Big Ten Blogger Roundtable Is Stealing Your Recruits

by Maize n Brew Dave on Feb 12, 2008 8:19 AM CST in Michigan Football Comment 2 comments

While everyone gets excited about Signing Day, I've never understood the fascination. A bunch of kids make a decision, or sometimes make up a decision, about where they're going to play football. Big deal. The real excitement starts the day after Signing Day. Seriously. After signing day comes Bitter Recriminations Week! Truly Christmas in February!

So lets kick the week off right by letting the accusations of tampering, bribery, theft, and slander fly!

Put on your Wizard's cap, sling some dirt on your rival, and evaluate the talent (or lack there of) in your recruiting class. If your class sucks, admit it and place some blame. Calls for your coach's head make good copy. If your class rocks, here's your chance to gloat and taunt the schools you stole recruits from. Nothing makes a Roundtable more festive than a good 'ole internets style flame war.

Maybe it's the snake oil talkin' but dammit I'm excited about this roundtable. So pony up and answer some questions, goddammit!

1. As a general question, evaluate your recruiting class. Is it more or less what you expected, were you pleasantly surprised or horribly, horribly disappointed? Were your team's needs adequately addressed or will you be starting a two star running back at center next year?

2. Who were the big catches in your recruiting class? Name two players matriculating to your school whose existence everyone else in the Big Ten will curse for the next four years.

For instance, we got McGuffie and you didn't

3. You can't win them all. Maybe some slick talking carpetbagger schmoozed his way into your living room, sold you a set of ginzu knives made out of tin foil, and walked off with your wife and your star recruit. Perhaps an in-state lock who grew up with [Insert University Here] posters on his wall and your coach's face tattooed on his arm decided to go elsewhere for reasons no one seems to understand? Did your recruiting class lose someone big on signing day, who was it, and was your school able to yoink someone else to cover his loss?

4. There's been a spirited debate about this whole "Coaches' Code" among the members of the Big Ten coaching fraternity. Do you believe this exists or is it a line being floated by the guys who couldn't keep their recruiting classes together? Bonus points for declaring your coach a poacher or a poachee in creative fashion!

5. Finally, who's the slickest, smoovest, most Billy Dee Williamsesque recruiter in the Big Ten? Who's the worst, most incompetent, "trip over the flat tire on his Yugo" recruiter in the Big Ten?

Every Time.

Get your answers up and post a link in the comments section over the next few days. My answers will be up tomorrow. I'll post a roundup on Monday. And please, for the love of all that's unholy, be as vicious as possible. If someone doesn't spill blood over the answers I'll consider it a failure.

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Comments

As a Michigan Blog(read)er

Pleasantly surprise about the recruiting class. We retained almost everyone the previous staff had commitments from (save Christian Wilson) and added a few guys at positions of need (slot WR, QB, in particular). Hopefully, this is not a one-year wonder sort of thing where kids are just intrigued by the prospect of playing a new system at old stalwart Michigan. I fully expect Rodriguez to continue his newfound recruiting prowess (although the name helps). While he may piss some people off, I also hope all this "shadiness" talk is just that (and a product of sour grapes), and that he proves to be aboveboard going forward.
Sam McGuffie. I thought Daryl Stonum, but depends on how he is used (not knowing too much about Rodriguez's system). One of those LBs will be great, maybe JB Fitzgerald. If Cissoko can play beyond his height, that would be great. If this whole CB thing doesn't work out, maybe we can convert him to a Bob Sanders like safety (I can only dream).
Our school was the yoinker. We lost nobody unexpected (Wilson), thank goodness. We did yoink a few critical players (Shaw, Roundtree, that kid from Florida), which is nice.
The "coaches' code" is a bunch of crap. It's one thing to be slimy about recruiting and tell the recruit to string along the other coaching staff (as PSU fans would have you believe about Rodriguez - no proof, btw, just tin foil hattery). It's quite another to actively and openly recruit a kid verbally committed elsewhere. Everyone everywhere does it, regardless of conference. I'm not saying we should sink to the level of the SEC (hooray for easy targets and generalizations!), but this isn't a fantasyland where everyone is prim and proper
I'll do this based on the quality of the team and my personal expectations of where the school ended up in the recruiting rankings.

Slickest: Tie between Tim Brewster and Ron Zook. I'm just amazed that Brewster was able to outrecruit PSU, MSU, and Iowa per Scout + Illinois, Wisconsin per Rivals. That's just staggering, considering the crap that is the Golden Gophers. Zook is like a magician or something. Dude's just crazy.

Incompetentest: Maybe I'm biased due to all the articles praising the class, but Dantonio had a real opportunity to put together a good class with Michigan's uncertain situation, but could do no better than 7th (per Rivals; 9th per Scout). Also, Ferentz and Bielema have had some disappointing classes. Ferentz's star is certainly fading and Bielema, for all the initial success, is not translating that to recruiting.

by georgiablue on Feb 12, 2008 11:39 AM CST reply actions 0 recs