Moore Recruiting Potential as HC?
With Jim gone to LA, it’s expected Sherrone Moore takes over as HC. A negative of Harbaugh’s NFL saga that has been bemoaned often here was the repercussions that had on recruiting. If Sherrone is HC, he has a track record of being a great recruiter, I’d imagine we may see recruiting see an uptick (especially with that “new coach smell” most programs get when a new coach comes in). Obviously the staff has shown scouting and development to further than starz, but it’s nice to know Moore has been able to identify high level talent and recruit them to UM.
Notable Moore recruits are…
Dax Hill- Primary Recruiter
JJ McCarthy- Primary Recruiter
Donovan Edwards- Secondary Recruiter
Andrew Gentry- Primary Recruiter
Giovani El-Hadi- Primary Recruiter
AJ Henning- Primary Recruiter
Maxi Smith- Secondary Recruiter
Braiden McGregor- Primary Recruiter
Tyler Morris- Secondary Recruiter
Andrew Sprague- Primary Recruiter
Trevor Keegan- Primary Recruiter
Roman Wilson- Secondary Recruiter
Rayshaun Benny- Primary Recruiter
Semaj Morgan- Secondary Recruiter
Blake Frazier- Primary Recruiter
January 25th, 2024 at 6:42 PM ^
I think a bigger piece is the program needs a upscaled recruiting department. More analyst, more staff more everything.
January 25th, 2024 at 6:43 PM ^
I know a sign guy.
/s
January 25th, 2024 at 9:04 PM ^
What they need is a Dollar $ign Guy.
January 25th, 2024 at 6:46 PM ^
NIL is the number one factor.
January 25th, 2024 at 6:48 PM ^
NIL is the $ one factor.
January 26th, 2024 at 9:10 AM ^
I think it's a big factor, but Michigan's never gonna be the school buying a top 5 player with a check up front. That's for Columbus and Coral Gables. Hopefully they can find a way to continue with the strong culture we have and also be competitive. You want to get top 100 guys, but you don't want to be TAMU with a bunch of undisciplined guys clearly there only for the check
January 26th, 2024 at 9:40 AM ^
I like our model for player retention, we need more money but it should be focused on our current players, not incoming ones.
January 26th, 2024 at 10:50 AM ^
I'd add game ready veterans to the list too. Michigan has used the portal to shore up the OL and LB corps with high quality players who are ready to go.
January 25th, 2024 at 6:58 PM ^
Why? We have dug diamonds out of the rough all over the board. We don’t have the recruit sheet at the start of the year, but by the end of the year it’s clear we’re full of guys who were missed by recruiting sites
January 25th, 2024 at 7:05 PM ^
I wonder who at UM has discovered the most diamonds post-2017? Some teams (Wisconsin, Iowa) and coaches (Dantonio, shudder) have a knack for it. Michigan has obviously done some good scouting the past few years.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:11 PM ^
I'm just replying so that Tony has to read this too when he gets the screen shot from Ohio State's PI who will use this as proof that Michigan was scouting. Tony, it's ok we are allowed to advance scout recruits in person.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:18 PM ^
Not gems but holy shit Batman, Courtney Morgan hauled in Mason Graham, Keon Sabb, Zeke Berry, Jayden Denegal ALL IN ONE CLASS! Bing him back ASAP
January 25th, 2024 at 7:24 PM ^
I mean I'd love to have Courtney Morgan back, has anyone called him?
January 25th, 2024 at 7:55 PM ^
Kalen DeBoer called him.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:23 PM ^
Pretty sure Hoke just looked at the “Rivals” board and offered. That “vaunted” o-line class was brutal.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:25 PM ^
And even when it wasn't, Derrick Green found a way to trip over the line of scrimmage graphic
January 25th, 2024 at 8:09 PM ^
Back in my day we called that “Kevin Grady Disorder”
January 25th, 2024 at 8:27 PM ^
Kevin Grady was a beast in HS
January 25th, 2024 at 9:20 PM ^
Kelly Baraka had a bong named "The Beast" in high school.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:47 PM ^
I’ve never named a bong before
January 26th, 2024 at 6:41 AM ^
What ever happened to Demar Dorsey?
January 25th, 2024 at 7:27 PM ^
Because Michigan, the defending national champs, shouldn’t have to rely on finding diamonds in the rough. Should be able to recruit some obvious elite talent, while also finding some diamonds in the rough to mix in.
January 26th, 2024 at 12:11 AM ^
This right here. The way some people talk about recruiting here is as if it should be a point of pride for the program to make the acquisition of talent harder than it has to be. Nothing is guaranteed. There's no rule saying M will find the Mason Grahams and Kenneth Grants of the world at a consistent enough rate to keep up its current success. Recruiting is ultimately a variance game. Get as many high-level bullets in the chamber as you can get and your team will benefit from it over 3-4 year windows.
January 27th, 2024 at 7:43 AM ^
There's no rule saying 5* stars will win titles for you either . . .
Youre arguing we cant be elite without more higher rated recruits but like we just won the National Championship . . .
January 26th, 2024 at 7:06 AM ^
You can't exist as an elite program with "diamonds" as a primary recruiting tool. Some of those players will not turn out to be diamonds.
Even 5* or highly ranked 4* players may not reach their potential, but the odds are in their favor. JJ, Blake, Will Johnson, Donovan - all were highly ranked.
And of course NIL money. The regents and others who are living in another time, need to get their heads out of their butts and realize that the game has changed. We got very lucky with team 145, many of whom came on board before NIL and also had unusual team chemistry.
January 27th, 2024 at 7:41 AM ^
> You can't exist as an elite program with "diamonds" as a primary recruiting tool.
No we don't exist, we're the non-existent national champions
January 25th, 2024 at 7:47 PM ^
I don’t see how more analysts and staff are going to improve Michigan’s recruiting in the sense of higher ranked classes.
January 25th, 2024 at 8:12 PM ^
The landscape has changed. You basically restart recruitment every single offseason, literally every college football player is a potential recruit again.
Not being able to land a guy out of high school is no longer a big deal. Just ping him again after his freshman year. And his sophomore year. And his junior year.
Keeping track of EVERYONE you’ve ever been high on, or everyone who looks like they’re gonna to pop, is a big task. Especially if you know you’re probably sitting out on the bidding wars for the obvious mercenaries.
January 25th, 2024 at 8:23 PM ^
That’s still not an area we’ve remotely struggled in. Michigan has done extremely well in complimenting the roster with portal additions.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t tweak our recruiting department, but adding more recruiting analysts isn’t going to change the game for us. Keeping up on who the top portal guys are isn’t a hard task that requires some massive staff.
The fan perception of “good recruiting” is based on recruiting rankings. If the goal is to get higher ranked players out of high school, adding recruiting analysts doesn’t accomplish that. It may improve upon Michigan finding undervalued guys like Kenneth Grant, but that isn’t gonna stop the fans bitching and moaning about a 3* DT. But again, that’s something we’re already good at
January 25th, 2024 at 10:25 PM ^
Having more people finding players won't help?? Okay
January 25th, 2024 at 10:41 PM ^
More people finding players isn’t going to increase the recruiting ranking of the team.
I suggest you try actually reading what I said.
January 26th, 2024 at 7:49 AM ^
The more players you find, the better chance you have to bring in more of those good players.
January 26th, 2024 at 10:42 PM ^
The question isn’t about finding good players. The question was improving recruiting, which in the case of fans, is based on recruiting rankings. Finding more players isn’t improving rankings.
We just won a national championship and the complaint is that we aren’t taking higher ranked commits as a result. More analysts on staff isn’t how that changes. As I said, it improves your ability to find undervalued recruits such as Kenneth Grant. But recruiting rankings aren’t gonna go up. If recruiting rankings don’t go up, people will still complain about the lack of an uptick in recruiting… like we’re doing right now following a freakin’ National Championship
January 26th, 2024 at 10:02 AM ^
Moore everything.
January 25th, 2024 at 6:48 PM ^
Will he sit in silence across from a WR prospect for two minutes while he's on a recruiting visit? I mean, don't get me wrong I love Jim Harbaugh's intensity and what he did for the program but he could be weird at times. This is the dude that told a recruit he was weird but it grows on you. We loved his quirks because he's a beloved alum but we'd absolutely skewer the heck out of him if he was a Buckeye. His quirkiness is a turn off for many recruits.
Moore, from all reports, is the warmer, more personable of the two. Might help on the recruiting trail. He seems to "get" players more. We'll see.
January 25th, 2024 at 6:49 PM ^
I have said this before but I think it’s great insight into our new head coach.
My Buddy’s son played for Sherrone at CMU and then was on the squad at Iowa for two years. He is a high academic achiever and knows the game of football. He is a smart kid.
Sherrone was his favorite coach he has played for. He says Sherrone is one of the brightest football coaches he has been around and has a demeanor that kids respect.
Let’s hope that translates to being a great CEO. I have no doubt that he is going to be a great recruiter.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:24 PM ^
Word is that he fuckin' loves the shit outta his guys too!
I hope he kicks ass.
January 25th, 2024 at 6:57 PM ^
Recruiting might stay same but I doubt there's an uptick. Losing Jin and JAY. Take a look at Jays primaries and theyre astounding. Graham, Loveland, Etc
January 25th, 2024 at 7:00 PM ^
Jay is a great coach but it’s been inevitable that he has to spread his wings somewhere else before coming back even better
January 25th, 2024 at 7:17 PM ^
Jay Harbaugh is responsible for Corum, Haskins, Charbonnet, Edwards, Loveland, Asiasi, Mckeon. Some legends for sure!
January 25th, 2024 at 9:07 PM ^
Yep. That whole "University of Michigan" thing doesn't hurt, either.
The bottom line is that if you are an intelligent, honest, friendly, non-weird person - you will most likely do well in any sales position. Having a great product is always nice, too.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:01 PM ^
Your initial point is the biggest difference IMO. I think the clearest recruiting benefit is that the yearly Harbaugh uncertainty is no longer free ammo for opposing coaches to poke at. It was incredible what Harbaugh and his staff were able to achieve via scouting and developmental wins, but the NFL rumors were clearly self sabotage in terms of getting recruits in. No other program in the country had to deal with that because no other program has a coach with genuine NFL success. Saban, Day and Dabo certainly never dealt with it.
We know Sherrone is a zealous recruiter and well regarded by basically everyone. With the NFL cloud lifted things should be smoother. NIL will still be a weak point most likely, but Michigan does well in the other categories on paper.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:05 PM ^
One thing I wonder about this is why no current players headed for the doors during these rumors? Why are no players scrambling now that he is gone? I dont know I got a feeling our recruting department was just kind of mediocre if you asked me. If Harbaugh potentially leaving was so dramatic why is him actually leaving not a big deal?
January 25th, 2024 at 7:10 PM ^
There is a difference when you hire from within vs bringing in a new staff from outside the program. If we retain the majority of the staff I would expect defections because of Harbaugh leaving to be minimal.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:16 PM ^
Maybe this is just confirmation bias, but I would assume the current class was made very aware of the circumstances of Harbaugh's potential departure and since Moore is a continuation of the regime they signed on for, so long as he is in, the majority of them are comfortable.
These previous two classes have been underwhelming for a 3 time playoff team for sure, but the fact people aren't racing for the exits immediately (and maybe there is some attrition coming) I think is more of a endorsement of the current staff and the types of players they grab than a negative. Time will tell if recruiting actually improves but at the very least, NFL negative recruiting is off the board.
January 25th, 2024 at 8:39 PM ^
Our recruiting was GREAT at finding underrated players, solid 4-stars, and the occasional 5-star. But there was definitely room for improvement. That we won 1 title does not mean the system was unimpeachable. There's no reason Michigan shouldn't recruit a top 5-10 class every single year. Imagine how good we'd be if we developed the highest-rated players.
January 26th, 2024 at 8:25 AM ^
Also like
where will they go
not that many five star types, lots of these guys aren’t Georgia or Florida takes right now if we’re being honest. Michigan with Sherrone is still obviously a lot more attractive than Wisconsin or Cincinnati
January 25th, 2024 at 7:02 PM ^
This is going to sound very troll-ish so please forgive me.
What high profile recruits has he brought in from being an OC? We are doing fine but what has stopped him from bringing in high profile recruits before and what makes his track one of a great recruiter?
January 25th, 2024 at 7:14 PM ^
I mean since he was co-OC, it’s been Sprague, Frazier, Morris, Morgan, Gentry. And it’s more of “this is my team, I know what I am seeking and can offer you this/that”. Idk who came here because Moore was OC, but to be fair I doubt more than 20% of commits choose the team strictly off a coordinator. The linemen he’s brought in have looked good since he became co-OC, not including transfers like Olu, Hinton, Nugent, Henderson
January 25th, 2024 at 7:43 PM ^
Ok that seems like fine recruiting I suppose.