Looks like Otis Reese might be going elsewhere.

Submitted by Lakeyale13 on
247 Sports now has 4-5 Crystal Balls in the last 7-10 days of Reese flipping to GA. That would be tough losing another of our initial top 3 recruits in the 2018 class. I'm sure Coach Harbaugh will be on any TN and FL kids that might be iffy with their coaching changes already / inevitably gonna happen. In Harbs I trust.

Honk if Ufer M…

November 9th, 2017 at 1:08 PM ^

Harbaugh has dropped the peanut butter cup. It looks like Reese's going to Georgia."

I believe that should've been "Harbaugh has dropped the peanut butter cup. It looks like Reese's recruitment is going to Pieces."

Fucking Georgia crashed into us & got peanut butter on our chocolate!

Hopefully we still have some Twix up our recruiting sleeves Baby, Ruth my Chocolate Bunny says it would be like 60 home runs if we swing him back & would send us into Mounds of maize colored Almond Joy & we would Starburst into song with Tutti Fruit & Oh Henry so off key that it draws Snickers & Chuckles from the Smarties here in the Milky-way.

jdemille9

November 9th, 2017 at 9:28 AM ^

#Crootin, just how it goes. Tough to pluck top kids out of the South, not like this is New Jersey. Still not over though, never know what will shake out. Hell, Aubrey Solomon decomitted and then came back. 

Regardless, this kid won't be the savior nor will his (alleged) decomittment be the end of Michigan football. At this point the defense doesn't worry me at all.. If he was an elite LT then maybe I'd care, but even then probably not. 18-year old kids man. 

huntmich

November 8th, 2017 at 9:49 PM ^

I feel better about us winning out now than I have at any other point in the season. Peters is adequate right now and more Dudes are emerging out of our young defense. I think I'm more worried at this point about @Wiscy than I am about OSU @ home. Don Brown now has a playbook for how to stop OSU on offense, and our defense is without question better than Iowa's.

Inman

November 9th, 2017 at 6:40 AM ^

Think about this.... those people that down voted this. That means either you have no confidence in Jim freaking Harbaugh, you are worried about a senior in high schools college decision or.... u r an internet bully.................... let that sink in. #sad

Anchew

November 9th, 2017 at 7:26 AM ^

trolls gonna troll! trolling may be the only thing that makes them feel better about themselves. SAD that people get real tough on the internet when they are hiding behind a screen!

M-Dog

November 8th, 2017 at 8:05 PM ^

Being ranked #1 helps too.

That's life as Michigan.  We have historically gotten great players from Florida, California, Texas, Louisiana, etc. . . . but only when the local flagship program was down.

It's going to be hard for us to pull top 4/5 stars out of GA if Georgia is playing at a CFP level.

Fortunately, Florida, FSU, Tenn, UCLA, Texas . . . are not.



 

 

mGrowOld

November 8th, 2017 at 9:13 PM ^

I'm sorry but Harbaugh's decision to completely abandon Ohio recruiting made no sense to me when they did it and even less now.  Meyer is going national in a big way unlike Tressel meaning there are a LOT of very good Ohio kids not getting OSU offers.   Makes absolutely no sense to walk away from the state that gave us Woodsen, Howard, Grbac, Powers, Thomas, Geddon and countless others to go after kids down south IMO.

I recruited here myself from 92-94 and I can tell you from first-hand experinece it's one hell of a lot easier to pull a kid from Ohio to Michigan than it is from Georgia.  And guess what - Ohio has a shit ton of four and five star players too.  Maybe not as sexy as Georgia or Florida but damn good players.

I can also tell you that we've burned some bridges down here that Hoke had re-established.  The perception that Michigan thinks they are "too good to recruit Ohio" is whispered pretty loudly and gaining steam.  And that's not good IMO.

You know that banner saying Brian put up..."dont be fooled-you will reap what you sow,." Well nowhere is that more true than in recruiting.

mGrowOld

November 8th, 2017 at 9:29 PM ^

https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Football/RecruitRankings?State=OH

See any block M's anywhere near the top?  The #1 rated player is  Jordan Carman, an uncommitted OT - he'd be nice to have right about now.  And you see a shit ton of Kentucky and MSU - both of those schools have stepped up here hard since we decided to de-emphasize our recruting here.

mGrowOld

November 8th, 2017 at 10:26 PM ^

"The perception that Michigan thinks they are "too good to recruit Ohio" is whispered pretty loudly and gaining steam.  And that's not good IMO."

I'm talking about Ohio High School coaches.  I am friends with the Defensive Coordinator for Hudson (Geddon's old school), one of my employees helps with the St Ignacious football team and I serve as a Board volunteer with Ted Ginn Sr of Glennville.  And they all know I went to Michigan and they all know I used to recruit down here.   

So yeah - we are burning bridges whether you like hearing that or not.  And if you think for one second our emphasis in recruiting Ohio is 1% of what it used to be you're delusional.   We have walked away from this state.  Why - you'll have to ask Harbaugh-it makes no sense to me.

So go ahead and yell "all is well" when we lose an OL we need and pretend that everything we do is perfect and every decision we make is 100% correct.  

FYI - our reputation down here when Rich was coach was absolute garbage.  It started to go downhill under Carr (there were issues with Pierre Wood) but it bottomed out under RR.  Hoke, for all his other issues, made recruiting Ohio a priority and it showed in the kids we were getting and lined up to get when he got fired.  Harbaugh put the hard stop on recruiting here with any zeal at all (Georgia & Florida get 10X of Michigan's attention Ohio does now) and if you dont think the coaches here notice that you're nuts.

From a Country…

November 8th, 2017 at 11:28 PM ^

So, I won't argue about perception among Ohio high school coaches since you seem to have first-hand info.

But is it fair to say that Harbaugh ignored Ohio, especially this cycle? I can't remember what we did in 2016 and 2017, but looking at the list you posted above:

- we were after Jackson Carman but OSU

- we were after Jaelen Gill but OSU

- we were after Dallas Gant but OSU

- we were after Tyreke Smith and I remember he visited the Ohio satellite camp. Not sure what happened after that, but all the chatter died down

- we were after L'Christian Smith but OSU

So we were definitely after the top Ohio kids. So are you saying you should be going after more lower-rated kids (similar to what MSU, PSU and ND do)? I am not necessarily against that, but then again, since they are lower rated, they are rougher around the edges and our staff might not like what they see. If you are saying rather than taking lower rated kids from places like Georgia and Florida, we should be taking lower rated kids from Ohio, I don't necessarily disagree with that. Might help build relationships. But I just don't have enough info to speculate.

As to the kids that are going to Kentucky...They are either not going to Kentucky or there is a reason they are going to Kentucky. You probably know better than me that a blue-chip prospect from Ohio is not going to Kentucky unless he has no other choices.

From a Country…

November 8th, 2017 at 11:49 PM ^

Nope, no idea.

I actually never thought about the logistics of recruiting on that level. Always just follow from a very high level. I know the importance of the lead recruiter but I always assumed the best choice would be made.

So is that what you mean? That kids from GA or FL receive a lot more effort of that kind (calls, letters, calls to coaches, calls from Harbaugh himself, etc.) than kids from OH?

If that's true, that is actually quite curious. Any speculation as to why? If they "were after" those kids from OH, why wouldn't they put in the same effort as to recruiting someone from FL or GA? Especially since I doubt they would not be "takes." I am especially curious as to whether it is reflected in any way in who the lead recruiter was since even someone like me knows who our best recruiters on the staff are.

 

mgogobermouch

November 9th, 2017 at 9:44 AM ^

But is it really that Michigan thinks "we're too good for Ohio kids", or is it just that's the line being pushed by OSU, MSU, Kentucky, etc, and the Ohio high school coaches are buying it?

I'm not arguing with you -- it's an honest question. I think if I were recuiting for one of Michigan's rivals, that's definitely what I'd say.  On the other hand, if were recuiting for Michigan, there's no way I'd ignore Ohio.  That'd just be stupid.  So when I hear these rumors, I just assume it's stuff being spread by other schools. 

But you have actual connections.  What makes you sure that it's really Michigan ignoring Ohio, and not just what our rivals say?

mGrowOld

November 9th, 2017 at 9:56 AM ^

In the amount of time spent, whose sent and our degree of engagement we have abandoned Ohio.

I can tell you from actual first hand experience we are giving Ohio the same "love" states like Arkansas get and NOTHING like it was as recently as 2014.

This is not negative recruiting. This is fact. People here arent stupid-they see ehere Michigan is going and where they aren't. You dont need another team to tell you.

war-dawg69

November 9th, 2017 at 10:39 AM ^

Harbaugh is going after the top kids in the country. He is going to put his main efforts into these kids we have a realistic chance of getting. Sounds like you want him to beat his head against the wall for kids who are 100% osu right know. I highly doubt there are many high school coaches in the state of ohio who go against osu and say hey look into Michigan anyways. We have gone after plenty of ohio kids as it would only make sense, but with Meyer there they are all going to osu. At least the top kids are.

The bottom line is you do not know what Harbaugh is doing in recruiting and where and how much his efforts lie. I hope we go after the likes of Zach Harrison because not only is he a great player these are the kids osu fans allready think they have wrapped up. They thought they had Rumler and guess what.....not.  Harbaugh and staff will put the effort in, but if the kid is all osu what would be the point to not move efforts elsewhere where they may bare fruit.

I thought this was about Otis Reese anyways. I am more than sure he is being offered illegal incentives by Georgia. I have allready written who the main players are who offer extra stuff you are not suppossed too. They are Georgia, Alabama and Clemson. Clemson boosters offered Gary ten grand ...ask him. So I don't want to hear it does'nt go on. We lost Wilson to Georgia when all of Michigan's staff was positive he was coming here. I wonder what changed his mind?. Hmm!.

Kids that stick to their committments I feel is because of parental guidance. Kids and parents who look at the long term instead of the short. Otis Reese is good friends with Solomon and Aubrey was not swayed by Georgia's b.s. so I hope Reese is cut from the same cloth.

On another note. Just curious why Emil Ekiyor was visiting car dealerships while on his official Alabama visit. LOL.

FatGuyTouchdown

November 9th, 2017 at 12:35 AM ^

but I think part of the problem lies with the fact that 95% of Ohio kids won't come here if Ohio State wants them. If there's a really talented Ohio kid, he's generally not coming here. And if a player isn't good enough for Ohio State, it's hard to imagine him being good enough for Michigan. At least while Ohio State is one of the most dominant programs in the country, the state of Ohio will likely be a shithole for us recruiting wise.

MinWhisky

November 8th, 2017 at 9:28 PM ^

On top of all of that, MSU is pulling some very good players out of Ohio.  In years past, some of those players would have come to UofM.  That means UofM loses twice.  We don't get players that could really help us, AND they go to our in-state rival instead.   

StirredNotShaken

November 8th, 2017 at 11:18 PM ^

Were you complaining we didn't recruit enough OH kids last year when we had a top 4-5 class nationally? Should we have dropped some of the highly ranked kids from other states just to pick up the #10 ranked player in OH so we can say we're recruiting OH? MSU didn't beat us this year because they recruit OH, they beat us because they played better than us that night. The coaches focus on bringinig in the highest volume of talented players they can get regardless of state. This isn't 1974 anymore when we recruited in a 5 state radius.

TrueBlue2003

November 9th, 2017 at 12:09 AM ^

everyone around here doesn't seem to care where our 4-stars come from - it seems like people even take pride in our "national recruiting" but to be able to recruit well in Michigan and Ohio is crucial for the exact reason stated above: if we don't take them, they'll go to teams on our schedule.

If we don't get kids out of GA, FL, CA or TX, they aren't going to end up at MSU or another conference rivals program that could hurt us.  So recruiting there doesn't give us the double benefit of making us better and limiting players available to teams on our schedule.  But not recruiting the region allows those second tier big ten teams to get those guys and beat us with them.  All thing equal, you definitely prefer a Midwest region guy and I would argue even if it was relatively close, you should go after the Midwest guy, especially when you consider your commit rate is likely to be higher.

MSU's success recruiting Ohio relative to ours is the #1 reason MSU has had so much success against us on the field recently.

Harbaugh did go after Vince Morrow of UK pretty hard early in his tenure here which showed he wanted to recruit Ohio.  I'm not really sure why we didn't have a back-up plan or haven't hit it harder anyway.  It's like after he turned us down, we just gave up.  

mGrowOld

November 9th, 2017 at 6:34 AM ^

"Defensive recruitig" is exactly what Jim Tressel did to both create a powerhouse at OSU AND cripple us talent-wise.  He would take a 2-3 star kid from a feeder school like Glennvile or St Ed's just to get the 5 star coming in the next class.  He knew that closing the doors to the state (Fortress Ohio) would both help them and hurt us.  The coaches here knew he was doing that so they steered everybody hard away from Michigan and every other school.

So he "defensively" recurited.  The doors to the kids here was closed and closed tight from about 2001 to 2012 and it hurt us - again whether you want to believe it or not.   And right now our abandoning of Ohio has both hurt us and helped MSU.  Cause they NEVER used to be able to get anybody out of here that anybody really wanted.

 

Reader71

November 9th, 2017 at 7:04 AM ^

Yes, yes, yes. We act like we can go around getting the top kids even if we haven’t built up relationships with that kid’s coach. It’s possible, but less likely than getting a kid whose coach trusts us to take care of him when he gets here.

Upthread, someone listed the Ohio kids we were after in this cycle and how we didn’t land any. Well, landing those kids was made harder by not having gone after kids from the hose schools in the previous cycles, and showing those coaches who we were.

The Mad Hatter

November 9th, 2017 at 7:58 AM ^

I'm pretty sure we took some 3* guys out of Florida and NJ primarily to pave the way for higher rated guys. There's probably nothing more important to recruiting than having a former teammate telling his buddies how great being at Michigan is.

I mean, it's not like one of the coaches can tell a recruit about how much pussy he's going to get in Ann Arbor.

Reader71

November 9th, 2017 at 3:44 PM ^

No, but I did have a coach tell me not to get too wrapped up in getting pussy because he’s seen quite a few guys who spent too much time chasing skirt and not enough time preparing.

I ended up getting much less pussy than I should have and much less PT than I would have liked. Never listen to coaches is the moral of the story.

DJEasy12

November 10th, 2017 at 9:16 PM ^

If that is how Tressel completely fucked us in Ohio, it seems like all of the OH HS coaches went right along with it and completely locked us out of all the talent. Aside from the fact that they intentionally limited their athletes' choices, they completely ignored the relationships that were built that up to that point. As you said, Michigan had hit OH hard for decades under Bo, Mo, and Lloyd. So obviously they built great relationships with all of the HS coaches that spanned years and years. However, as soon as Tressel came along, all of the HS coaches abandoned those relationships and locked us out. So, my question, why should we invest so much time and effort into OH when it's clear that the OH HS coaches don't give a rat's ass about whatever relationship/effort we put in? In fact, it sounds like Harbaugh's approach is going to insulate us from a Tressel situation going forward - the geographical diversity of recruits makes it harder for any one program to fuck us. 

I say stay the course - OSU will get its fill, and then us and MSU gets the tablescraps from the state of Ohio. I think the only way this changes meaningfully is if we become dominant again and start winning big games. Then we come into OH and compete. Honestly, as long as OSU has Meyer there, I think our recruiting in OH will pretty much be their recruiting in MI. When the program is down, we'll get to take some top recruits. And when it's great, we're SOL. 

Matte Kudasai

November 9th, 2017 at 5:16 AM ^

Mgrow I started a thread about this last week and got torched.

I don't know how much more evidence one needs, but I completely agree with you.

Ohio produces a wealth of great talent and there are numerous reasons we need to be more involved with than just a couple of kids per class, at best.

And guess who is capatalizing on OSU recruiting nationally? Sparty already has 8 kids in this years class from OH.

So for those of you saying, "who cares where the talent is from as long as the players are good", I disagree.

It is detrimental to the program that we make recruiting OH more of a priority moving forward.

 

DavidP814

November 8th, 2017 at 8:59 PM ^

Except in this case, the comments are probably true.  I have several friends from my college days who are huge UGA fans, and they openly acknowledge that Georgia is paying players now.  No "inside information", but UGA fans living in Georgia wholeheartedly believe Kirby brought some bagman tactics from Bama.