The Blue Board

Some are more realistic than others. What was coach D's expectations for the season?

I realize trcmb likes to take things and run with them, such as Hoke's expectations of winning the B1G, but you should take a step back and realize that Coach D says the same thing.

So were RR's recruiting classes highly rated? I don't get that if they were. If a class is full of 4 stars but not well balanced why do they get a high rating? if the recruiting gurus don't consider balance or "fit" why should we trust them at all?

Note: I have no idea what they were rated

RR's classes were decently rated. I think one of his classes was as high as 8, while others were in the low teens (compare that to what we're bringing in now, our fanbase would seemingly have a panic attack if a class of ours finished ranked #8) The issue is not how they were ranked. The amount of kids that he recruited who are still at Michigan is abysmal. I do not know the exact numbers, but one of our writers dissected what happened to the RR players a little while back. Something along the lines of, if he had 22 kids in a recruiting class, only 8 or 9 were on our roster for their junior seasons. Of those, some were small/shifty spread players. Some other interesting facts I remember seeing is that we have more 4*+ O-Line recruits in this class than are currently on our entire roster. We also have more guys in the ESPN 150 in this class than RR recruited in his 3 years.

To sum up, we got some quality players from RR, but a lot of them are not in Ann Arbor any longer. Some of those who are do not match up with Hoke's desired system. Lastly, thank god for Denard.

and i didn't say that this season was as expected, you did. I wouldn't be happy with 2nd place in the division.

2008 was a mixed bag because of the transition (Carr recruited over half the class), but it had some solid players. They are mostly gone (e.g. Mike Martin). 2009 was the highest rated, but it was full of RR spread offensive and 3-3-5 defensive players. It also had lots of misses. Whether it was bad recruiting or bad player development, or both, who knows. But other than Denard (who doesn't actually fit in with Hoke's vision), many of the highest rated kids from the 2009 class just didn't pan out. And others - Stokes, LaLota, Turner, Bell, Forcier - transferred out due to lack of PT or for other reasons. 2010 was a solid albeit not great class. It was slightly overrated in the team rankings because it included Demar Dorsey and he never made it onto campus. And the 2011 class was a mini-disaster because RR was on the hotseat all year and was fired in January. When he was fired and Hoke was hired, we lost the one or two highly rated players we were on target to get (e.g. Dee Hart). Hoke's 2012 class and pending 2013 classes are, by far, the best looking on paper and very importantly they focus heavily on the trenches and defense. If they have any weaknesses at all, it is in the absence of truly elite RBs and WRs. But we will have to wait and see how they develop to know for sure how good (or not) they really are.

I get it, setting the bar low helps so you'll be pleased at the end of the year.

He was wise to move up north to the weakest most over hyped conference. He looks poised to dominate it for years to come. First year in and he rebuilds the Buckeyes into an undefeated powerhouse.

Michigan still selling a promise of a better tomorrow, Neb is having marginal success and the rest of the conference is clinging to the bottom of the toilet pipe. Ohio State is elite.

Noted. I'll bump this when you are wrong.

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but did anybody see Drake Harris last night? He was unreal in the state championship game...record for most yards...and also went over 2,000 yards for the season (one of 12 receivers ever in the whole country to do that).

It's quite possible he gets bumped to the consensus number one player in the state over McDowell in the coming months. Have to figure this helps MSU land a guy like Henderson as well.

After seeing Maxwell in action, I would poke around looking for a JC transfer QB if I were you. You don't want to relive this season all over again next year, do you?

He's happy they dodged 0-5.

IF we play Okie Lite, we have a chance. Won't mean jack, but we I'd put that game at 50/50

I think he is a better football than basketball prospect (considering he is strong contender for Mr. Basketball in 2014 it shows how athletic the kid is). He just indicated last week when he gets to MSU he'll likely focus more on football...

"Coach (Tom) Izzo and coach (Mark) Dantonio have given me the leeway," Harris said. "Once I get there I'll probably start leaning toward football."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121121/SPORTS05/211210349#ixzz2DGwF21Zo