Dakota Prukop Confirms Michigan Was Recruiting Him
Maybe this isn't news, but it's the first I've heard him actually say it. Montana State QB Dakota Prukop was on the Dan Patrick Show this morning, and he confirmed that Michigan was recruiting him. U-M didn't appear to be one of his finalists (it came down to Oregon and Alabama), but it got to the point where he actually had to call Harbaugh and tell him he wasn't coming here.
"If you had told me a year ago I would have called coach Strong, Coach Harbaugh, and coach Saban and that that's not the road I am going to go on, I would have laughed," said Prukop.
So what do we read into this? That we ARE actively recruiting a grad transfer QB (Hello: Taysom Hill)?
Here's the interview in its entirety:
December 16th, 2015 at 3:48 PM ^
for Hill and Kyler Murrary, right?
December 16th, 2015 at 4:52 PM ^
Could be, now that Harbaugh does not need to recruit grad Sr. linebackers.
December 16th, 2015 at 3:50 PM ^
Harbaugh recruits ALL the QBs.
December 16th, 2015 at 6:18 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 3:50 PM ^
Take a 1 Year flyer on a QB (if there is a scholarship open) makes sense. I would actually extend this idea to all positions, but it seems like QB is pretty much the only position where this happens.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:02 PM ^
and CB (Auburn's defensive MVP)
and WR (Alabama's leading WR)
and RB (Silas Redd to USC)
and DE (Brennan Scarlett from Cal to Stanford)
and ...
QB is the high profile spot and logical (one guy plays all snaps) but it's FAR from the only position where grad transfers are happening.
This is a growing trend and it'll continue to grow into a free agent-like situation, at which time the NCAA will kill it.
December 16th, 2015 at 5:47 PM ^
I'm not sure why you're including Silas Redd. He was not a graduate transfer. Rather, he was one of the players who left Penn State after the Sandusky thing and was able to play immediately without sanctions. He left Penn State after his sophomore season and played two years for USC.
December 16th, 2015 at 5:59 PM ^
My mistake. I guess I thought he was a grad transfer because he didn't sit out a year, but you are correct.
I could have include Mike Cox or Justice Hayes I guess but they went to lower level schools and Hayes didn't do much anyway.
A better example at RB would have been Charles Sims who ran for over 1,000 yards at WVU.
December 16th, 2015 at 3:50 PM ^
I think it's something that might need to be done for the first year or two, hopefully not after that. Would most definitely effect recruiting IMO.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:03 PM ^
A grad transfer probably has negligible effect on recruiting. Most grad transfers will only have one year of eligibility. The guys being recruited, particularly at QB, were likely to be redshirts in the following fall when the grad transfer burns his year of eligibility.
This will probably become less common once the first couple of classes are full of JH recruits.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:10 PM ^
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December 16th, 2015 at 4:47 PM ^
the other day. I understood him to say he felt that it would not hurt recruiting as much as it would or could affect current roster players who might feel the need to transfer themselves.
December 16th, 2015 at 3:51 PM ^
Throw him in the bullpen witht eh others.
December 16th, 2015 at 3:53 PM ^
What are the rules of contacting players from other teams? I thought this was prohibited? Is there an exception once a player announces he is not returning?
December 16th, 2015 at 4:03 PM ^
Anyone?
December 16th, 2015 at 3:57 PM ^
The answer to that question is YES. Balas tweeted this when I took my MGoSabbatical-ish last week.
I was hoping someone found it and made it a thread, but I don't think anyone ever did.
We believe U-M will bring in a grad transfer quarterback to compete with Houston xfr John O'Korn and others. story$: https://t.co/puLCCh7qAy
— Chris Balas (@Balas_Wolverine) December 10, 2015
December 16th, 2015 at 3:59 PM ^
Great idea brining in grad transfers every year. If there is an open scholarship, it is a lottery ticket -- probably not worth much but could have huge upside.
December 17th, 2015 at 5:29 AM ^
but after that no way. Not everyone will be a Russell Wilson or Jake Rudock. And it took Jake a few games to get on same page as the WR's and sometime to digest the playbook. You need to recruit and develop. So chemistry and quality of the transfers is an issue. The recruit wasn't starting at his last school for a reason or it was verse lower level competition.
I think most importantly at a certain point other teams can neg recruit you by telling recruits they'll never have a chance as upperclassmen. So any developemental three star won't be coming to learn the system for a few years if they don't think they'll have a fair shot. (ex. maybe-vic v.)
Lastly, it comes down to numbers where it would be better to give out that scholarship to an ol to develop for a few years in the program. I don't think you'll be able to take 2 qb recruits and a transfer ever year.
(Granted-All of the above is useless when Harbaugh deploys his new Offensive System w/ 5qb's on the field at once though. The Michigan Harbfence will be the new spread in colleges across the land.)
December 16th, 2015 at 3:58 PM ^
My reading of this is that we have a coach who's relentlessly trying to improve the team, whatever it takes. I don't think it says much about O'Korn or the other QBs on the roster. QB is the most important position in football, and experienced, talented QBs are welcome for what they provide in competition and depth.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:39 PM ^
Plus you know that the only QBs who will come to Michigan will come knowing they will not be handed anything and will have to compete under the watching eye of a great QB. The only QBs that will play will be ultra-competitive, ultra-confident guys with thick skin. No countryclub mentality of jumping in to a starting spot because of tenure.
December 16th, 2015 at 5:35 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 6:29 PM ^
and his desire to achieve. Some QB's don't need to be pushed. Harbaugh and Brady were like that. But Michigan suffered (IMO) at other times when we didn't have enough legitimate competition at QB. Examples: the earlier Navarre years and the Henne era.
December 16th, 2015 at 6:39 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 3:55 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 4:38 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 3:57 PM ^
Cue panic about O'Korn in 3, 2, 1...
December 16th, 2015 at 3:58 PM ^
Sounds like a great prospect and it's to hear Harbaugh went for him. Smart move.
Grad transfers are underutilized opportunities. Think about how many kids you spend 3 or 4 years (worth of scholarships) to develop into a starter or key backup. Getting a guy who can produce right away, while investing only one scholarship-year into him is an enormous bargain.
Michigan added 3 important grad transfers this year and I'd like to see them add at least that many next year, if not double the number. Opportunities for playing time abound: FB, slot WR, OC, DE, OLB, ILB, S.
As for our QB situation specifically: Even if you take O'Korn as a certainty, Michigan doesn't have a proven/reliable backup. Adding a grad transfer for one year shouldn't scare off any of the freshman - all of whom are likely to need more development anyway. The guys it would (hypothetically) displace would be Morris and Speight. And of course the presumed starter O'Korn - though he knew he'd be in a competition for the job in '16 and '17 either way.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:14 PM ^
A lot of good points in here. Fifth-year transfers are especially valuable when you can just plug a guy in without worrying about a system change. It (understandably) took Rudock a while to get settled in Michigan's offense, but O'Neill was (understandably) ready to go from day one. Both of those guys were valuable for us this year, but ease of transition is probably a major consideration for these transfers.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:40 PM ^
While I do agree there might be scheme issues in some cases (especially at certain positions like OL, LB, and Safety) where you really have to KNOW what's happening all over the field on different playcalls or at least act in tandem with the guy beside you. But OTOH, is there a position where that is more true than QB? Yet that's where you see the most moves.
I think a guy like Prukop or Hill could fit in very well despite having very different skillsets from Rudock.
ONeill plugged into a massive 'system change' I would say given the special teams overhaul. Kicking is kicking you can say, but you can make that case at other positions too (tackling is tackling, covering is covering, running is running).
Whatever we do at Defense, there will likely be some significant changes to scheme with a new DC. So, I would not rule out a transfer at DE, LB, or Safety.
To a certain extent, there is always a good amount of change in the college game so you have to be able to roll with it, plug in freshman, transfers, etc. as needed.
December 16th, 2015 at 3:57 PM ^
how we're going to be able to sign such a big class this year. Half of our QB's are probably transferring.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:00 PM ^
I know that many don't like Harbaugh taking so many QBs, especially through grad transfers, but the reality is that while Hoke recruited well, there are several holes in the roster. This is a natural consequence of having had 4 head coaches in a 9 year span. RR didn't really recruit well on defense or OL. When Hoke came in, he (perhaps out of necessity) overreacted and took a slew of defensive and OL players. What he did not take was enough quality QBs. As a result, while Harbaugh certainly inherited a fair amount of talent, the team does lack upperclassmen at QB for this coming season (and will be young in several other spots in 2017.
While there is not much that Harbaugh can do about most positions other than coach up what he has and hope that his younger players mature and learn quickly, QB is the one position where you can pick up a quality grad transfer who can come in and contribute immediately. The reason for this is that unlike other positions, where multiple guys will play, at QB, there is generally only one guy getting the playing time, leading others to transfer for a hope of playing.
Now, looking at our roster, while we have numbers at QB, that is deceiving. Morris and at least one other may transfer. Speight and Malzone are young, unproven and far from sure fire future starters. That leaves just O'Korn, Peters (never start a true freshman QB!!) and Gentry (who is a project). Perhaps Harbaugh, having seen these guys in practice day in and day out, believes that we don't have a viable starter for 2016 who is capable of leading us to a championship? If that is the case, I am all for plugging the hole until our new recruits are ready to play at the level necessary to compete with OSU.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:08 PM ^
Agree with almost everything you wrote, but this news doesn't necessarily imply we don't have a viable starter. It may imply that we don't have a viable backup. Or it just might be JH stock piling lottery tickets. Maybe one of them really turns out and is materially better than anyone on the roster right now.
This is also something that is viable when there are a lot of open roster spots, which is common during the transition from one coach to another.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:13 PM ^
Arguably the one area that he absolutely knocked out of the park while at Michiga. Lewan, Schofield, and Omameh all start in the NFL. Washington, Barnum, Mealer, Khoury and O'Neill (transfer) were all capable college players, at worst. While he didn't recruit him, he had Molk for every season he was here so OC wasn't much of a need. The one guy recruited to replace him (Pace) was a Molk-clone but got hurt.
The failure that you're referring too is that Rodriguez didn't set up Hoke for a great OL 2 years after he was fired. Which a) Jake Fisher and presumably others would have helped and b) THAT'S NOT HIS JOB.
Rodriguez proved he could get RS Freshman up to speed and playing at a high level right away (see the 2010 run game). Hoke proved he couldn't.
The struggles of the OL in 2013 and 2014 (and still 2015 to be honest) is on HOKE, not Rodriguez.
Put another way -- the 2011 OL (Rodriguez's OL) had a very good run game despite being coached by Al Borges.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:28 PM ^
Sucked at everything at Michigan. And now apparently at Arizona too.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:50 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 5:57 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 5:57 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 8:02 PM ^
Denard?
December 16th, 2015 at 4:21 PM ^
Given the situation (Hoke's scheme/coaching requires YEARS of development) he took far too few guys on the OL in 2011 (excusable, given the circumstances) and especially 2012 (NOT excusable and full-on disaster). Even the 2013 class (6 OLmen) might have been too small given the screaming need for immediate help. By then you knew Miller wasn't great and you had to find 4 starters at least by 2014.
Where he took too many guys was LB (James Ross and RJS were bench guys most of their careers and Gedeon certainly looked capable of more snaps), RB (Cox and Rawls buried on the depth chart), and WR (slow and tall ain't the way to go).
None of that excuses putting all your eggs in the Shane Morris basket.
December 16th, 2015 at 5:55 PM ^
The problem with Hoke OL was development, not recruiting/numbers. Ten guys in two classes should have been sufficient, espcially when he had three seasons each of Lewan and Schofield. Hoke brought in enough linemen. He just couldn't get them to perform.
December 16th, 2015 at 7:58 PM ^
Even under Carr, recruiting mostly 4-star types, the success rate was 50/50 for turning an OL recruit into a starter by his senior year. The success rate for a Red-shirt freshman or sophomore being a competant starter would have been a lot lower. If you know you're going to need 4 or 5 starters within a year or two and you have very few upperclassmen returning, you better grab more than 10 guys across two classes.
To add to that, while Lewan did return for his 5th year, there was no guarantee that was going to happen. Either Lewan or Schofield could have gotten hurt too.
I think you can argue that the expected thing happened. Few of the guys were ready to play as RS Freshman (thus Bosch and Cole and now Newsome playing as true freshman) and even fewer of them were ready to play at a high caliber level.
So yeah, the issue would have been solved by fantastic and fast Rodriguez-level development, but reasonable/normal development would have this as an issue too.
Rodriguez both recruited NFL-caliber OL and development them quickly into starters. It appears Hoke did neither.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:02 PM ^
Please don't suck!
December 16th, 2015 at 4:06 PM ^
December 16th, 2015 at 4:08 PM ^
i think we read into it that harbaugh constantly evaluates his roster / depth chart with an eye towards adding the best possible talent and molding the most competitive squads. its a beautiful thing.
another reason why its such a shame that m cant really accept JC players - harbaugh has proven hell look pretty much everywhere for talent and hes obviously aware of his teams deficiencies or holes, yet hes unable to use all available avenues like most programs.
he added QB depth which weve already seen pay off (and blake oneil was damn good too). and im sure wouldve loved to add several JC LBs if possible. unfortunately m seems to be one of very few big time programs unable to consistently pursue JC players and its a major competitive disadvantage. bama, auburn, msu, fsu, etc - if they see holes at OL or LB or whatever, they go find 1 or more of the top availalbe JC options to plug and play
December 16th, 2015 at 4:15 PM ^
to master Harbaugh's offense. O'Korn has had one year plus in the system.
Hill would have the same learning curve, so I wouldn't expect him to start from game 1. Maybe working on specific packages during the early season blowouts.
Now, it would be up to Harbaugh to manage the system and avoid the Henson/Brady side show, we all saw at the turn of the century.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:17 PM ^
think of it this way we had a better than expected year, and Rudock did a great job. But if you put a QB equivalent to Luck on our team we are prolly 11-1 and in the playoffs. Keep shoveling the QBs on and let the best fight there way to the surface.
December 16th, 2015 at 4:34 PM ^
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December 16th, 2015 at 4:40 PM ^
Would have hit Chesson deep, so we won't have to punt