5 Star 2020 OG Justin Rogers to Commit 'Soon' (probably not good news)
Intro
- According to his 247 Page, the Oak Park, MI recruit is ranked 14th in the nation.
- Announcement was made on his Twitter. As per his tweet, whatever you do, don't ask him why.
- A pinned tweet from earlier this month names a need to 'feed his family' as a primary driver in his decision.
Summary
Per Maize n' Brew, it's not looking up for the good guys. Ohio State held the vast majority of crystal balls, and Georgia was a very distant second. The rest of his listed 'warm interest' schools are south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Some Thoughts
This looks to be the third deeply annoying in-state OL defection in two cycles. With Ohio State's recent woes, you've got to think Georgia is the front-runner. There's plenty of time between now and the first Class of 2020 Signing Day, but the schools in this kid's recruitment makes me wonder if there's some fishy business going on here. On the other hand, Michigan's main competition both went to the CFP, so Michigan may have lost out straight up. If that track record is important, maybe a good year from Michigan with strong OL performance turns the tide.
August 20th, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
In other news , John Runyan being raved about daily by Jon Jansen ! Liking what I hear
August 20th, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^
Recruiting is an interesting business. I completely agree with space coyote's observation that some kids leave other areas to come to Michigan, and some kids leave Michigan to go somewhere else. You can't pine for Zach Harrison in the Columbus area to come to Michigan, and then be salty that some kids from the Detroit area want to go to Columbus or points south.
I am interested, however, if there is a climate or vibe or type of player more attracted to one school than another. If you were hanging around the OSU or MSU or PSU or Wisconsin or Michigan locker room and the team, would they largely be the same? You could expand this to Stanford and ND and Bama and Georgia and Florida and Miami and Oklahoma and FSU. Part of the climate shifts over time with the changes in the coaching staff and the boosters/bag men and the academic climate and team success. Still, you routinely hear kids say about a team, "it felt like home." What makes Michigan feel like "home" to a kid?
Of course, I am a Michigan fan, and inclined to be charitable. But I have the sense that Greg Harden and Gwen Bush are invaluable as support staff for the team and for the climate. I would be incredibly naive to think that Michigan players are uniformly interested in academics. But having said that, I don't get the sense that Michigan is as much of a lawless party school as some settings. And if there are Michigan bag men, they maintain a pretty deep cover.
August 20th, 2018 at 11:22 AM ^
I've followed recruiting since the 1970's, and I'd say there have always been some highly rated OL recruits who have left the state. That being said, I think Michigan used to get more of them in the Bo/Mo/Carr years on average than in recent years. I have to think the constant turnover with the OL coach here and head coaches has taken its toll. Michigan's track record too over the last 10 years at getting OL into the NFL has slipped compared to the "good old days". It will all get better once the product on the field improves enough where high school players and coaches see that Michigan is THE place to go for o-linemen who want to get to the NFL.
August 20th, 2018 at 11:24 AM ^
Do people not realize the kids that are in this recruiting cycle or the next few years have never seen a good Michigan team? We've been a distant second fiddle in the state their whole lifetime so I don't get why people expect every Michigan kid to go to Michigan.
August 20th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
Huh? Good Michigan team? We sure as heck were good in 2015, and 2016, we were also good in 2011. The 2016 team was probably the most talented Michigan team ever, just had a couple bad breaks to lose 3 games, but that team was really good.
Sure, MSU has been better than us for a solid decade, but we owned them for 4 decades before that.
August 20th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
Sounds like this is good news to me. Michigan doesn’t need to worry about kids that don’t want to go to Michigan. There’s plenty of other linemen that are going to be proud to put on the winged helmet. Those are the players we need to worry about. Like it’s been said so many times on this board winning will take care of everything. It’s time to answer the bell and win a B1G championship!!
Go Blue!!
August 20th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
Need to recruit better. 2016/2017 classes were miles above 2018/2019.
August 20th, 2018 at 12:21 PM ^
I don't pay a lot of attention to recruiting, but Michigan hasn't been on this kid's radar for quite a long time. This shouldn't be a big deal, some kids just want to leave the state or don't vibe with Michigan for any of myriad reasons.