Steve Wiltfong criticizes Michigan FB recruiting

https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/paper-trail/2008/12/30/athletes-show-huge-gaps-in-sat-scores

The article is a little dated (from 2008).  But note that since then, UM has DENIED information to other outlets that have tried to study the issue (including a comprehensive study done by CNN in 2014; https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/01/us/college-scores/index.html)

Let's get off of this academic high horse.  We're no different in terms of ADMISSIONS.  We may be different in terms of making the players play school. 

I think a general critique of the Harbaugh era can be categorized as "disorganized". Now, mind you that even with this disorganization he's probably a top 20 college coach in the country (low bar). A couple of points to back this up:

Offseason preparation. This is the third straight year that M to varying degrees changed their offense midseason. 17 - move to power run after the MSU game, 18 - move to qb run game after the non-con schedule, 19 - finally start running speed in space at penn state. Now, at least Harbaugh HAS the ability to adapt, which is more than you can say for a lot of coaches who will stick with a dogshit offense because "thats just our system" *cough* Dantonio *cough*. It would be great if M came into 2020 with a cohesive plan but one thing you can say for Harbaugh is he will not sit back and accept mediocrity. 

Clock management. Harbaugh teams consistently feel like they do not know what they want to do in late game/end of half situations. This sometimes works out and sometimes doesn't but when I compare how they operate to my favorite NFL team the Eagles, who have a very forward thinking and aggressive head coach in Doug Pederson, it is night and day. 

Roster management/recruiting. OT, DT, CB, etc. It always feels like Michigan is just missing an entire position group because they forgot to recruit it. This is Michigan. There is at least serviceable hs player at every position in every class that would kill to play here. The idea that you would just skip recruiting that position for a year and risk huge roster gaps is unthinkable. If they're not good enough, then the guy you recruit next year will pass them and you don't have to worry about it. But you need SOMEBODY to put out there that can at least look the part and do the basics. Nolan Ulizio cannot be your answer. I also think it is fair to say that M is not recruiting to its full potential. I don't think we've seen their hat in the ring for as many top 100 type guys as we should. i mean a lot of these guys are going to schools that shouldn't hold a stick to Michigan, you can't tell me they're all unatainalbe. Now the upside is that Harbaugh has made pretty good use of the transfer portal when he's had the opportunity. 

Sorry for the long post. 

2016-2019, there are only 4 schools that recruited substantially better than Michigan:  Alabama, anOSU, Georgia, and LSU.

Michigan has recruited about the same as Clemson and Oklahoma.

Thus, obviously, very good.  To say otherwise is a product of ignorance or an agenda.

Avg recruiting ranking 2016-2019 (using 247's own recruiting rankings):

Alabama 2
Georgia 3
Ohio State 5.5
LSU 7.25
USC 9.5
Texas 9.5
Florida State 9.75
Auburn 10.25
Oklahoma 10.5
Michigan 10.75
Clemson 11.0

The difference is partly the smaller number of elite Detroit PSL recruits, throw in downturns in places like Flint and Saginaw.  Michigan used to clean up there and they used to be some of the top ranked players in the Midwest.  Mix in their near being shutout of Ohio for 20 years and the recruiting game is vastly different from Bo, Mo's and Lloyd's days.

How does he know they don’t have recruiting meetings?

The last four classes have been ranked at eight, five, 22, and back to eight. So three years of top 10 recruiting. And already we have the fire brands coming out saying Harbaugh is trash and back in the old days we were world beaters despite seldom hitting double digit win seasons.

Yes, let’s burn it all down for another Chance at a lightning boy like Rich Rod.

I am so tired of the bill of goods being sold that we are just one coaching search away from national dominance and that national champion guaranteed coaches (Who surely would do better than what we have ) are tripping over themselves to come here.

We have a good thing, we can build on this, burning it down just invites disaster.

I'm not going to lie, it's concerning, but everything else I've seen tells a different story.  Dudek's approach makes sense to me, and we're getting highly ranked classes that seem like good fits.  Are we competing with OSU? No, but as others here have noted, I think we have different objectives.

if they didn't get jackhammered by Wisconsin, OSU, and Alabama this would not be a story.

Is the criticism warranted and accurate?  Saying they aren't recruiting to win a national title, eh maybe or not well enough across the board with that strong focus.  Jmo, All talent evaluation should go through the coordinators and head coach from the position coach.  A specific list of in state, regional and national for each position group and a Big Board Roster / Recruiting to see what the roster will be with recruiting, transfers, early nfl departures, 5th year.. Just sounds like a mess but might be way over stated too.

Saban has a list of physical attributes at each position group he wants the staff to recruit.  Height, Physique, Strength, Athleticism, Speed, Explosion et cetera for what he believes will be the top performance at every position fitting what he wants to do.  I am surprised that Harbaugh has not been very similar and it does show.  Dline recruiting is odd at best still.  We are counting on every position coach to go get their position players.  But as you change coaches that doesn't work imo.  Some are better recruiters than others and some are better talent evaluators. 

IMO there are somewhere between 75 and 100 truly elite recruits each season.  Doesn't mean the 250th ranked player can't out perform the 50th player from time to time, just that all 4 stars are not equal IMO.

I think most Michigan fans(95% of all fan bases too) are conditioned to get excited about 4 stars, that 4th star becomes like a badge of acceptability unfortunately.  And that's all well and good, but I think it skews our view somewhat.  The interior of our O Line this year was simply dominant, they pushed both OSU and Alabama players around the field.  Those 3 players left to right ranked 39th, 47th, and 87th overall in the composite as recruits and they were all 3rd or 4th year players.  That was an elite trio as recruits and an elite trio as upperclassmen starting together.  Say Rumler ends up a center and we start Filliaga, Rumler, and Steuber inside this season, we'll be starting the 112th, 174th, and 365th ranked recruits in 2020.  We started 3 four stars inside in 2019, we'll be starting 3 four stars inside in 2020.  2020 could be a solid unit yes, but it's never likely to be close to as dominant as the trio of Bredenson, Ruiz, and Onwenu were.

Again, there are exceptions, but in general the 39th ranked player has a higher floor and a higher ceiling than the 174th ranked player almost every season.  So that's how we differ from Ohio State in recruiting, maybe both teams are starting 10 4 stars or better on offense, but maybe our 10 4 stars go like this on the composite; 180th, 265th, 106th, 50th, 300th, 312th, 185th  etc etc Where as Ohio State's go 25th, 45th, 69th, 8th, 15th, 75th, 125th, 33rd, 60th, 80th etc etc.  Sure, we both have a lot of 4 stars, but we're lining up maybe a couple of the truly elite recruits where as they're lining up 8 or 9 every play. 

And it goes the same way on both sides of the ball. Ohio State will start 3 5 stars in 2020 on the defensive line and possibly 3 Five stars on the offensive line alone.  We will have 2 Five stars on the whole roster.  Those peak elite recruits are the difference and it goes for all the 4 stars too, Ohio State's 4 stars are more likely to be top 75 guys.

Let me sum up half of your comments (notice I said half, not all as there are plenty of you that think logically):

UM fans:  "We can't recruit at the OSU level because of bagmen, cheating, and our academic standards."

Everyone else:  "Well then please explain Juwan Howard bringing in top basketball recruits.  Explain more than 50% of your players being signed up as a "general studies" major.  Explain how you are offering the same kids that OSU and ever other top end program is yet you have these insane academic standards"

UM fans:  "Juwan is just special, it's definitely not bagmen, cheating, or lowering our academic standards.  General Studies is a tough major at UM because UM is just so much better.  We offer the recruits everyone else does but that doesn't mean we would accept them if they picked us."

You know what?  You are right though.  After typing this I just realized that college football players go to UM to get an education, not to play football.  Carry on.

I just wonder if Harbaugh has the energy for recruiting anymore.  I think one overlooked fact is the guy has young kids.  I have a 3 month old, I'm 22 years younger than Harbaugh and I'm exhausted.