Recruiting grades so far

He may also have run that more often because of a lack of proven DTs. He was in 4-3 more often in his first couple years

I agree with you. I've had literally the same thought about people not realizing what he's doing, but the problem is that the recruiting still does not match a 3-3-5 personnel. This thought usually comes about when people talk about firing Don Brown and/or Harbaugh and I think "Who are you going to get that is better?". I specifically went out and looked at top ranked defenses and they are all at P5 programs where the DCs are looking to move into HC roles. You might be able to pull someone from a program like Baylor, but look at what they run. A 3-4 with the OLBs being like a SAM and Viper and lots of attacking.

We hired a DC who knew how to slow down Urban Meyer's spread to run. Urban Meyer pivoted to an air raid and now we need to have a DC who can stop an air raid. How do other defenses stop an air raid? Answer: they don't, the outscore them. But, Baylor's defense can give us some insight into how you might slow them down and that's where Don Brown is clearly moving.

This is the issue with UM coaching imo.  You can't run just a 3-3-5 or a 4-3 or a man press, or a brackets coverage.  He need personelle and preparation to run all of these schemes.

Wisconsin and OSU are two really good teams with completely different schemes. You need the horses to match up against who you are playing, AND, need the ability to adjust during the game if the current schemes aren't working.

When you recruit depth and talent at all positions you are best prepared to be multiple in how you play against these advanced offenses - many of which run different schemes - and you have the flexibility to confuse offenses by mixing up formations and schemes.

Even the most talented teams (Alabama, OSU, Clemson) are getting 40+ hung on them at times these days, as college QB's have become NFL ready by their junior years.  But more talent and more variety helps to mitigate the damage, and most importantly, a dominant defensive line (controlling the time that plays have to develop and making teams one dimensional) is the most important aspect of modern college defense.

Defensively we're caught between a rock and a hard place.  I've probably been overly critical of Don Brown, but it feels like they need to hire a defensive coordinator who can get better "Jimmies and Joes" at perhaps the expense of more diverse strategy.

I wouldn't be against a more basic defense that is more talented and fundamentally sound.

It definitely seems realistic. This year we tried to run that stuff and got stoned against big teams because we didn't have the beefcake DT for it. Meanwhile, our ends seem like a good fit and the rest of the defense is very fast. Hopefully one of Hinton/Mazi can step up next season. If it's in a 3-3-5, that improvement could be huge.

Coming from an Oklahoma fan, I'm not sure you want Michael Thompson. I was really excited when he committed, but he hasn't panned out. There are OU coaches on the record saying that his best bet to see the field would be as an offensive lineman. OU had arguably the worst defense in the nation last year, and are losing 3 DT regulars after this year. Considering all of that, and Thompson couldn't even sniff the field on defense is more than concerning. 

I agree with this, bronxblue, to a certain extent.

The top SEC programs seem to recruit tons of huge DL guys - it's like an assembly line of DT's at Bama, Auburn, LSU, even Florida and Tennessee. The rest of the country seems to have to develop them ala Clemson, OSU, PSU and us.

As for corners, I totally agree. OSU beats us mostly with speed. We've done a good job recruiting at safety, but we need some super fast absurd athletes at CB and LB - and receivers on offense. Football is a game of speed and athleticism these days. 

Furthermore, our DE situation is bad.  Our starting DE was viewed as having such little talent at the position that they moved him to TE to start out at Michigan.  Don't be naive and think that his talent on the field has propelled him to being our starter.  Winovich was moved back to DE from TE, not because his talent was so great, but that the other options talent was so low.

QB is set for the next 5 years. Worry about something else. 

The RB situation plainly is not bad. It may not be elite in its current form, but it is a far cry from bad. It is also obvious that Charbonnet was working through some knee issues this year, particularly early when the offense was, well, let's be kind and say "finding its footing." He can still be exceptional, as you point out.

You also have no idea if Harbaugh has recruited and developed an above average B10 QB because the ones on the roster are stuck behind Patterson who, despite being maligned by the board, is a good (but imperfect) QB that most B1G teams would start in a heartbeat. Harbaugh's QBs in order:

1. Rudock. Great season, big improvement over the course of the year.

2. Speight. Great season marred only by the Iowa injury and what came after.

3. Everybody plays, and everybody gets injured. So, we live and mostly die with John O'Korn as the 3rd QB. The OL debacle year.

4. Patterson. 5-star transfer is better than Peters and freshman McCaffery

5. Patterson is still here.

Yeah, it's too bad there's been no Andrew Luck who could absolutely dominate a game by himself. From that perspective, the above is a disappointment. But the QB results have overall been very good for college. Until the last half of this year, it's mostly been the system holding the offense back.

Your take on our running back situation is god awful

JH still has yet to recruit a QB and develop him into an above average / top three B10 QB. 

This seems a little unfair given that Patterson came aboard.  Would you make the same statement about Lincoln Riley?  Hurts, Mayfield and Murray were all transfers, so he didn't recruit them.  

BS on RB.  It was viewed as a weakness coming into the year and I would not say it's a strength at all but Haskins did fine and ZC was a top recruit coming out of HS.  Sure, not Dobbins this year but most are not as a freshman.  I am higher on Charbonnet than are most.  I think he did quite well but Haskins took the role from him by grinding out yards. RB was okay this year but not the disaster you seem to indicate.

Except Haskins and Charbonnet were both honorable mention all-B1G, meaning both were very good in their first year starting under a new o.c. Bad post. And you should feel bad.