Desmond Howard was one of many Michigan greats who grew up in Ohio |
There’s no real breaking news to report here. It just gives you an idea who Michigan’s biggest foes are in the recruiting world. As you can see below, Ohio State is Enemy #1. (For comparison’s sake, not one of Michigan’s commits this year had an offer from the Buckeyes, as far as I know.) After that it falls off to Auburn, then Florida State, then a tie between Tennessee and Wisconsin, and then everyone else.
Below is a list of each school that pulled in at least one Michigan offeree. For particular players, check the 2011 Offer Board:
Ohio State: 12
Auburn: 8
Florida State: 7
Tennessee, Wisconsin: 6
Alabama, Georgia, Miami, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, South Carolina, USC: 5
Florida, LSU, North Carolina, Virgina, Virginia Tech: 4
Boston College, Clemson, Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, Texas Tech, UCLA: 3
Cal, Iowa, Mississippi, Stanford, Wake Forest: 2
Arizona State, Arkansas, Central Florida, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Houston, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Kent State, Kentucky, NC State, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Purdue, SMU, Syracuse, TCU, Texas A&M, Troy, Tulane, Utah, Vanderbilt, West Virginia: 1
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Brady Hoke has stated that he wants to get back to recruiting the midwest, and that means beating Ohio State for recruits. You can see that Wisconsin’s recent success has made them a formidable opponent in recruiting. And with as much as Rodriguez recruited the state of Pennsylvania, they lost out on 10 total recruits to the big state schools (PSU, Pitt).
Michigan State, as you can see, did not win many recruiting battles with Michigan. Brennen Beyer, Frank Clark, Justice Hayes, and Jack Miller were all kids with MSU offers who chose the Wolverines. And there has been some disagreement about whether MSU running back Onaje Miller was actually offered by Michigan, although I include him because his Rivals profile says so. Overall, I would say Michigan came out the winner against their in-state rivals.
The Wolverines still have an uphill battle to win recruits away from Ohio State, and that’s tough to do because Ohio typically has more talent than Michigan. But if and when Michigan starts winning some of those battles on the field, I expect more and more recruits from the Toledo area (which is geographically closer to Ann Arbor than Columbus) to take interest in playing for the Wolverines.
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How many guys did MSU get the M wanted? Thomas, Davis…?
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Oops, says 3 above. My fault.
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I'd guess MSU will still claim they own the state, since they lost Beyer and Hayes but got Miller and Davis and landed the biggest fish in the state – Thomas
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MSU fans are stupid.
Also, some would argue that Hayes is a better player than Thomas. Thomas' senior year was unimpressive to many, which caused him to fall in some rankings.
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personally id say thomas is still a head above the competition(in michigan). not a head and shoulders but definitely a gap
-horn
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