GBMWolverine: Mailbag Question -- Michigan Football Recruiting -- Ohio and Michigan too much

Posted at 6:00am — 5/6/2011

GBMWolverine: Mailbag Question — Michigan Football Recruiting — Ohio and Michigan too much

Don’t get me wrong I like the recruits Brady Hoke and staff are getting, but do you think he is spending too much time in places like Michigan and Ohio and not in Florida, Texas, or California where all the talent is located?

It does not seem like Michigan is going after the national level type of recruits like in past years? Please comment.

Thank you – Tim B.

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GBMWolverine Response:

The short answer to the above inquiry is no! Of course we cannot just leave it as that though can we? Nah!

We believe Michigan is recruiting nationally to be honest. We love how this staff has started this recruiting class, and to be honest, they are doing exactly what the staff stated, recruiting Ohio and Michigan.

Most of the recruits from outside the Midwest are going to take a wait and see approach with a new coaching staff at Michigan. And with how the economy is we cannot see many families taking big, long expensive trips (unofficial visits) to see a college this early in the recruiting season until a recruit clearly decides on school preference. Now we do expect outside the area recruits to come to Michigan camps and take visits during the football season. That is where you will see more national type recruits.

To say Michigan isn’t recruiting nationally is kind of misleading.

Would we like to see them get recruits from places like Texas, Florida, and California? Sure, but this is no reason to make that your base. It is still argued as whether or no the outside the area first strategy hurt the previous coaching staff. Also, a team outside the area will find itself in a dogfight for the top tier players in premiere talent state, winning a few and losing a bunch. For example, Florida, where Florida, Florida State, and Miami are all going after top tier recruits in their own state.

Besides Denard, who most college programs wanted as a receiver and came to Michigan to play quarterback, whom has Michigan gotten lately in Florida that has made a huge impact on the team? Remember all the talk about Ricardo Miller and Marvin Robinson when both were in high school in Florida and how they were going to take over once they stepped foot on campus and they would both be starters from day one? Again it is still early, but those two are still learning and are struggling to see the field right now. One has switched position and the other is behind a walk-on. Not many players come in and have immediate impact; no matter where they come from or how many stars they got from a recruiting site.

Now back to recruiting and the misconception of Michigan not recruiting nationally.

Look at just some of these commits Michigan has gotten so far.

James “Biggs” Ross was being recruited nationally by some of the best programs in the country. The good thing for Michigan is he is in their backyard. He had offers from USC, Arizona State, Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Penn State. Many more offers were not mentioned and it is still early for some programs to be offering. Anytime USC or Penn State offers a linebacker take notice.

The same can be said about Royce Jenkins-Stone who had offers from Alabama, Miami (FL), Michigan State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Florida. Again, many more offers out and more coming if he did not commit to Michigan early. If a defensive minded coach like Nick Saban at Alabama offers a player this is usually a good indication that he believes that recruit is a pretty darn good football player.

Joe Bolden doesn’t have the premier resume and reputation as the two above, but his recruiting has been pretty impressive this early in the recruiting season with offers such as Iowa, North Carolina, Penn State, Stanford, Tennessee, and Arizona. Again if Penn State thinks a linebacker is pretty good we are going to take notice, especially with the past success over the years. Butch Davis of North Carolina, a former NFL coach, has a sharp eye for talent.

Ben Braden doesn’t have the big offer list, but when Wisconsin thinks you can be a good offensive lineman that is good enough for us, especially if we can turn offensive lines out like Wisconsin has the past ten plus years.

Ohio and Michigan are loaded with talent in the football recruiting classes of 2012 and 2013.

Add in that Ohio State has limited scholarships, it is a perfect time for Michigan to make a huge push in Ohio, something that GBMWolverine has been begging for a very long time. Ohio State’s allegations remain an unknown as to where some of these talented Ohio players may want to play college football.

Some recruits may be looking for a back-up plan, just in case, which is fine with GBMWolverine.
Take any opportunity to get a recruit and his coach on campus; sooner or later this will pay off

GBMWolverine likes using the states of Ohio and Michigan as the core/base for Michigan recruiting. Ohio State usually gets anywhere from 75-85% of targeted recruits. Michigan needs to close the gap.
Coach Hoke, at the recent Michigan Coach’s Clinic informed the high school coaches that he wants to have a base of Ohio and Michigan as his base and then swing out to the Midwest states of Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. He also made comments that Michigan will recruit nationally and find players that fit their system, not only on the football field, but in the classroom as well. He said we are going to recruit Texas, California, Florida, Georgia or wherever there are recruits that fit the Michigan model.

Coach Hoke also stated that while agreement between Michigan and the high school coach may not always occur, Michigan is going to give strong effort in recruiting area players. He offered an open phone policy to discuss any possible recruiting difficulties or shortcomings.

As inferred above, Michigan will secure as much talent as possible from Ohio and Michigan, then Michigan will need to look outside the area to fill remaining needs. That is how Michigan was built in the past.

If it is down year in both states, that would be different story.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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