UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Mike]

And meaningful wins,,, other than that!….

[iam416]

Yes, but HARBAUGH!!!!! and ####SPEEDINSPACE!!!!! and DONBROWN!!!!

[Jeff Buchanan]

Tragic failures.

[iam416]

Tragic is in the eye of the beholder. Some beholders might choose glorious. Fortunately, "failures" is not up for debate.

We've strayed a litte, in recent months/years, from this forum's central purpose -- lampooning and belittling M football and those wretched, unwashed lemmings who still support the self-proclaimed victors.

I'm trying to get back on track.

[Mike]

You won't get much push back.

[iam416]

HARBAUGH!!!! and his new recruiting staff currently have 12 verbals. 7 of the 12 are rated outside the top 500. Ohio State currently has 14 verbals. 0 are rated outside the 500. But, 4 OSU verbals are, sadly, rated oustide the top 250.

However, given the vagaries of Covid and such, there are many, many underrated gems and HARBAUGH!!!! is mining those hidden diamonds like a motherfucking boss!

Will Johnson is still a badass, though.

[iam416]

And to refresh, in 2021 HARBAUGH!!!! somehow signed 4 top 100 recruits despite fielding a team of utter garbage.

Ohio State has currently signed 4 top 25 recruits and 12 top 100 recruits. I say "currently" because JT Tuimoloau is going to have to decide something eventually, and it could be Ohio State. If that happens then it's up to 5 and 13.

[lineygoblue]

Michigan has had some mild success in recruiting under HARBAUGH!!!!, but he's wasted it nearly every time. He's had a couple guys that developed well, but mostly the good talent he's had has gone unused, and under utilized.

Ohio State's only competition for recruits is with Alabama, Clemson, and sometimes JawJa or Florida. Texas A&M has made some recruiting noise, but not on a level with the big three. In the Big Ten, its not only Michigan that can't keep up with OSU. Nobody is making a dent in OSU's recruiting in the conference. PSU, MSU, Indiana, and Wisconsin are shuffling around a bit, but none of them are making any progress to get closer to OSU. Unfortunately the conference is OSU, and about 4-5 other teams fighting with each other for 2nd and 3rd place. That's not going to change any time soon. Michigan is certainly not a threat, and there seems to be no desire on State Street to become a threat. They're completely satisfied with what they have.

[Hannibal]

The three-star diamonds in the rough are piling in!

[lineygoblue]

I can't wait to see the gems that come out amongst the 2 stars, .. and better yet, the walk-ons. Exciting times!!!

[iam416]

The rankings can't be trusted thanks to Covid.

[Hannibal]

It was inevitable that the blue-chippers would start laughing Harbaugh out of the living room. I'm surprised that it took this long.

[iam416]

Admittedly, my impression of HARBAUGH!!!!! is from eons away, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out how he relates and connects with HS kids. He seems so, ummmm, eccentric and, ummm, old school. My less kind self would call him a wack job. But, regardless, I don't know how he connects with kids. The way he has to recruit is to brand himself a winner and recruit through that brand. Or, I guess, hire really good recruiting assistants and build a really good recruiting infrastructure.

In any event, he hasn't done that. He pretty much hits the middle where I'd expect M to be -- right around 10.

It's worth saying again -- in contrast, Hoke, I think, actually could recruit. I think Hoke could actually connect with HS kids and sell them on his vision.

Eh, whatever. It ain't my problem.

[Hannibal]

I think that kids really liked Harbaugh 1.0 and his intensity. It meshed well with his weirdness. Now he is just a weird guy on Zoloft who just sort of shrugs his shoulders while his team gets assraped and humiliated by Wisconsin.

[Mike]

Yep. The gig is up. 2016 probably irreparably broke the program. The only way to fix it is a complete cultural overhaul that doesn’t revolve around coaches from 50-120 years ago.

Honestly, the best thing for the football program long term would probably be to go off into the wilderness for a decade like basketball did. Then reemerge anew. Because as it stands now, Michigan is headed down the same path as Nebraska. I don’t think they’re ever coming back to become an elite program.