunity to experience being in The Big House, the football locker room and Schembechler Hall than because of a true interest in playing for Michigan?
Besides the obvious question of "Why do you want to play for Michigan?", do you know what questions the coaches and the players who host the recruits will ask to gauge whether the recruits really are interested in Michigan?
Wow, that's a tough question. I would say maybe 15%. There are kids who come from California and the south that I don't think have much interest in playing for Michigan. They might be interested in playing for Notre Dame or Ohio State, or they just take a free (or at least coordinated) trip with teammates to swing through the midwest.
If I were a big-time recruit in the midwest, I probably would have zero interest in playing for USC or UCLA or Texas. But if I were offered a free trip to USC/UCLA or could hop in with a group heading to Texas for cheap, I would probably go ahead and do it. I might legitimately visit Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ohio State with interest. (I mean, I grew up a Michigan fan, so I probably wouldn't be interested in ND or OSU, but I'm talking generically about football players from the midwest.)
There are three main questions that I think are asked (or probably asked) by the coaches:
1. What do you want to do after college besides play football? If they have no academic goals, they're probably not a fit at Michigan.
2. What do you know about Michigan? Kids who know zilch about Michigan are probably not THAT interested, though this isn't a 100% disqualifier.
3. Do you understand what kind of hard work it takes to be a pro football player? If kids don't want to put in the time/effort to be a pro, then they probably won't fit at Michigan. I would say that's more the case under Jim Harbaugh than some other coaches, because he's spent time in the NFL, unlike someone like Rich Rodriguez or Brady Hoke.
Question 4) What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?
African or European?
It would be interesting to know the percentage of players under Jim Harbaugh that play in the two-deep for an NFL team compared to a coach like Saban, Sweeney or even Meyer in the day. It would also be interesting to know how long a player who was coached by Harbaugh in college stays on an NFL roster.
I understand this is not a popular take nowadays because Michigan made the playoffs last season, but I have been on the band-wagon to replace Harbaugh with someone who focuses on bringing in elite talent to compete with the top programs year after year and develop these players to endure many seasons in the NFL.
I loved Jim's energy in recruiting at Michigan until the 2018 recruiting class, then somewhere along that time it has seemed Jim has lost most of his interest in putting effort to recruit a large sample of top tier recruits. Three star players are fine for a program like MSU the pre-Tucker years, but if you are Michigan and want to compete for the playoffs every year you have to find a way to recruit better.
If Mel Tucker stays at MSU for 3 more years I wouldn't be surprised if he has more talent on his team than Harbaugh has.