Gattis and his possible recruiting impact for 2019 and 2020
Unfortunately, there's a Penn State fan in my office. But it's been fun to gloat about the win this year and he's been insightful on how Gattis did in Happy Valley. The first thing he mentioned was how great of a recruiter he was and how big of a drop there was in their receivers this year after he left.
He also said to watch out for 5 Star WR Julian Fleming. Fleming is the #1 WR for 2020 and is #5 overall. He is from Pennsylvania which Gattis is obviously familiar with. Gattis is also the main guy who's been recruiting Fleming for Alabama.
A lot of people are mentioning Keilan Robinson as a potential flip from Bama, especially since Gattis was his main recruiter for Bama. But I would watch out for Fleming in 2020 as a possibility. When you consider that DPJ may be leaving early (and who knows with Collins or Black depending on how they play next year), the outside WR position will be a position of need for 2020.
I can only dream of the possibility of having Cornelius Johnson and Julian Fleming split out wide in the future.
NOTE: Michigan has already offered Fleming with Pep Hamilton as his main recruiter.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:02 AM ^
Michigan was the first (maybe first big school) to offer Fleming and made his top 10, too.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:09 AM ^
Yes, Michigan was the first school to offer (nearly 2 years ago). Hopefully we get him in AA at least once or twice this year to visit.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:07 AM ^
I’m sure Pep was working real hard on Fleming. Probably called him every other month.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:23 AM ^
Cards on the holidays.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:35 AM ^
Sending thoughts and prayers
January 11th, 2019 at 9:59 AM ^
Hope he knows how to write "You're a baller"
January 11th, 2019 at 10:14 AM ^
Ugh, I had completely forgotten about that cringeworthy episode from Jay in his first year. Glad he stopped embarrassing himself publicly like that.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^
I thought "You're a Baller!" was from Mississippi or something. Jay Harbaugh I think did a prom invitation or something? And maybe a cake? I can't remember. I guess recruiting sometimes means you have to be creative, and sometimes it falls flat.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
You're absolutely correct.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
It was a fax that Jay sent to Chris Clark with a list of reasons he should play at Michigan. You're a baller was on that list. The whole thing was cringe.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
Maybe I'm blind, but I'm not seeing that on the list. Also, it was in a letter he sent. Not quite like he's posting on Twitter.
January 11th, 2019 at 2:12 PM ^
You’re a baller was the Ole Miss thing, not Michigan.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:27 AM ^
I know you are being sarcastic - but calling a recruit once or twice a month actually seems appropriate in terms of polite society.
I remember reading once that Urbz called/texted recruits like 4-5 times per day. I actually got stalked by a woman for a month or so (true story) and she was contacting me less frequently than that.
I get that it worked for Urbz as he is a GOAT candidate when it comes to recruiting but I needed to take a shower after reading that.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:59 AM ^
Humble brag? LOL
January 11th, 2019 at 10:06 AM ^
No, not a humble brag. That would be something like... Jessica Alba was stalking me.
The woman I mentioned above was troubled because of some terrible things that happened to her when she was a teenager. It was just a very, very sad situation and I truly hope life has gotten better for her.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:09 AM ^
It was a joke. Maybe one of poor taste, but a joke none the less.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:06 AM ^
My cat follows me around and cries at me every morning
Humble brag
January 11th, 2019 at 10:41 AM ^
My cat wants nothing to do with me until I crack the lid on some wet food with seafood flavoring.
Not so humble brag.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:43 AM ^
You're lucky. If I sleep in 5 mins my cat bitches so loud in the hallway that I have to get up and feed him.
The he does the same thing to Mrs. Hatter 2 hours later.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:48 AM ^
But recruits LOVE that attention. How badass would it be to be a high school Senior and have Jim Harbaugh, Urban Meyer, Dabo Sweeney, and Nick Saban calling you or texting you every day?
Hell, some of us grown ass men would think it’s pretty damn cool to be texting buddies with Harbaugh.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
It would be cool for about 2 days. If I was getting 100 texts a day, every day - I would throw my phone into the ocean.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:42 AM ^
If you think 4-5 times per day is excessive for Urban, you should see how it increases with coeds. He becomes a full on telemarketer.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:12 AM ^
I'm sure Pep will still help (i.e. send Fleming a text) recruit him, but Gattis will be the main recruiter now.
I expect recruiting will pick up on the offense. Our defensive staff was 10X better than the offensive staff at recruiting.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:18 AM ^
I look around the 'crootin rosters and see no evidence of your "10X better" statement. Could you please clarify this? I mean, I don't see where the defense has 10x more players, or 10x more starz, than the offense has. It seems pretty balanced, to me.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:27 AM ^
It's not like defensive coaches only recruit defensive players. There's a point person for each recruit and then they would still be in communication with their position coach, coordinator and HC. Partridge helped recruit Trente Jones and Sherrone Moore was a big recruiter for Dax Hill and Mazi Smith. I think our best recruiters were Partridge and Washington, but Jay Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore are good too. Mattison is a quality recruiter as well. Gattis is going to be a quality recruiter and hopefully one of our defensive position recruiters is a quality recruiter too. I think our defensive coaches were better recruiters, but that's mostly because Partridge is the best recruiter on our staff by far IMO
January 11th, 2019 at 9:28 AM ^
Look up the 247 recruiter rankings. I can't find the link.
Jay and Warinner (maybe Moore too) were the only two offensive coaches in the top 50 of the B1G. The defensive guys showed up higher/more frequently on the list.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:47 AM ^
There's a reason for this though. I remember reading how it's easier to put your talented recruiters who weren't as experienced as coaches on the defensive side than it is on the offensive side. The story was about the reason there weren't as many black OC's as DC's. Starts when they are young, QB's and former QB's usually get OC jobs, and OC's historically got HC jobs more than defensive guys. When kids are younger, a black athlete that was good enough to play qb was also likely a really good rb or receiver, whereas the white player was usually kept at QB.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:59 AM ^
That's a huge reach, but a nice injection of race into a totally inappropriate discussion. Our offensive recruiting sucked this last cycle because Pep (our black defacto OC) is a terrible recruiter and Mcelwain didn't bother trying on his one-year layover. That left only Jay, Warinner (a guy who wasn't a "good recruiter" at OSU), and Moore out there getting recruits.
Our two good early classes featured (also black) Wheetley as the team's #1 recruiter (and top five in the B1G).
Our current (probably now former) offensive staff wasn't set up to recruit well. Now we have Gattis (maybe swapping in for Pep) and Mcelwain replaced with a younger guy. Offensive recruiting will improve a lot.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:10 AM ^
Don’t want to not-pick but I do not think Jay was in a position that was allowed to recruit At OSU (ntOSU)
January 11th, 2019 at 10:25 AM ^
It took me three reads to understand what you're trying to say, but now I get it. I was talking about Warinner, not Jay. The big knock on Warinner at OSU (besides being a bad OC) was that he's not an elite recruiter. Now, in this last cycle, he's one of the best offensive recruiters on our staff - not good.
He should move to the back of the pack in the next couple cycles as Gattis (and hopefully Ben) takes off.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:36 AM ^
Sure, just seems to me that guys like Partridge, Brown, Washington, and Mattison were better recruiters than those on the offensive side of the ball. At least those were the names that you hear more often than not over the years.
I didn't do a complete check before making my post, but maybe its more even than I thought? All I am saying is that our ace recruiter on our team is Partridge, agree? He is on the defensive side of the ball. We also had Brown and just recently Washington, they were pretty big for us. I think (hope) that with Gattis track record, we will have that ace recruiter on the offensive side of the ball.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:18 AM ^
I am sure Pep won’t still help, as he will not be employed by UM anymore.
No chance we are going to pay him $1.5mil to be a QB coach. That is ridiculous.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:25 AM ^
If the alternative is to pay him $1.5 mil to do nothing, that choice is not obvious.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:40 AM ^
Harbaugh doesn’t fire people so unless Pep finds another comparable job we are stuck with him.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:02 AM ^
That's not really true. Harbaugh just gives the guys a really long time until he pushes them out. Drevno didn't leave for a comparable job. He just left.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:16 AM ^
That's pure assumption. Drevno interviewed for other jobs for 2 years before taking a job at USC. Pep also has been interviewing for jobs for 2 years now. If Harbaugh really does push coaches out than why in the hell would he wait multiple seasons to do so?
January 11th, 2019 at 10:21 AM ^
than why in the hell would he wait multiple seasons to do so?
"Then", not "than", and that's a valid question. Look at the timing of Warinner coming on. Do you think he gave up an OL coaching job to come to Michigan as an Analyst? Of course not. He came to replace Drevno, who eventually had to accept a demotion at USC after looking for a lateral or HC gig for two years.
It's the same deal with Pep. He's been looking for a similar job, not getting any interest, and his replacement is now on staff. He's either going to accept whatever job he can get, or he's getting fired.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
I'm trying to follow this. Drevno was here for 3 seasons. Was Harbaugh supposedly trying to push him out after one, but it took two more years? Makes no sense. I don't recall Drevno interviewing for other jobs after his first season. His interviewing for a HC job at WMU tells us nothing except that would be a promotion he would take.
When he did leave, it came after he was demoted and had nothing at all comparable lined up. Warinner was already on staff. Drevno was clearly pushed out, but there's no indication Harbaugh wanted to do it earlier.
I think I'm agreeing with you.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
He let Kevin Tolbert go, someone he had worked with at Stanford and the NFL. Strength coach is as important as a position coach in CFB today.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:12 AM ^
He's being squeezed out. Writing is on the wall.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:15 AM ^
and how big of a drop there was in their receivers this year after he left.
If I remember correctly, Gattis was the guy everyone hoped would take over the PSU offense when Moorhead left. He was very well liked in those circles.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:21 AM ^
Gattis is obviously going to have a positive impact on the recruiting from the offensive side. If he can get Myles "back" and bring in Gentry, get "Mookie" in Maize N Blue, get Fleming and the Missouri City QB...make further inroads into SEC and Texas country-this will be another step in the right direction.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:26 AM ^
Good lord. That haul would be epic. That would be a giant step.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:57 AM ^
Well, yes it would be...it is also what Alabama has done every year...for how long??? It is also a reasonable possibility...expectation??? If Michigan can (finally) out-perform expectations next year they could jump into the elite recruiting range with this class.
January 11th, 2019 at 10:00 AM ^
That would be more than a step in the right direction.
January 11th, 2019 at 9:22 AM ^
you have a psu fan in your office...... I'm surrounded by them.
at the shop,
every traffic stop,
at the bar,
in my car.
Fortunately they're considerably more tolerable than sharty fans and those bucknut wearing neanderthals
January 11th, 2019 at 9:28 AM ^
The blowout win this year also helps lol. He's been pretty quiet since
January 11th, 2019 at 9:30 AM ^
What about in a box?
With a fox?
January 11th, 2019 at 10:47 AM ^
Eating Lox?
January 11th, 2019 at 9:44 AM ^
on a side note, what's up with recruiting at Oak Park MI?
UM had one recruit from that school recently whereas others from Oak Park chose SEC schools or ND. Not like MSU has better networking with the school and out recruiting UM at the school either.
Oak Park has 3 top 10 MI recruits for 2020 (#1, #2 and #10) and none of them seem to be very high on UM as of now.
Oak Park FB coach has roots from down south?