In case you missed it, earlier today I posted about quarterback talent within the State of Michigan (LINK). This is the beginning of a series of posts looking at the top 25 players within the state each year. So what spurred it, and why is it important?
Hit the jump for an explanation.
First of all, it’s COVID-19 quarantine time without sports, recruiting visits, spring ball, etc. I actually have lots of material for posts bouncing around in my mind, but now is a great time for a 30,000,000-foot view at Michigan recruiting, and this is part of it.
Second, there’s always consternation about in-state recruiting. It happens every year. People worry about 3-stars (and others) down the road and forget about the 5-stars, 4-stars, and other talented recruits from across the country.
Third, in a divided state with Michigan and Michigan State battling for recruits. there’s an optics battle. In order to be perceived as more successful, fans of both teams want to talk about winning recruiting battles, which school produces more NFL talent, etc. That’s exacerbated by a nearby geographical and competitive opponent like Ohio State.
Fourth, it’s long been a theory of mine that the State of Michigan does not produce enough talent to support Michigan, Michigan State, three in-state MAC programs, and numerous other universities poaching Michigan athletes. For a while I was posting regularly on a separate blog (Recruiting Season) that was all about athletes within the state. I also routinely did in-state recruiting primers for each recruiting cycle; that is, I did it until by the time one recruiting cycle was done, guys in the next class were already loaded up with offers and committing. So I’ve been paying close attention to talent within the state for a long time, and in my opinion, it’s just not sufficient enough to produce even a single elite program, let alone two Power Five programs and three other FBS schools.
Three years ago, in 2017, I started drafting the first Fence the Mitten Project post. For whatever reason(s), it just got put on the back burner and never fully developed.
Until now.
Emotions ramped up over the last couple weeks as people starting to realize that Cass Tech twins Kobe and Kalen King might commit to Penn State, along with MLK linebacker Jaylen Reed and Belleville linebacker Jamari Buddin. The King brothers and Reed picked the Nittany Lions last week, and Buddin’s time table is up in the air, while Southfield lineman Caleb Banks committed to Arizona State.
The King brothers’ commitment to PSU led to the following commentary and exchange on Twitter from Michigan alums:
Sometimes the State of Michigan isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The elite performers are mostly coming from elsewhere: NJ (Peppers, Gary, Ruiz), FL (Bush, Uche), PA (Winovich), OH (Charlton, Wormley), AL (Collins). pic.twitter.com/JZU3JG6iVT
— Touch the Banner (@TouchTheBanner) April 11, 2020
Lmao Penn State just ran through the city quick 😂😂
— Coach Dave 🥇 (@DaveDawson_) April 10, 2020
There’s more to those threads if you’re interested in clicking/reading, but the gist is that Michigan isn’t working hard enough within the state to keep people happy.
This conversation gave me the kick in the pants I needed to dredge up that 2017 Fence the Mitten Project post, knock the dust off, update it with more recent data, and unveil it to you this week.
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AWESOME! I think there can actually be some enjoyment with this thread instead of sufferring thru lists of mindless rote data that IF anyone really cared is easily googled by any individual……. To quote Einstein: “why commit to memory that which you can look up?” (Or why make rote data lists about stuff that anyone can look up?).
Now a comment before I get started; Sad that it took something like covid 19 to bring about the timing of this topic , especially since you’ve confessed it started in 2017? This should have been a topic on this site back in 2015, shortly after Harbaugh was hired and I have sorta been waiting with heavy heart and kra kra mind for its manifestation. Hence the idea alone was at least 2 years too late and its posting is going on 6…….. There, just a vent on my part, non-interaction needed as I don’t really care to live in the past ( unlike most Michigan fans) [end rant]
SOoooo, whats really pissed me off about Harbaugh recruiting the state of Michigan (or non recruiting of Michigan) is when places like Wis. ND, PSU, & OSU sign guys from mich that seemingly Harbaugh has lil to no interest in, or only a token effort is exerted to sign these guys.
If a good to great player can’t cut the academic mustard is one thing BUT!
These schools have very decent to great academics, similar to Mich so IF these players are able to get into Wisky, ND, PSU and even OSU’s academics are a hellavolt better than back in the day; they should be acceptable to Mich admissions – the problem, then, must lie with Harbaugh , for what ever reason or lack thereof.
……..and lets face it; an undergrad in Gen. Studies from Michigan doen’t carry anymore weight than it does frum practically anywhere else – hell we’re not talking about for most players a hardcore STEM degree here – and even IF we are? Mathematics for example; 2+2 = 4 & a derivative set to Zero to determine a maximum or a minimum of a function is still what it is no mater where one attends a fuking college………..
Unless of course Michigan wants to, academically, turn all football players into gen ed based “rossholes”.
Yes, Michigan needs to follow a national recruiting strategy, similar to ND as , think about it, ND is in an even more tough situation, geographically, than Michigan: Indiana? Theres 3 THREE!!! P 5 programs in that state and even less all around talent than Michigan………..
But bottom line: Michigan is NEVER going to get enough talent to contend for a national championship so Michigan fans need to get this idea out of their peabrain minds. Michigan should however be able to beat OSU more than a couple times in 20 fuking years – no excuses!
To be continued:
INTJohn
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First, the reason it took COVID-19 is because I have more free time now. I pump out content basically 7 days a week, which means I don’t always have time to post every day AND do longer, research-based posts. I’m posting more content than MGoBlog right now, along with keeping up with 300+ offers per class, and I’m one dude while they have at least three regular posters.
But anyway, you mention the guys that Michigan is lukewarm on within the state. I’m not seeing a ton of talented guys we “missed” on that Michigan offered but just didn’t pursue very hard. David Moorman (Wisconsin), Donovan Johnson (Penn State), Joshua Alabi (Ohio State) have done very little. They went to other schools and were primarily backups (well, Johnson still has some eligibility, so we’ll see). There are guys like Mike Weber who went elsewhere and were successful, but Michigan tried hard to keep him and it just didn’t work.
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If you can get past INTJohn’s windage I think he supports your effort.
I think it is educational in the sense that I know people who are adamant that Michigan athletes are as competitive as any. What I really think is that they just can’t swallow losing a recruit to outstate teams esp OSU and ND or to MSU for any reason.
I like grabbing a guy like Raheem Anderson and surely think an ongoing relationship with the state’s high school coaches is smart.
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I see a lot of insinuations that Michigan athletes can play anywhere. I had a conversation with a Michigan coach last week who said as much. And while I respect sticking up for your guys, the truth is that a lot of these guys aren’t going places and developing into stars. A guy who goes to a mid-level Power 5 school somewhere else (Missouri, Northwestern, Iowa State) is almost certainly not a guy who would help Michigan get over the hump against Ohio State. I think a lot of times, those are the guys Michigan coaches want to end up at Michigan, and it’s just not realistic. Michigan would not only be unable to beat Ohio State, but they would drop back to the pack.
I like grabbing Raheem Anderson because I think he’s a good player. I’m not sure I love the current makeup of the offensive line class (too interior-heavy, IMO), but that doesn’t mean the individual player can’t hack it. I’m higher on Anderson as a center than I am on Crippen.
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