Who did Hopson recruit?
Well, according to this page, the answer is not a single player:
http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=909860
Isn't this guy supposed to be a notable recruiter, especially in Mississippi? Heck, even Calvin Magee recruited one guy.
Come to think of it, I haven't head much on the Hopson front at all. What's the news?
February 7th, 2009 at 8:07 AM ^
The problem is, Hopson recruits the deep south. I can't speak to his recruiting prowess, but when you're responsible for places like Mississippi, it's tough to bring anyone in at all.
February 7th, 2009 at 9:19 AM ^
Not a lot of success in this list --
http://michigan.rivals.com/viewcoach.asp?coach=1041&sport=1&year=2009
February 7th, 2009 at 9:52 AM ^
he was recruiting guys like pearlie graves and dequinta jones along with all those miss and alabama kids. i had been giving hopson the benefit of the doubt since he was recruiting the deep south but not getting even 1 recruit is just bad. not even 1?!? anyways, this is likely his last year so take it fwiw.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:09 AM ^
got shut out too this year and he is an excellent recruiter. It happens sometimes. and to his credit, in the Rivals article this morning he admitted that the coaching staff is more than likely going to reevaluate their strategy regarding kids from SEC territory.
and that talk about him itching to leave is exaggerated.
February 7th, 2009 at 12:15 PM ^
Good to hear the staff is reevaluating their strategy on SEC recruits. I'd prefer if our staff mainly recruited from the Midwest, Cali, Texas, and Florida, as we'll find plenty of great talent there. Time spent in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama paid no dividends this year and will be very difficult in the future. LSU has Louisiana locked down, Saban has Alabama locked down, and Mississippi has the weird voodoo of keeping kids in state regardless of how shitty the programs are.
February 7th, 2009 at 12:25 PM ^
Agree completely, WTB. I'd love for Rich Rod to be able to get back in the mix for more of the top kids in Ohio. Justin Turner was a VERY nice start. Hopefully, that wall that Tressel has built around certain HS programs (Glenville) is starting to be chipped away by our coaching staff. We're just wasting our time trying to recruit in certain parts of the deep south, imho.
February 9th, 2009 at 8:33 AM ^
Just as long as they continue to recruit Arizona
February 7th, 2009 at 12:59 PM ^
can you link to that rivals article?
February 7th, 2009 at 10:14 AM ^
Fred Jackson didn't land anyone this year either, and he's brought in some great recruits over the years. So I'm not sure I'd read too much into one year's results.
Oops. Someone beat me too it, I see. Great minds, and minds on this silly blog, think alike.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:37 AM ^
And to refute all this garbage heaped upon RR about in-state recruiting, from that same website it appears that this year RR recruited just as many kids in-state as Lloyd did in 2006. And two MORE than Lloyd did in 2002. Plus one this year was a five star stud. Not bad.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:46 AM ^
Per a conversation on an A2 radio show, no one wants to stress how successful RR has been recruiting the football rich state of O H I O. Last I checked, UM landed a few pretty awesome student athletes from that state after being locked out for many years.
I am telling ya guys, once RR finally has all the pieces of his "scheme" together and the team starts to roll and execute like a fine made swiss watch, recruiting will get a bit easier as the ability to negative recruit gets more difficult.
A winning program can do miracles to aid in recruiting.
Now RR and staff just have to win!
February 8th, 2009 at 9:53 PM ^
Recruiting in Mississippi must not have been easy, especially when an in-state school takes 37 in a class.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:33 AM ^
You can't look at one year's results for a given recruiter and determine his worth, especially given the year the team had in 2008. Making in roads into different regions takes time. recruiters need to foster relationships with the high school coaches and start working on players as juniors. It all takes time.
If the staff thinks that the pipeline of talent is adequate in Mississippi or Louisiana to warrant the effort, then do it. But to base the analysis on a single year of data is just short sighted.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:22 AM ^
This isn't just a one year thing. It's almost impossible to get those Mississippi or Lousiana kids to leave their respective states, and when they do, its usually to another warm weather school, like Joe McKnight spurning LSU for USC. Few recruits ever make their way up to Michigan from those states.