First off, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving weekend and I hope you've enjoyed the time spent with your families and friends thus far. It's rivalry weekend with a ton of great match-ups, so continue to relax and embrace the holiday!
Now, on to business.
If Hoke is fired next week, what's next with recruiting?
Michigan heads to Columbus on Saturday to take on a Buckeye team that looks primed for a blowout win en route to the Big Ten Championship game. Even if the Wolverines are somehow able to scratch out a victory, it looks like this will be Brady Hoke's last game calling the shots for the football team.
If/when Hoke is fired, I do expect there to be a decommitment or two, likely in the form of four-star tight end Chris Clark, but overall the seven guys they still have committed still seem like solid bets to stick around.
Brian Cole and Tyree Kinnel have taken or will take other visits, so anything can happen there, but it seems like they are still firm in their commitments to the school.
Will the next coach be able to salvage the 2015 class?
Whoever replaces Hoke at Michigan, whether it's Jim Harbaugh, Les Miles or another candidate, will have a tough road ahead of them finishing out the 2015 class, but a good haul of players is certainly still possible.
All along it has looked like they will take about 14-16 players in this cycle and I do not expect that to change. There are a ton of in-state prospects still on the board and it is even possible to bring a guy like Mike Weber back into the fold since his recruitment appears to be wide open now.
Players like four-star wide receiver Auden Tate, who is committed to Florida State, still are interested in what Michigan has to offer regardless of who the coach is, so we will have to wait and see what happens.
At the end of the day, this was going to be another small recruiting class anyways, so it is not a big deal if they aren't able to fill all of their spots. It creates an opportunity for the 2016 class and beyond to be larger. Also, many fans would trade a full recruiting class for a Harbaugh or Miles every time.
OSU v. Michigan recruiting battles to play out Saturday
Saturday is shaping up to be painful for fans of the maize and blue, but if you truly want to know the state of the program and how they stack up to Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes, know that both schools have recruited similar talent and always are battling on the recruiting trail.
Seriously, if you go by stars and rankings, Michigan stacks up favorable to OSU, but the key difference is development. Meyer is able to make his players better as the season goes on and continues to win despite some of that talent having growing pains.
Take JT Barrett for example. He was thrown into the starting quarterback job two weeks before the season started after Braxton Miller got hurt. Barrett struggled at times early on, but as the season has progressed he has gotten better, set a few school records and has become of the the best quarterbacks in the conference, if not all of college football.
If the roles were reversed and Devin Gardner had gotten injured and Shane Morris had to take over the job, the Wolverines' chances of winning anything decrease exponentially.
It does not matter who you recruit. That does not carry over to the field. How you coach, however, does. Michigan and Ohio State are on completely different levels in terms of player development and preparation, and that is something they will have to address in Ann Arbor.
That's it for Friday. Check back in with us Monday for the latest in Michigan football recruiting.