Question for the Recruiting Gurus

Submitted by UMichinCA on

Was browsing Rivals' recruiting site, looking at several schools to see how Michigan compares.  I noticed that some schools already have a section for "signed letter of intent."  Is this a new thing?  I don't remember LOI's actually being signed until National Signing Day (or whatever it's called), first week in February.

JTGoBlue

January 14th, 2011 at 9:29 PM ^

How critical is it to fill out this class (~20 players), unless, of course we have some surprise highly touted players come along...Is Coach Hoke better off just locking up the 12 solid guys we have committed, and signing a big class next year? He'll have proper time to evaluate, a really strong 2012 class in Ohio according to Sam Webb, and the team is really young right now anyway, with a ton of returning starters.  Wondering if we should be stressing out about signing a top 10 class this year..

lilpenny1316

January 15th, 2011 at 12:05 AM ^

Lemming slammed our class by saying the Hoke doesn't need to worry about our current commits because no one else wants them.  Even if we Hoke-oiled Zettel, Arnett and some other kids, our chances of landing in the top 10 with any of the services would've been tough. 

Anything is possible, but even when Derek Dooley took over at Tennessee last year, he mostly had to keep the top-10 recruiting class he inherited intact.  Little different situation here.

NateVolk

January 14th, 2011 at 11:16 PM ^

The next 3 weeks tracking how Hoke puts this together are going to be some of the most interesting ever for people who are really into the recruiting. No in season events, just home visits and scrambling like there is no tomorrow.  We might learn a ton about where he'll take this program by this next three weeks.  If he can recruit like Michigan should, we'll be back kicking ass for years.

Can't wait to see those updates.

Maize and Blue…

January 15th, 2011 at 10:47 AM ^

but we led or had silents/committments for the #17, #37, and #65 prospects per Rivals. Lamar Dawson and Darian Cooper were set for visits.  Jernigan, Watkins, Bryant, Lyons, and Arnett had already officially visited and Hobbi came on an unofficial.  That's not bad and doesn't take into consideration the last minute surprises we usually got.  What about that is not recruiting like Michigan should?

I guarantee you Tabb would have gotten at least a call back but maybe Hoke doesn't like his game or didn't know who he was- you pick.  While I love the university, Michigan is not exactly a desirable destination for most of the kids in sunshine states.  The ones where most of the talent is.

I hope everyone is right and Hoke is a great recruiter, but it is a lot different when you have to be the closer which the HC is.  I'll reserve judgement to see how he finishes out.  Next year should be easy pickings if the team performs as I expect (9-3) as there is a lot of talent in Ohio and Michigan and OSU currently only has 13 scholarships to give out.

umaz1

January 15th, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^

I believe Greg Brown should be on the list for us. Not nearly as many as we have had the last few years, but with the Coaching situation, certainly understandable.  Hopefully we can finish strong with several of the players that RR worked so hard on for us.

Maize and Blue…

January 15th, 2011 at 1:24 PM ^

will be an anxiety filled day.  I'm just hoping we can hang on to most of the current commits and add Bryant, Frost, and Lucien at a minimum as they seemed to be likely candidates anyways.  If Fisher and Posada bolt we have problems in the future as there will be a significant gap between Olineman classes. Without the added reinforcement from this year's class 2012 could be rough with a killer schedule.

A serious question for Magnus- if we switch to man blocking will Molk hold up against larger Dlineman?  Will Pace be able to get big enough to play in this type of blocking scheme?  I know we weren't very successful when we lined up in the I on fourth and short this year.

Magnus

January 15th, 2011 at 1:48 PM ^

I think Molk will be fine.  He could probably add a few pounds to his frame, and he's already the strongest offensive lineman on the team.

I don't think Pace will be ready to go in 2011, but he should be able to add enough weight to play center.  Remember that centers are typically the shortest and lightest offensive linemen on any team.  As long as their strength, technique, and quickness are adequate, then there shouldn't be too many problems.

That being said, I would not be surprised to see Hoke recruit bigger centers than Pace in the coming years.