Athletic article on 2013 QB class
Fascinating story about the difficulty of QB evaluation. In short: the none of the top nine guys stuck in the NFL, and only one became the starter at the school he originally signed to (Christian Hackenberg). Includes an interview with Shane Morris.
Number 10 was JT Barrett. And three guys ranked 19 and below went No. 1 or 2 in the draft.
February 10th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
Why do people post links to paywalled stories?
February 10th, 2020 at 11:43 AM ^
Here's an awesome article that is well written and insightful... too bad you can't actually read it.
February 10th, 2020 at 11:50 AM ^
I can!
(But I already subscribe)
February 10th, 2020 at 11:51 AM ^
Anyone can read it, you just have to pay for it. And if it is well written and insightful (it is), then it's worth it.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:14 PM ^
I didn't say I couldn't read it. I just stated it was paywalled. Here's a thought, if I was interested in article's on the Athletic, I would already be a subscriber. If was already a subscriber, I would know about this article.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:50 PM ^
I'm a subscriber and I didn't know about it. I appreciate OP pointing it out. Plus whether you read it or not, you get the gist of the article and is a reasonable topic of discussion. How poor was the QB evaluations of 2013?
February 10th, 2020 at 1:18 PM ^
I'm subscribed and didn't know about the article. I check this site before I check the Athletic sometimes. It's cool OP posted this here so we can talk about it and how it relates to Michigan.
Why are you so pissy about this? For people who do want to discuss the article, this post is here to do that. If you don't want to discuss the article, stop whining and just go away. You'll feel better if you do that rather than sticking around and whining about it.
6.7.0February 10th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
Because the Athletic is awesome and I'm guessing there are a few people on the board who may want to read the article and discuss it here? OP also provided a short summary for those of you who don't subscribe so you can still talk about the gist of the article.
Thanks for posting, OP. Don't listen to the whiners :)
February 10th, 2020 at 6:47 PM ^
I don't always have time to browse The Athletic for interesting stories, so I always appreciate someone specifically pointing out a story they thought was very well written and interesting!
February 10th, 2020 at 6:46 PM ^
Hand wringing over the discussion topics other post...does anyone do it better than the users of this site? Don't ever change Mgoboard posters
February 10th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
Anyone want to give me a (longer) synopsis? I imagine most of us won't be able to read the article
February 10th, 2020 at 3:17 PM ^
Went into a lot of the unique situations each of the top QBs had and things that played into them making it or not. Its a lot of the same things you always hear -- lots of different OCs, having to play too early against really good competition, coming from a bad system in HS, reaching their ceilings too early -- but there's interviews with most of the QBs affected and they admit to how those things played a roll, which was interesting.
It also detailed the way social media played a roll withe someone like Shane Morris, and how its an even bigger issue now. Plus it goes into how scouting QBs has changed over the years, and how players like Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff were missed from that same 2013 class.
There was also a longer section spent on Hackenberg and Penn State. Personally, now that we're a handful of years removed from all of that, I found that pretty interesting. You forget how good he was his freshman year, and just how bad it got there. He wound up being sacked 100 times at Penn State with 80 (!!!) coming in his final two seasons. He took an absolute beating there and I'm not sure if he gets enough (any) credit for Penn State being what it is today. That program should have been cratered, and it emerged better than it was before in large part to that 2013 class sticking around.
Its a paywalled story, but its frankly one of the better things I've read from The Athletic.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
Yeah, that was a crappy QB class, which Michigan exacerbated by having Shane Morris be the only QB recruit they took over two classes.
Blergh.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:16 PM ^
BuT cAnNoN fOr An ArM!!!!!!!
February 10th, 2020 at 12:16 PM ^
It's been said that Hoke left it up to Morris whether or not UM took another QB in that class. Obviously Morris C-blocked other QB's that year.
Who knows if UM would have hit on a guy if they had taken more than one QB but it's weird a HC would allow a player to dictate his recruiting.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
It's almost like Hoke was a shitty leader and born yes man.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^
Sam Webb said a couple weeks ago that Gunner Kiel verbally committed to Michigan (Al Borges to be exact), but Michigan kept it quiet until Gunner was ready to announce. Then the Morris family told Hoke that Shane will come only if he's the only QB taken. Hoke told Borges to let Gunner go. Not saying that Gunner Kiel was some great QB, but could've definitely helped.
February 10th, 2020 at 2:23 PM ^
Gunner Kiel transferred multiple times in his college career anyway so who knows if he would have stuck around once he got to campus? Sounds like we dodged a bullet with that one... only to take another though. lol
February 10th, 2020 at 2:40 PM ^
i always thought hoke just decided not to take a QB in the class prior to morris, without any sort of influence from the family. if true, thats even worse. its bad enough to shortchange yourself at the games most vital position but to do so at the behest of some 16-17 yr olds family? shocking harbaugh inherited a train wreck at that position
February 10th, 2020 at 12:40 PM ^
Great article. The Athletic is worth it because of stories like this.
February 10th, 2020 at 1:06 PM ^
It's not just that class of QBs. Look how many guys that were top 150 recruits who underachieved in the '12 and '13 classes...Kalis, Pipkins, Bolden, RJS, Richardson, Green, Kugler, Thomas, Morris, Bosch, Dawson, Fox, Poggi, McCray. That's a lot of highly recruited guys to produce very minimal contributions. Think of what could have been if they just put together average production for their recruiting profiles.
Unfortunately, the next time we had two top classes back to back ('16 & '17) the same thing happened again. Either we're really unlucky, have really bad talent evaluation, have really bad player development, have really bad coaching, are really bad at keeping kids happy, or some combination thereof amongst two consecutive coaching groups.
February 10th, 2020 at 5:19 PM ^
Think most of Michigan's woes have been bad talent evaluation, subpar player support and development, and inconsistent coaching due to a revolving door of head and asst coaches.
Take those together and you have more than your fair share of disgruntled athletes. Disgruntled athletes make for a bad locker room environment, which hampers development, which creates more cranky athletes, and the cycle continues.
Probably why you're seeing more talk about Michigan trying to recruit guys that "fit the program" these days. Happy athletes = productive athletes.
February 10th, 2020 at 6:29 PM ^
Pretty weird to throw Kalis, Bolden, Thomas, and McCray in that group considering how respectably their careers ended under Harbaugh but yes lots of misses.
February 10th, 2020 at 7:51 PM ^
Wasn't their site offering a reduced subscription price thru MGOBLOG?
I see right now they have a sale for $2.99 per month for an annual subscription. Do they occasionally offer better promotional rates?