|
2/4/04- My
Annual Recruiting Rant...
It's that time
again...
Time for some
people to go ga ga over the latest players to take the challenge of
being a Wolverine. Some have even proposed that
recruiting signing day be declared a holiday...It's worthy of being
a holiday alright- a made-up Hallmark holiday.
Today marks the entry of raw materials into the Michigan football
factory. Some of the materials will be worthy; some won't make
it into the final product. The players who take the challenge today will be transformed during the next few years and be
very different people by time they take the field for the Wolverines.
But this when many
of the problems begin in the fan community begin. Recruiting
analysts build these guys up to the next coming of Charles Woodson,
Desmond Howard and Tom Brady all rolled into one. And then
when they're sitting on the bench uninformed fans will call for
these players to be put in without ever having seen them play a
single down.
The evaluation of recruiting classes is big business and is about as
accurate as weather forecasting.
People tune in no matter how many times the forecasters are wrong.
In my opinion,
recruiting is one of the most overblown and misunderstood facets of
collegiate athletics. I'm not saying that recruiting isn't important, but the rating of recruits and
recruiting classes is
a very inexact science. High school statistics are practically
meaningless. The number of touchdowns or tackles that a recruit
had in high school is no indication of their future success in college
football.
Physical size and speed can be measured- but what
about heart and mental toughness?
If you look at recruiting classes historically almost 1/2 of each
class won't reach their senior season. Injuries, academic
problems, homesickness, run-ins with law, and lack of playing time
will take a toll on this year's
recruits just like it has in the past.
It amazes me how
people can get so excited over player X who played at Y High School
from Z, USA when you've never even seen him play a down of football
for Michigan. High school stars come in laboring under huge
expectations that are a residual of the recruiting process.
I've seen players who were unstoppable in high school disappear once
they get to college. I've seen players who were merely good in high
school become stars. A good example of this is former UM OT
Jon Jansen. I saw him play in high school for two years.
He beat our team with a touchdown in the league championship game.
Nice kid, good student, but when UM signed him early I kind of
wondered what the coaches were thinking. There were better
high school athletes on the field when I saw him play. Well,
years later not only did he end up setting a UM record for
consecutive starts and be ranked as one of the top 100 UM players of
all-time but now he's starting in the NFL. From that time I
made a vow to myself- I judge college players on what I see during
the spring practice and regular season games.
That's all you really have to judge a player on.
UMGoBlue.COM will
only report on players in the News section who actually commit and
sign with Michigan. Any reports on potential recruits will be
limited to the discussion forums. I agree with many coaches who think that the Internet isn't so
great for the recruiting process. Too many unsubstantiated
rumors abound and once published become fodder for other schools to
use against UM. Site A reports that player X is a sure thing to
sign with UM. Maybe the UM coaches don't even want player X but
school N tells player Y (who UM might really wants) to sign with them
since UM has already promised X a scholarship. We hope to limit
the impact of these rumors by keeping them in the discussion forums
which are obviously open to the public.
Michigan is a football factory. As long as a good number of
high quality recruits are poured in, we'll get our stars.
Players who can't miss will. A few marginal players coming in
will blossom and become stars.
I'm excited about
the Wolverines getting a great class but I'll temper my enthusiasm until I see some
of these recruits on the field in the Big House.
No matter what happens on signing day consider the following:
Remember how disappointed Wolverine fans were a few years ago when
QB Jeff Smoker chose Michigan State instead of Michigan? Who
knew that we were avoiding a huge problem.
Remember how excited we were a few years ago when RB Kelly Baraka
chose Michigan over Notre Dame? How'd that one turn out?
Go Blue!
Phil
Callihan
UMGoBlue.COM, Editor-in-Chief
phil@umgoblue.com
|
Phil Callihan is the Editor-in- Chief of
UMGoBlue.COM. Phil graduated from the University of Michigan
in 1993 and has been a football season ticket holder since 1994.
Full Bio
Read More of Phil's Columns
|
