Chance at #1 Recruiting Class in '17?
Steve Wiltfong of 247 thinks it is possible-
Hail.
October 19th, 2016 at 2:05 PM ^
for many years in a row
most other schools other than OSU have not (well, maybe FSU)
if Michigan, OSU, and Bama all get top 5 classes year after year the games where those schools meet will be epic
October 19th, 2016 at 12:07 PM ^
If he can beat USC in their prime with mostly three stars at Stanford, he will do just fine for us here. I will take his strategy and player development over anyone, anywhere. Realistic or no, my optimism is basically boundless for what he can do with the talent and resources at his disposal. If he gets guys who are 5% less awesome than our enemies, I don't think our teams will be at a disadvantage on the playing field.
October 19th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 7:08 PM ^
All those years when we were beating Ohio State in the 80's and 90's . . . in most of them we were being out-recruited (slightly) by Ohio State.
October 19th, 2016 at 8:53 PM ^
That was before the internet was big, social media, internet recruiting websites, etc.
October 19th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^
I always assume that Bama and OSU are going to buy whoever they really want and the rest of college football gets to fight over everyone else.
Fortunately, there are a lot of great players out there and Harbaugh is a better coach than Saban or Meyer. All he really has to do is finish reasonably cloae to the top in recruiting and superior coaching and development will give him a chance to beat either of the two dirtiest programs in football.
Top five talent is enough for Harbaugh to win national Championships.
October 20th, 2016 at 9:32 PM ^
- "Bama and OSU are going to buy whoever they really want"?
- Harbaugh is a better coach than Saban or Meyer.
Where is the evidence on these "facts"?
while I love Harbaugh and Michigan, i dont think you understand that there are other schools and coaches out there that have it as good as us....
October 19th, 2016 at 7:07 PM ^
And less than occasional poster on here. I have noticed a disturbing trend of certain bloggers being targeted or harassed regardless of comment. If they don't attack the subject matter ,they get grammatical on you. So wolverine devotee why is there all this vitriol ?
October 19th, 2016 at 11:34 AM ^
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October 19th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
I've seen others post pretty lengthy diary posts about the win probabilites for the games remaining but haven't seen one this week yet? This one was updated 2 days ago...
http://www.footballstudyhall.com/pages/2016-michigan-advanced-statistical-profile
October 19th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^
I definitely clicked on the link while perusing MGoBlog about two days ago.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:39 AM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^
This has been on the blog in multiple locations, people usually post on this following every weekend.
We are projected even a little better after this past week as that is when preseason projections dropped out of formulas. 61% odds are odds you would take every year in Columbus.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:54 AM ^
And i still don't see it...plus the ones that I have seen usually end up in the diary section...but yes, 61% in C'bus is definitely something I am excited about...
October 19th, 2016 at 11:54 AM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 11:57 AM ^
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October 19th, 2016 at 12:19 PM ^
But Harbaugh doesn't like recruiting!!!
October 19th, 2016 at 1:59 PM ^
there but I think it goes deeper than that. His competitveness is personality-based but driven by pride for school and being the best in his profession. And in order to do that, you have to be a great molder of men. No doubt his competitive edge is the fire that fuels his passion for the game and lookig to make all those he coaches the best they can be as players and human beings.
One thing is his favor, the kids who go to Michigan, and this has always been true, are a cut above and generally speaking, people of great family backgrounds and good character. At least that's been my experience in Michigan athletes I've been in contact with over the years.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^
It will be top 3. Probably need to flip at least one, possibly both, of Najee and Leatherwood to be #1. However, it is possible - we will be signing at least one five star in DPJ, with strong shots at 6 composite five stars, in all (Harris, Leatherwood, DPJ, Darnay Holmes, Browning, Zay Wilson).
In a year where OSU wasn't signing an entire All-Star game roster we would have a clear shot at #1.
October 19th, 2016 at 7:11 PM ^
It sucks to out-recruit the entire SEC . . . and still finish second in the Big Ten East.
That's just bizzare.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^
We'd need to likely land both Najee Harris and Alex Leatherwood to get #1 I think. We'll be top 2 or 3 with how many top guys we seem to be leading for though.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 11:43 AM ^
This would be big given that we may need several of next year's freshmen to see the field next year. We're going to be extremely young.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:52 AM ^
I don't think our starters will be as young as you think. We will lose a lot of talent, but the people filling their spots will be experienced and many will be upper classmen. Of the kids playing a good amount already we will (most likely) return Speight, Cole, Newsome (health?), Khalid Hill, Isaac, Higdon, Evans, Bunting, Asiasi, Wheatley, Ways, McDoom, Crawford, Drake Harris, Rashan, Hurst, Mone, Winovich, Marshall, Onwenu, McCray, Furbush, Clark (medshirt?), Kinnell. Lavert Hill, David Long, Khaleke Hudson, Josh Metellus, and Devin Bush are all getting on the field.
Our depth will be young, but we are getting so many guys experience this year that I don't think that we will play like a young team at all next year.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:55 AM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 12:05 PM ^
Or did he redshirt?
October 19th, 2016 at 12:14 PM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 12:07 PM ^
We also have a decently easy start to the schedule. If we can get by Florida, the rest of the schedule looks easier than expected with MSU's now dismal forecast unti we get to Wisconsin.
October 19th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^
Yep, our scheme alone should stop their offense. They will also lose a good amount of talent on defense. If we win that game we should be again headed for double-digit wins and an optimistic post-season projection.
October 19th, 2016 at 3:01 PM ^
By "young," I don't necessarily mean don't mean that we're going to have a lot of freshman starters, but we will have a lot of underclassman starters. Several of the guys you mentioned are freshmen right now.
October 19th, 2016 at 4:59 PM ^
That's true, but you mentally age much faster with each game you play. The freshman that are playing every week right now will play like juniors next year. That's Jim's plan.
October 19th, 2016 at 5:50 PM ^
Yep, which is why people shouldn't get bent out of shape about burned redshirts now.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^
Yeesh out of the 33 five star recruits in the country Alabama and OSU have 11 of them. We need some flops to happen.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:55 AM ^
That leaves 22 of them for us
October 19th, 2016 at 12:16 PM ^
We could seriously end up with 4, which is a ton in a single recruiting class.
October 19th, 2016 at 3:55 PM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 5:04 PM ^
Of the 5-stars we are in on, I'd put probabilities of each at : DPJ = .99, Wilson = .9, Darnay Holmes = .7, Browning = .45, Harris = .35, Leatherwood = .2.
That would give an expected value of signing 3.6 of the six lol so no 4 would not be shocking at all.
October 19th, 2016 at 5:31 PM ^
70% on Holmes seems quite high, what has the chatter been about him? IMO I feel like we would have a better chance with a guy like Leatherwood, who has been saying consistently good stuff about us while staying silent about Alabama.
October 19th, 2016 at 8:49 PM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^
Absolute best case (dream scenario), I'm just thinking about Cesar Ruiz snapping to Dylan Mcaffery, who then gets to either hand off to Najee Harris (or O'Maury Samuels) or look downfield for DPJ, Nico Collins, Tarik Black, or Oliver Martin. Oh and protected by some combination of Leatherwood, Wills, Zay, TJ Slaton, Kai-Leon. Add in Falo and that is a complete starting offense full of studs.
Maybe less impressive on the flip side, but Browning + Villain + Singleton + JKP + Malone-Hatcher would be pretty nice pieces, and who knows, maybe add Darnay Holmes to that. Also St Juste seems like he might end up being the truth some day.
If we really close strong, it's not crazy to think we could end up #1. But there are a lot of dominoes yet to fall.
October 19th, 2016 at 12:02 PM ^
October 20th, 2016 at 1:05 AM ^
Yeah, I read that same article. I was surprised the bar was not as high as I thought it was. I would have thought that you had to have nothing but top 3-5 classes for years in a row to win a NC.
Two top tens in four years is not that high of a hurdle. It's rare for Michigan not to get at least that.
October 19th, 2016 at 12:03 PM ^
Until we beat OSU and MSU.
October 19th, 2016 at 12:10 PM ^
until we confirm Las Vegas is no longer in play.
October 19th, 2016 at 12:03 PM ^
October 19th, 2016 at 12:13 PM ^
this is just 2 full recutiting classes - imagine 4-5 top 10 classes worth
enrolled, commits and likely commits - and we'll have even more than just what is posted below
QB - Peters, DCaff
RB - Evans, Walker, Samuels, Dillon, Taylor
FB - Mason
WR - Doom, Crawford, Johnson, DPJ, Nico
TE - Asiasi, Eubanks, McKeon
C - Ruiz
G - Slaton, Brederson
T - Herbert, Stuber, I Wilson, Hall, Stueber
DT - Gary, Dwumfour, Paea, Hudson
DE - Luiji, CMH, Ron Johnson, Kemp
LB - Uche, Mbosse, Gil, Ross, Bush, Singleton, Anthony (and Mason)
CB - Ambry Thomas, BSJ, Long, Lavert
S - Hudson, Matellus, Woods, JKP
K/P - Nordin
October 19th, 2016 at 12:44 PM ^
For WR's, you missed Tarik Black and Oliver Martin.
October 19th, 2016 at 5:13 PM ^
Also missed the Onwenu.
October 19th, 2016 at 12:13 PM ^
with a couple elite players like Jabrill and Gary is more than enough for Harbaugh. Harbaugh's recruiting targets have historically not lined up completely with the recruiting services. He has a specific type of player that fits his needs (fullbacks, tight ends) that probably wont get 4-5 stars, and he scours film for specific talents.
Granted a lot of Harbaugh's targets will be 4 and 5 star guys, but he'll also find a lot of 3 stars that end up better than Scout and Rivals top 100 guys.