Fight for top 2021 MI prospects
Good article on The Athletic about the battle there will be for this great Michigan 2021 class. https://theathletic.com/1520142/2020/01/09/michigan-faces-a-fight-to-keep-top-2021-prospects-at-home/
"Spindler and Dellinger are two headliners in the state of Michigan’s loaded 2021 class. The state has five players in the top 100 of the 247Sports composite rankings, making Michigan a battleground for programs like Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame and LSU, along with the hometown schools."
5 top 100's in MI is a rarity, making this a cruial recruiting year in the state. I hope Harbaugh really gets some great recruiters in these next coaching hires. Could be the makings of a dominant class, or another dong punch if they end up at our closest rivals.
January 9th, 2020 at 11:29 AM ^
Mark Dantonio feels your disrespect for not being mentioned among the battleground programs.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:46 PM ^
But does he hear the disrespect?? Asking for a friend
January 9th, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
Everybody knocks the dong punch, but it's really kind of enjoyable if done correctly.
January 9th, 2020 at 11:38 AM ^
Edwards will be a huge get. He's a national talent. All signs point to good vibes from Spindler. Dellinger is the most interesting one. He seems destined for ND. The concern is them as a packaged deal moves Spindler out of Michigan.
What would help a lot is Michigan stealing Cameron Martinez out of Muskegon. A top talent coming to Michigan sends a different message than has been happening. He's a good fit too. Really long shot, likely no chance, but that would improve the Edwards chances, in my opinion. Sure, winning the Big Ten next year would help too.
January 9th, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
Why is Cameron Martinez a long shot? Just curious on the background of his recruiting.
January 9th, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^
I have a connection in the Muskegon program that has stated that if he moves away from OSU it will be to a southern school, MSU is off the table. I work with a guy connected as a former OSU player. His intel suggests he will be in the class and sign in the next signing period but they are nervous inside the program because him not signing was a last minute change of plans. He feels the relationship with the program has tainted the view of Michigan enough to keep him away. He also says his step-dad is not a fan of the Michigan program.
The wild card is that Gattis impressed him, per both. If he can close the deal, atta boy!
January 9th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
Isn't Martinez a 2020 kid and committed to Ohio State?
January 9th, 2020 at 12:02 PM ^
Not signed yet. I have not spoken to my connection to Muskegon since right before Christmas, however.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
Gotcha -well given your above update, could get interesting. It seemed like Michigan hadn't been after him too hard initially - not sure if that was because they weren't sure where they'd use him or what the hesitation was. Do you know if they have a spot in mind for him? Is Gattis after him as a WR?
January 9th, 2020 at 1:08 PM ^
I don't know anything about Michigan's plans. I am not even aware if or how they are pursuing him, really. My intel is coming from people at his high school and a guy who was a walk on in the 80's. I cannot even say if their words are honest and accurate. They are both good people though. I'd hope they bring him in on the defensive side of the ball. He could transition to offense but his fluidness is something I'd like to see in the slot corner.
January 9th, 2020 at 11:38 AM ^
Here's what WIltfong posted this AM about Michigan's recruiting department:
My critique of Michigan recruiting is just that I think more emphasis as a staff collectively could be put on it.
The topic on Allen and my podcast was how big a loss is Chris Partridge and I said a big one because I thought he was one of Michigan’s best recruiters and feel that if his spot isn’t filled with another go getter on the trail the Wolverines will feel that blow. The roster will get less talented as it goes.
I like a lot about Michigan and their efforts on the trail.
First of all it’s a program that recruits itself from the academics, to the alumni, to the fanbase to the Big House to the Jordan Brand, there’s a lot of build in advantages that should guarantee Top15 recruiting classes regardless of who is at the controls.
I think when Michigan gets guys on campus, they crush it. Officials and unofficials. The success rate Michigan has for visitors on campus is through the roof. Prospects that visit feel comfortable around the coaches and team within that environment.
I think Josh Gattis, Sherrone Moore and Jay Harbaugh are three guys on staff that can go in any part of the country and give Michigan a puncher’s chance with a prospect they don’t already have built-in advantages for. They’ve proven it in Ann Arbor and for Gattis over the course of his career. I think recruiting is important to them, I think developing and maintaining relationships is important to them and I think when they are recruiting head to head, no opposing assistant coach from another school is doing more than them to make sure the relationship stays consistent, strong and they know they’re a priority at Michigan.OL recruiting in Ann Arbor should be the same at places like ND and Stanford. OL are naturally attracted to schools like that. Don't mess it up with bad evals or turning off your top targets somehow and you should have a good one year in and year out.
Moving on from there
I think Michigan has some guys on staff that recruit well in their sweet spot like Don Brown in the the Northeast but not sure it translates elsewhere.
I think that the overall emphasis on recruiting at Michigan isn’t the same as it is at some other places. The amount of time spent on it as a staff, regarding meetings and daily dialogue from top down isn’t the same consistency as it is at Ohio State, Penn State or Minnesota (just using Big Ten schools I’m very impressed with). I think at Michigan when talking to people around it, recruiting is broken up by defense and offense, and Coach Harbaugh stamps the offers. I don’t think that there is routine discussion about it as a staff. I don’t think they have many recruiting meetings during the season. I think Jim Harbaugh is more of a closer (still a good one) in an era where head coaches are now nine inning guys that get stronger in the late innings.
Talking to people around it, I think that sometimes Michigan will lock in on guys that already have interest in the school instead of swinging at or chopping wood on a prospect to try and get him to visit that maybe doesn’t have much initial interest. Fighting to recruit guys.
As someone pointed out, there have been great eval wins like Matthew Hibner, and I think Michigan’s player development is good too. I also think some schools head guy push their coaches to be better recruiters, and I think that they go over recruiting and the state of the union routinely. I think at Michigan it has to be internal drive for the assistant coaches to stay on top of it themselves.
Now with all that being said I still believe Michigan is a team that is in competition every year for a New Year’s Six Game. I know what’s on their roster and I know where we ranked their kids. I also think that Michigan has had teams good enough to beat Ohio State during this losing streak. That's obvious too (I just think the overall consistency and relentless attitude towards recruiting gives the Buckeyes the advantage to win more times than not). I wasn’t slamming Michigan like it was a dumpster fire barely operating on the trail. I just critiqued it similar to me saying in the Notre Dame market after Brian Kelly said he thinks ND can start recruiting top five classes that it starts with him also transitioning from closer to nine inning guy. To recruit at that level it’s consistency daily across the board.
Michigan is a school I view that can go into Florida, California and Texas and should be a contender for Top10 players in those states. That’s the ceiling I see for them on the trail. My critique was more fine tuning hearing how they do things and comparing it to how I see other operations being ran.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
Why isn't Michigan bringing in a top-notch recruiter from California or Texas? Those two states are filled with talent, with a great opportunity given the down eras for the local schools. Texas in particular, we are simply a non-factor there. Looking at the 2020 and 2021 top prospects in Texas, the top out-of-state schools are Georgia, Alabama, and OSU, along with locals Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Texas. (I consider Oklahoma local because Texas has always been a core recruiting ground for Oklahoma.)
January 9th, 2020 at 12:25 PM ^
Let’s bold all the negative parts. Right in the Maizen handbook.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
“But he (Urban Meyer) is one of the more persuasive people that I've ever met, and what I learned working there (OSU) for three years, I thought that I was the hardest working coach in recruiting, right, and I learned that I wasn't.
“And I learned some ways to be a better recruiter and if I said one thing, I would take that away from my time; is that there's certain things that you can do to really exponentially pop your recruiting, so I'm excited to do that.
Greg Schiano
January 9th, 2020 at 12:31 PM ^
My critique of Michigan recruiting is just that I think more emphasis as a staff collectively could be put on it.
The topic on Allen and my podcast was how big a loss is Chris Partridge and I said a big one because I thought he was one of Michigan’s best recruiters and feel that if his spot isn’t filled with another go getter on the trail the Wolverines will feel that blow. The roster will get less talented as it goes.
I like a lot about Michigan and their efforts on the trail.
First of all it’s a program that recruits itself from the academics, to the alumni, to the fanbase to the Big House to the Jordan Brand, there’s a lot of build in advantages that should guarantee Top15 recruiting classes regardless of who is at the controls.
I think when Michigan gets guys on campus, they crush it. Officials and unofficials. The success rate Michigan has for visitors on campus is through the roof. Prospects that visit feel comfortable around the coaches and team within that environment.
I think Josh Gattis, Sherrone Moore and Jay Harbaugh are three guys on staff that can go in any part of the country and give Michigan a puncher’s chance with a prospect they don’t already have built-in advantages for. They’ve proven it in Ann Arbor and for Gattis over the course of his career. I think recruiting is important to them, I think developing and maintaining relationships is important to them and I think when they are recruiting head to head, no opposing assistant coach from another school is doing more than them to make sure the relationship stays consistent, strong and they know they’re a priority at Michigan.OL recruiting in Ann Arbor should be the same at places like ND and Stanford. OL are naturally attracted to schools like that. Don't mess it up with bad evals or turning off your top targets somehow and you should have a good one year in and year out.
Moving on from there
I think Michigan has some guys on staff that recruit well in their sweet spot like Don Brown in the the Northeast but not sure it translates elsewhere.
I think that the overall emphasis on recruiting at Michigan isn’t the same as it is at some other places. The amount of time spent on it as a staff, regarding meetings and daily dialogue from top down isn’t the same consistency as it is at Ohio State, Penn State or Minnesota (just using Big Ten schools I’m very impressed with). I think at Michigan when talking to people around it, recruiting is broken up by defense and offense, and Coach Harbaugh stamps the offers. I don’t think that there is routine discussion about it as a staff. I don’t think they have many recruiting meetings during the season. I think Jim Harbaugh is more of a closer (still a good one) in an era where head coaches are now nine inning guys that get stronger in the late innings.
Talking to people around it, I think that sometimes Michigan will lock in on guys that already have interest in the school instead of swinging at or chopping wood on a prospect to try and get him to visit that maybe doesn’t have much initial interest. Fighting to recruit guys.
As someone pointed out, there have been great eval wins like Matthew Hibner, and I think Michigan’s player development is good too. I also think some schools head guy push their coaches to be better recruiters, and I think that they go over recruiting and the state of the union routinely. I think at Michigan it has to be internal drive for the assistant coaches to stay on top of it themselves.
Now with all that being said I still believe Michigan is a team that is in competition every year for a New Year’s Six Game. I know what’s on their roster and I know where we ranked their kids. I also think that Michigan has had teams good enough to beat Ohio State during this losing streak. That's obvious too (I just think the overall consistency and relentless attitude towards recruiting gives the Buckeyes the advantage to win more times than not). I wasn’t slamming Michigan like it was a dumpster fire barely operating on the trail. I just critiqued it similar to me saying in the Notre Dame market after Brian Kelly said he thinks ND can start recruiting top five classes that it starts with him also transitioning from closer to nine inning guy. To recruit at that level it’s consistency daily across the board.
Michigan is a school I view that can go into Florida, California and Texas and should be a contender for Top10 players in those states. That’s the ceiling I see for them on the trail. My critique was more fine tuning hearing how they do things and comparing it to how I see other operations being ran
Bolding is fun.
January 9th, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
Yeah, it's really fun when the director of the largest recruiting site on the internet calls your coaches and program out for being disorganized and not recruiting to their potential. He literally said any coach could walk into Michigan and sign top 15 classes in their sleep but you're out here celebrating that they aren't a complete dumpster fire. I bet you love losing to Ohio State don't you. That's also real fun.
January 9th, 2020 at 2:22 PM ^
Do you really think you're fooling anyone? My goodness, you're pathetic.
January 9th, 2020 at 11:46 AM ^
Spoiler alert, Michigan isn't going to get a lot of these guys
January 9th, 2020 at 11:48 AM ^
How is it we have a sub par recruiting team with all the money we donate and pay for tickets?
January 9th, 2020 at 11:56 AM ^
Because Jim Harbaugh is disorganized and Sean Magee is bad at his job. Couple that with guys like McDaniels, Zordich, Warinner, and Brown either being lazy recruiters or not having dynamic personalities and you get what we’ve been getting on the trail which is recruiting classes that aren’t in the same solar system as OSU’s. It’s really bad.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
What exactly is Sean Magee's job? What does the Associate Athletic Director for Football do? His profile doesn't read like someone who has a lot of experience recruiting football players to Top 10 P5 schools.
Sean Magee is in his third season with the program in 2019 after spending the previous five seasons at the U.S. Naval Academy. In his current role with the Wolverines, Magee provides oversight and direction for the football program in all off-field areas including the management of the player personnel department, football operations and the administration of the budget for all football related activity. He additionally serves as the program’s NFL liaison.
During his time at Navy, Magee served as the Director of Player Personnel, responsible for helping to shape and manage the roster during the winningest five-year stretch of program history. In his role, Magee assisted in the management of all administrative functions of the program while also developing and implementing the strategic planning, marketing and scouting process for recruiting prospective student-athletes.
Magee graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He later earned a master’s degree in business administration from the College of William & Mary’s Mason School of Business in 2012. As a player at Navy from 2000 to 2003, Magee was a member of the offensive line that led the nation in rushing during the 2003 season. In addition, Magee helped lead the Midshipmen to regain the Commander in Chief’s Trophy for the first time since 1981 and was a member of the program’s first bowl game team since the 1996 season.
After graduating from the Academy, Magee served as a Division Officer onboard the USS Juneau in Sasebo, Japan, where he deployed to the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Following that tour of duty, Magee served as a manpower/personnel analyst on the Commander, Naval Surface Forces staff in Coronado, California.
He transferred to the Navy’s Human Resources community in 2007 and assumed Department Head responsibilities at Navy Recruiting District Ohio. As part of the nation’s largest recruiting district, Magee was responsible for directing all enlisted and NROTC recruiting efforts in the states of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:13 PM ^
This is getting old. I know there are no mods around but I’m getting sick of seeing the same trolls bitching about the same thing in every recruiting thread. We fucking get it. You think the staff is terrible, needs to recruit more 5*, and should all be fired. Stop fucking dominating every thread with the same shit.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:16 PM ^
Maizen gonna Maizen. You knew he couldn't stay away for long.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:19 PM ^
It’s every fucking thread though. I don’t even follow recruiting much but like to read some of these threads but they are awful. If if he was right it would be awful seeing it over and over again.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:25 PM ^
Yeah it's mind-numbing. Nothing like a refreshing take. I'd at least like it if he switch up his painfully obvious narrative once in a while. Might I suggest....
"I believe Michigan won't be good until we always score more point than the other team. Look here's an article pointing out Michigan lost a game when they didn't score more points than the other team. Score more points. it's that simple. OSU and Alabama do it. Clemson does it. I'm not wrong. This coaching staff doesn't understand they need to score more points than the other team."
January 9th, 2020 at 1:16 PM ^
This is a relevant topic as its being discussed on the national level.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:17 PM ^
I honestly believe that Maizen masturbates to negative recruiting news about Michigan.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
I thought it would just be pictures of galaxies since he loves stars so much but you're probably right.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
Someone should put together a Venn diagram of “posters who bitch about maizen” and “posters who bitch about don browns d getting beat by better athletes”.
what he’s saying isn’t wrong even if you all are tired of reading it. Frankly, it’s just as annoying to scroll through all of you bitching about his bitching.
it’s like I enjoy punishing myself coming on here 25 times a day and reading through all these comments but here we are
January 9th, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
Opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one. Some of us just don't prefer constantly seeing the same asshole shoved in our face spouting the same old drivel and would like some fresh assholes to look at and engage with.
Not saying Maizen's an asshole. It's a simile, boo boo.
January 9th, 2020 at 1:07 PM ^
I don't even mind when people bitch. I can write someone off as a "constant complainer who is uber critical and will never be happy" and that's fine. Some are just like that. It gets annoying when some folks create faux usernames and pretend they are different people who all seemingly support each other and act like there is a board consensus when it's just one or two weirdos creating many usernames.
Some of the criticism isn't even that nutty it just gets paired with a lot that is very nutty by an odd duck creating a lot of usernames.
January 9th, 2020 at 12:40 PM ^
You tell me how long the list is for any recruiting class with this criteria?
- Elite on the field
- Elite in the classroom
- Won't accept recruiting money
- Expected to go to class and be a student - athlete
January 9th, 2020 at 1:00 PM ^
LOL you must have never spent anytime on South Quad.
January 10th, 2020 at 7:38 PM ^
"on South Quad"?
Ever actually been in Ann Arbor?
January 9th, 2020 at 12:55 PM ^
as a proud clarkston alum, i will gladly tweet rocco spindler and garrett dellinger every day to come to osu. go wolves.
January 9th, 2020 at 1:06 PM ^
do not worry... student tryouts will save the day!
(insert hiding GIF)
January 9th, 2020 at 1:07 PM ^
Only 6 kids from MI in the past 2 classes. I don't buy that we just want the best kids regardless of locale. I think the local kids are not as highly attractive to our staff. Hard to argue against it with the numbers where they are.
January 9th, 2020 at 1:21 PM ^
Juwan Howard should do the football team's recruiting.
January 9th, 2020 at 1:42 PM ^
To beat OSU will take a big group of elite state Mi players, and they need to go hard at all these guys. Power in numbers here....
January 9th, 2020 at 4:41 PM ^
I wish Harbaugh would just hire Woodson already!! He would be an amazing addition to the coaching staff and at least he would emphasize the importance of the osu game since Harbaugh can't seem to get his team up for that game!!! We need all these players, every single one!!
January 9th, 2020 at 8:50 PM ^
Why are people getting mad that respected people in the recruiting world saying we are subpar. Imagine if we were good we would pulling in top t every year not top 10nor so.
January 10th, 2020 at 3:15 AM ^
Michigan's recruiting is actually very good: about same as Oklahoma and Clemson for 2016-2019. People saying otherwise are ignorant or have an agenda.
Only 4 schools are substantially better on average 2016-2019: Alabama, anOSU, Georgia, LSU.
Average rank, 2016-2019:
Alabama 2
Georgia 3
Ohio State 5.5
LSU 7.25
USC 9.5
Texas 9.5
Florida State 9.75
Auburn 10.25
Oklahoma 10.5
Michigan 10.75
Clemson 11.0
January 10th, 2020 at 9:57 AM ^
If you think that table accurately represents the comparative talent level of Michigan vs Clemson, you are an armchair QB. Those numbers do not do a good job of delineating between a depth of good-to-very good (Michigan) and the transcendency of great at key spots (Clemson).
Clemson's QB is far better than anyone we have, and probably better than anyone we have EVER had. Their RB is among the most explosive in all of college football. Their starting WRs are as dynamic as anyone's, including Alabama. Their starting LT was a 5* they swiped out of OH, and he stoned Chase Young time and again in the semi.
We have NOT recruited like Clemson.