Preseason top 5 and a top 10 recruiting class the first season back from probation. cleary the system works... /s
OSU had a top 5 recruiting class the year that they got probation.
The system works wonderfully.
If you really want to punish USC you'd have to move their campus out to Albuquerque, make them change their primary colors to orange and brown, and then prohibit attractive females from attending. Other than that, kids are always going to want to play for USC.
They have LANE KIFFIN as their coach and they still pull in just about anyone they want, clearly the coach just needs to babysit to have success there
get an immediate release to go whereever they want? Because now THERE'S some recruiting I could get behind.
following the recruitment of players who didn't grow up loving the maize and blue. That would be much easier on my cardiovascular system, I think. Commence scouring the state for the next in-state blue chip rb...
I understand it's a bit disappointing, but let's put it into context: We have Fitz for likely 2 more years, Rawls (who has been showing promise) for 3 more years, Smith (who looks like he could do some serious damage behind the incoming o-line class) for 4 or 5 more years, Shallman the same situation as Smith and Justice Hayes is there as well. We will be fine with the depth we have there for this season and have a chance to go get another top flight rb next recruiting class and be just fine. Let's not get too upset by this.
See my other comment. I'm not upset about missing an RB. I'd rather have DL. I'm upset that I keep closely following really high profie out of state guys in general. The recruitments of Kozan, Garnett, Levenberry, Diamond, Payton and Dunn were highly stressful. I'd rather stick to following guys like Malik and Morris... the cream of the crop from Michigan... high percentage "shots".
Life choice fail on Ty
I hope we clobber him and Lane Kiffin's goons in a Rose Bowl in the near future.
Big time disappointment. And it continues to be a mystery why we can't land a blue chipper at running back even with two incredible line classes in a row, a meh depth chart, and a coach committed to running the football.
But I'm not sure why it's a "mystery" to you. And by this I mean there's only been 2 Elite RB's we've gone after, Dunn and Issac. The one that I thought we had a chance at was Issac, so that makes one. Dunn was always an OSU lean so I don't think he even really qualifies. So I think saying it's a mystery is a bit grandiose, considering we have a sample size of two one of which I don't think we had a chance at anyway.
If this happens next year and the year after, I'll start to be concerned.
I guess I'm kind of rolling the last couple of years of the RichRod era into the losing streak as well. We ultimately lost Hart to a non-spread offense and I don't even remember being in on any studs for the '10 class. I'm kinda leaving Justice Hayes out of the mix since he is sort of a slot/RB/KR type who came in with an uncertain future. When was the last time that Michigan landed a guy who the Michigan nation was really excited about and thought could make an immediate impact? Kelly Baraka?
Kevin Grady. But yes, we have been losing out on RB after RB. Frustrating.
and agree. It'd be silly to say I wasn't bummed out too. But, something to consider is that a lot of these guys we've already gotten to commit, guys like LTT & J. Butt I remember reading about "how they weren't ready to make a decision" until this time or that time... but we roped them in even before they got to a 50/50 situation.
So while I'm in total agreement that some of these blue chip guys aren't seeming to go our way as of late, we're getting a bunch of guys early even before it gets to that point and thats huge, IMO.
He seems like a nice kid and I hope he does well @ USC - but this will make it even better when Pee Wee & Bolden hold him to 65 total yards in the Rose Bowl in a few years.
Mike Shaw. People forget he was a highly ranked RB. Just like Grady. And both were busts, which just goes to show you never know.
I take your point, though. It's been a long time since we reeled in that homerun RB or WR.
I don't remember much more excitement about any RB recruit than Sam McGuffie.
percent of that was because he was white. be honest with yourself.
but it's beside it.
McGuffie was pretty highly ranked and had offers from ND, USC and others. We don't win those battles for RB all that often.
Michigan has gone after a great many top backs, like Keith Marshall, there just hasn't been enough interest for them to land in the final 4 or 5.
The correct statement is that we've only come close on 2 elite RBs.
I believe he was a 4 star but the 9 ranked all-purpose back in the class, to Rivals. That would put him around 18-22 RB in the class, which is still pretty good. Shaw was around there too. I think the idea with elite is a 5 star or near consensus 5 star-not that they all work out as Darrell Scott busted, Bryce Brown didn't come close to expectations (headcase), and Leseachne Trunk or whatever his name was hasn't done anything yet.
He wasn't very good anyway.
/scorn
Can't imagine any scenario where someone would chose to go play under Lane Kiffin over Brady Hoke. He must be thinking "I'd really like to play for a selfish, egotistical, cheating, coach with no loyalty over a guy that lives the principles he preaches, puts his program first, is loyal beyond reason, is honest, and cares more about principles than results." Good decision Ty...but good luck to you none the less....seriously. Maybe it was the Cali weather.
You don't commit to a coach you commit to a program. I can tell you this the recruiting advantages built in at USC can be tough to overcome. The coach has less to do with a recruit choosing USC than you think.
Although I don't doubt that USC has those advantages, Kiffin's recruiting prowess is well documented. He might not be a great coach but he is a great recruiter. Makes USC tough to say no to.
Well.... more carries for Shallman and Smith
Rawls, Johnson, Hayes, Houma, et al have a pretty good head start on them. Do not count out Norfleet ohh and Fitz.
I'm often reminded of when people predict whether a baby is going to be a boy or a girl. Some people are like, "I KNEW it. I told you it would be a boy. Didn't I tell you? I told you." Yep, you did. You told me so, But it isn't like you guessed the name or the weight. You had a 50/50 shot, and you got it right.
It's like winning the "will the coin toss be heads or tails" prop bet at the Super Bowl. You can celebrate your win, but it's tough to brag about your awesome predicting abilities.
I get what your saying, but the current 50/50 streak of things not going UM's way does have a way of coloring people's reactions.
And it's mildly annoying. But I wasn't just thinking of this situation. See: Mike Farrell/EJ Levenberry
Really wanted this kid.
...balls.
So what do our odds/timetable for Derrick Green look like?
Slim to none
Slim to none - what is your source? I know many different people that would disagree and immediately put us in his top three.
And what would be their sources?
He spurned our Spring Game to go to theirs. That quote about Michigan being hard to turn down was made with about 5 other teams. Guys on the Scout boards saying we would have a lot of ground to make up for him because we went all out on Isaac. That will be very hard to do as he is many other team's #1 piriority at RB. Just a few reasons...
Next.
I guess Derrick Green but there really isn't another RB.
Tat TN RB. Scout is leading the day with a "timely" article on him, and how the coaches are hard after him.
No more Ty Issac comments.
I move that we should only refer to him as Tom Issac from now on.
I've had this one written down as a loss for a long time now. He was 50/50 and wavering and since when has that gones UM's way in the past two years. The coaches do a great job with recruiting, but it seems like they can't fend off the late push.
Regardless, I still think between Smith, Shallman, Norfleet, and Johnson there's enough variety of talent in the backfield to have a good running game.
No panic here.
I guess it could be worse since I still love our class, we could've whiffed completely like this outstanding athlete...
He needs to be on roller skates when he does that, dressed like a dinosaur.
Ah well.
Considering the state of our class I'll file this under first world problems.
and have the rest of the year to fill that spot. This would have hurt much more if it was a hat game on Signing Day.
I'm not sure the kids committing have considered what the team will be like in a couple years once the scholarship reductions have started. Even if they get 15 "5/4 star" kids, a number of them won't pan out and they will not be deep at all. They will struggle.