2013 NFL DRAFT : Updated Big Board (Lewan)

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1. Jarvis Jones - Georgia

4. Manti Teo - Notre Dame

11. Johnathan Hankins - Ohio State

15. TAYLOR LEWAN

22. Kawann Short - Purdue

23. Tyler Eifert - Notre Dame

If we lose Lewan this year, we will have an extremely inexperienced line next year.  He sure does have a tough decision to make.  

 

thisisme08

October 25th, 2012 at 11:27 AM ^

To be fair IIRC the staff told him to do some conditioning work if he wanted an offer to which he never did, there were also questions about his work ethic from not just M's staff but analysts and what not. 

Sometimes it just takes a bit for everything to click and it just so happens its worked out wonderfully for him and Ohio.

This not to excuse the fact the RR and Co. landed only 1(?) true NT so yea..they should have still offered the instate kid instead of chasing those southern DTs. 

PurpleStuff

October 25th, 2012 at 1:39 PM ^

He just didn't get an early one.  Hankins visited officially at OSU, Florida, and Michigan in pretty much consecutive weeks.  He chose OSU, a school that at that point had dominated us for a decade, wasn't yet impacted negatively by the scandal/sanctions, and wasn't clamoring to fire its head coach.

Everyone wishes we had landed Hankins, but bitching about it is just as silly as bitching about losing David Dawson.  And last time I looked, we have a bunch of blue-chip guys at the DT position (Washington, Campbell, Ash) who are playing well on a defense that is much better than OSU's.  You remember, they are the unit we scored 40 points on last year in our first win in ages against them and they just gave up 49 points to Indiana this year.  And all those "awesome" in-state recruits MSU got while RR was here are 4-4 and will be lucky to make a bowl game this year.

Anyone who continues to bitch and moan about Rich Rodriguez's recruiting on offense or defense when we have the most talented team in the league and have won 80% of our games the last year and a half (and could have won 95% without much improvement) has formed an incorrect opinion based on no evidence and is just sticking to it no matter the actual results.

bronxblue

October 25th, 2012 at 2:58 PM ^

This.  Outside of OSU UM was still the consummate #2 recruiter in the Big 10 (only PSU pulled in similar hauls) during RR's tenure, so it's not like he couldn't bring in decent talent.  He whiffed on some guys and it hurt; he also identified a walk-on safety who will probably be all-conference 2nd team when it is all said and done.  He also picked up a couple of decent DBs and LBs who other teams passed over.  It's always a crapshoot, and it just stinks to see a guy like Hankins play well for a rival.

TheGhostofYost

October 25th, 2012 at 4:25 PM ^

Actually, not this at all.  Did you guys even watch the Alabama game?  I love our guys, but if you think this team has anywhere near the level of talent that Michigan needs to compete on a national level you're insane. RR recruiting and talent identification was actually pretty piss-poor.  We've won because our coaches are good because the teams we're playing have even worse talent.

PurpleStuff

October 25th, 2012 at 5:52 PM ^

But have you seen Alabama play everyone else in the country, including an undefeated LSU team in the national title game last year?  They crush fools like that on the regular.

Do you remember when past Michigan teams have gone up against national title caliber teams?  Or even just really good teams from other leagues?  USC in the 2004 and 2007 (when they weren't that great) Rose Bowls?  Washington in the Rose Bowl when they won a national title?  Oregon in 2007?  Do you know Bo's bowl record?  Did you know his legendary '69 team got smoked by Missouri?  We needed a missed extra point in OT to beat a 2-loss SEC title team coached by Mike DuBose that won three games the following season because they sucked balls without Shaun Alexander and Chris Samuels.  And that was with the best quarterback in all of football over the last 20? years on our side.

If not being in the same league as this Bama team means anything, then Michigan hasn't been competitive nationally since the late 1940's.  That isn't Rich Rodriguez's fault.

 

yoopergoblue

October 25th, 2012 at 4:01 PM ^

You have to give a ton of credit to Mattison and Hoke for coaching the hell out of the defense since they got here because I don't think half of our defensive players would start at MSU as they are now.  Ryan, Kovacs, and possibly Roh would crack the lineup there.  We do not have more upperclass talent on D than OSU and MSU, but we certainly do with this new freshman class and the one arriving next year.  Offensively I think you have a point because that is where RR actually made an effort to recruit.  

Hagen

October 25th, 2012 at 10:22 AM ^

Because Stafford is so incredibly incompetant.  Take it from a (realistict) Jets fan, relax.  Stafford is young and incredibly tough.  Sure, he's having a tough season, but Matt Barkley seems like the next over-hyped USC QB to float into the NFL. 

OLine help for the Lions is another story...

ppToilet

October 26th, 2012 at 6:43 AM ^

and agree that the Lions should stick with him. But Barkley is a really good QB. He runs a pro-style offense well, generally makes good decisions and has deadly accuracy and great touch on his throws. His mobility is a little suspect, but I think he's going to be a good pro QB.

HipsterCat

October 25th, 2012 at 11:37 AM ^

stafford is fine at QB, hes still like only 23. he will keep getting better especially if the lions keep improving the talent around him. imagine if we had a better o-line and could run the ball consistently and teams actually had to respect our play action fakes. lions will struggle until we can have a balanced attack, even look at green bay struggling with out a running game or the pats who are 0-3 when rushing under 100yds and 4-0 over it, I believe.

mGrowOld

October 25th, 2012 at 9:48 AM ^

If Taylor is projected to go #15 in the draft he really doesn't have that hard of a decision to make.



He'll go and IMO he should go. As much as I'd love to see him back next year I'm thrilled that we are starting to produce first round talent again.

HartAttack20

October 25th, 2012 at 10:43 AM ^

From what I have seen it looks like Lewan really enjoys college and cares a lot about his teammates. He was really emotional after the MSU game. You only get to be in college for 4 or 5 years, maybe he wants to enjoy it. It may also depend on how Michigan ends the season. I don't think he's going to want to end his career without a Big Ten title. In the end it's his decision, I hope he makes the right one for himself.

NoVaWolverine

October 25th, 2012 at 4:49 PM ^

With the NFL's new CBA, the salary "slots" of first-rounders are pretty well set, I think, and there's a much smaller gap in salary/bonuses b/w a Top 5 pick and a kid selected at, say, #15-20 than before.

Also, I'm not sure the 2014 Draft necessarily lines up better for Taylor than 2013. Most draftniks believe this year's crop of senior offensive tackles is pretty weak  -- no Jake Longs or Jonathan Ogdens among them. The 2014 class has some great ones, though, including Lewan and the two tackles from Texas A&M, Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews. Those three guys would probably go higher than any of this year's seniors if they come out early -- I wouldn't blame Taylor if he decided entering the draft was the right thing to do.

CincyBlue

October 25th, 2012 at 9:59 AM ^

How did RR miss on Hankins?  He was begging for a Michigan offer at Summer Camp.  I know he was a bit out of shape but an NFL first rounder?  That is a huge miss.

marlon

October 25th, 2012 at 11:35 AM ^

Even Hoke passed on Ryan when Hoke was still at SDSU.  Hell, Ryan's best offer after Michigan was from Toledo.

Interesting to note that Ryan's doppelganger, Clay Matthews, was in nearly the same boat coming out of high school.  He had no offers or offers from lesser schools and chose to walk on at USC, where he blew up and had everyone saying, "How did we miss this guy?"

PurpleStuff

October 25th, 2012 at 1:47 PM ^

Where did this start?  Michigan was in constant contact with Hankins.  They promised him a summer offer if he showed up at their camp in better shape.  He didn't do that and so, like every other big name school, they didn't offer him early.  He then started his senior year, still in contact with the staff, and got an offer from Michigan, as well as OSU and Florida.  He visited all three schools officially.  He chose OSU. 

Nobody missed.  The kid picked a different school.  The assumption that getting an early offer = unbreakable commitment is not true for any player or coach (SEE David Dawson this year).  OSU actually did miss on Fitz, Omameh, Roundtree, Ryan, Black, Clark, etc.  That's why we beat them for the first time in nearly a decade last year. 

yoopergoblue

October 25th, 2012 at 4:07 PM ^

I've heard this story told totally different.  We slow played the kid to a fault and before we knew it the vest was showing him love and me lost him.  Also, of the kids above that we got out of Ohio (who turned out to be good to great pickups)  the only ones who had serious attention from OSU were Fitz and Omameh.  

PurpleStuff

October 25th, 2012 at 5:59 PM ^

Not getting a recruit because he ended up picking a different school is one thing (especially when lord only knows what kind of improper "love" was being shown).  Not even offering guys in your home state who rush for 100 yards against you (Fitz), crush your d-line to the tune of 40 points (Omameh), and not even giving the time of day to ones who make a goalline TFL late in the game to keep you out of the endzone (Black), and make the game clinching interception (Avery) is the definition of shitting the bed in recruiting. 

Oh, and Jake Ryan.  He's rad too.

PurpleStuff

October 26th, 2012 at 1:35 AM ^

You also must really love Carlos Hyde and playing a just-converted tight end on the offensive line.

Also, please name one player Coach Hoke has recruited and developed on either line while here at Michigan.  If Frank Clark making a handful of nice plays counts as "excelling" I can see why you esteem the two excellent head coaches we've hired recently so differently.

Brandon Graham shared the Silver Football with Daryll Clark as a senior under Rich Rodriguez (the first defensive player so honored since Charles Woodson and the first lineman of any kind since Orlando Pace).  He finished 2nd in the nation (first in the conference) in TFL as a junior and 1st as a senior when coached by Rodriguez.

David Molk started for three years under Rodriguez.  He was a Rimington Award finalist as a junior (there are three of them for the whole country) and was 1st team all-conference as voted by the coaches after missing most of his sophomore season due to multiple injuries.

Can players be developed better than that?

As for recruiting, Roh, BWC, Washington, Beyer, Lewan, Barnum, Omameh, Schofield, etc. makes a long list of starters on some high quality offenses and defenses.  Only one of those guys wasn't a 4-star recruit or higher.  Throw in Black, Ash, Miller, Wilkins, and you have plenty of quality bodies on both sides of the ball, despite zero job security or administrative support, all from a guy who was supposedly running the program into the ground.

But no, continue to spout dumbass platitudes because you're mad a guy who inherited a shitty team didn't win as many games as you hoped he would.  Certainly talent had nothing to do with turning a guy with a sub-.500 career record into the Michigan coach with the highest winning percentage since Fritz Crisler (and 3rd behind only him and Yost among those who have coached here since 1900).

AZBlue

October 25th, 2012 at 11:47 AM ^

that Hankins was also not offered by the premier "coach 'em up" and defensive-focussed team in this state.  So it wasn't just RR who whiffed on a future first rounder - if anything Tressel had the luxury of depth that he could take a risk where M could not.

Sorry to go (a bit) off - but I look forward to these comments almost as much as the bi-monthly thread on "Why hasn't M offered the 5-star 2013 BB recruit from Rochester/Troy who is rated #5 in the country?" ------ btw A: Both M and MSU have not offered but Calipari and UK are very interested - draw your own conclusions.

(EDIT - In fairness to the BB recruit in question, I was not hinting at illegal activities but rather the focus on the first part of the whole "student-athlete" thing vs. just the latter portion at UK)