Thursday Recruitin' Examines Blueberries
Jim Harbaugh, Picky Shopper
NOPE
Maize n Brew's Brandon Justice penned an article on four-star CA C Brett Neilon for the Detroit News that contains what I believe is the first food-related Harbaughism that isn't about red meat:
A conversation Neilon had with Harbaugh earlier this month may have placed Michigan at the top of Neilon’s list among schools he is considering.
The topic: blueberries.
“He told me, if you buy a pack of 30 blueberries and one is moldy, it will affect the others, and that’s why he doesn’t recruit moldy blueberries,” Neilon said, laughing, recalling his talk with Harbaugh. “(Harbaugh) thinks I will fit perfectly at Michigan.”
While Neilon won't cop to having a leader, he acknowledged Michigan is recruiting him harder than any other school. USC and Washington are M's primary competition. Notably, the California native says distance from home won't play a factor.
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the roundup.]
Wouldn't That Make Him Waluigi?
247's Steve Lorenz reports top-100 VA WDE Luigi Vilain, a Canadian transplant, is visiting campus this weekend, and Steve's intel on Vilain led him to put in a Crystal Ball pick for Michigan. Steve Wiltfong followed suit shortly thereafter:
The Alexandria (Va.) Episcopal standout visits Ann Arbor again this weekend but a decision isn't expected till early June, likely June 8 when he returns to his native Canada.
247Sports is told Vilain is really high on Michigan. Rounding out the top three is Virginia Tech and USC.
At 6'4", 240 pounds, Vilain could be a WDE or SAM in Don Brown's defense.
Another weekend visitor to keep an eye on is three-star OH SDE James Hudson, who decommitted from Kentucky yesterday. Hudson's fielded recent offers from the likes of Alabama and Miami; at the moment, Michigan and MSU are the two school listed as "warm" on his 247 profile.
More DPJ Optimism
Monday's roundup led off with a very positive post from Rivals on Michigan's standing with five-star Cass Tech WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, noting he had a great tour of the medical campus on his latest visit. Turns out it was more than just a tour. Steve Lorenz did some digging and found even more reason for optimism from Michigan's end:
EDIT: The tweet won't embed properly, but says Donovan Peoples-Jones has been working/shadowing at U of M hospital for surgeries and other medical fields.
Since it appears as a pretty big deal, I was able to check with those closer to the Michigan side of things and can confirm that the above is true regarding Peoples-Jones, who has been apparently posting some of his experience on Snapchat, an app that I despise and refuse to add to my phone.
As a fellow Snapchat holdout, I'll take Steve's word on that. It's safe to assume DPJ is "shadowing" instead of working a paid position, which would get into tricky NCAA territory. It's hard to take this news as anything but a great sign.
Speaking of which, top-100 AL WR Nico Collins continues to say Michigan leads, though he also acknowledged he's susceptible to the post-visit afterglow factor. We'll learn more about where the Wolverines truly stand after his next visit or two. For now, the way he talks about Michigan—"everything was just perfect"—is quite promising.
St-Juste Moving Up
It's been quite a month for Benjamin St-Juste, whose standout performance at the Opening New Jersey regional ultimately resulted in an invite to the finals. The regional gave some scouts their first real look at St-Juste; Scout responded by moving him from a two-star to the #32-ranked corner in the class, only three spots away from four-star status.
St-Juste ran a 4.64 40-yard dash in New Jersey, a strong mark for a 6'3" corner. That apparently wasn't satisfactory:
Wasn't satisfied with my 40 at The Opening , so I decided to work harder and I just ran a 4.54 Thanks to @Hudl Combine
— Benjamin St-Juste (@BenjWolfpack24) May 13, 2016
At this rate, he'll be running a sub-4.0 in no time.
Various Top X Lists
Michigan joins Alabama and Miami in a "rough" top three for four-star GA ATH DeeJay Dallas, who told Scout's Chad Simmons he's looking forward to a trip north:
"I am ready to get up there and see Michigan. They have really been recruiting me hard and they have a lot of history there. I love Jabrill Peppers and they say I could be like him up there. Coach [Jim] Harbaugh lets his guys be who they are and do what they do. Peppers plays offense and defense and I love how coach Harbaugh allows his guys to find themselves.
"I have a great relationship with coach Partridge and it is a school I really want to get to, to spend some time at."
Dallas says he'll either commit this summer if he's comfortable with a school or wait until December when his senior season is over.
Michigan is the only non-SEC school in the top five for four-star MS OLB Willie Gay, who hails from Starkville. Yes, both Mississippi schools are included. The Wolverines also made the top ten for four-star IMG OLB Jordan Anthony, who noted five schools he's most familiar with:
“I would definitely say Michigan, Clemson, Maryland and Oklahoma and Penn State,” he said.
Anthony hails from the DC area, and two IMG teammates—including five-star DE Josh Kaindoh—have committed to Maryland, so don't discount the Terps here.
Michigan also made the top ten for four-star KY OT Jedrick Wills, though they're almost certainly working from well behind with him—Kentucky has all but one of his Crystal Ball picks.
New Offers
We're still at the stage where it's near-impossible to cover all of Michigan's offers in a couple of roundups a week. Lately, some more notable offers have gone out. I'll do my best to cover them all.
Starting in the 2017 class, Michigan offered four-star NC S Hamsah Nasirildeen, whom 247's Barton Simmons mentioned showed high interest in the Wolverines early in his recruitment. We'll see if that's held up now that he's got a who's-who of southern power programs in pursuit.
The coaches are targeting a huge wideout in three-star FL WR Matt Landers, who told TMI's Brice Marich he plans to visit this summer after fielding an offer. Landers is 6'5", 182 pounds, and his offer sheet far outstrips his current ranking; Notre Dame is the latest big-time school to throw their hat in the ring.
Marich reports Michigan also offered four-star 2018 FL WR Xavier Williams, who claims no early leaders among his impressive list of offers.
2018 five-star NY OL/DL Matthew Jones has Alabama and Ohio State out in front early, but 247's Alex Gleitman reports that he really wanted offers from Michigan and Oregon, and the former came through this week. Jones is a Brian-approved prospect:
"I feel really good about the offer from Michigan," Jones told 247Sports. "They have a great program and the academics there are great. I want to study either mechanical or electrical engineering in college."
Michigan still has work to do, but there's plenty of time.
The Wolverines grabbed the lead outright for four-star 2018 MO DT Michael Thompson, who told TMI's Josh Newkirk there's a simple reason why Michigan is on top:
“The offer came like two weeks ago, my coach told me” Thompson said of his offer from U-M. “Michigan is probably on top right now.”
Why is Michigan on top? What stands about the Wolverines? Well, one particular reason, Thompson says.
“I like Michigan’s coach Jim Harbaugh,” Thompson said.
Michigan is the first elite program to offer Thompson, who also holds offers from Mizzou, Louisville, Illinois, and Iowa.
Etc.
I highly recommend Brandon Justice's extensive recap of the Opening regionals, which includes a handful of prospects raving about the move to Jordan apparel.
2018 Detroit County Day LB Kolin Demens, younger brother of Kenny, seems darn close to a lock to end up in the class based on what he told Josh Newkirk:
“I love Michigan a lot,” Demens said. “I miss being there with my brother. I miss him living there. Being there every weekend for games, it’s a great atmosphere in the Big House – I love it there.”
Demens recently added a Michigan offer and stood out at the Chicago regional for the Opening.
I fully approve of Michigan pursuing all large RB/FB types with the name Sione.
Wasn't happy with his 40 time, so he worked harder to improve.
That's the very definition of a Harbaugh guy....
Earning the right to get better!
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Assuming the folks we supposedly lead for pan out, and the ones we don't do not pan out, how would this recruiting class compare to our peers this year? (Are we talking top 10? top 5? top 2?)
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Um, yeah, OK, half of a national championship, and then a bunch of 9-3, 8-4 years.
Wow.
We weren't a better program than OSU--just found a way to beat them and usually save another disappointing season.
I mean, they were undefeated and ranked in the top 3 for three or four of those Fool's Gold wins over them.
Even in '97, they were 9-1 and ranked fourth going into the Game. And Lloyd managed to almost blow that one after jumping out to a 20-0 lead.
I'd like to forget 9 years out of that decade, thanks.
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I'll believe it when I see it. All caveots apply like Harbaugh is just getting started, look at what he did with Standord/USC, and if classes are closely ranked what are 2-3 spots in the rankings?, etc. However, in my humble opinion we will never beat OSU with any regularity if we never put together classes ranked higher than theirs.
The thing is their 2017 class is looking to be epic, though small. Think the USC classes of the 00's. They have 13 commits right now, and of those, 12 are top 300 guys(the 13th is a kicker) and 2 are top 15. On top of that, they are either the leader or a major player for 10 more top 50 guys. Their class won't be huge but will probably end at around 20 with nearly the rest of their commits being top 100 guys and at least 2 more top 25 players.
Michigan may surpass them in the future, but as long as they can get 90% of the guys they want in the state of Ohio while Michigan has to compete with OSU and MSU in Michigan, they have a built in recruiting advantage that will be hard to overcome. For Michigan to win they will need to keep it close, and rely on superior talent evaluation and development, things Harbaugh has shown a knack for.
I agree they have a built in geographic advantage of less in state competition for their talent as well as more talent in their state to choose from. But, their recruiting success has more to it than just that IMO. Of their top 7 verbal commits for 2017 only one of them is from OH. They have three top 10 DBs out of FL, the #5 RB out of TX, the #9 DT out of TX, etc. They are out recruiting us nationally.
While I agree Harbaugh excells at evaluation and development and that he has to, I do not believe that will be enough to beat OSU with an regularity without having higher ranked classes. FWIW I don't think UM will ever again win more than 50% of it's games against OSU in the near future unless OSU goes through a major scandal or a bad coaching change/decision for the reasons we have discussed. I hate to say it, but its true.
In all fairness OSU's major recruiting competition is ND and UM and to a lesser extent PSU (not Cincy or Ohio). They are both geographiclly close and more of a competition for any top players more than anyone esle in state. But, we are just saying the same thing.
I agree with you.
he's rolling.
That's an interesting point. We all recognize that recruiting stars are importanat and directly correlate to wins. We also all recognize programs/coaches that do more with less like Stanford, MSU, etc. We also all recognize that Harbaugh is a great coach and has beaten other schools that were great recruiters. So, how is it that some programs can beat programs that out recruit them, but some programs can't? I think that it depends on who is coaching at the school that is reallly good at recruiting. USC has not had great coaching as of late, which has left them a litlte vulnerable. We don't have that benefit at OSU because Meyer is also a great coach. Also, USC was under some sanctions and scholarship losses. Again, we don't have that going on at OSU. Granted JH's Stanford teams did beat Carroll 2 of 3 times from 2007-2009, but that's a small sample size and one of those 2 wins was by one point (24-23).
I think this is a really unique opportunity to test this idea of if a great coach like Harbaugh who still recruits really well can beat another great coach in Meyer who out recruits him. To be fair we probably won't know until 2018 when Harbaugh has his own recruits playing. I personally have my doubts but it's hard to ignore the last 12 years of UM/OSU football so that may cloud my lenses a bit.
A win this year would go a long way in this agrument for Harbaugh's favor, which is within reach. I do think UM will have the better team in 2016. But, if Harbaugh loses to Meyer this year and he looses all those seniors, 2017 will be a difficult game to win because OSU will return a ton talent. If Meyer wins this year JH likely goes 0-3. That would be difficult to get back over .500.
There's no way I don't want a guy named Luigi Vilain on my team. I can just hear Howard King announcing (in perfect French, with perfect diction): Michigan tackle made by Loo-EE-gee Vi-LAN!
This should be a very similar class as last year. Expect this class to be ranked somewhere between #3 and #7.
I think it's pretty clear Harbaugh has an affection for Canadian talent. As he should.
When is Jimmy and crew going to annouce a camp in Canada?
I, too, have an affection for Canadian talent...
How sweet would it be to steal Gay from Mississippi?
Also great to see St. Juste performing. He could be a great sleeper with that size for corner.
Very tough.
Our biggest rival ever Illinois will have you rue the day you called them (with Lovie Smith!) a non-elite program.
That's really pretentious (what a surprise)--considering Michigan has won ONE-HALF more national championships than Illinois, and the rest of his "non-elite" schools in the last SIXTY EIGHT years.
There comes a point in any program - we're not there yet - where being outside the top 7 or 8 is not necessarily a bad thing. One cannot argue with Bama's continued run on no. 1 classes and ultimate NCs. What they are doing is only matced by USC in recent memory. This doesn't just give you players all the gurus are in agreement with, it also ensures your closest competitors would not get them. This is what UM and OSU did in their glory days under Bo and Woody.
But as to Michigan, once that cupboard is stocked to Harbaugh's liking with three viables at every position, you will see some takes - we already are the fan base is not excited with - but Harbaugh is more than happy with. You can only do this when you are comfortable with who's returning and what you can reasonable excpect from "this guy." Exhibt A, Jake Rudock. He's an outlier in the fact it was an emergency. But Ferentz would not have gotten rid of an All Conference players, especially qb, if he could have gotten this level of play from him.
Harbaugh and staff can do this with a number of positions because, and it does sound both premature and arrogant, because they are simply better coaches. Exhibit B. Beating a roster of H.S. AAs, I'm almost certain were members of classes rated no lower than 5 and probably closer to 1, but solid enough to be 54 point favorites.
Facts override issues of over confidence and cockiness. This staff is probably top three in country, and possibly No. 1 in correct reading of ceiling on high school players. Bo made a living off of Mallorys, Cannavinos, Dufeks, etc., players he knew might not be AA types but would allow him to concentrate on teaching and free of off-field issues. This cannot be overrated. And they, with their limitations, would always do what was right on the field because their assignments were tailored to fit in with the true AA playing beside them. The AAs would end up as just that and the "questionables" would end up as All-conference. Hell, Harbaugh and company already did this year one with many players not only the country but its own fan base did not know were that good.
Ratings are still significant, and he will absoutely go all out on those he deems ideal for his team, i.e., RB commit to Stanford, Bama Tackle and a few others. But there' a lot of peace that comes with grabbing a player not on anyone's radar yet but who Harbaugh knows is ideal fit or is too good to pass on which allows him to still go after the player he knows is the ideal take at that position, but to go after him with an advantage the competition does not have, and that's having a pat hand already. Sure, having the Ace to top off the flush is ideal, but a Q or K high flush will normally take the pot.
That was the sign of excellence back in the Day when there was no Rivals, Scout, ESPN, 247sport, etc.
Don Dufek, Jr. played the Wolf position and was named an AA safety.
You did the Message Board Guy For the Win thing by finding ONE ANOMALY and OBLITERATED him! YEAH BABY YEAH!!!
Way to burn him with a hot take!
Top 3 staff? Need to win a conference title, at least, to just get into the top 20 for such a group. So far, they almost matched Hoke's first year. We all are hopeful for the future, but demonstrated results are yet to come. Losing to both rivals at home does not make a staff "top 3". Let's enjoy the ride.
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I don't understand why people say "he didn't win a NC last year so you can't say he's a great coach." I understand why someone would say this is a top 3 coaching staff. You have a Harbaugh running the show. The only guy in recent history to do exceptionally well in both major college and the NFL, an OC-run game coord-OL coach any team in the country would like to have, a former NFL coach as passing game coordinator, RB coach is a guy who could have gone to an NFL team instead as rb coach. On the defensive side, you have Mattison who is a wizard with DL and was a successful NFL DC, former long term NFL db as db coach, and the DC had the best defense in the country at BC.
Saying this coaching staff is not top 3 or better is just having your head stuck in a hole in the ground. Taking a 5-7 team to 10-3 and ruining a very good Florida team doesn't mean anything? I just don't get it.
It's like saying Mike Babcock was never the best coach in the NHL because he never won the Jack Adams
You're forgetting Carroll who has done better in college and the NFL than Harbaugh so far. And it's exceptionally arrogant to say Michigan has a top 3 coaching staff in college when you have to put OSU and Alabama as the top 2. Ask any non-Michigan fan and I doubt even 1 of them would say Michigan is 3rd behind OSU and Alabama. If adding 5 wins to the previous record makes you a top coach then why not Herman over Harbaugh with what he did in Houston? He even beat FSU in the bowl game. Or Fitzgerald at Northwestern, he went from 5-7 to 10-3 this year too.
After 2011, where do you think Michigan fans would have ranked Michigan's staff? I think Harbaugh is an amazing coach, and his staff is exceptional as well but you can't say he's the best until he beats the best and he hasn't done that yet.
Harbaugh is a great coach, and a perfect fit for Michigan. But potential is not the same thing as results, and I'm nearly certain Harbaugh himself would agree with that.
The other day I was in a cigar shop in Charleston, WV (of all places), and the topic came up about the "greatest college coaches." Everyone in the shop agreed Harbaugh was a great hire and will do great things at Michigan, but nobody was ready (yet) to put him in the same conversation with Saban and Meyer.
I'd bet my left nut that if asked, Harbaugh would dismiss such talk about "best coaches" and say the focus is -- and always will be -- about getting better every day. Do that and the rest takes care of itself.
Or Fitzgerald at Northwestern, he went from 5-7 to 10-3 this year too.
Bit of a difference there; Fitz coached both the 5-7 team and the 10-3 one, and both squads were comprised entirely of his recruits.
And the comparison with Carroll is very much debatable. Carroll coached at USC; Harbaugh coached at Stanford. Harbaugh, starting from a huge deficit in terms of talent and recent success, built Stanford into a powerhouse and went 3-1 against Carroll. In the NFL, you could give Carroll the edge, but it's close, and I'd argue again that he had more to work with.
I think you are overcompensating in an attempt to sound objective. Harbaugh is universally regarded as a great coach. Whether he's specifically in the top 3, top 5, or top 10 is splitting hairs.
People like you are the Ostrich Posters. LALALALALALA HARBAUGH IS THE BEST EVER THERE'S NO DEBATE LALALAL
Harbaugh took a team of veterans, who had been in the program for several years, oplugged in a 17th year senior quarterback (who was actually pretty good for the first decade of his career) and won a lot of games against a very weak schedule.
There--how do you like that?
And as for Carroll "having more to work with"--um, yeah, because HE BUILT the Seahawks.
I'm just saying going from 5-7 to 10-3 doesn't mean you are a great coach. And I cringe when people use data from 1 year to say Michigan is back after what happened with the start of Hoke's tenure at Michigan. Enjoy the process and getting there, but don't beat your chest until he's won something on the field. Hoke had victories against MSU and OSU, Harbaugh has neither so far.
You're fighting a straw man.
I don't think anyone is arguing that the case for Harbaugh being an elite coach rests solely on the 2015 season. It's based on what he's done at San Diego, at Stanford, with the 49ers, and at Michigan.
it was conventionally understood that one bad apple actually would spoil the whole barrel. But since that wisdom is now lost to the ages, I guess we have to use blueberries as our metaphor.
This is one of the most subtly brilliant posts I've seen in a long, long time. :-)
The "blueberries" metaphor makes me wonder if some of the recruits Harbaugh has cooled on the last two years developed mold problems.
That's the perfect Marc Dantoni meme.
Man all those 3* guys who were able to commit to their offers in the past few years got a hell of a deal because it sure sounds like interest amongst a lot of the top guys is really starting to turn our way. The attitude and the product is the difference--it's still the same town, same facilities, same stadium, same academics, same weather, but there's a shine coming from AA these days that's tough to compete with. When we really start winning and competing for national championships it's gonna be tough for a 3* guy to catch anyone's attention. This is good stuff. If you were one of those people who shook your head and couldn't understand why we lost out on guys like Hand and Weber and Treadwell, guess what? It wasn't the facilities or the academics or the town. They come to play football.
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