Harbaugh Knows Talent
Newsflash for the haters who have actually criticized recruiting under Harbaugh - He and his staff know more about evaluating talent than you do.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
you don't say ...
October 26th, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^
Indeed...
October 27th, 2018 at 4:42 PM ^
There people all over this board thinking we should only recruit players that rivals likes and get upset if Harbaugh takes a couple of three star players
October 26th, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^
That's ridiculously sweet to see so many significant contributes who are sure to play in the NFL had their start as 3 star recruits!
October 26th, 2018 at 4:29 PM ^
Is “contributes” some weird Hunger Games reference. Looked at your username and I was even more curious.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^
THE PLAYER HATERS BALL GIVES US AN OPPORTUNITY TO HATE ON A DIVERSE ARRAY OF MARK-ASS MARKS, TRICK-ASS MARKS, PUNK BITCHES AND SKIP-SCAP SKANKS AND SCALLYWAGS... HO'S, HEIFERS,HEE-HAWS AND HULA HOOPS.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
couldn't have said it better myself.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:18 PM ^
Hate, hate, hate, hate!!!!!
October 26th, 2018 at 2:31 PM ^
I hate you, I hate you, I dont even know you and I hate your guts.
I hope all the bad things in life happen to you and nobody else but you.
October 26th, 2018 at 4:33 PM ^
Excuse me now, I have go fill Mork Dantonis moms water dish.
October 26th, 2018 at 3:23 PM ^
... LOATHE ENTIRELY!!!!!
October 26th, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^
HONEY BROWN ALE RICE FOR A TODDLER TO BE ABLE FOR THE UPRIGHT I WAS THINKING YOU SCARE THE ACTUAL SHIT OUT THERE TO THE UPRISING I WAS THINKING ABOUT TO STILL START. HOS AND HEIFERS AND HEIFERS AND HOS, HOSS.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:49 PM ^
It's PLAYA not PLAYER
October 26th, 2018 at 3:34 PM ^
Whew...for a minute there I was afraid you were going to leave out the HULA HOOPS...
October 26th, 2018 at 2:11 PM ^
He built Stanford on three star guys, a few two star guys, and a few four star guys.
Also, I still can't believe Hudson was a three star. Did no one at the recruiting services watch his clips?
October 26th, 2018 at 2:15 PM ^
This board exploded with haters when Harbaugh offered then zero star Ronnie Bell - and I was similarly attacked when I asserted that Ronnie Bell had serious skills. Newsflash: Ronnie Bell has serious skills.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:37 PM ^
I don't know about "exploded" with haters.
There certainly are (were?) are vocal minority of people who didn't like certain recruits (like relatively lowly ranked Ronnie Bell), but they are just loud --- let's not count them extra b/c of their Maizen "look at me!" tendencies. If you look at his "Hello" post, most people were positive.
https://mgoblog.com/content/hello-ronnie-bell#comment-form
I remember that b/c I jumped on towards the backend of the comments and my positive assessment of him got a number of upvotes (I have no idea how many, and now neither does mgoblog since the site became 3.0), so a good portion of folks supported his recruitment and potential. And I think it's safe to say pretty much everyone is pleasantly surprised he has become a contributor, and not just on special teams, during this true freshman year.
October 26th, 2018 at 7:11 PM ^
He's referring to not just Maizen but also to MchiganFan84 and Marcia and all the rest of the dozens of usernames Maizen had.
October 26th, 2018 at 7:13 PM ^
What he meant to say was, “Maizen assploded”
October 26th, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
Don Brown knows his 3-star recruits. That is all.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
That and sprinkle in a few 5 and 4 stars and you got yourself a dynasty. What is so nice, is we have seen Harbaugh's bottom last year and we have not seen the ceiling.
October 26th, 2018 at 3:54 PM ^
Aren't we do phrasing anymore?
October 26th, 2018 at 9:59 PM ^
I've never seen Harbaughs bottom.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^
Gonna nit pick here but wasn't Watson a Hoke recruit?
October 26th, 2018 at 2:32 PM ^
SHUT UP!
October 26th, 2018 at 2:38 PM ^
Sure, but unlike Hoke, Harbaugh has actually developed his players and squeezed potential out of them.
October 26th, 2018 at 3:19 PM ^
For sure, I'm just saying you can't point to Watson as an example of Harbaugh's eye for underrated talent. Development, without a doubt.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:18 PM ^
Correction, he and his team know more about talent and potential then the recruiting services do, or..they know a bit more about player development, I presume it's both.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^
This is the point--Harbaugh and staff know talent more than the guys paid to evaluate high school talent. If you click through those 2016 and 2017 recruiting classes, the hit rate on those 3-stars (and even lower rated 4-stars like Devin Bush) is incredible. It gives context to the composite class rankings on 247. For instance, in 2019 Michigan's composite team ranking is #9, but the 247 team ranking is #3.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:19 PM ^
One thing that seems more relevant is Harbaugh's eye for assistant coaching talent. He didn't have all of the coaches he wanted immediately, but all of his later hires turned out great. A three star that works hard for his position coach and really buys in will be worth as much as a four star by their junior year, if not earlier.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
Yup. I can't imagine this team would be as successful with the Drevno/Frey/Hamilton mix from last year.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
This is true. However, it is just as important that we currently have a coaching staff capable of developing and properly utilizing players.
Some of the three stars were under scouted and should have been ranked higher. Some of them have been coached up and put in a position to succeed schematically. Either way, kudos to Harbaugh and his coaching staff.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:23 PM ^
Also of note with several of these guys, they had irregular recruiting circumstances. Stars matter, but not when you're committed to play bball, you're from an unrecruited area or were expected to play a different position. One of the main reasons Bama's classes are ranked so high is their tendency to pick from the highly scouted areas of texas, georgia, bama, and florida.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^
I've had this thought more with basketball, but give me senior four stars over five star kids looking to go pro every day.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:24 PM ^
Folks, we've beaten one current top-25 team and lost to one. It's perhaps not enough data to reach some of the wildly optimistic conclusions being drawn.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:37 PM ^
Sure, let's not give any credit to the team until they win a national title.
October 26th, 2018 at 3:29 PM ^
Maybe there is a gap between 1-1 this season against top-25 teams after an 8-5 season. and "winning a national title"?
The irrational exuberance here is only outweighed by the BPONE chicken-littleness..
PS- this is why I hate bye week.
October 26th, 2018 at 6:27 PM ^
I'm not sure you realize this, but football is a team sport. Under-recruited Individual players can be good and the team's record can still be mediocre. If Russell Bellomy was starting at QB, Michigan's record might be 5-3 now, and 3-star Chase Winovich would still be playing at an All-America level.
October 26th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^
Harbaugh can evaluate talent better than fans - and better than you. That is not an "optimistic conclusion" - that is a fact.
October 26th, 2018 at 3:52 PM ^
There have been 8 games played. That's 2/3rds of the season. I think by now we have a pretty good idea of what this team is...why can't folks like you see that? I'm not saying they get to the playoff, but there is a nonzero chance that it happens and that's because the team is good enough (right now) to be favored against possibly all of our remaining opponents. That's not "wild optimism".
We won't know until we know. But it's ok to embrace the fun. Don't be the fun police.
October 26th, 2018 at 7:21 PM ^
Yeah but we looked like hot ass while beating our tomato cans last year, while that's certainly not the case this season. You can tell that this year's team is very, very good.
October 27th, 2018 at 8:55 AM ^
How many current top 25 teams has Bama beaten? One? Let's slow down on the Tua hype.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:24 PM ^
He does, but how much better would Michigan be if 50% of the 14 3* kids were 4 & 5*s? Would we have lost to ND? Would we be Bama North? Just think of how good Harbaugh would be with OSU's roster. There is a reason the staff went after Mike Webber so hard (who basically doesn't start at OSU).
October 26th, 2018 at 2:29 PM ^
I always want the highest ranked class possible, but I think maybe the lower ranked (but still talented) players bring a work ethic that some of the top players may not have.
Imagine the ego's in a locker room full of 5* players. Everyone assuming they're going to the NFL and caring mostly about themselves instead of the team.
Maybe I'm talking out of my ass, but I think there's value in having some guys on the team with something to prove.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
I think you're spot on. I think this is the very reason OSU doesn't at least play in the college football championship game every year. Michigan has played them dead even in a number of the recent games with a significantly lower average player H.S. rating. And look what Purdue did to them this year and Iowa last year. Egos and expectations of deserved playing time can eat away at a team's cohesiveness.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^
Urban is 50-4 in B1G play and is unarguably the 2nd best coach in the country.
1 loss at Purdue doesn't change that and doesn't mean that Harbaugh wouldn't benefit from more 5* guys. Would Michigan be better with Mike Weber and/or one of their 5* WRs?
The point of paying a guy like Harbaugh and Urban is that they need to own the locker room and make sure the team plays together. Urban and Saban have done this.
October 26th, 2018 at 3:36 PM ^
Higdon was a 4-star on most sites, including 247.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^
Remember Ezekiel Elliott bitching to the media about OSU's coaching after they lost to MSU in 2015? I couldn't imagine a Michigan player doing that.
The fact that he did it I think spoke volumes about the culture in their locker room and around their entire program.
October 26th, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
I think Harbaugh and his coaches do a good job of weeding out the 4 and 5 star prima donna recruits that are more interested in looking at themselves in a mirror and worrying about their personal NFL careers than improving themselves and "The Team". Some don't get weeded out right away, but most are not offered.
October 26th, 2018 at 3:04 PM ^
I think Harbaugh gets a huge assist from the bagmen in weeding out the 4 & 5 star prima donna recruits.