Tuesday Recruitin' is Ready for the Big Day Comment Count

Tim

Let's cut to the chase: Tomorrow in this space, there shall be an all-day liveblog. We'll keep track of LOIs coming in, new commitments, and coverage in other media. It should be pretty easy for you to check in for a couple minutes at work to see what the latest news is.

I'll also be looking to deputize people to keep us filled in on ESPN's Signing Day coverage, in addition to the Big Ten Network's coverage, and even WTKA's Signing Day show (LIVE! From Banfield's Westside in Ann Arbor!). If you're interested in helping out, I'll take volunteers early in the morning.

Possible Commits

  • 8AM (or PM?) - MI OL Jake Fisher picks between Michigan and Oregon.
  • Noon - MD DT Darian Cooper signs on ESPNU with Michigan, Georgia Tech, or Iowa.
  • 7PM - CO LB Leilon Willingham announces from a top 5 of Michigan, Arizona State, Central Florida, Colorado, and Washington.
  • OH TE/LB Frank Clark announces between Michigan and North Carolina at some point in the day.

All these times are subject to change, so keep an eye on the Latest Announcement Times forums thread for updates before tomorrow.

TX TE Chris Barnett will not pick between Arkansas and Michigan until later in the week. The Arkansas commit has targeted Saturday as a possible decision date. MI RB Thomas Rawls will commit later this afternoon (1:30pm) in a ceremony at his high school. Of course, The Detroit News's Tom Markowski already let the cat out of the bag. Hello: posts for all prospects who pick the Wolverines wll be linked in the liveblog.

And of course, we can't forget about all the prospects who have already made public commitments to the Wolverines:

  • TX QB Russell Bellomy
  • MI RB Justice Hayes
  • OH OL Jack Miller
  • IL OL Chris Bryant
  • FL OL Tony Posada
  • OH DT Chris Rock
  • MI DE Brennen Beyer
  • OH DE/TE Keith Heitzman
  • TX LB Kellen Jones
  • OH LB Antonio Poole
  • MI LB Desmond Morgan
  • MD CB Blake Countess
  • MI CB Raymon Taylor
  • MI CB Delonte Hollowell
  • OH CB Tamani Carter
  • CA K Matt Wile

As mentioned above, these prospects should be faxing in their Letters of Intent all morning, so we'll keep a running total of those received (and still pending) in the liveblog.

Other Items to Watch

The Michigan Athletic Department is holding a press conference at 2PM to discuss the new signees. The main portion should be available live online, but in past years, early enrollees and assistant coaches have been available to talk to the press after. I'll tweet updates from that portion of the day. Since there's only one prospect already enrolled (OH S Greg Brown), I'm not sure if they'll make him available.

And of course, we can't help but start looking forward to the next class. All this and your questions answered tomorrow on mgoblog!

Comments

81.93

February 1st, 2011 at 10:13 AM ^

I have to say that I am very happy about and proud of the recruting effort by Coach Hoke and his staff.  DB handcuffed them a bit, but that seemed necessary given the pursuit of Harbaugh and the timing of the Orange bowl, and they sure have rallied.  What is most impressive isthe simplified and no BS message to the players (as reported in post-visit interviews).  There is a building sense of momentum around Michigan Football, and it is very exciting.

I was among the many who never thought RR was a good fit and the right representative of the Michigan Football tradition, and I was admittedly not someone who could bring himself to rally around him.  I know think that perhaps that was a mistake and that my love of the program should transcend whomever the (I love to sail former) AD hires, but I just couldn't get past what were, to me, RR's obvious and massive shortcomings as a coach and a representative of the program.  So it makes me a bit of a hypocrite to hope, urge, and suggest that we all rally around this coach, these players, and this team.  But we have to. 

May the noise from the Big House on five straight Saturdays to start the season be deafening and heard in Ganesville, Alabama, Orgeon, South Bend, or any other effing place that thinks it has a chance in hell of matching our pride, our tradition, and our status as the winningest program in history. 

michgoblue

February 1st, 2011 at 10:31 AM ^

You are new here, so I hope that my fellow MGoBlog community members will go light on you, but the whole "I never supported RR" thing doesn't go over too well in these here parts.

As a disclosure point, I shared many of the concerns voiced by the anti-RR crowd.  The difference between me and you is that while I didn't think he would be a good fit, I was willing to look past it, hope for him to succeed, support the team and to not publicly trash RR.

 

7NK7

February 1st, 2011 at 10:35 AM ^

but around 9am today RR was behind my dad in security at DTW and he spoke to him for a moment and wished him luck and he said RR was genuinely very nice and was talkative and just a nice person.

so like i said, not that it matters, but how can anyone wish ill upon him? they guy came here and TRIED and cared and yeah it didnt work out, but he deserved the chance. 

i am "new" here too, but for the record RR deserves another chance somewhere and like many i feel bad that it didnt work out to the M benefit. 

michgoblue

February 1st, 2011 at 10:41 AM ^

Yeah, I feel the same about the guy.  From all accounts, he is a great guy, doesn't have the ego / attitude of many other successful coaches and cares about his players, their families and the community in general.  

He may not have been a good fit, and we know that he didn't have success here, but I never understood the personal attacks and the people who wished him ill or lack of success.  

I join you in wishing that RR lands on his feet and has success somewhere else.  He is making the right moves by laying sort of low after a disastrous Michigan tenure, while at the same time keeping his public persona current by appearing on the CBS coverage of National Signing Day.  I would bet that next year, he ends up coaching at a mid-level (Big East, ACC, maybe even Mountain West) school.  The only concern for him is that he has had the same offensive staff for years.  Many of these guys are now working at other schools (many at Pitt), so he will be literally starting from scratch.

Michigania

February 1st, 2011 at 10:43 AM ^

who exactly is "wishing ill" upon RR?     fact is he is part of M history, one of only 19 coaches in 100+ years.  it didn't work out but those in house against him were for the right reasons...that his system by default would end up negating and tearing down 130 years of a very effective tradition and style, and it just wasn't worth killing.

michgoblue

February 1st, 2011 at 11:00 AM ^

Look, as I said above, I was in the "he is not a good fit here" crowd, but I supported the guy and was willing to be (hopefully, as the time) proven wrong.  It didn't work out.  

BUT:

"who exactly is wishing ill"

Answer:  Plenty of Michigan fans.  In the weeks leading up to several games post PSU, I ran into many fans who were rooting against Michigan, so that it would be more likely that RR would get canned.  These people wished ill, and in my book, are not true M fans.  Also, there were people hoping that the NCAA would find violations, so that we could fire him mid-season.  These people were wishing ill, and again, are not real fans.

"his system by default would end up negating and tearing down 130 years of a very effective tradition and style"

Answer:  Wrong.  Michigan has not had the same style of offense for 130 years.  In fact, some of our most successful coaches - the ones with the big buildings in AA named after them - were actually considered offensive innovators.  So how, exactly, was RR's tradition going to kill 130 years of M tradition.  I think that our tradition over 130 years was one of (1) excellence and success, (2) respectful conduct, and (3) being the leaders and the best.  What was RR going to do to undermine these traditions?  

As someone who really didn't think that RR would work out and who, at the end of the season, was hoping that we would go in a different direction, I hate being pulled in to defending RR, but some of these points are insane.

wlubd

February 1st, 2011 at 11:07 AM ^

"it didn't work out but those in house against him were for the right reasons."

Not when those people were against him from day one for no apparent reason. I've made it known that I don't think Hoke was a good hire, but I buried that when he was made the coach because first and foremost, I want this team to succeed, and in order to succeed, the coach has to succeed.

Some fans torpedoed RR the second he arrived for the same insane BS reasons you listed. If you are not willing to give your head coach a fair shake, YOU ARE NOT A FAN OF THIS TEAM. I didn't stand for everything RR did and I felt he needed to go at the end. But to say that people were right to be against him based on some antiquated idea of tradition and rivalry means those same people need to evaluate their priorities as it relates to Michigan sports.

Don

February 1st, 2011 at 11:21 AM ^

Does that "130 years of very effective tradition and style" include the seven losing seasons from 1951 to 1967? Does it include Harry Kipke's final four seasons of 1-7, 4-4, 1-7, and 4-4, during which Michigan was shut out thirteen times, lost to Michigan State four straight years, and was outscored by Ohio State and Minnesota by a cumulative score of 253-6?

I'm not even going to bother negging you. That would be a waste of a valuable neg.

SC Wolverine

February 1st, 2011 at 1:58 PM ^

Nice to hear about RR at DTW.  I never understood when people said he was a lowlife, etc.  When it came to how he treated people and the atmosphere he fostered with the team, RR was a class act all the way.  For that reason alone I will always support and cheer for him.  RR didn't win here and for that reason didn't work out.  But one thing that Michigan stands for and that sets us apart from, say, the Alabama's of the world, is the genuine pursuit of true excellence across the board.  When it came to the excellent character RR showed here, he proved himself to be a true Michigan Man.

Rasmus

February 1st, 2011 at 10:50 AM ^

A good way to join in here (where, unlike you, we have always rallied around "this coach, these players, this team") would be to not include "I told you so" paragraphs (for example, the words "obvious and massive" are not necessary, and also bullshit) in your appeals for unity.

cypress

February 1st, 2011 at 10:36 AM ^

I'm no insider but I don't think MSU is out for Cooper or Fisher. I don't buy for a second that MSU yanked their offer last Friday. Especially when Cooper said their coaches mailed him an LOI yesterday. I'd also like to believe it's down to us or Oregon for Fisher but I wouldn't rule out MSU. As shitty as that would be.

wlubd

February 1st, 2011 at 10:40 AM ^

Don't think Sparty's in any way a factor for Fisher.

Re: Cooper, maybe they pulled it, maybe they didn't. One thing I look at as really hurting them though is that they already have 2-3 DT commits in this class. From all accounts, Cooper wants a chance to play early and he's stepping in to a real crowded depth chart if he goes to EL. We likely have only 5 DT's next year. Assuming that Ash/Campbell/QWash are the NT's, that means it's he and Talbott fighting to spell Mike Martin. Not a bad situation to be in...

WolvinLA2

February 1st, 2011 at 11:40 AM ^

I'm actually not sure Ash is a NT, I've been thinking about this.  I know he was listed last fall as 320, so we all assume NT.  I did too.  But a lot of people feel that a lot of that 320 is bad weight, as he was listed at 263 on his Rivals profile.  Now, I'm sure it's not all bad weight, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him whipped into shape and weighing something in the 290-300 area come this fall.  He still might be a NT, but he might not be. 

backusduo

February 1st, 2011 at 11:02 AM ^

I want to be able to listen to Rivals Radio tomorrow on my iphone.  Does anyone know of a free link to listen to rivals radio? I have XM for my car, but am trying to avoid upgrading to the Premium for one day of radio listening on my iphone.  Thank you for the help.