Who was the most surprising commit?

How did Bo lure him from Florida - and keep him?

Thanks, Bill

No denying the talent and athleticism was there though. I threw that dude the worst oop pass in history at the ccrb once (it was about 5 feet high and off target) and he caught it and threw it down. That day I realized how different that type of professional athleticism is and how incredibly far away I was from it.

He was a pretty big surprise.

Yeah. Jerod Ward was REALLY disappointing. That was when I was following basketball recruiting pretty heavily in the 90's and I talked up Jerod Ward to anyone who would listen. I think he may have had one good game? I was also 100% confident we were getting Kevin Garnett. Blew my mind when he went straight to the NBA.

basketball: 1. Xavier Simpson 2.Nakhtar Ndiaye 3.Sean Higgins

Brown was truly a surprise on the day he announced, as mentioned above. Simpson seemingly came out of nowhere, taking a surprise visit on his way home from an OV to Wisconsin. Beilein has picked up a lot of surprise commits, unlike any Michigan coach in my memory. The others took surprising routes to land here. 

demar dorsey floored me

devin bush

Denard Robinson

Carlos Brown.

Billie jean king

Eubanks or Carlos Brown!!

I'd say Jim Harbaugh. Didn't think he would come back to college.

George Campbell

Justin Fargas

Stefan Diggs

I am amazed that we pulled him away from Clemson$$$$$$.

The tandem of Webber and Rose

Carvin Johnson? Dude didn't even have a recruiting profile. I know he transferred out, but he did show some flashes while he was here.

When Kalis committed I thought we were in for a new era in Michigan recruiting, and Hoke finally broke down the wall around Ohio that Tressel built. #1 OH recruit, #4 OT and #22 overall... plus after he made the "there will be blood" comment, I was convinced we got a top-tier athlete who was also hungry to pound on "Ohio."

Steve Schilling

Jabrill Peppers.

In a time where we were primarily, heavily so, a running team, getting A,.C. out of Florida was an absolute coup. All three of the FL teams were introducing themselves to the nation as viable powers and all three ran offenses that were a perfect match to his skill set. 

Using him at nothing more than a return specialist, he would have more than earned his scholarship. However, his influence on our offense - scoring on 25% of his receptions, having a weapon that forced defenses to sell out on the run at their own peril was unique to M football and over the course of his career convincing Bo to use him as a part of the game plan and not just on third and long convinced Bo of the importance of the added dimension to the offense. Although Jim Smith preceeded him as the firt "prototypical " NFL receiver, he is rightfully recognized as the start of what woul become a long line of geat Michigan receivers. 

There are a number in the discussion but imo he's is easily the best Michigan player never to  have won the Heisman. 

Football: Rashan Gary. Clemson made a serious push in the last 2-3 weeks of his recruitment, and I had a bad feeling they were going to snatch him away. Getting the absolute cream of the crop to not just consider Michigan, but commit, was huge. You're going to hear Roger Goodell call his name in 2-3 years. 

Basketball: McGary by a country mile. Beilein's first pickup where the guy could've literally gone anywhere, with schools like Duke and Kentucky all making serious pushes for him. Schools that typically leaving Michigan in the dust on the recruiting trail. That was a huge recruiting coup, and without him, we don't make the title game. Probably don't even get past the Sweet 16. 

Shane Morris.

Najee Harris to Alabama

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