August 16th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^
That 2009 class was something else wasn't it.
August 16th, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^
We'll always have Denard...
August 16th, 2011 at 9:04 PM ^
ive never seen so many 4 star busts in a 3 yr period. so in lies the question....was rich rod a bad recruiter or was he cursed...the world may never know.
August 16th, 2011 at 9:17 PM ^
Are those the only two options? I'll take door #3.
August 16th, 2011 at 10:05 PM ^
Have you ever followed recruiting? Here's how the blue chips (4-star or better) in the 2002 class turned out. Avant, Breaston, and Gabe Watson were good players and went on to the NFL. Matt Gutierrez never started a game and transferred. Larry Harrison got booted for exposing himself. Darnell Hood, back-up DB his whole career. Mike Kolodziej, started a handful of game and gave up football before his senior year due to illness. Quinton McCoy went to prep school for a year, then promptly flunked out of Michigan. Pierre Rembert transferred to Illinois State. Carl Tabb had about 200 career receiving yards and zero TD. Jeremy Van Alstyne never started and made about 25 tackles as a back-up and special teams player.
The 2003 class had more success stories from the blue-chips (Burgess, Crable, Hall, Kraus, Long, and Woodley makes for six), but still had just as many busts/defections with Jerome Jackson (career back-up), Jeff Zuttah (disappeared somewhere), Clayton Richard (left for baseball), McCoy again, Will Paul, Jim Presley, and Ryan Mundy (played a bunch but left with eligibility remaining to finish career at WVU).
And that is with a full 4-5 years to see what the guys could do. Three quality players and eight duds/flameouts. Turner, Lalota, and Vlad (injured) are the three total flameouts in the 2009 class. Tate started for a full season (and was clearly the #3 QB of the future) before he left due to grades. On the plus side, you already have Denard, Cam Gordon, Lewan, and Roh established as multi-year, quality contributors/starters. You still have the future upperclass contributions of Campbell, Washington, Toussaint, Stokes, Gallon, and Schofield (at least half of whom look like they will end up being multi-year starters before they leave Michigan).
August 16th, 2011 at 10:52 PM ^
i counted 12- 4 star recruits from 2008-2010 tht are no longer w team/out of fb/in jail.
August 16th, 2011 at 11:19 PM ^
I counted 12 players between 2004 and 2006 whose names I never saw on a Michigan jersey. And I saw Justin Boren in 2007.
What's your point?
August 16th, 2011 at 11:30 PM ^
justin boren sucks in everyway. thats my point
August 16th, 2011 at 11:06 PM ^
It ruins the fun of jumping to conclusions.
August 17th, 2011 at 12:56 AM ^
And that is what has me worried about this great class that Hoke is putting together. As excited as I am for this class, I am not naive enough to believe that there isn't going to be any attrition or people not living up to their potential.
August 17th, 2011 at 5:33 PM ^
that every player of every class makes it big, we all know it's not going to happen. What the ratings system cannot take into account is what's between the ears of the recruits. While their talents in high school are measured, they cannot accurately predict their heart and ability to get through all of the challenges of college ball and college life. Injuries eliminate the rest of those who don't make it.
Hell, even NFL teams spend millions on certain talents only to watch them flame out, so it's never a sure thing. The seventh-round Tom Bradys of the world are an extreme rarity with probably hundreds of players missing their potential before the shining star appears.
The school that makes the most of the highest percentage of its recruits WINS.
August 17th, 2011 at 10:14 AM ^
Didn't he just get picked up by another NFL team? He never really helped Michigan, because the Miami Dolphin's starter beat him out when he was injured, but he's hardly a 4 star bust.
August 17th, 2011 at 10:39 AM ^
FWIW, Jeff Zuttah had sickle-cell anemia, and was never cleared to play by Michigan. I think he transferred to Stanford, where they let him play.
August 17th, 2011 at 12:06 PM ^
Point wasn't to blame the guys themselves or the coaches who recruited them because they didn't pan out at Michigan. Point was simply to show that virtually every class has as much, if not more, attrition than the ones people were bitching about.
For somebody to say "14 four star guys left from the 2008-10 classes" as if it is a terrible thing while failing to point out/realize that pretty much the same number left from the 2002-04 classes (and that Michigan managed to go to three Rose Bowls despite their departures) is just the kind of stupidity that seems to reign supreme whenever anything about our former coach is discussed.
And just to show I'm not making it up, the list of four-star guys from those 2002-04 classes who left before their eligibility expired, for whatever reason:
Matt Gutierrez (transfer), Larry Harrison (criminal activity), Mike Kolodziej (illness), Quinton McCoy (grades), Pierre Rembert (transfer), Ryan Mundy (transfer), Jim Presley (grades), Clayton Richard (baseball), Jeff Zuttah (apparently illness), Brett Gallimore (not sure), Max Martin (transfer), Alex Mitchell (quit football), and Chris Rogers (transfer). And that doesn't include the guys who stuck around for 4-5 years making little if any impact on the field.
McCoy actually took up spots in two recruiting classes after failing to make the grade initially, but I've never heard anyone question Lloyd Carr's intelligence or integrity for spending time on his recruitment a'la Mr. Dorsey.
August 16th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^
I bet he wishes he would've stayed at UofM now..........
August 16th, 2011 at 8:15 PM ^
sad for the former 4 star....
goes to show that not all players pan out, but I wish him the best of luck wherever he goes in life.
August 16th, 2011 at 8:17 PM ^
Good luck to him. It always seemed like he had his head on straight.
August 16th, 2011 at 8:23 PM ^
http://mgoblog.com/content/hello-anthony-lalota
Sad...hope school pans out for the guy, best of luck.
August 16th, 2011 at 8:28 PM ^
I went to high school with his brother and I never really liked him as a recruit. Word around the area was that he was too soft and going by his older brother, I bought the rumors.
Sorry if I sound like a jerk, but I do wish him the best in his academic career.
August 16th, 2011 at 8:29 PM ^
August 16th, 2011 at 8:30 PM ^
He was always a boom-or-bust type. He didn't play organized football until he was like a soph in high school or something like that, but people loved his physical tools, he was a big, strong kid.
When he got owned at the AAA game, it was clear he needed a lot of work with the other stuff to go with those tools, looks like he never found it.
August 16th, 2011 at 8:32 PM ^
I forgot he transferred. I was going to say "sweet, that opens up a scholarship."
August 16th, 2011 at 8:38 PM ^
You're quite the fan.
August 16th, 2011 at 8:56 PM ^
He was the top-rated prospect in the State of New Jersey. Talk about bust.
August 16th, 2011 at 9:07 PM ^
It's a Jersey thing!
August 16th, 2011 at 8:58 PM ^
He looked soft to me.
August 16th, 2011 at 9:02 PM ^
I remember watching his high school film. Looked like a WWE match - body slamming people everywhere. It was evident he needed work, but a very exciting prospect. Hope everything works out for him.
August 16th, 2011 at 9:08 PM ^
Speaking of transfers...anybody know what became of Dann O'Neill?
August 16th, 2011 at 9:11 PM ^
He is starting at Western.
August 16th, 2011 at 9:12 PM ^
of Western Michigan University.
August 17th, 2011 at 3:28 AM ^
Yep..WMU. Lived next door to my good buddy last year. Nice enough guy, I guess, but he came off as arrogant and very "off the wall" or whatever. Not the most serious dude.
August 16th, 2011 at 9:13 PM ^
I hope he finds what makes him happy and successful.
August 16th, 2011 at 9:13 PM ^
Is this his first year of eligibility?
August 16th, 2011 at 9:31 PM ^
for initially thinking he was still at michigan?
August 16th, 2011 at 10:51 PM ^
You lose them for telling us
August 16th, 2011 at 9:43 PM ^
Both Carr and RR had remarkable abilities to recruit and sign guys who didn't actually like the game of football from 2005-09.
Seriously, I doubt we will ever have a run of anything that bizarre again. Thank God.
August 16th, 2011 at 9:56 PM ^
Best of luck to him.
August 16th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^
he received terrible coaching and development at Michigan.
August 16th, 2011 at 10:16 PM ^
That's it.
<br>Gotta be it.
<br>Nobody ever bottoms out in Div 1 football.
<br>Nope.
<br>Poor coaching.
August 16th, 2011 at 10:27 PM ^
The bad coaching was so powerful that even after transferring to another program the young man was incapable of succeeding on the football field.
August 16th, 2011 at 11:13 PM ^
Gerg was a bug fan/experimenter
<br>His totem was a stuffed animal
<br>His goal: make Lalota fail at football
August 16th, 2011 at 11:14 PM ^
App needs edit option
August 16th, 2011 at 11:36 PM ^
don't agree with me but he simply received very poor defensive line coaching at Michigan. He didn't develop as a player.
August 16th, 2011 at 11:39 PM ^
Can't develop, won't develop
August 17th, 2011 at 10:18 AM ^
You carry that curse with you for your life.
And forget the edit...I completely believe GERG was a bug fan/experimenter.
August 16th, 2011 at 11:37 PM ^
and ended up in the nfl...id say thats not a bust...
August 17th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^
Having an NFL caliber QB and getting zero production out of him is kind of a sucky tradeoff for Michigan. I doubt if we see Justin Turner playing in the NFL some day people will say, "See, that worked out wonderfully."
August 17th, 2011 at 2:27 PM ^
Matt Gutierrez was not a bust. 100% completion percentage in the NFL