February 8th, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 9:14 AM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^
Watch Ronnie Bell's. Impressive!
February 8th, 2018 at 9:46 AM ^
Of the skill guys in this class, he does have the most exciting one to watch.
February 8th, 2018 at 9:57 AM ^
There's an Allen Trieu article from Detnews from around his commitment that has a lot of good quotes from his High School coach. A very unusual recruitment to say the least. It's going to be interesting to compare him against Ohio State's WR duo from Missouri; one a high four star (injured his senior year), the other a high three star. Bell outproduced just about everyone in the state at all levels, which Harbaugh highlighted yesterday. All three play in Division 6-- which I believe is the highest level of Missouri HS football.
While perusing Max Preps and the Missouri HS football coach's page, I was reminded that Hassan Haskins was selected by the coaches as the offensive player of the year in D6 in MO. .
February 8th, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 9:46 AM ^
I could make an NBA roster with a 3-point compliation busting fools up at the rec.
I get your point, I'm sure there's a reason the staff wants these kids. But please don't base anything on highlight videos. If that were the case, McGuffie would still be leaping over people and such.
February 8th, 2018 at 9:50 AM ^
"Please don't base anything on these highlight videos."
I guess we should wait for their blooper reels.
February 8th, 2018 at 9:53 AM ^
"please don't base anything on highlight videos."
LOL isn't that how stars are earned?
February 8th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^
Actually yes.
February 8th, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
There are some guys who don't do combines and camps.
A lot of your top-250-ish recruits end up at those Rivals/247 camps, all-star games, etc., but there are a great deal of players who never get more than a cursory look from a scout. Ronnie Bell and some of these other guys are ranked purely based on their highlight films, and we're talking about guys who are going to Michigan.
That's not to mention all the 2-star and 3-star guys headed to Georgia Southern, Rice, Western Michigan, North Texas, UTEP, etc. The vast majority of those players aren't at the Rivals100 camp, The Opening, etc.
February 8th, 2018 at 11:50 AM ^
Agreed. And in the case of Ronnie Bell, he wasn't even ranked by the major services prior to his commitment to UM. He didn't camp and was committed to play basketball. So when he committted, the ranking services likely took a look at his film for an evaluation.
February 8th, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
Based on some of those ESPN articles, I'm not sure some of these guys' rankings aren't based on their name, position, and place of origin and nothing else.
Yes, the top 200-300 guys have a decent amount of coverage. But it's certainly not an exact science, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of guys are ranked based on coach comments, local beat guys, and some videos.
February 8th, 2018 at 9:55 AM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
"[M]ost recruits look at Harbaugh as a joke."
I am confident beyond a reasonable doubt that this is not true.
February 8th, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 1:13 PM ^
I'm guessing they see a very highly rated and successfull coach in college and the pros, as well as a former pro player himself. Most kids that want to go to college are hoping that they get a chance to play professionally. If you think Harbaugh has nothing to provide in that regard, you should go back to rcmb or elevenwarriors.
February 8th, 2018 at 10:54 AM ^
This has got to be one of the most asinine comments I have seen on this blog. Harbaugh comes from a family of successful coaching tenures, started for Michigan multiple years, had over a decade long playing career in the nfl, made it to 2 NFC championships and one Super bowl as a NFL coach and has contacts all throughout the football industry. Just because the results on the field didn't meet expectations this year and the recruiting class is mediocre (in my opinion) for JH standards, don't make ignorant statements such as "most recruits look at Harbaugh as a joke." If this is the case, we would not have had a top 5 class last year and have multiple high level players committed to next year. JH has been far from perfect in his 3 year tenure here, but resepect is not one attribute that he is lacking.
February 8th, 2018 at 10:58 AM ^
Minor quibble: 3 NFC championship game appearances in 4 years for a team that sucked before he got there and sucks again since he left.
February 8th, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
You made my case even stronger, and I apologize to JH for selling him and his respect short.
February 8th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Thank you sir !
February 8th, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
February 8th, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^
BOOK IT.
February 8th, 2018 at 4:16 PM ^
"Which program gives me the coaching and national stage to demonstrate my skills as a first round NFL draft choice." That is worth $10+ million
The top recruits don't generally give a damn about academcis, location, tradition, stadium, shoe brand, etc. They all want the #1 places for coaching and national attention. We sell academics, alumni network, great stadium, tradition along with great coaching. We can't sell that national stage of the playoffs and titles. Landing 5* guys like Peppers and Gary is because they were the rare top-end recruit that cared about academics. To recruit like Alabama-Georgia-Clemson-OSU, we would have to lower our entrance standards and dumb-down the academic rigor while in school. I don't see that ever happening at U-M.