Rivals Signing Day Recap
Couldnt find a duplicate but thought this Rivals recap of signing day steals and signings to be interesting and uplifting.
Worth the read.
http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1044872
January 27th, 2010 at 5:52 PM ^
Hope we can continue this trend and land both Parker and Knight,
January 27th, 2010 at 6:05 PM ^
consider them "steals" per se. But great pickups for sure.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:25 PM ^
Furthermore, pretty much all of our signing day signings last year weren't necessarily "steals" either. The article mentions Stokes and Denard, but both were expected to sign with Michigan well before signing day. An entire month or two beforehand, there were numerous articles written about how Stokes had Michigan as his favorite and his parents both wanted him to sign with Michigan. Despite the fact that he was committed to Tennessee until signing day, it was known that he would be a Wolverine. The same goes for Denard and Quinton Washington. I'm pretty sure we all knew before signing day that they'd be signing blue.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:41 PM ^
What worries me about Knight is that one of his fan pages on Facebook is "MSU football" so yea.
Parker seams to have a good relationship with Hopkins who is talking to him on his Wall.
Am i a stalker? Yes indeed
January 28th, 2010 at 9:45 AM ^
a little stalking on parkers page... there is a comment from ray vinopal that says "i hear we are going to be teammates. you commit yet?"... parkers answer "naw not yet..."
January 27th, 2010 at 6:01 PM ^
Man, if Woodley would have gone to MSU, I don't know. That would have been very terrible.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:22 PM ^
I didn't know that MSU was his favorite, didn't follow recruiting then.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:34 PM ^
I was actually working for the team then, so had an inside look at some of this stuff. Just thank your lucky stars for Bobby Williams and his (and MSU's) MASSIVE implosion.
If it wasn't for 49-3, Smoker in full blown coke bender mode, and the response of "I don't know" to the question of "have you lost this team?"....we don't get Lamarr.
I'd say he made the right choice.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:55 PM ^
Damn.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:02 PM ^
That's a cool story. That was my first MSU game as a student. I got to the game a little late (see: drunk) and we were already down 3-0. I was bummed that we were gonna lose. My worries were squashed shortly: it was 42-3 at halftime.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:32 PM ^
Travis Johnson and his "I went to bed a Wolverine and woke up a Seminole." We were in dire need of a DE and he was one of the best. Still makes me cringe when I think about it.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:54 PM ^
"Similar Athletes" WIN
January 27th, 2010 at 7:00 PM ^
I think we've recently had a number of well-reasoned posts that show a correlation between stars and, for example, the SI All-American team.
Sure, they're not infallible. Yes, Pat White and Mike Hart and Iowa and Nebraska. But by and large, I think I'd feel better about our future if we recruited higher rated kids than if we recruited a bunch of lower rated kids and said "ehh who cares, Rivals is wrong anyways."
January 27th, 2010 at 7:09 PM ^
...its just a shame it has to be said so often.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:51 PM ^
I think the thing that gets overlooked is the fit with the team that they sign with. If you get a highly rated kid who doesn't fit what the team is doing, they won't live up to their potential. Imagine Steve Breaston as a slot on this offense. RR knows how to use these players like Breaston, DeBord didn't.
Since rivals ranks their players on NFL potential, some of our "fits" won't be as highly rated. Rivals isn't wrong, but they are looking for some different qualities than the colleges are. Now, a great athlete or player will work in any system. A guy like Baxter potentially would look good in a pro, spread, triple option ect. Those are the rare players and are must pick ups if available.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:31 AM ^
I agree, Bull.
I would liken the work Rivals does to the work of a meteorologist. It is an inexact science based on prediction, and people constantly complain about inaccurate predictions while ignoring the overwhelming amount of accurate ones.
As for the article, it was a great read. The Roundtree coup (and Purdue's subsequent outrage) was especially satisfying.
Here's to hoping we can land another stunner this year.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:38 AM ^
Agreed. After following recruiting for quite a few years now, I believe Rivals is the most accurate out of the major sites.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:56 AM ^
If somehow, we could pick up Parker, Dorsey and Knight to finish this class. Highly unlikely, I know, but man would that be awesome!
(I'll leave RR to figure out how to fit the three of them in).
January 28th, 2010 at 3:30 PM ^
I was a good article to read. What happened to McKinney, and Kates?
January 28th, 2010 at 3:31 PM ^
damn. sorry