Yes it's B/R but it's coming...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1528827-michigan-football-10-prospects-the-wolverines-must-land-in-2014#/articles/1534674-michigan-football-9-or-10-game-b1g-schedule-will-test-brady-hokes-wolverines

Telll you what.

I heard a guy on ESPN quote Bleacher Report.

It's good enough for me.

I'll always read B/R but I don't take it for gospel. It's a decent starting place IMHO though.

my thoughts and opinions...

- Alex Bars will be Blue. His bro Blake will help see to that. I don't worry about PSU but I do worry about ND.

- Mason Cole will be Blue. He and Scott are a package deal (their words not just my opinion). Given our need for receivers as well, I think the staff will be able to peak Scott's interest making it fairly reasonable to expect both to be Blue. I love that it puts us in good with 2015 ATH George Campell too.

- Jabrill Peppers is a Michigan fan but will he be a Michigan Man? This BR report is the first I've heard of Brady Hoke NFL rumors. Hoke isn't going anywhere so if coaching stability is Peppers' concern then he should be Blue but I've got a bad feeling about Alabama on this one. We could always use another stud CB though and the fact that Webb committed to O$U might give us the edge on Peppers. Bama-schmama, Peppers will be Blue

- Malik McDowell... Michigan will pull out all of the stops to keep this kid in the state and away from Sparty, ND and O$U. Like mentioned in the write-up and in my comment above, they already let Webb slip through the cracks. Don't expect it to happen again. Malik will be Blue.

- Marshon Lattimore is a no go. While I think we take two CBs in this class, one of them will not be Lattimore. No way Urban lets the number one Ohio kid get away, especially not to Michigan. Lattimore will be playing Saturdays in Columbus.

- Joe Mixon will not be Blue. I think he's waiting on a Stanford or Oregon offer. I read somewhere that he would be open to going to school away from home but IMO if he does it wont be at UM

- Kallen Balladge wants to be Blue. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I actually know quite a bit about Falcon High School. It's a small town in the prairie land (grown tremendously in the last 10 years) east of Colorado Springs. They are in the District 49 school district which is not full of the power house District 11 schools in the area. They played two decent teams this year and got shut out by both of them. So I'm not sure how much competition the kid has had to date. Michigan is far and away his best offer (I guess Nebraska could be considered as well). I think he'll commit but I'd rather we take another RB. Then again I am sold more and more as each day passes with this staff's ability to judge talent and coach them up.

- Lawrence Marshall will be Blue. I love that he decommited from O$U while on an unofficial to Michigan. That stings a bit 'ey Urbs? Clearly though Da'Shawn Hand is the DE target for the class.

- Da'Shawn Hand. Man oh man do I want to see this kid in a winged helmet on Saturdays. The competition for his services is going to be TOUGH. I see Alabama and Florida as the schools to beat and I wouldn't put it past the Ol' Ball Coach to get this kid at SC. I like that he's from Virginia. Hopefully fellow Virginians Derrick Green and Wilton Speight can get in his head a bit and get him to join the 135 project. I predict otherwise.

- Drake Harris. This is THE target of the class IMO. I can't say I expect a decommit from Sparty soon but I think it's eminent. Bottom line is we'll once again be QuarterBack U before you know it but we can't get there without the help of elite WR's. I think Hoke presses hardest for this kid but I've got a gut feeling he leaves the state. Harris will not be Blue.

Drake Harris was benched last weekend for "disciplinary reason" FWIW.

There's the red-flag, yep he is a sparty at heart.

Call me crazy, but I have a feeling Michigan reels in Hand.

"I heard Hoke has a lot of of offersfrom the NFL on the table."

Uh, what? I have never heard such a thing.

I'm not "in the know" on that situation but from what I can deduce that was a negative recuiting tactic employed by either Urban or Slick'Nick. Another possibility although I don't know why he would even try (he has no shot recruiting against UM, o$u, 'bama, ND, etc.) is Dantonio. Like I said I don't see why he would even waste his time but my hatred for everything green in east landfill knows no boundaries.

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

I'm not "in the know" on that situation but from what I can deduce that was a negative recuiting tactic employed by either Urban or Slick'Nick. Another possibility although I don't know why he would even try (he has no shot recruiting against UM, o$u, 'bama, ND, etc.) is Dantonio. Like I said I don't see why he would even waste his time but my hatred for everything green in east landfill knows no boundaries.

never thought of the negative recruiting tactic. now i'm curious to see who the source was of that info was.

From what I heard, on either ESPN or the BTN, was that multiple Michigan recruits (I don't recall any names) told Coach Hoke that another Coach was speading rumors. Once again, I don't know. That's just the small stuff that I have seen reported.

I actually currently get a minor amount of inside information from one of my old sources at UM but I only see him once every 4/5 weeks. He answers my questions but doesn't bring anything to the table himself, everything is driven by me. I have to bring up names/situations and then he'll elaborate if he knows anything.

I saw somewhere blaming Meyer as a payback for Hoke saying Urban would only coach a few years and then bail on OSU. An eye for an eye.

No way is Hoke even close to being a good enough coach to think about the NFL, yet.

I'm thinking/hoping this is the last stop for Coach Hoke. He loves college aged kids, he loves Michigan, this is his dream job. Of course money is a powerful influencer but I'm pretty sure that as long as Coach Hoke cotinues to put up results better than last year AD Brandon will keep him happy. Not to the extent a NFL job would but Coach Hoke loves it here.

That sounds plausible EJ, doesn't make it right of the Liar though.

EJinGA wrote:

Call me crazy, but I have a feeling Michigan reels in Hand.

B/R thinks that we have a good shot. Take it for what it's worth...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1536672-full-ride-odds-on-who-lands-no-1-recruit-dashawn-hand

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

EJinGA wrote:

Call me crazy, but I have a feeling Michigan reels in Hand.

B/R thinks that we have a good shot. Take it for what it's worth...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1536672-full-ride-odds-on-who-lands-no-1-recruit-dashawn-hand

Thanks for posting that. I was actually pretty shocked to see VT at #1. For some reason I thought VT wasn't even in the picture (can't say why I thought that though). We need to get this kid. Pulling in the overall #1 recruit could be huge for future classes. It could help establish Michigan as a recruiting force for years to come. I don't mean top 10 type classes, I mean top 5 year in and year out.

The idea of Brady considering and being considered by, the NFL is illogical. Michigan is his dream job as others have said and he wasn't on any other major college's radar when we hired him. Indiana for crying out loud, didn't think he was a good candidate.

He also is a manager of mangers or in this case assistant coaches. When you have the right assistants, that is a great thing to be but he is not innovative himself on either side of the ball which is what the NFL usually looks for.

If he were 10 years younger, maybe, but this will be his last stop. This is a good fit for both parties.

'shoes

Ha, to Hoke going anywhere. Sam webb covered the rumor and all but said it came from the slime down south.. When hired, Hoke said this was his destination, he would have walked from San Diego to Ann Arbor for this opportunity..He is not coing anywhere.

Ha, to Hoke going anywhere. Sam webb covered the rumor and all but said it came from the slime down south.. When hired, Hoke said this was his destination, he would have walked from San Diego to Ann Arbor for this opportunity..He is not coing anywhere.

Oops double sent

If Hoke is getting top 10 recruiting classes, he needs to finish in the top 10 in final rankings.

All the 5 star recruits in the world dont mean squat, when you cant beat Nebraska who is lucky to crack the top 25...

People are talking about Hoke going Pro... He has not even proven he can coach at this level yet.

Yeah, because he is supposed to win with all freshmen. Get real. Last year's class was top 10, but they were freshmen. He did finish in the top 10 his first year.

Brady has done a really nice job on many levels. he is an excellent coach for Michigan. There are coaches that can take their show anywhere (Saban, Meyer) and there are coaches that work in a certain situation.

As upset as I am with Lloyd Carr for how he handled his immediate post coaching period, he was a very good fit for Michigan, but does anyone think he would have replicated what he did at Michigan at almost anywhere else? (as say Bo could have).

'shoes

EJinGA wrote:

If Hoke is getting top 10 recruiting classes, he needs to finish in the top 10 in final rankings.

All the 5 star recruits in the world dont mean squat, when you cant beat Nebraska who is lucky to crack the top 25...

People are talking about Hoke going Pro... He has not even proven he can coach at this level yet.

Cripes, did I falsely accuse TheArtistFormerly of being "DeepBlue83" (from the forsaken forum)??? Perhaps it's
actually YOU???

"Hoke has yet to prove he can coach." Where exactly are you coming from? As Fish points out, he took RichRod's formerly-dysfunctional collection and turned them into a top-10 Sugar Bowl champion. And he
ended our skids with both OSU and MSU. Can't coach...eh?

I dont know who either of those folks are.

Perhaps I should have worded my opinion differently.

I am not sold that Hoke is the guy who can win a NC and consistantly beat OSU. Has he proven that he can coach in college? Of course he can. I wasnt really implying that. Can he coach Michigan to being what they want to be, and what we want them to be? I have my doubts.

If you pit Hoke and Michigan vs. Urban Meyer and OSU, and give them equal talent, who wins? I think Meyer wins 9 out of 10 times. And I think they continue to be a sacrificial lamb to the SEC come bowl season.

And PSU, Wisconsin, and Nebraska are having just as much, or more success with less.

And you can say they lack talent... That roster is far more talented than any other team in the B10 minus OSU.

My biggest fear is that Brady Hoke will end up being labeled an 'underacheiver', especially if they start landing recruits like Hand.

"Continue to be a sacrificial lamb for the SEC"

WTF?

And here I thought we had a great record against the SEC. Go figure.

Uh, yeah... Back in the Bo and Lloyd days. Hoke is 0-2 against them. Alabama is a given, but SC was there to be had.

Look at South Carolina's recruiting: http://rivals.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/commitments/2010/southcarolina-70

Those classes look about like what RichRod was recruiting when he was here. Equal talent (or even lesser), and a Michigan loss.

Penn State had the same record as Michigan after getting blasted by sanctions and with a 1st year coach.

Penn State didn't quite have the same schedule as Michigan. The Leaders division , with the exception of suckeye, isn't quite as good as the Legends (this may change soon and also the divisions will undoutedly change). And unless you equate ohio university with Alabama, and put Virginia on the same level as Notre Dame Penn State's non-conference schedule was a joke as well.

So EJ. You only remember 2 years? And a loss to the defending and future National Champs and a small loss in a bowl game?

Wow guy, go ahead and jump off. I'll stay on a while.