Bo Harbaugh

February 4th, 2024 at 12:44 PM ^

Anybody that commits to us early wants to be at UM and likes what they see.

We need to get NIL and our bags in order if we expect these kids to stay committed. 

We don't need to be the highest bidder, but we need to be willing to put in a bid if we expect to reel in top talent going forward.

Joined: 08/03/2019

MGoPoints: 38684

three_honks

February 4th, 2024 at 1:17 PM ^

We won't have a stable of 5th & 6th yr pre-NIL players like we did this year.

Nor is the rest of CFB likely to whiff continually on the evaluation of players like Mason Graham & Kenneth Grant.

The NIL payments don't have to be upfront to unproven players, but if not we had better be offering* competitive compensation to top transfer prospects to attract the necessary talent.

*OK, under the current rules, it has to be an  indirect offer through the collectives, but that's a technicality that needs to be overcome.

Joined: 11/13/2023

MGoPoints: 7053

GoBlue1530

February 4th, 2024 at 7:41 PM ^

To be fair, there are kids in every class who get "whiffed on." Local example, Sauce Gardner was an 83 and went to Cincy, Devon Witherspoon was a no star at Illinois who went top 5 like Sauce. Lukas Van Ness was an 85 who went to Iowa, Will McDonald was an 86 at Iowa State, Calijah Kancey was an 86 in Florida and ended up at Pitt, Dalton Kincaid was a no star who started at San Diego, Felix Anudike-Uzomah was a 79 from Kansas who was at K-State and all these guys listed after Sauce were this past draft in the first round. It's certainly tougher to try to build a team like this, but staffs whiff all the time on evals and Michigan's staff in the past have shown they can scout quite well. 

Joined: 12/31/2018

MGoPoints: 3262

Bo Harbaugh

February 4th, 2024 at 3:06 PM ^

Yes, Im saying CFB is changing at an accelerated rate, and what was done this year was incredible but hard to replicate.  We were late to adjust to the BCS and CFP eras, and thankfully, due to an incredible staff, culture and some luck our time came.

Hoping we have the perfect confluence of factors going forward is not a strategy.  Jim Harbaugh is a unicorn and could swim upstream against all the institutional disadvantages at UM vs OSU/SEC.

Need to be realistic if we want to sustain the success and not be in constant uphill battles.

Joined: 08/03/2019

MGoPoints: 38684

NewBlue7977

February 4th, 2024 at 4:12 PM ^

OSU fans said the same thing when they beat Michigan 8 straight years, and our response was "We still have more wins against OSU overall".  Michigan has some new coaches , especially the head coach, and a lot of departed players, while OSU is loading up on talent after talent with a lot of talent coming back.  I am not saying OSU will beat Michigan this year, but we are talking like the OSU fanbase was prior to 2021.  I think Moore will get recruiting up and going with talent, but Michigan is definitely falling further behind OSU in the talent gap. 

Joined: 04/25/2018

MGoPoints: 3342