January 3rd, 2022 at 5:42 PM ^
Why do you say a lot have given up on his recruitment? The latest recruiting round up on this site was still optimistic and 50% of Crystal Balls on 24/7 are for Michigan. Curious if I might have missed something.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:59 PM ^
The thought is it’s a three-way race between Washington (Courtney Morgan landing there helps their case), USC (Lincoln Riley shifted things significantly), and Michigan (the longtime presumed leader). Tea leaves seem to say it’s more likely it’s the west coast schools over Michigan but I’d be thrilled to be wrong.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:10 PM ^
He posted his top 6 with a caption of “?”. It’s gonna be a wild ride
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:54 PM ^
Just one bag, so the SEC schools will likely take a pass.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:55 PM ^
He posted his top 6 with a caption of “?”.
Well, at least he's honest and forthright about what his final criteria will be.
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:27 PM ^
So why isn't Texas A&M not in the mix, he prefers less money to more???
January 4th, 2022 at 10:41 AM ^
Maybe states with friendlier tax brackets?
January 4th, 2022 at 10:51 AM ^
I don't think it's possible to get more tax-friendly than the state of Texas... they have no state income tax.
January 4th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
I’ll trade you my no state income tax here in Texas for any state property tax bill not named California or NY. It’s insane what I pay for property tax and MUD tax here.
January 4th, 2022 at 1:52 PM ^
The day is still fairly young but I'm not aware of any entities / universities offering real estate yet as part of NIL dough. So TX A&M is still in the game.
PS: You will want to add IL to your list of state property tax exceptions. Sadly, I know this only too well.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:44 PM ^
Let's get a hat on the table
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:54 PM ^
Lincoln Riley has entered the chat
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:55 PM ^
I hadn’t heard that we were that far out of things. Thought we were in the mix still if not leading but he wanted to check out a few west coast schools with the new hires…man Courtney Morgan leaving is causing waves.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:59 PM ^
I thought the title said "way OT" and I immediately thought, well I've seen worse titles
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:27 PM ^
Washington Insiders had us out front as of a few days ago.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:45 PM ^
Like as of 10:45pm Friday Night? He's been a maybe since before Michigan beat OSU and Iowa. That can't have hurt things any. Also cant believe I'm saying this, but it would be hilarious if OSU beating Utah is what convinces him that B1G is going to make him a better player.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:32 PM ^
While I think OP might be overly pessimistic, I don't hold my breath on west coast recruits until they are leaving with their degree.
January 4th, 2022 at 8:36 AM ^
This comment really piqued my interest, because I tried to remember the last West Coast recruit who actually did expend all their eligibility at UM..especially in the wake of Green-Warren hitting the portal. Obviously, Charbonet transferred, Asiasi left a few years ago. Crawford left a while back. I actually had to look up who was left. Not counting Hawaii (Wilson) since it's not technically west coast, here are the results by class: 2021 (Dixon-still here), 2020 (Green-Warren-portal, Persi-still here), 2019 (G. Jackson-transferred, Charbonnet-transferred), 2018 (none), 2017 (none), 2016 (Asiasi-transferred, D. Long-completed, Crawford-transferred) 2015 (none)...and into Hoke, 2014 (none), 2013 (none), 2012 (Magnuson-completed), 2011 (Wile-transferred). Over the last decade, only two recruits from the West Coast (essentially California) have exhausted eligibility or left for the NFL at UM: D. Long and E. Magnuson. C. Dixon and J. Persi still have a shot. To put that in perspective, there's been an equal amount of "success" from Utah (B. Mone and S. Houma) who have completed their time at UM. Not only is it hard to recruit the West Coast, it's even harder to successfully recruit the West Coast. BTW, there have been zero recruits even brought in from the state of Washington during that time frame. So, we have that going for/against us in regards to Connerly.
January 4th, 2022 at 1:57 PM ^
Hopefully he gets a call from Stephen Schilling. We need to re-fire that Washington 5* OL pipeline!
I remember when we used to regularly pull from CA and Texas, and wondering why we couldn't seem to tap that Florida geyser.
I think the answer is that having coaches with deep roots in a region is critical for success even at a nation school like UM, and you can only have so many guys on staff. Its that blanket you can stretch and stretch and not quite seem to cover everything. Seemed like Morgan was going to be an incredible west coast asset. Turns out he was a little too good, and we had nowhere to promote him to.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:35 PM ^
Going to go out on a limb here and say USC just became the team to beat.
January 3rd, 2022 at 11:07 PM ^
So the 10 or so people that watch usc football must pony up a lot of money
January 4th, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
Ask Reggie Bush.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:00 PM ^
These are the type of recruits Harbaugh has to land to be an elite program.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:24 PM ^
Like a playoff team?
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:37 PM ^
Like a Michigan State, Washington, Notre Dame, Cincinnati?
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:42 PM ^
Nope. Making one playoff appearance and not being competitive in that game doesn’t make you elite. Otherwise teams like Florida State, Washington, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, and of course Michigan State, would be considered elite.
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:01 PM ^
They need to beat the Georgia's of the world to be elite. Not get run off the field.
January 3rd, 2022 at 11:11 PM ^
If we can make the CFP again next season then I think we can be considered as part of the elite company. What other teams besides Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, OSU and Oklahoma have made the final 4 more than once? Making the CFP twice in the 9 year existence of this system would put Michigan in pretty rarified air.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:00 PM ^
Ari Wasserman had us as the favorite in his recent Athletic column
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:53 PM ^
Ari always puts us in the lead for guys that we're no better than 50-50 on, so he can rag us for "losing" this player in a subsequent column. I actually like reading Ari more these days now that Michigan is playing well. But he's an OSU homer at heart, and still does at least one OSU podcast with Landis.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:12 PM ^
This is only the 10th time he has issued a top 3, top 5, top 6, top 10 list.
January 3rd, 2022 at 10:32 PM ^
yes but this particular one is deffo in my top 6
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:25 PM ^
When does he plan to announce?
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:44 PM ^
March!
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:28 PM ^
....of what year???
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:34 PM ^
Recruit to the end.
January 3rd, 2022 at 11:04 PM ^
I wouldn't give up on it, we're likely going to be in his Top 3 as well.
There's still a shot, though Washington likely leads and USC is climbing.
January 4th, 2022 at 12:05 AM ^
When is the last time a Pac 12 team has been pertinent?
January 4th, 2022 at 1:24 AM ^
Haven't we had about as much luck with 5 star lineman as 5 star running backs?
January 4th, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
Its not really close.
top 100 OL in the 247 era who worked out: bredeson, schilling, ruiz, mitchell, gentry, onwenu.
top 100 OL who did not: Slocum, boren, kalis, kugler, oneill, bosch, gallimore, dawson, zirbel
TBD: El-Hadi,
RB worked out: NO ONE!
RB fail: Baraka, Green, Grady, Brown, Underwood, Charbonnet,
TBD: Donovan Edwards
January 4th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Kalis started 2 years.
Charbonet was a hit he just left for more touches.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
I remember a recruit from the west we got who was pretty good. QB from San Mateo. Can’t remember his name. ?
January 4th, 2022 at 11:20 AM ^
With the potential we have at qb over the next three years having top o line talent to compete for jobs would be so key. We’ve always had good run blocking but if we can have top pass pro we could be a very dangerous offense.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:36 AM ^
Oh....A Michigan hat on the table!!
January 4th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
We are hosting a 22 cycle OT committed to VaTech, could be nothing but is usually an indicator the coaches how the coaches see the recruitment going when they start pursuing another player at the same position.
January 4th, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
Word is it’s unrelated; Chaplain was offered during the summer.