Rivals updated Top-100 2020 Rankings
https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals100/
AJ Henning is the only player committed in the Top 100. He is also listed as an APB?
August 13th, 2019 at 2:59 PM ^
Yeah but OSU only has like 10 guys on there so seems like the wheels are falling off there......sigh.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:01 PM ^
More high level recruits is a good thing. However, having good coaches is important too. That Drevno/Fry clusterfuck wouldn't have worked with a two-deep of nothing but five stars.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:02 PM ^
Drevno couldn't recruit for shit so it wouldn't be a problem he had.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:10 PM ^
He was so bad here, and doesn't seem much (or any) better at USC, that it's a mystery how he was successful in prior stops.
It's like Michigan is Peter Principle U, were a surprising number of coaches manage to reach the ceiling of their competency and then fail nonstop afterwords. Brady Hoke being the prime example.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:08 PM ^
Yeah just was hoping I’d see a few less than 10.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:14 PM ^
OSU having 10 top 100 recruits doesn't seem particularly surprising to me, though I guess you could make the case that the new coach should impact things. Ignoring Day, OSU is a monster constantly top 5 program. If I was an elite player who didn't really give a shit about school they'd definitely be on my list of potential landing spots.
What I'd be hoping to see is more than 1 for Michigan. Hopefully the new younger recruiting focused coaches can take Michigan up to that 10 top 100 players level in the next cycle or two.
August 13th, 2019 at 5:56 PM ^
Sigh: 9
August 13th, 2019 at 3:21 PM ^
I really wish I could buy into the notion that Ohio State's coaching has just fallen off a cliff and that Ryan Day is going to make Hoke look like a competent coach but I'm not seeing much evidence to indicate that it's headed that way.
And we can all laugh at the Mattison thing, but their defensive coaching was a disaster last year, not far off from what Rodriguez had going with GERG. Mattison made Michigan into a top 30 S&P defense. No he's not a genius or Don Brown, but he will have a defensive roster that is loaded with guys who were top 100 recruits. Really all he has to do is not be a dumbass and he should have a top 10 defense.
I was 14 the last time Ohio State had an incompetent coach (not including Fickell) and I am now in my 30s with a family and a career. It's mind boggling to think of how long that has been. Forgive me for being hesitant to jump on the bandwagon this time.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
Mattison turning 5* DLinemen into 2*s and 2* DLinemen into 5*s since 2011.
I hope they recruit “nothing but the best.”
August 13th, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^
Mattison helped to take Chase from a guy who might never have done anything at Michigan and turned him into a guy getting NFL hype.
I think Mattison slowed down A LOT in his last season here, but he was a good DL coach.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:54 PM ^
Thank-you for proving my point, and I’m delighted knowing Osu doesn’t actively recruit the Chase Winovich types.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:58 PM ^
Actually I misread your comment! Upvote for you.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:10 PM ^
You're waaaay over thinking/rationalizing this.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:33 PM ^
Good thing OSU has a d-line coach already then?
August 13th, 2019 at 3:22 PM ^
Are we sure Harbaugh is good as everybody thinks he is? He's entering his fifth year at Michigan and we keep getting the whole "well it took Dabo longer to get to where he is...blah, blah, blah..." talk.
If Harbaugh was winning B1G Titles, beating OSU, winning bowl games, and competing in the Playoff's year-in and year-out, with the recruiting classes he keeps assembling, I don't think there would be much complaining going on about needing to recruit elite talent. Unfortunately, Harbaugh has done none of the above and continues to recruit these under the radar recruits early in the recruiting cycle, and we're led to believe that it's just a matter of time until he gets this thing going.
With that being said, I think Harbaugh has turned the ship with the Gattis hire and the need to evolve the offense. The elite offensive HS talent is going to recognize what Michigan is doing, if indeed, Gattis is everything we're led to believe he is. This is a crucial year for Harbaugh. If he continues to flop in big games and loses to OSU, you're going to have a very unhappy fanbase calling for somebodies head.
I just hope we're not all a bunch of groupies, unwilling to walk away from our idol.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
I'm not going to tell another MGoblogger that they are an idiot for their Harbaugh hate.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
That you are construing this as hate just shows how fragile and stupid this fan base is sometimes.
August 13th, 2019 at 8:36 PM ^
Neg bang for you.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:37 PM ^
Are we sure Harbaugh is good as everybody thinks he is?
I'm not sure how good everybody thinks he is. I watched him rebuild a dog shit Stanford while at Cal and he looked like a football genius. Then he came here and took Hoke's disfunctional team and almost instantly made them look good. The way that team played in their bowl game (which doesn't matter, right everyone?), I think they would have beat just about any Michigan team since then.
It looked like we were on the verge of constant top 5 upper echelon status. Then things kinda stalled for a variety of reason. I think the jury is rightfully still out on Harbaugh. Is this team on the way to top 5 level, or is the ceiling top 10'ish with a couple shitty embarrasing losses each year?
I will say that I'm damn surprised that our offense has struggled with Harbaugh as HC. I, and everyone else, thought having him as a HC was like having an extra coaching spot on staff because he was not only a badass HC but also an elite OC and QB coach. I'm not sure what happened, but "Jim Harbaugh CEO HC" was not what I was expecting.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
Nothing happened, this is who Harbaugh has been everywhere he's coached. He's never had explosive offenses and he's always relied on elite defense to win. I'm not sure why this would be a surprise to anyone who paid even a little bit of attention.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:56 PM ^
Too bad you weren't around when he got hired to tell everyone that the offense would be mediocre and predicable but the defense would be amazing.
Harbaugh made QBs look anywhere from good to great at each one of his coaching stops prior to Michigan and he did the same for Jake within a handful of games. After that first year, we had Speight, OKorn, Peters, and Shea. Among those guys, only Shea looked good which is not great praise for a former 5 start QB. Nobody would have predicted that when he was hired.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
For what it's worth, this guy did:
▪ Your Harbaugh has been designed for offense and will require many high-end parts to run said offense. Yet his defense will be better than his offense. This paradox has not been explained.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
Didn't say Harbaugh wasn't good with QB's, I said his offenses were mediocre and they were. SF never finished higher than 16th in total offense during his tenure there, but his defenses were top 10 all four years. As for his work with the QB's Rudock and Speight led the B1G in QBR in 2015 and 2016, and Shea had the highest completion % a UM starting QB has had since 1992.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:13 PM ^
You know your football, that's for sure. You know who else knows their football? Maizen!
If you are Maizen, I hope you can keep from going crazy again. I think you add a lot to the blog before you start flinging shit everywhere.
August 13th, 2019 at 6:36 PM ^
Overresponding to posts? Check. Been an account for less than a month? Check. Commenting in a recruiting thread? Check. Generally negative? Check. All we need is a full scale meltdown this week and we’ll have confirmation. Come onnnnn full scale meltdown!
August 13th, 2019 at 8:49 PM ^
He's talking shit about recruiting in the thread dealing with Ambry's health. It's Maizen up to his old dick head routine, 1000% sure.
August 13th, 2019 at 5:04 PM ^
Judging an offense based on total offense is pretty lazy.
Harbaugh’s offenses have been predicated on ball control and running the football. That’s going to impact your total offense as compared to an hurry up/air it out type offense. Just based on a pure number of plays type situation.
There are definitely other metrics you can use that are significantly more telling.
August 13th, 2019 at 8:55 PM ^
"Judging an offense based on total offense is pretty lazy."
Best thing I've read all week. Makes "Composite 5 star" make sense.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:18 PM ^
Ok, so the three misses were Speight, OKorn, Peters. Speight he inherited, OKorn brought in as a stop gap. It would have been nice if they had developed, but maybe there was nothing there to develop. In my mind Peters was the only real miss. Seems like one miss on his guy, doesn't establish a negative trend.
August 13th, 2019 at 8:07 PM ^
I think Harbaugh deserves some credit for developing Speight. He was the #23 Pro style QB in the nation and was picked by Al Borges, who has pretty much never recruited a decent QB in his career. Turning Speight into a serviceable P5 starter isn't exactly making him the next Andrew Luck but it doesn't really qualify as a failure, either.
August 13th, 2019 at 8:52 PM ^
Speight and Pep were absolutely awful together. Towards the end of his time as starter at Michigan, he was most definitely NOT a serviceable P5 starter. Remember his performance in the Florida game? How many back to back interceptions did he have?
August 13th, 2019 at 9:40 PM ^
Speight and Pep basically had 4 games together. 2016 matters too.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:58 PM ^
My favorite part of recruiting update threads is trying to figure out which one is New Maizen.
Right now, I'm torn between the OP and a2mi. Gonna need more info. Let's see...
(clears throat)
It doesn't matter honestly, recruiting rankings are bullshit. The Glasgows were walk-ons and they made the NFL, meanwhile Derrick Green was a 5-star. It's proven that these rankings mean absolutely nothing.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:03 PM ^
Right now, I'm torn between the OP and a2mi. Gonna need more info. Let's see...
Hm.
As for his recruiting there's no evidence that 2021 is going to be his best class ever. In fact if this class doesn't finish in the top 10 Harbaugh will have finished out of the top 10 the same number times he's finished in it. That's not great when your biggest rival is recruiting the way they are.
I suspect the latter.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:12 PM ^
I drove thru New Maizen on my way to Nashua. Smelled like Gary, IN.
August 13th, 2019 at 9:18 PM ^
August 14th, 2019 at 1:01 AM ^
Recruiting does matter. Not every 5 star is going to be a great player but high recruiting rankings are important.
August 14th, 2019 at 8:22 AM ^
You missed the joke.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:59 PM ^
I ditto everything that you've said. It's quite puzzling to see Michigan in year 5 in a stage of unknown. Michigan hasn't had that elite offensive line, yet. I think this is the year for that. I think Michigan's bruising play of outmuscling teams was a bit overrated. I give a lot of credit to the defense for getting off the field so quickly, which allows the opposing defense to wear out. The QB whisperer has yet to be seen. Let's face it, Harbaugh is living off the coattails of transfer QBs. McCaffery is promising, but hasn't been handed the reigns yet, and arguably so, as we're blessed to have Shea under center for another year.
The whole structure of play calling and the people he surrounded himself with just wasn't good. I'm sure at one point they were good coaches, but the game has changed quite a bit from the old Stanford days. I'm cautiously optimistic about this staff. They're young and bring a new face and style to the game. Credit Harbaugh for recognizing those flaws in his system. It just sucks it took so long to see it or realize he needed to change it.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:10 PM ^
The whole structure of play calling and the people he surrounded himself with just wasn't good.
I don't think it can be overstated how much it hurt Michigan having Drevno followed by Pep as OCs. Those guys sucked and they were in aguarbly the most important role on the coaching staff. Shitty OC's? Check. Shitty recruiters? Check. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:14 PM ^
I will say I never expected we'd go into year 5 with Harbaugh "handing over the reins" of his offense to an OC who would revamp his offense. The general consensus was that Harbaugh was an offensive minded coach who ran a "spread concept" offense out of pro style formations. That seemed to be the case in year 1 but it has slowly eroded. I'm not making any conclusions by that. Just stating what a surprise it is that it's turned out that way.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:40 PM ^
And Hoke took RR’s dysfunction team instantly made them look good.
Harbaugh is the right guy and his record is pretty darn good at UM minus the OSU. However if you are consistently going to compete for a title then you have to recruit like the elite programs. All of Alabama’s #1 classes made an NFL drop out the best coach in the history of college football
August 13th, 2019 at 5:55 PM ^
Hoke took RR's team that was trending up and rode the wave. Harbaugh took Hoke's team that was trending down and instantly turned things around.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:49 PM ^
Harbaugh is 4-4 vs Ohio and sparty if not for the erroneous call and fluke fumble punt muff. And it’s not like we won any games like this during his tenure.
There have been a couple head scratchers, I’ll admit: Iowa, PSU blowout, Ohio blowout and Florida blowout (even with the absence of playmakers).
Overall though, we’re currently in the best shape since Harbaugh arrived and the 2021 class could be his best ever.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:00 PM ^
Most reasonable people understand what happened in those games against MSU and OSU, but that doesn't excuse getting blown out two other times vs OSU and losing to MSU at home in 2017. You said they haven't won any games like that during his tenure but Michigan was very fortunate to beat IU and Minnesota in 2015 the way they did. As for his recruiting there's no evidence that 2021 is going to be his best class ever. In fact if this class doesn't finish in the top 10 Harbaugh will have finished out of the top 10 the same number times he's finished in it. That's not great when your biggest rival is recruiting the way they are.
August 13th, 2019 at 4:03 PM ^
Yes, the whole next year is our year approach. Michigan has two recruits for 2021. I'll withhold the enthusiasm you have until signing day
August 13th, 2019 at 3:23 PM ^
Ohio State had 1 lower ranked class than us in the last many years and that was when Urban retired. They've been with Bama and now Clemson and Georgie for the top 3-4 spots year after year. We've got to beat them on the field before we will start regularly recruiting as well as they do.
Look at the 247 composite 5 stars. All but like 2 or 3 are either committed or are heavily favored to commit to either Bama, OSU, Clemson, Georgia, or LSU. Clemson already has 6 Five Stars committed and lead for 2 more. A&M looks to be busting out with 3 Five stars committed. Got to win big and then I think we'll start being able to land 3+ 5 stars in most classes.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:45 PM ^
LSU and A&M are paying top dollar for players. Full stop. Their recruiting is so much better than the quality of their on field results. If Michigan performed at LSU's level, our recruitng would be much worse.
You're right though. Michigan needs to beat the good teams we play and we also need to stop looking clueless in losses. Until that happens, outside of playing LSU's payment games, Michigan will be recruiting about as well as we have been.
August 13th, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^
Half of them are WR’s so we got that going for us right?