Blau

August 2nd, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^

Any kid that is a generic 3* with middling offers is severly underrated and just you wait until he gets that Michigan commit bump in the star ratings... Just you wait! They probably just misplaced his film or something. /s

The kid will be fine whatever his ratings are.

Welcome to the good guys, Sammy! 

Butch-dontcall…

August 2nd, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^

of getting projects that will develop eventually, while ohio state gets4-5 star freshmen (last year) plugs them in right away and still beats us. maybe don brown is not used to recruiting at michigan level. and maybe jh is not used to it either (stanford). i just watch osu getting high star proven recruits every year and we grab 135th player in florida and some unknown te from the northeast - to name a few. you dont think we could have offered and got these guys in dec or jan if the high star proven guys did not pan out......

KodiakGT

August 2nd, 2017 at 6:30 PM ^

You're either really uninformed or trolling.  Over the last 2 years UM has recruited 35 4 or 5 star players, which is tied with Georgia for 3rd best in the country.  Alabama had 41 and OSU had 37.

You're also missing an important point, which is that it is much harder to recruit a full class of top end guys.  For instance, the top 21 guys (same size as OSUs class) for UM last year had a star average of 93.52.  Having a large class helps your overall score, sure, but will also lower your star average significantly.

DHughes5218

August 2nd, 2017 at 7:01 PM ^

Agreed. Project those results over a four year period and you have 70 blue chip recruits on your team. That's 3 deep at every position. That's elite recruiting which is only a piece of the formula...development, game plans, play calling, etc are all factors. Fans can complain but this is a perennial championship caliber program and we are only entering year 3 with Harbaugh.

KodiakGT

August 3rd, 2017 at 10:56 AM ^

How is presenting facts to you using maize colored glasses? We were the #4 class in the country last year and #8 the year before.  By star average we were #8 and #11 respectively.  Top 10 by pretty much any measure.  There are certainly things to be upset or complain about (finishing close games last year in particular) but recruiting is not one of those things.

reddogrjw

August 3rd, 2017 at 11:51 AM ^

grabbing someone BEFORE they blow up increases your chances of having them in the class

 

If Benjamin St. Juste did not have offers before he becamse an Opening camp star we would have had to recruit him against all the big schools and may or may not have gotten him

 

having him already a commit and his loyalty to the school that "discovered" him while he skyrocketed from a low 3-star to a 4-star worked well for us

reddogrjw

August 3rd, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^

Like Isaac Taylor-Stuart

decides to come to Michigan, they will find a way

or Michigan already knows they are not part of his top 5

for the most part, they know a LOT more than we do about which recruits they have a shot at and which they do not

like last year, they left Robbins out until the last decision by Willie Gay and Becton - had either come Robbins isn't here, but for the most part they knew who was coming and who wasn't - in fact, many recruits let the staff know well in advance - like RUmler committed over a month ago but wanted to announce at the BBQ

Butch-dontcall…

August 3rd, 2017 at 8:22 AM ^

that i come on the board to voice an opinon and because it it questioning the program (whom i love ) - i am told to get off the board and go root for osu. i hate osu and am a grad of uofm. the simple fact that this upset me enough to post should be an indication of my loyalty to uofm. if i was an osu fan i would be glad that uofm took the 135th best player in fla - and not the 2nd best db in the country!! stop being close-minded idiots

bamf16

August 3rd, 2017 at 4:59 PM ^

I think you may need to walk it back a step or two.

 

In a lot of ways, I'm in agreement with you. I've become less of a "star gazer" over the years and pay a lot more attention instead to the recruit's list of offers. So, like you, when I saw some of the names who've verbally committed the past several days, I did notice that they don't have real impressive lists of schools who've offered them. 

 

Ohio State has three 3 star Rivals recruits.

 

Sevyn Banks chose OSU over Auburn, Florida State, Florida, Louisville, LSU, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma among others.

 

Master Teauge chose OSU over Auburn, Georgia, Louisville, and Notre Dame among others.

 

The third one is Malik Hooker's kid brother Marcus who's other "best" offers were Pitt and West Virginia.

 

I think it's ok to point that out Michigan's 2018 recruits are not as highly rated, nor do they have offer lists as impressive as those who've verballed to Ohio State. But it's one thing to write what you've written, that you hypothesize that they could have been added later in the process (true, but as some have pointed out regarding St. Juste, it's possible that a player commits early, before their Rivals rating really takes off), and it's another to draw the conclusion that it's indicative of an inability of Harbaugh & Brown to recruit the top talent we all want to see coming to Ann Arbor.

KungFury

August 2nd, 2017 at 4:51 PM ^

Because you need a balance. Otherwise your whole team gets gutted like OSU. Mixing in high upside guys at the very least gives you veteran leadership for all the young studs. Also, just because we aren't in on any 5 stars this season doesn't mean we are taking all projects. There's a lot of 4 star guys committed here.

war-dawg69

August 2nd, 2017 at 9:19 PM ^

Just get off the site. You do not have a clue what you are talking about. Harbaugh's future teams will be better than last years and you can bank that. One bad spot and we win the Big. Only game that I have a problem with Michigan losing since he arrived is to Iowa. I would take Harbaugh and his staff over osu all day. There is a reason people are talking shit now is because they know what is coming. As far as the playoffs 31-0 is flat out embarrassing and Michigan's Harbaugh will never ever be shutout. If Harbaugh started at the same time and with the same talent as Meyer there would not be much talk about best team and recruiting. If you are really a Michigan fan just relax.

Hard-Baughlls

August 2nd, 2017 at 5:44 PM ^

Not tired at all.  Harbaugh with top 10 classes will beat down Urban or anybody else on a consistent basis because

1) He identifies the talent he wants and/or has inherited and builds teams around it. Worked at Stanford, Worked in San Fran, will work at UM.

2) Don Brown recruits to a system that has proven to create top 5 defenses every year

3) This isn't a video game - How has Notre Dame performed with all their top classes?

4) If we were recruiting all sleepers and running on hope you might have a point, but these classes are pretty stacked on top of the fact that Harbaugh is hand picking these kids.  I'm sure he watches more vidoe of recruits than random fan in living room, and knows more about talent evaluation than anybody at rivals or scout websit.

5) We aren't Alabama, Clemson, OSU running a football factory and just waiting for Ole Miss type scandals to pop up.

6) We completely outplayed OSU last year and were jobbed by the refs and some shit luck.  Everything will be in order in another year or 2 and Meyer will flee Harbaugh just like he fled Saban due to health/family/etc reasons.

Many more things I could list, but I'll let the rest of the blog tell you how wrong you are.

 

In reply to by Hard-Baughlls

WeimyWoodson

August 2nd, 2017 at 6:10 PM ^

People need to stop with the whole Harbaugh is going to run off Urban thing.  It's not happening.  Harbaugh is not going to go on a 4-5 year tear beating OSU every year.  Urban is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game and had a three year head start on Harbaugh, going into a program that was looking pretty good.

Will Harbaugh win some games against OSU, yes, probaby, I hope so...but to just think all of a sudden his system is going to blow Urban out of the water and make him quit is silly.

Logan88

August 2nd, 2017 at 7:11 PM ^

Thank you for injecting some sanity into all this "Harbaugh is going to send Urban running" nonsense. It ain't gonna happen, folks.

I think UM will be competitive against OSU soon but Urbz ain't scurred of Harbaugh and UM. I just hope ND fires Kelly and backs up a Brinks truck to St. Urban's mansion and he takes on the challenge of restoring the Domers to Glory.

Hard-Baughlls

August 3rd, 2017 at 12:08 AM ^

Urban will run away from Harbaugh not because he can't compete for recruits or cant coach with the best of them...

He will run because he can't take the stress.

Harbaugh loves to coach, loves the competition and loves to win and isn't afraid of losing.

Urban coaches not with a joy and passion but from a place of misery and fear of losing.

Harbaugh is built to last, Urban will flame out again.  It's their respective personalities.

Hard-Baughlls

August 3rd, 2017 at 10:04 AM ^

Wouldn't feel comfortable hearing the stories of how he enabled a serial kller, multiple other criminals, creates win at all cost environments, cheated on his wife and summed it all up as "health problems" when it all got to big for him to handle - all while telling him its OK, you are now a better person.

While reading his behavior / reactions after wins and losses as well as listening to him in interviews would all help a minimally observant person realize certain personality traits and how they differ from those of Harbaugh - you could also take the minimally informed human being route  if you so choose - and read the actual article/interview where he talks about his struggles with "mental illness" (depression, anxiety, etc)

 

 

war-dawg69

August 2nd, 2017 at 9:41 PM ^

Meyer worries about Harbaugh more than anyone else and that is a given. Meyer should thank god for the obscene officiating because if Michigan got that game it could really snowball. Osu may be favored in this years game but that will be it. Osu will once again lose a ton of guys after this year and Michigan will be flat out be loaded from here on out with seasoned really elite football players who may have not out starred osu recruits but will show out on the field. Michigan has the best Head coach and DC in the game. Michigan caught osu last year in the second year at Michigan. Meyer should have lost at Wisconsin, MSU and Michigan game was a farce for him. He does less with more and Harbaugh and others in the Big are the exact opposite. Since he recruits all the four and five stars were are all the Big ten championships. They lost to a team we beat by 39 frickin points. So I see he is out recruitiing us and he is the greatest coach ever. Sorry .....facts say otherwise 31-0 to a team who unless a easy field goal missed away from no playoffs. There are no teams Michigan can't play with and if you can't see that go route for your boy Meyer.

WeimyWoodson

August 2nd, 2017 at 11:25 PM ^

Michigan lost to OSU last year. Regardless of how terrible the refs were Michigan had numerous chances to close out the game but they didn't. It's okay to have some skepticism. In no way have I ever said Harbaugh was anything but the perfect coach for Michigan, I just think it's super for people to say he's going to run one of the greatest coaches in the game off after losing his first two games to him.

Logan88

August 3rd, 2017 at 7:55 AM ^

Agreed.

I think Harbaugh is an excellent coach. I am thrilled that he is at UM. That doesn't change the fact the Meyer has proven even more at the college level than Harbaugh (pro level is a whole other matter, of course, Meyer would likely flame out in the NFL and he knows it) and to think that Meyer is going to be scared of UM or Harbaugh is just plain nuts.

LSAClassOf2000

August 2nd, 2017 at 8:45 PM ^

Really, when you dig through the last nearly 15 years of average recruiting rankings, it's still essentially the big two and the little, well, twelve now in terms of average recruit rankings. On Rivals, most years either Michigan or Ohio State has been in the lead, but usually by not much more than 0.2 to 0.3 stars, which is fairly close. I didn't update the tracker for this last class, but Michigan State and Penn State usually fight for third and fourth most years.