Demetrius Hart Has No Leader
For a very long time, Michigan has been the leader for Florida running back Demetrius Hart from Dr. Phillips. Besides his connections with Ricardo Miller, he has been up to Michigan twice; once for the spring game and once for a game in the fall. Both times, he was expected by many Michigan fans to commit to the Maize and Blue. In fact, before one visit, he said himself that he thought he would probably commit while on the visit. Both times he left without making that committment. For me, this told me that he wasn't very impressed on either visit. I mean, for him to expect to make a committment before the visit and then not make it would suggest that he was actually somehow turned off. Regardless, I think that many of us expected him to sometime make a committment to the Wolverines. In an article on Rivals today, he specifically said that he has no leader and is wide open. Most of the time, I would just take this as "recruit speak" but Hart has never been shy before about proclaiming Michigan as his favorite. Furthermore, Saban came to his high school the other day and he will be attending junior day at both Florida and Alabama. While he is also coming to Michigan for their next junior day and we still look to be in good position with his recruitment, it looks as though Michigan will have a fight on their hands to get him to sign. The article is behind a paywall, but for those that have access on Rivals, here is the link: http://michigan.rivals.com/barrier_noentry.asp?ReturnTo=&sid=&script=co…
January 27th, 2010 at 7:53 PM ^
The good things in life don't come easy; gotta work for it. It will be nice to see the coaching staff work hard to beat out Florida and Alabama for a top notch recruit like Hart; beating out MAC and Big East teams for recruits just isn't satisfying.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:15 PM ^
I wish that they did.
EDIT: I was responding to the subject line. I did not mean to imply that Rodriguez was incapable of beating out Saban and Meyer for recruits.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:54 PM ^
Damnit, I knew something bad would happen when Miller moved to Michigan. I even said it.
January 27th, 2010 at 7:59 PM ^
Why does scout say that Hart is considering only u of m and Colorado State? Where espn has bigger schools in their and so does rivals? Other than u of m, where is he considering?
January 27th, 2010 at 8:11 PM ^
Scout is nowhere near as reliable as Rivals. Look at Rivals again. They have lots of offers for him. And Rivals actually confirms all offers before they post them. Notre Dame, Florida State, Stanford and Georgia Tech all have offered him and he's talking with other schools like USC, Florida and Alabama.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:15 PM ^
Yeah, stick with Rivals. For those of you who go to Scout: Why?
January 27th, 2010 at 9:36 PM ^
"user friendly" for those of us who don't have accounts on either.
- You can access Michigan's prospect list by position.
- You can access the visitor list.
- I like Scout's "player search" option.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:10 PM ^
Those are legit reasons. I don't have an account for either, and for whatever reason I've always just used Rivals. Since so many people on here bitch about Scout so much, I've never really tried it. Eh, try everything once, right?
January 27th, 2010 at 11:24 PM ^
Scout tends to break the news first, so that's why a lot of people like them. Unfortunately because they are known for getting the original scoop sometimes they jump the gun and their information is inaccurate. Scout also tends to have much more information available to non-paying users, and not everything is behind a pay-wall. They also just tend to have more information in general IMO.
Rivals tends to take their time a little bit when breaking a story and thus tend to be more accurate. People also think that the Rivals interface looks cleaner and much more organized.
Their ranking systems are also a tad different in that Scout has the same number of five stars every year (I believe it is the top 50 players who are awarded 5 stars). Rivals has a score listing much like ESPN, and they base their star rankings on the "score" each recruit receives, so hypothetically one year could have as many as 40 five star players, while another year could only have 20.
They are both about the same in terms of the accuracy of their ratings, with a slight edge to Rivals over the years.
Bottom line, if you pay for one then there's really no point in shelling out for the other.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:04 PM ^
because scout likes UM's class?
January 27th, 2010 at 11:57 PM ^
Facebook likes our class the most.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:15 PM ^
Scout usually seems behind on stuff. I do like the things on their that are specifically michigan though.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:57 PM ^
they had duke as a finalist for pryor back in 08, faaailll
January 27th, 2010 at 9:01 PM ^
Part of that was he thought about going there for basketball at the beginning of his recruitment. I agree that rivals is more accurate, but I like how scout puts out so many articles throughout the day.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:17 PM ^
He heard Duke was good at research.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:54 AM ^
Pryor couldn't *spell* Duke let alone attend Duke.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:23 AM ^
Their There.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:07 PM ^
I am sure a successful season will be enough to persuade.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:04 PM ^
Oh noes! There is still, what, 12 months before signing day? Don't worry about it...
January 27th, 2010 at 8:21 PM ^
Not sure why you thought I was. The post pretty much just informs that Hart will not be a "lock" like many thought he would and that he will be an uphill battle. It's pretty straightforward and without panicky prose. The point of this blog is to post about any and all things Michigan so if you're suggesting that this post isn't worth posting b/c signing day is so far away... well honestly I'm not sure why you'd want to blog here.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:40 PM ^
Sorry if that came off too douchey, I do agree that it was a good post.
EDIT: It wasn't directed at you, more like goblueritzy92 and the rest of the "sky is falling" crowd. Unfortunate news maybe, but not that bad.
EDIT AGAIN: And I'm still in a bad mood from the loss yesterday.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:42 PM ^
The loss yesterday sucked, I think we're all in a bad mood.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:57 PM ^
Thanks, I didn't mean any harm.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:13 PM ^
Ugh, in a post a couple months ago, someone (probably Tim) referred to Dee Hart as a Michigan lock. This concerned me, now I'm even more worried. Eek!
We need a big time RB recruit in this class. We're a little overdue for an elite RB recruit.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:58 PM ^
Agreed. It's not clear to me why an elite running back wouldn't want to come here to Michigan. It might be kind of a detriment for recruits to see that Michigan's running backs the past couple years have shared carries so much. First McGuffie got a bunch of carries, then Minor, then Carlos Brown, Michael Shaw, Vincent Smith... Injuries have obviously played a big part, but elite running backs don't want to get 8 carries a game.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:02 PM ^
That's a good point. It does seem, though, that all of these big recruits have the mindset that they'll come in and get all the carries. I just hope one of them jumps at it soon.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:07 PM ^
You confuse me a little. You talk of Toussaint as a big time recruit. No?
January 27th, 2010 at 9:22 PM ^
Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about Fitz Toussaint. But I don't think he was considered an "elite" RB recruit in the country. Between All-Purpose Backs and Running Backs (on Rivals), he was the 28th back in the country, just inside the Rivals250. Guys like Carlos Brown, Kevin Grady, and to a lesser extent Michael Shaw were much more highly regarded. We were in on guys like Eduardo Clements and Dillon Baxter this year too.
Toussaint can still be an elite college player, which is a lot better than being an elite recruit. Just ask Kelly Baraka.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:04 PM ^
Fitzgerald Toussaint! The name alone earns 3 stars...
January 27th, 2010 at 11:36 PM ^
Just a couple of thoughts on the running back situation I'd like to float out there. First, I think so many backs got touches because no one player separated himself from the rest of the pack, whether because of age and experience or because of injury. No brainer, right?
But going back further in our recent history, I wonder if having a stellar back like Mike Hart kept some really good backs away. If you accept that theory, then I think you can spread it across other positions on the team too, which could help explain why the team was left weak when guys like Henne, Hart, Long, Woodley, Hall, Branch, Harris and Manningham all left within a few years of one another. Running back isn't the only position that has seen a lot of players get time when you think about it. Other than BG, the Space Emperor and Warren, is there anyone on the team that has been a two year starter at the same position for both full seasons?
January 27th, 2010 at 8:26 PM ^
I really want this kid, but I don't think he is a lock at all... He could be a guy to drag it out I think... I reallly reallly hope his teammates like UofM too, because they look like beasts and could help to sign Hart.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:54 PM ^
If we win big time next year and return to Big Ten dominance, I think you will see us with the number one recruiting class next year. All it's going to take is for Rich to win with a lot of young talent and highschool kids will say "Wow, I wanted to play for him and the Wolverines." Unfortunately, that's a lot easier typed then done. We need a big year.
January 28th, 2010 at 8:19 AM ^
I like optimistic people, and wish I was more optimistic myself, but how can you even think we could have the number 1 recruiting class next year when we will only have like 13 schollies to give out?
For that to happen, every one would have to be a 5* recruit (and that might not even be enough when you consider that Alabama will likely sign 30 players).
I'm not saying signing 13 5* recruits is impossible, but it is highly unlikely in our circumstances.
Again, I like your optimism, but I don't think this is going to happen in reality.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:15 PM ^
Reminds me of Marvin's recruitment and the prolonged will-he, won't-he with his commitment. As such, I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. We gots time and at least an in.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:27 PM ^
I would trade any elite RB recruit right now for an elite linebacker. We desperately need defense.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:42 PM ^
that steps up and dominates, they wont have to worry about not getting enough carries.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:53 PM ^
Ok who let Tony Grimes near this kid?
January 27th, 2010 at 9:54 PM ^
We cooled on Tony Grimes, not the other way around.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:57 PM ^
I am not too worried about Dee Hart, Alabama will be strong competition because of Dee's friendship with HaHa but I think he ends up with the good guys. As a premium member at both sites I feel that Rivals has much better media and national content, Scout has better U of M info.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:05 PM ^
He has picked up quite a few offers recently it seems, I know ND has offered.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:29 PM ^
I have a leader. Zoltan is his name.
January 28th, 2010 at 12:58 AM ^
Well played +1