Ideas for Improving Recruiting Updates

Submitted by UMVAFAN on
There's not a whole bunch to complain about with the recruiting updates, but I was thinking about how Harbaugh spends the offseason with satellite camps and all. Is it possible to note whether specific commits attended a satellite camp or not? I would love to see if the camps are fruitful from a recruiting perspective or is Harbaugh running the camps for the love of football with a small chance we find some recruits. Now that he's had two summers of camps, it would be interesting to see what's come from the camps, star ratings of players, and later on down the road, whether the players had success or not at UM. Are they finding 3 star diamonds in the rough, etc? Just a thought....wondering if others think this would be interesting and worthwhile, and other ideas for improvement.
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parkjam

January 3rd, 2017 at 10:32 AM ^

Satellite camps are immensely helpful, they really piss off the SEC. Seriously though, even without directly linking recruits, it increases exposure

Joined: 01/07/2011

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MGoHopeless

January 3rd, 2017 at 10:40 AM ^

I think the biggest gain from them is the potential for getting in early on a prospect down the road.  Harbaugh is going after power house schools in each region to win over the high school coaches.  Once he's done that, I think he'll get more information from these coaches BEFORE scouting services are all over them and other D1 programs come knocking on the door.  Doesnt hurt for finding some great coaching talent too.

Joined: 09/12/2014

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LSAClassOf2000

January 3rd, 2017 at 10:42 AM ^

This is going to be one of those posts where I think the answer is something like this - "The staff here likely will not do this because of the time investment that it would probably take, but if someone wants to create such a matrix and keep it updated, feel free as there is probably a niche audience for this."

One of the great things about a board with a lot of user-generated content is that the users can take on some of the more time-consuming projects, right?

Joined: 01/07/2011

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UMBSnMBA

January 3rd, 2017 at 11:03 AM ^

There are dozens if not hundreds of attendees of some of these camps.  I don't know that there is even a published list of attendees.  I don't see how the task is even possible if you have the time.  Many of the best recruits from these camps will be Freshmen or Sophomores that blow up over time.

Good luck to someone trying to pull this off.

Joined: 05/12/2013

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michgoblue

January 3rd, 2017 at 10:55 AM ^

While I think that your question is interesting, and I would be curious as to the answer, I think that the primary benefits of the camps are not necessarily measurable. 

First, it gets Harbaugh and our staff in front of a lot of top high school coaches in different parts of the country.  While we cannot measure the impact of this, you never know when one of these coaches will have a 4 or 5* player who is considering leaving the south.  Having worked with Harbaugh at a camp could impact the coach's recommendation to that kid. 

Second, it keep Michigan football in not only the national news, but in the local news in locales in which we might not otherwise be mentioned.  Again, this is part of a long term process of improving our recruiting reach.

Third, Harbaugh has been targeted as to the locations of his camps, and has hosted them at schools that have rich recruiting pipelines.  This might help us with specific recruits in this cycle, or it might plant the seeds for recruits in coming years who might not have otherwise had Michigan on top of their minds.

Finally, I expect that the camps have helped us with specific high-caliber recruits (Harris, if he comes here, would be a great example) and have unearthed a few diamonds in the rough.

Joined: 11/16/2009

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MadMatt

January 3rd, 2017 at 11:38 AM ^

As someone who checks this site more than daily, I understand the desire for info on potential recruits.  Hey, it's more substantive that another "OT: Could Might Mouse take Underdog?" thread for those deathly slow days of early summer.

But, this only feeds an unhealthy interest in the decision-making of 16-18 yr olds.  A corollary of don't tweet at recruits needs to be don't seek out information on them on a weekly (or more frequent) basis.  I kinda miss the "old days" (of the 90s, irony marks) when I had no idea who Lloyd Carr was recruiting, and secure in the comfort that regardless, Michigan would still field a team that would compete for the B1G Championship.  Now I'm privileged to know what the color of a high school senior's pancakes signifies for the probability he will attend Michigan, MSU, OSU, PSU, Whatsamatta U, or take the bagmen's money to play for an SEC school.  (And not a sniff of a B1G Championship since my son was in kindergarten; BTW, he departed yesterday for his college junior semester abroad.  Somehow, all this useless information doesn't make me feel any better.)

My point?  I'd recommend a few more people take a deep breath and consider:

- Don't believe he is committed or flipped until he announces it himself.

- Don't believe he is coming until he signs an LOI or enrolls.

- Don't believe he will contribute (regardless of starz) until he does so on the field.

- Let the coaches and recruiting professionals to their ding-dang jobs without kvetching from us.

Joined: 11/06/2013

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