Honestly, how do we recruit against UCLA?

Submitted by diag squirrel on

If Mora stays put, he and Coach Harbaugh are going to be fighting over a lot of the same recruits for years.

Both: top public universities in the US, 30K+ students, academic peers, former NFL coaches in their prime, both named Jim, huge stadiums

UCLA pros: palm trees, girls (33% Asian, which some kids are into), weather, Hollywood, surrounding wealth on another level, Mora has a flashy Manhattan Beach mansion I'm sure he shows off to recruits, Snoop Dogg's and P Diddy's kids are on the team ("cool" factor)

UM pros: historical success, Harbaugh's personal university connection, success and high profile status

We have our biases, but I think we know what most non-affiliated teens find more alluring. UCLA's newfound momentum is not good for us.

Cali Wolverine

February 5th, 2015 at 10:39 AM ^

I wouldn't worry about UCLA....they have had a nice little run under Mora while USC was under sanctions, but this is a flash in the pan. UCLA isn't in the same league as Michigan. They are USC's little brother, but have had the upper hand of late much like Michigan State. I graduated from the top academic high school in Los Angeles (1/4 of 250 students went to Ivy league schools). 23 went to Michigan, 25 went to USC, 0 went to UCLA. UCLA is not our competition on a yearly basis.

ST3

February 5th, 2015 at 3:30 PM ^

in Redondo Beach, but I guess that still makes us neighbors. My wife is freaking out trying to figure out how to get our son into Mira Costa. Actually, I'm the one freaking out trying to figure out how we can afford a house in Manhattan Beach... RUHS is just so damn far from us and MC is 3 blocks away, and is a higher rated school.

dbrhee

February 5th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^

Winning big games will help but Michigan winning is the cure all.... I think Winning big games will happen naturally with JH... 

As for Mora, he has shown no pattern of sustainable success.. Personaly, I think he has plateaued already...  Heck, wasn't UCLA suppose to be a great team this past year? Look what happened? I believe he could win here and there but can't sustain winning tradition even with great recruits.. Just no track record of it... I am not worry as long as JH does what he preach and the work comes out on the field.. 

diag squirrel

February 5th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^

UCLA is not a peer of the SEC and ACC schools with crappy academics and dull students. UCLA might as well be clone of UM...located in Southern California.

yzerman19

February 5th, 2015 at 11:21 AM ^

Respectively, as in crappy schools in sec, cheesy schools in ACC.  But i would be remiss not to point out the SEC exceptions to crappiness - Vnady, UF and to a lesser extent UGA.

Bambi

February 5th, 2015 at 10:03 AM ^

Let me put it this way. All of those top prospects that UCLA signed, Mora had been recruiting them for over a year. Harbaugh almost beat Mora out for some of those kids in less than a month of recruiting. I'm not worried.

OccaM

February 5th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^

Just gotta win more than them and send more kids to the NFL than them. Harder done than said. Kinda praying to the football gods that Mora Jr. leaves for the NFL soon. UCLA has everything to offer that Michigan does when they're actually good at football. 

Weather + SoCal girls for 18/17 year olds aka the dream. Harbaugh will get it done. 

PeteM

February 5th, 2015 at 10:24 AM ^

Yes, but UCLA has really been consistently good in football since the Terry Donohue years of 70s-80s.  I realize that Michigan's most recent glory years is ancient history to 18 years olds, but UCLA's truly is.

I know this was said partly in jest, but I sometimes think that people imagine a California campus to be full of students who look like actors from Beverly Hills 90210.  I've been to UCLA 2x, and the kids there looked not much different than UM students (or at least UM students in the early Fall and Spring) -- a broad range with a lot of serious looking people who appeared to spend more time in the library than the beach. 

Jehu the Damaja

February 5th, 2015 at 10:57 AM ^

Almost anywhere you live there's bound to be some good looking women. But it's the weather that the kids love. It's 60's/70's damn near all winter. Compare that to 4 months a year of warm weather in the Midwest and it's an easy choice for a teenager.




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Arizona Blue

February 5th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^

UCLA has not done jack shit under Mora. They havent won the conference (I am not sure if they have even played in the pac-12 championship) or played in a "BCS" bowl.  Real talk, this year was a bit of an anomoly with tons of head to head match ups, I really can't remember UCLA appearing too much on the recruiting radar (this is probably more a USC and Oregon problem than a Michigan problem)

Leatherstocking Blue

February 5th, 2015 at 11:00 AM ^

The lack of enthusiasm does that for them. I attended the 1989 UM-UCLA game in L.A. While I was thrilled to be attendeding a Septemeber game in the Rose Bowl, a few things stood out. I wondered at various points of the game if I would be able to see the other end zone through the smog. 

At kickoff, the only area that was filled was the Michigan section. The opposite end zone was so empty I thought they kept it closed for some reason. Halfway through the 2nd quarter, the the stadium started to fill in but it started to empty again late in the 3rd quarter.

I believe both teams were ranked at the time and I remember being so surprised at how ambivalent the UCLA "fans" were and how disappointed I would be with the game experience if I was a student. I can't imagine being a big time recruit playing in front of a fan base who would rather beat traffic than watch a close game.

Wolverine Devotee probably has the play-by-play but IIRC, Michigan scored a touchdown late in the game off an interception, recovered the on-side kick and nailed a field goal as time expired. Most UCLA fans who attended the game missed the incredible finish.

Gabe Watson

February 5th, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^

Agreed. I would probably enjoy living in LA now(for a couple years until getting tired of sitting in traffic), but it's not really a place I would have wanted to go to college at. The Midwest isn't really a great place to live in general, but it's a perfect setting for the college experience.