harbaugh recruiting army

Fuller

The Question:

Ace: When do you expect Michigan to get on level footing with Michigan State and Ohio State? Do you expect them to, in the latter case?

-----------------------------------

The Answers:

Dave Nasternak: Well, those are 2 different levels, especially after the last year.

As far as reaching Michigan State's level, I'm thinking (hoping?) Harbaugh will get them to that level in the next 2-3 years.  I actually think that the talent differential is not huge, outside of a couple of obvious positions.  The coaching differential, however...has been quite large.  One of the interesting things about Michigan State has been their recruiting.  They have not had stand-out, elite level recruiting during their stretch of dominance over Michigan (and kinda the Big Ten).  But they have developed their roster as well as anyone has...which is coaching.  It has also not hurt Michigan State that Michigan and Penn State have not been at program expectations over the past 5+ years.  However, with Harbaugh in Ann Arbor, now -and a competitively talented roster to work with- I think that gap has already shrunk a bit...and will presumably do so in the next couple of years.

You will NOT take away the year of Fickell. [Upchurch]

Since the end of the 2004 season, Ohio State is 110-21.  104-14 if you take away the Year of Fickell.  That's...uh...I don't even know.  I definitely think this past 10 or so years has not been the Big Ten's best -definitely some under-performing teams and questionable hiring decisions by a few of the schools- but...yikes, man.  There were a few years where its felt like Michigan has lost 14 games...just in that year, alone!  I'm not sure anyone is going to THAT level, any time soon.  If anyone can give Michigan a chance to do so, it would be Jim Harbaugh, though.  Anyway...my next point, haha.  One of the things that Ohio State has that has eluded most of the Big Ten teams (at least lately) is a game-changer.  And they have had many.  Going back to Troy Smith, Terrelle Pryor and now Miller/Barrett/Jones and Elliott.  These are guys that can score every time they touch the ball...and always seem to make a play to keep a drive alive or score when OSU needs points.  They are Heisman trophy winners...or at least candidates.  That is level of recruit AND development that Michigan is going to need in order to compete at the OSU level.  Can and will Harbaugh take Michigan there?  I think he can.  I hope he will.  When?  It will be years before he will be able to make a mark like OSU has been able to over the last decade or so.  But I do think that once Harbaugh gets Top 100/300/whatever recruits flowing into his system, Michigan will be able to go toe-to-toe with Ohio State and at least beat them at a competitive rate...instead of the 1(Fickell) and 10 it has been over the past 11 years.

[After the jump: projections on a sophomore roster]

Roquan Smith, trend-setter?

"Don't sign an NLI" spreads. Kevin Trahan details the reasons at SB Nation; Andy Staples has an article in SI:

Though most players don’t realize it, they do not have to sign the NLI to receive a scholarship. They need only sign a financial aid agreement at their chosen school. The financial aid paperwork provides (almost) the same guarantee of a scholarship as the NLI, but unlike the NLI, it doesn’t strip the player of the only leverage he’ll have until he graduates from college.

Why is the NLI the worst contract in American sports? It requires players to sign away their right to be recruited by other schools. If they don’t enroll at the school with which they signed, they forfeit a year of eligibility. Not a redshirt year, but one of their four years to play. In return, the NLI guarantees the player nothing.

That's right: nothing. If you don't get in, which certain massively oversigned teams will massage from time to time, you can be forced out. And even if you do and have been on campus for summer semester, you can still get the boot. The NLI gives you nothing. If you're big time, there's no reason to sign it.

Get The Picture has the view from the Georgia side of things.

More on Gwendolyn Bush. Staples also has an excellent anecdote on Bush's qualifications for her new job:

…if anyone is qualified for this job, it’s Bush. At most large programs, player development personnel work in a mentoring role for current players and serve as contact points for recruits and their parents when they seek info about the program and school.

Bush is perfect for this job because she knows exactly what parents will ask. When Lyons was being recruited the first time around, she asked pretty much every question. It was Bush who designed the in-depth questionnaire Lyons sent to every school that offered him a scholarship. The 50 questions covered everything from insurance coverage to graduation rates to the distance to the nearest department store.

Jim Harbaugh's Stanford was the winner in that recruitment. Bush evidently impressed Harbaugh sufficiently to circle back around to her when he needed a liaison between departments and parents.

A parent who managed her kid's recruitment methodically has a deep knowledge of the relevant issues. The fact that her kid might transfer to Michigan for one year when Michigan returns three starters in the secondary plus Jabrill Peppers plays little to no role in her hire.

Another hire. Michigan's hired Matt Doherty from Miami. Doherty was "director of player personnel" at Miami, and the guy at 247 reporting his hire says he's in a similar role at Michigan. It's not the same role, as Chris Singletary has that title.

Doherty's title is "Recruiting Coordinator" on the directory, FWIW, so this kind of seems like not even a lateral move for him. Michigan's getting serious about support staff.

Illinois: still Illinois. I know the prequels were confusing, but the Stormtroopers were the bad guys.

the stormtroopers lost RT @CoachCubit: The OSKEE EMPIRE is rising. Join the Illini side. pic.twitter.com/L2bdUsMu2B

— SPENCER HALL (@edsbs) February 9, 2015

YOU'RE NEXT… time to get shot in massive numbers by our story's heroes. Points for honesty, at least. No points for football. Just for honesty.

This one is totally random and not at all my fault. A few weeks after implying that Caris LeVert's foot issue was the result of working too hard, Izzo is down one weird guy:

The problem that will be tougher to solve is the fact freshman Javon Bess might out for the rest of the season with an injured right foot.

"Javon might be done for the year," Izzo said Monday at his weekly news conference. "I don't like where it's headed, but he'll definitely be out for a couple of weeks."

Maybe he should have just had his team practice free throws.

Cord cutting continues apace. It was kind of a big deal when Dish offered a 20 dollar monthly package with ESPN and ESPN2 on it, but now they've announced there's an add-on sports pack with yet more coverage:

Sports Extra ($5/mo):
ESPN News, ESPN U, SEC ESPN Network, ESPN Buzzer Beater, Universal Sports, Bein Sports

That just about covers anything an SEC fan would need. If that package somehow added BTN, the only Michigan basketball and football games that wouldn't be on the service would be the occasional road game (or preseason tournament) against a team in the Pac-12 or Mountain West that would end up on the Fox networks.

It's just a matter of time. That amount of time: however long it takes Google to inflict real competition on enough prime markets to hit the cheap gigabit tipping point. That's maybe ten years off; we'll be stuck with Rutgers forever. At least going to a game that far away is more plausible when you can sleep overnight in your self-driving car?

It's going to be okay man. Michigan is 21st in the Power Rank's four-year recruiting rankings, and 17th via SB Nation's methodology. That includes Michigan's extremely weak Hoke-Rodriguez transition class and generally doesn't account for Michigan's extremely low attrition. A big time class like everyone expects would replace the transition guys in the stats, leaving Michigan with a talent base you can do lots of stuff with—kind of like that year when that awful APR fell off the stats and Michigan shot up.

Etc.: Hyman third in the Hobey Watch. Going to be tough to catch Jack Eichel. Dan Dakich twitter fight? Don't mind if I do. Oregon state senator mad that Oregon didn't take any Oregonians in their most recent recruiting class. Lax kicks off the season with a win.