joeyb

August 8th, 2011 at 12:40 PM ^

A lot of times companies will calculate this ahead of time so that it doesn't have to be calculated every time someone loads a page, so I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't include Pipkins.

EDIT: At the bottom of the rankings it says as of noon today, so it may or may not actually include Pipkins depending on how quickly they got his commitment into the system.

maizenbluedevil

August 8th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^

Can we please start spelling his name right?

It's Pipkins, with two "I"s, not Pipkens.

I ordinarily wouldn't make a big deal about this but it's just odd.....  Everyone was getting it right for the longest time then it seems like a few weeks ago, out of the blue, tons of people just started getting it wrong.  

TTUwolverine

August 8th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^

I know a lot of this has to do with our fast start, but now that we have the ability to be super picky, there is a very real chance we will had nothing but high 4 stars and/or 5 stars from here on out.  If we do that, we've got a realistic shot at a top 5 finish. 

WolvinLA2

August 8th, 2011 at 12:57 PM ^

Very cool we're at the top of this list, but this table certainly suggests that once other teams reach our commit totals, we'll drop.  Despite having fewer commits, three of the other four teams on the list have more top end talent than we do, and even if they added 3-stars to get to 22 they'd be above us. 

We'll probably finish above TAMU and many of the teams outside of the top 5 though, so a top-5 class is very realistic.

EDIT:  To elaborate, Texas, Florida, FSU, Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma and ND all have a higher star average than we do.  These are teams that have a solid shot at finishing ahead of us if their commit total is as high as ours at the end and they add talent comparable to their current class make up.  Those sound like big ifs, but when you look at that list of schools, they are all elite recruiters.  I left out USC because they can't sign many guys this year. 

Even if they all passed us, we'd finish 8th.  I bet a couple of those schools will be 2-3 commits short of our total and maybe one or two more will drop in star average.  That projects us at about 5 or 6, which I think we'll all be cool with.

WolvinLA2

August 8th, 2011 at 1:22 PM ^

I think it's safe to say that not a soul (maybe even including our own coaching staff) honestly expected Hoke would recruit like this, this quickly, upon his arrival.  The jury is still out on how well he can coach at Michigan, but it's very clear how well he can recruit here, and it's as well as anyone ever has, at least to this point.

MechEng97

August 8th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^

I don't think anyone could have predicted this.  Hiring Mattison was the key and getting all of these guys to start the domino effect is fun to watch.  Once they started to come in, it became a space issue and continues (O'Brien ?)

Hoke has done a "tremendous" job at selling the program - he's very good at it and it's working.  Loving it - If only the season can go as well as recruiting....

Maize_in_Spartyland

August 8th, 2011 at 12:34 PM ^

This definitely puts the pressure on recruits to make a decision regarding playing Michigan football.  Recruits know if they don't make a decision rather quickly, their scholarship offer can disappear.

The recruits that have already committed know if they waiver, they run the risk of losing their scholarship, too.

natesezgoblue

August 8th, 2011 at 12:55 PM ^

If the ranking system is the same as last year, 5000 pts would put us around #8 if we didnt get another commit.  Last year Auburn had a little under 6100 pts and was #1 overall.  They had 25 commits with an average of 3.76* per kid.  Currently we have 22 commits with a 3.64 average.

WolvinLA2

August 8th, 2011 at 1:25 PM ^

That's a good way to look at it.  And considering we're averaging around 225 "points" per commit, adding 4 more guys would put us close to 6000, considering we shouldn't expert our star average to fall with who we have left on the board. 

Getting Dunn would be huge, he's a 5-star to Scout.

WolvinLA2

August 8th, 2011 at 4:23 PM ^

Maybe, but of the four spots left, if one of them is a three star, then those four would average 3.75 stars, or pretty close to our current average. There aren't many three stars we're still in on, but Madaris and Chesson are both likely options at WR. But either way we'll be looking good.

natesezgoblue

August 8th, 2011 at 12:55 PM ^

If the ranking system is the same as last year, 5000 pts would put us around #8 if we didnt get another commit.  Last year Auburn had a little under 6100 pts and was #1 overall.  They had 25 commits with an average of 3.76* per kid.  Currently we have 22 commits with a 3.64 average.

Darth Wolverine

August 8th, 2011 at 1:08 PM ^

It is absolutely nice to see Michigan number one. Hopefully our recruits will have stellar senior seasons and some can earn a fifth star.

Hardware Sushi

August 8th, 2011 at 1:23 PM ^

I'm interested to see which of our three stars move to four stars [EDIT: and fours to fives]...Thinking specifically of Braden and Peewee but there may be others that have been performing similarly above their star rating this summer.

Here's to also hoping we don't have any guys going on the opposite direction...

Bb011

August 8th, 2011 at 2:07 PM ^

Everyone is saying that they think some of our 4*'s could/will be bumped up and some of our 3*'s could/will be bumped up as well. And while its very possible, my problem with that is that that happens with a lot of other schools as well. So while some of our 3* might be bumped up the same will happen to other schools. Granted, star ratings to me aren't all that important since I think our class is amazing.

hfhmilkman

August 8th, 2011 at 2:14 PM ^

Numbers are nice.  I do not want to rain on everyones parade.  But I remember 1998 and 2005 being "GREAT" recruiting years and though 1998 was only disapointing, 2005 was a bomb.  That all said, I do have better confidence in the 2012 class just because who is doing the recruiting.  In 2005 you could point to the decay of Carr's staff as part of the problem.  At least for the defensive players you have Mattison who is a given and Hoke who is a former Dline coach.  Even if some of these guys were 3 stars now, I would trust that they were doing their homework.  A coaching staff will do a far better job zeroing in on the true talent and fit of a player then any recruiting agency can. 

All a 5 or high 4 star means to me is that player has the physical ability to play in the NFL at the position he is playing in HS.  A 3 star safety keeps his speed and adds 35 pounds and suddenly he is a 1st round LB'er.  Recruiting cannot predict that.  So for me I prefer to look at the players and where they project out then how many stars they get. 

StephenRKass

August 8th, 2011 at 2:23 PM ^

It is awesome to see such strength across the board.

I do have several questions.

As regards QB recruiting, with Denard, Gardner, Bellomy, Morris incoming, and Jack Kennedy as a walk-on QB for practice, I don't get why we still need another QB, given there are only 4 slots remaining. I could understand taking a great candidate, or a middling walk on candidate, or a project. But I can understand why incoming QB's would see the cupboard full, and go elsewhere. I always thought having 4 QB's on the roster was sufficient.

With a redshirt going to Stonum, how does this affect how many scholarships can be given out? Also, does it give us the luxury of only taking a very good WR recruit?

How many of our recruits are slotted as early entry? How will this affect the count? My understanding is that Early Entry doesn't count against the 25 total, so that if we had any more attrition, and we had 2 - 4 early entry recruits, we could actually increase the total up from the current projected 26.

Assuming there are four slots remaining, my understanding is we want one more on the OL, and a WR. That would leave two spots. With Pipkins filling the need for a DT, are there any other pressing needs for a position? I see we are actively recruiting in the secondary again. If we add another cornerback, in addition to a WR and another OL, would there be room left for both O'Brien and possibly Dunn?

Mr Miggle

August 8th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^

I think the coaches want 4 QBs on the roster too. I wouldn't count walk-ons as viable options there unless they've proven otherwise. The problem is that we're 3 deep in scholarship QBs now and will be in both 2012 and 2013 unless we add one more. That's fine if nothing unexpected happens. But we have seen an awful lot of unexpected attrition there in addition to injuries over the last 10-12 years. QB is easily the most critical position, so being a little short on depth there is a risk you would really prefer to avoid. I wouldn't be shocked if we eventually end up adding one to this class. Failing that we may well recruit two in 2013.

You can backdate up to three early enrollees making for a maximum class of 28.

MGoChippewa

August 8th, 2011 at 2:27 PM ^

As of right now, here's how the 2012 class ranks according to various sites...

ESPN-5th(8/5/11); 247-Won't rank until late to mid-August; Rivals-4th(8/8/11, 5:00 AM); Scout-1st(8/8/11, 2:00 PM)

Irish

August 8th, 2011 at 6:02 PM ^

Really can't seeing this class fall too far, a lot could happen with updated rankings as the year goes on but this looks like a top 5 class at the end of the year right now