Let’s talk about our recruiting

As long as whoever comes in contributes and produces, that's what matters. Michigan has had god knows how many highly touted recruits who came through and failed to live up to expectations. 

I'd be happy with a class that's half three stars, half four stars, and one five star that ends up having major contributors across the board vs. having a class stocked with four and five star talent, but when its all said and done, 8-10 of them transfer out, 5-6 of them play but don't really add much, and then you end up with maybe 5-6 guys who play and produce. 

Hassan Haskins was a nobody recruit and he's producing. Same with Ronnie Bell. Several of the OL players were three stars and they're playing well. As long as the guys who come in fit the scheme and can be developed to maximize their talents and be put in a position to win, then I'm good. MSU perfected that to a T under Dantonio. 

Recruiting rankings are borked from the 2020 glitch year:

example; UofM just got a commit from a player they offered on Oct. 13th who was unranked at the time, in the next week he got offers from Iowa, Cinci and OSU, among others, on Oct 19th he debuts at the #329 player in the country, almost a four star. 

This is two months before early signing.

Most years recruiting rankings are nothing more than a bad job at doing the impossible, this year they have about a third of the relevant data they normally do, so it's that much more of a joke.

Better be glad we have a staff that finds their own five stars.

I think this year especially, probably due to lack of scouting from Covid,

It's easy to forget, as things are slowly getting back to normal, that many states cancelled fall football seasons in 2020, moving them to shorter Spring 2021 seasons. I can't imagine that any of the scouting services are truly up to date.

This class is going to be the least scouted in the history of recruiting services due to Covid, which means there are going to be plenty of underrated guys to find.

Harbaugh has done a great job of those guys that turn into NFL draft picks in his time at Michigan. While this won't be his best class, I also think when we look back at it in 5 years, it won't be his worst either.

9-1 and you're complaining about recruiting bump not happening yet.  It sure has... and will increase, too.

We won't consistently compete with OSU until we improve the depth of our recruiting. At the moment, we cannot replace our attrition losses throughout the season at the same level they can.  Having "field ready" plug in pieces, particularly at skill positions, explains a great deal of the disparity in results over the past decade.

I crunched the numbers and came up with this for the 2018-2020 classes (among people still on the team):

We took 35 4* recruits:

We have 10 starters, 5 rotational pieces, 11 reserves, and 9 people leave the program. 

We took 33 3* and below recruits:

We have 7 starters, 8 rotational pieces, 10 reserves, and 8 have left the program.

The other 5 starters are two 3* from 2017 (Stueber/Hawkins), a 4* from 2017 (Ross), and our two 5* (Dax and Hinton). 

Ultimately, outside of the elite talent, there isn't a ton of difference once you get past the Top 150-200 guys. 

That said, it'd be nice to recruit at the Bama, Georgia, OSU level where it's just a ton of talent across the two-deep of 5* and high 4*. 

I get it. I do....BUT Hassan Haskins, Ronnie Bell were three stars. Diamonds in the ruff. Derrick Green, Kareem Walker and countless other recruits were 5 stars that didn't pan out. I believe we have a good mixture of elite and good recruits. My biggest concern has been the lack of player development over the last 10 years or so. This is the first Harbaugh QB that he recruited and developed. That's odd to me. There are plenty of programs that recruit lower than us, but seem to get more out of their recruits. (MSU). 

Bottom line is, win big games, get big recruits. It's really quite simple.

Those elite players are all going to the elite programs. We will have to wait for the playoffs to be expanded in 2024. Elite kids want to have a chance at winning a NC. At this time Michigan does not provide them that opportunity.

Beat Ohio State or at least look competitive and win a bowl game / the narrative changes and recruiting improves.

We have to beat Ohio, and then things will change.  We have to beat Michigan State, and we should be but somehow we do not.  We need to beat state 8 out of 10 times because we just should we have better players.  Beat Ohio, and then hey do it again the next year, and then you will see more 5 stars.  The players go to Ohio, Alabama, Clemson, etc...because they win.  IT's much easier to recruit when the proof is in the pudding.

I tend to believe the coaches are and will do a nice job at getting the right talent that can do the job. I also look more at how UM is finishing in the BIG in recruiting and they should (in my mind) be #2 with osu every year and not take a backseat to anybody.

I also think it's critical to make sure you have a game breaker or two. Peppers, Aiden, Gary, Winovich, etc. Harbaugh and Co has done a good job at that. I don't know when or if UM will get to osu, clemson, alabama, georgia level but I think hitting on a few of those big time leaders / gamebreakers and the stars aligning will take them over the hump.

2016 is a shining example. The team wasn't perfect but they were no doubt a top 2-4 team in the country. On that team you had some high ranked stars but also 3* dudes that became men.

Honestly, Michigan is damn close to making this thing happen and when you look at team talent they are #2 in the BIG and I expect that to continue.

MGoBlizzard.

I think the staff is young and very energetic and will do well down the road at recruiting as long as Harbaugh stays as head coach.  Not that another coach couldn't do even better, but then that would be years down the road after another head coaching change.

With all the worldwide well-to-do alumni and a worldwide reputation business school, it seems like they would partner in helping athletes with the NIL deals that would help reflect the University, even around the world. 

I think future players want to see in a coaching staff, winning, and athletic development that leads to the NFL, especially if the emphasis is more more going to be on athletics and not academics.  The school might even have to adjust what it takes to get into Michigan to allow athletes to pursue what is basically their degree field.

Certainly lots of moving parts. Winning 10-11 games a season will help. Getting that elusive B1G title and/or playing at Indy every few years would matter and get higher ranked recruits in the fold.

Has Dante Moore given any type of leader?

it sometimes takes years of recruiting a kid to get him. 

as indicated we have several NEW guys, it may take until next years class to pay dividends IF we can be competitive with osu. 

if we get blown out again in that game as many think we might nothing will change. 

they will continue to get the elite recruits which will make it harder and harder to beat them. 

Not good enough to beat the elite programs.  Best schemes on the planet cannot overcome a talent deficiency with near equal coaching if not equal coaching.  Which we know we face against elite programs to get there.  

You need elite speed, you also need the size, strength and athleticism to match.  Got to get the lines at an elite level and finally we are recruiting both hard again like we should.  But still light on commitments.  

Admissions and the Transfer Portal, right now this is a joke.  How many transfers are we able to take?  Realistic to play for Michigan that admissions will accept?  This imo has to get fixed and it's been an obvious issue.  

Stars matter on the level of populations. More guys with higher rankings means a higher chance of some of them being good.

Where fans get it wrong is when they try to apply it to individuals. When the former five star is in and playing poorly, you might as well forget his ranking. And when the former three star is in and playing well, you might as well forget his ranking. There’s no star reserve to call upon or star ceiling that can’t be outplayed.

The answer is always the same...  MOAR STARS

Michigan is still in it for a couple five stars. I’ll wait until signing day to worry. 

Holy crap...so pretty much complete staff overhaul, coach on the hot seat, COVID implosion year, and the expectation is what - Top 10/Top 5 recruiting class?

If anything, winning at least 2/3 or best case - playoff birth might give a punchers chance to hitting a few home-runs at the end of the cycle this year as they can sell the turnaround in spades.  

I think the key will be impact for next year barring any implosion for the last few games this year and having some momentum going into next season and coaches now with some contacts and better relationships.

jfc, this place . . . why anyone would neg this post is beyond me. Especially since the next post down says essentially the same thing and gets 40 upvotes.

Lloyd Carr used to drive me nuts for not fully utilizing his offensive talent at times, but the one thing you can’t question with him was his recruiting results. Obviously Michigan was a great program when he took over, but his classes were so often Top 5. When Harbaugh was hired I was expecting a similar result, at least consistently getting Top 10 classes. It’s been a bit disappointing to me. I mean even Brady Hoke’s top 2 classes outranked Harbaugh’s top 2. You can’t say that’s not a bit disappointing. At this point in time until we finally get over the hump and win the B1G by beating Ohio State I don’t know how it’ll change with this staff. If, however, they can win this year and get to the playoffs, next year’s class and the the class after could finally get us where we want to be.

In other news, UM isn’t recruiting at the same level as OSU. 
 

P.S.   Joey Ramone says hi during his psycho therapy   

It's not all about stars... What's way more important for Harbaugh is keeping this coaching staff together.

Does anybody know if there is any kind of tracking mechanism out there that tracks teams success against the level of talent they have are their teams as defined by star ratings? It would be an interesting analytic to know who gets the most out of the least and who just rides the talent level to success.