Tuesday 25 January 2011

Hoke on the move

Hoke was in California yesterday to visit commit Matt Wile and target Stefan McClure, and now he's been in Colorado visiting LB Leilon Willingham. There's a chance Leilon might have delayed his decision back until signing day (this isn't to do with Antonio Poole's commitment). Michigan is still strong here.

Now Hoke will move on to Arizona to visit offensive tackle and current Penn State commit, Ryan Nowicki. If that in home goes well, expect Nowicki to visit Michigan officially this weekend, and then who knows, maybe even flip his commitment.

With Jake Fisher probably ending up elsewhere, it's pretty vital that Michigan picks up an OT in the class, and Nowicki and Pat Flavin are the main candidates right now to replace Jake.

15 comments:

  1. is it possible for michigan to have not had there best recruit in this class commit yet

    ReplyDelete
  2. It depends what ratings you go by. I generally use ESPN, and Blake Countess is the top player we can sign this year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. With all these recruits popping out of the woodwork the past week who are now interested in Michigan, do you think Hoke is turning this into a top 25 recruiting class? Right now Rivals has us at 30, so Willingham, Raven and Nowicki would have to put us right around 25 wouldn't it? Might be a stretch though

    ReplyDelete
  4. You also have to account for other schools landing commitments between now and signing day. If we get some a guy like Darian Cooper, along with Frank Clark, Bryant and Willingham, we'll have an outside chance at a top 25 ranking. But again, it'll depend on what rankings you look at.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Im excited that our top ten "09 class" got another year of experience and is now upperclassmen! Headed by Denard.

    ReplyDelete
  6. On the same token you have to account for schools losing some commitments potentially.

    ReplyDelete
  7. this is starting to be a very interesting group of recruits. Hopefully it's what the team needs and we get a few that turn out to be college superstars during their time attending and playing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. RANKINGS mean NOTHING ..... ESPN/Rivals/Scouts have no idea how good or great a player can and will become ... I never been 1 to get up in how these rankkings play out, because if you get a 5* recruit who has been told the past 2 years he is the best since sliced bread whos to say he is going to work as hard as that 2 or 3* recruit who is out to prove he belongs..I have a more of the wait and see approach.. Wait 3 years and then we will know who had the best class

    ReplyDelete
  9. @UNFAN323

    I agree the ranking don't mean anything once you step on the field. Pull up TCU, Wisc. and Boise State recruiting classes. You will see alot of 3 stars and recruiting classes that hover around 25-30. Yet those programs continue to win on a yearly basis. Then look at Notre Dame. They almost always have a top 10 class yet struggle to get to 7 wins each year.

    I wish I would have saved the article but early last year I found a write up the actual success of 5 stars at the collge level. Less than half ended up playing significant time and less then 10% became all conference or all american. There are so many intangibles that come into play with football that it simply can't be measure with a star. Alot of HS coaches really don't know how to coach a position. They don't know how to make a kid a better QB or DL. But once that kid gets to college and the coaches work with him. They turn them into solid players. Denard wasn't even listed as a QB in any of the services. That means that they don't think that he projects to be a qualify QB at the next level.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I understand what you guys said. Yeah, ranking is not absolute measure, but then with what? What do we know how good player over there? We cannot see every signle player in US. Rivals, Scout, ESPN they have repuation. Rome was not built in a day. I praise Brady's effort, but we need better player than this.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @ Loveroftroy

    IF you only knew how many of those sites have "cant miss prospects" who go to college and completely FAIL then you wouldnt be so high on their reputation..I was just on rivals looking at past recruiting classes and have seen lots of 5* recruits who I havent even heard of but yet they were supposedly studs in high school..


    Whether they choose the wrong school and got their and realized they are stuck on the bench behind higly recruited players from years before or whether the situation just wasnt right for them, maybe they got up against some real competition and werent as good as they were going up against high schoolers..If you are in a good position to succeed, have that drive and motivation to get better and the coaches to help you it doesnt matter if you are a 1* or a 2* according to ESPN its all on you to become a good player

    ReplyDelete
  12. Agree with UMFAN - there are so many intangibles including mental and physical maturity. Some kids will get up against stiffer competition and lose their confidence after having it come so easy to them their whole lives, it could cause them to give up and stop working while others will be motivated to work harder. Some kids are late bloomers or just need proper coaching and a little bit of confidence to really take off and others may never grow up....see Tate Forcier. You have to remember these are 18 year old kids. That is why recruiting character and intelligence is almost as important as talent. Jim Harbaugh was able to take a bunch of 2 and 3 star kids (actual scholar athletes) to the brink of an undefeated season. Why? Because they were well coached, smart and fundamentally sound.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Any word on if Cooper might be visiting this weekend? I know that Mattison visited him both at school and in-home yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  14. @ kkopp

    Cooper still favors Iowa , Michigan St and Ga Tech..He says he likes Coah Hoke alot still talking to us ..Not sure if we will get that visit yet tho..I feel like if we can get him to visit we can jump all 3

    ReplyDelete
  15. Twitter is "ablaze" saying Cooper will visit Ann Arbor this weekend. Great News!

    ReplyDelete