Hand and McDowell, 2015 Recruits
Hoping we don't lose Hand and/or McDowell based on our recent performances. Defense has looked good, however, and Mattison is still a top notch coordinator with a pedigree, despite the board meltdowns about us getting beat by freshmen QBs and not blitzing. Hopefully we can right the ship and not lose any of our current haul, but the future guys definitely must be wondering what is going on in Ann Arbor, especially guys on the offensive side of the ball(Damien Harris and Campbell for 2015-our two biggest pickups on offense.)
November 9th, 2013 at 7:31 PM ^
We'll know in a few days (about Hand). No sense in worrying about it now.
November 9th, 2013 at 7:47 PM ^
disagree completely.
It makes a lot of sense to worry about something in which you have no control.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:37 PM ^
Really, this is one of the central tragedies and absurdities about being a sports fan, no?
November 9th, 2013 at 7:32 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 7:35 PM ^
I don't think Mattison would waste their talent, Borges on the other hand...
November 9th, 2013 at 7:39 PM ^
Not that I am necessarily defending the coaching staff after these last two debacles. But, you do realize that Bo was a MAC coach before coming to Michigan, right? Also, Urban Meyer was a MAC coach before going to Utah, UF, and eventually OSU. I don't think Hoke is the problem, I like him and I think he's going to be a great coach for Michigan. I think Al Borges is a moron. I defended him a lot, and I am done with him. After he called those two runs after the muffed punt recovery, he lost all of my support.
November 9th, 2013 at 7:43 PM ^
a lot of great coaches come from the MaC it doesn't make them MaC level coaches.When we where talking about fire Richrod we had a coach in mind but wiffed on harbaugh and hired Hoke
November 9th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^
Totally we whiffed on Harbaugh I'm sure it had nothing to do with the 49ers offering him 7 mil a year or anything total whiff job.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:27 PM ^
We suck. Bottom line, deal with it. We are never going to amount to shit if we bottom feed. Hey Coach Hoke, we want it all,not just a piece of supposed tradition and 30 year hangover from the "glory days". Whatever...
November 9th, 2013 at 7:48 PM ^
but he clearly isn't an X's and O's coach. That's fine...plenty of great coaches were simply program leaders and delegators (Bowden comes to mind). However, if you are going to be the figure head coach, you need to make the tough decisions, and I don't think Brady has it in him to fire his buddies, like Al. We shall see, but if he can't pull the trigger on the tough decisions, he is no more than a glorified cheerleader.
November 9th, 2013 at 7:58 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:23 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:38 PM ^
Stanford, too, of course.
No football philosophy is necessarily bad. The issue is just implementing it correctly.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^
And Alabama. And LSU. A lot of top notch programs play relatively traditional run first offenses and win with defense. I don't think that approach has been proven obsolete yet. But hey, Oregon rolls up 60 on bad opponents and wears the coolest stuff Nike profits can buy.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:10 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:33 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 7:34 PM ^
Campbell and Harris are 2015 recruits.
November 9th, 2013 at 7:38 PM ^
Thanks
November 9th, 2013 at 7:36 PM ^
Have those two never lost a game before?
November 9th, 2013 at 7:45 PM ^
Let's hope that's not the theory Hand uses to choose his college. Can't say I agree with the post below that our defense played well - our defense hasn't stopped anyone when it's really mattered since September.
November 9th, 2013 at 7:54 PM ^
But with the boo-birds out and our year trending downwards, Alabama looks like a very safe place to play football the next 3 years. The "you can be part of something special" meme is nice, but Bama is winning championships and is an NFL factory now. The last couple weeks puts the disparity between the programs a bit more in his face as decision time comes around.
November 9th, 2013 at 7:46 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:00 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:03 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:09 PM ^
Outside of Lewan, what talent have we had to potentially be drafted high? It's not like Woodley, Graham, or Woodson have been on the roster the past few years.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:06 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 9:45 PM ^
If you're only looking at other 5-star prospects and how they've developed at Michigan, that makes for a very small sample size.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:04 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:15 PM ^
The best defense is a good offense. I believe that. We can't do shit on the online and are RBs are woefully under coached.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^
I have no idea why he is still employed.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:24 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:49 PM ^
Also in SE Michigan, where he has years of ties to HS programs.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:06 PM ^
Of course, it's not that hard for a Michigan coach to establish ties to SE Michigan - our backyard.
The drying up of the Louisiana pipeline is a problem. That used to be his trump card. Jackson used to bring in about a guy a year from there, including some high-quality talents like James Hall and Anthony Thomas. Now, I think Dileo is our last one from there, and he's a senior.
I like Freddie J, but I think it's time. I'd love to see Wheatley come back.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:39 PM ^
Leonard Fournette.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:45 PM ^
Completely agree. The RB position has arguably been worse than any other over the last 10 years.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^
Yep. Ten years ago Chris Perry won the Doak Walker, and then he left a smoldering crater that was filled with.... er... Mike Hart.
Maybe we should say the last six years.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:44 PM ^
What do the Michigan running backs in the NFL have to do with Fred Jackson? In the last fifteen years, Michigan produced the top two rushers in Michigan history (Anthony Thomas, Mike Hart), a first round draft pick (Chris Perry), and some other solid performers (Brandon Minor, Carlos Brown). Toussaint is actually a pretty good runner, but there's nowhere to run. There have been a few lean years (the Vincent Smith era, for example, and 2012-2013) but overall, the running backs have been good.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:03 PM ^
But it's true that the position has not been as productive in recent years. Toussaint in 2011 is our only tailback 1,000-yard rusher since Hart six years ago. It's not all the fault of the backs, but it feels like we don't have the kind of talent we used to, when it seemed like the Michigan starting tailback would get preseason Heisman mention a lot of times. Ohio and Wisconsin seem to have more productive backs than us every year now. Are they just out-recruiting us?
November 9th, 2013 at 10:57 PM ^
I won't say that the tailback production hasn't been disappointing at times in recent years, but not all of that is on coaching. Running back is a position that can be played naturally without a ton of attention to technique. Plus, Jackson isn't necessarily in charge of whom Michigan recruits and how hard they go after each player.
However, the game has changed (or at least Michigan's philosophy has). It's true that Michigan running backs used to get a lot of hype and yards to back up that hype, but for a few years, Michigan's best "running back" was Denard Robinson. That doesn't mean Michigan lacked a back with 1,000-yard capabilities the entire time.
November 10th, 2013 at 8:57 AM ^
we are being led to believe that fitz is our best RB pass blocker. i don't think i've seen a Mich RB miss so many blocks on a consistent basis...ever. and he's our best? somewhere these guys aren't being taught properly.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:55 PM ^
I'd love to have Vincent Smith blocking in the backfield the last few games...
November 9th, 2013 at 8:35 PM ^
It's great we have Campbell and Harris coming in...but honestly, if we continue to have the same playcalling, does it even matter what the quality of our offensive players are? It's not like with a taller/faster receiver or a faster/shiftier RB we would've scored more...our playcalling didn't set ANYONE up for success, regardless of skill level. I mean, Harris might've gained 3 yds instead of 1 yd or Campbell might've caught another pass, but at this point, our offensive issues run so deep that a couple of playmakers aren't gonna change anything...
November 9th, 2013 at 8:36 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^
Our O line players were all great in high school. While maybe we can only expect so much out of them, we can certainly expect better than what we are getting right now. It's how they are being (or not being) developed. It's turning into a cancer.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:37 PM ^
Damn those redshirt freshman offensive line who haven't yet learned to dominate! Damn them, I say!
November 9th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 7:52 AM ^
Not really. The OL as it is has only been this way for a few games. That's not much time to develop chemistry and adjust to the speed of the game.
What surprises me is the lack of development of Taylor Lewan and Michael Schofield, both of whom have not improved. I think the last straw for me was when Randy Gregory blitzed from the linebacker position, Schofield slid to the left...and then just allowed Gregory to run right past him for a sack.