Snowflakes-Recruiting
While coaching and playcalling are responsible for about 60 percent of our woes, the failure to take a single DT in the 2018 class is a major red flag for our coaching staff. It is hard to match up against top tier teams with your best option being a converted fullback and true freshmen on the line. Two out of the past three recruiting classes are going to finish outside of the top 10. 2018 was ranked # 22 and 2020 could finish outside of the top 15 considering the fact that we are nearly full and teams will jump us this winter. We didn't replace Wheatley when he left and now it looks like we didn't do a very good job replacing Al Washington and Mattison on the trail.
September 21st, 2019 at 11:28 PM ^
The coaches are wasting talent all the way around.
September 21st, 2019 at 11:33 PM ^
Oh, man. ND is going to pull this out.
EDIT: Glad I was wrong.
September 21st, 2019 at 11:33 PM ^
Maybe Wisconsin should recruit worse :)
September 22nd, 2019 at 12:00 AM ^
We recruit at a MSU level without the coaching or retention
September 22nd, 2019 at 12:42 AM ^
Recruiting 3 star under-the-radar guys is finally biting Jim the ass. We all thought his NFL experience would allow him to “develop” these less talented guys into superstars. It ain’t happening.
Does anyone really expect a project defensive lineman from Germany to pan out? That’s the reality we’re dealing with here.
September 22nd, 2019 at 1:42 AM ^
I think recruiting a d lineman from Germany and a baseball player from Ohio State etc. is akin to running Ben Mason from the 7. The coaches don't do the normal thing that other programs do and try to get too cute.
September 22nd, 2019 at 12:58 AM ^
I think what's lost in this particular argument isn't whether Michigan is elite or not in this regard. Some of this is simply class and positional math.
Certain positions should have a certain number of spots in each and every class at a minimum. A true DT who is a 3-star is a better option than whiffing on a 5-star or only landing one who's recruitment was a whirlwind of uncertainty (lookin at you Aubrey Solomon)
September 22nd, 2019 at 1:04 AM ^
No DL is 100% on coaches
September 22nd, 2019 at 8:29 AM ^
Let’s be serious for a second Army took us to overtime with 1/2 star recruits, Wisconsin probably has less than 15 4 star recruits on its team and they thrashed us... It all comes down to coaching... OURS SUCKS
September 22nd, 2019 at 9:30 AM ^
Yeah 2018 sucks but you have two young stud DT's sitting on the bench. They might as well play them cause you're not going to win many games with the 3-3-5 as your base D. Two small at the first two levels to pull it off against good teams. You're looking at 5 losses if they insist on staying with it.
September 22nd, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^
Recruiting has certainly been a mixed bag under Harbaugh. He's gotten some great players, but has also taken a lot of fliers on not very good players that have hurt roster depth and talent levels. One issue is he seems to take a lot of players at certain positions, then not enough at others. For example, taking all kinds of viper/safety-like players or receivers, and then not nearly enough running backs. Taking only one RB last class (albeit an excellent one) is baffling. And this year, with the injuries, depth is a huge problem at that position.
Another position was DT. This year we are really weak in the middle of the line and every team with any talent at all is going to exploit us there the rest of the season. Watching a few of the really good teams yesterday, like Auburn and Georgia, you can see right away they have big, strong,tough interior tackles anchoring their defense. Our guys are the opposite of that.
I don't have a problem at all with bringing in 3 star guys who have a lot of potential. Wisconsin makes a living doing that. What we're seeing though here is lack of development with these kinds of players. Khaleke Hudson is a great example. He seems to have not gotten any better the last two years, despite being an obviously talented player. And don't get me started on the OL.
Unfortunately, with games like yesterday recruiting is only going to get harder.
September 22nd, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^
Our recruiting isn't at an elite level, but this staff is awful at developing talent, instilling motivation and discipline, game planning, and in-game coaching. Also, something is going on behind the scenes that is causing us to lose much more than our share of our top players to transfers. Those are the real problems.
Keeping it on topic though, the issues with recruiting are taking too many flyers on guys and having recruiting by class that is seriously unbalanced.
September 22nd, 2019 at 11:22 AM ^
I expect to see the word decommitment a lot over the next few months...Sucks.
September 22nd, 2019 at 11:33 AM ^
We've out recruited Wisconsin every year by a wide margin. And they just handed us our asses. We out recruited State regularly in the lost decade, and look at what happened, and if we don't do something dramatic, it isn't over yet either.
September 22nd, 2019 at 1:00 PM ^
Didn’t help the captains were getting manhandled yesterday