Mailbag Question: Lack of recruiting depth

Great blog, guys. Fun to read.

One topic has me curious though – we keep reading, and have seen evidence, about the lack of recruiting depth over the past 4+ years by the previous staff. Comments have been made that recruiting efforts got lazy and even ignoring outside tips from people wanting attention from Michigan.

During those years however, none of this came to light, as much as it was people complaining about the staff’s problems with game-planning and/or adjustments, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Evidence has surfaced of that as well.

So what WAS the previous staff doing? Comments from various sources say they weren’t recruiting while others say they weren’t doing much in on-field strategy, as evidenced by opponents saying Michigan was predictable and they knew what to expect.

So what exactly WAS the previous working so hard on, as related to football? Personal Development and graduating players, as well as keeping them out of trouble, seemed to be their highlight reel.

Were they too comfortable, not hungry?

Thoughts?

Thanks guys.

Darin

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Thanks for the question. Old regime, Coach Carr regime, recruited players who fit into what they were trying to accomplish, and had character they wanted.

They used state of Michigan as base and then used rest of Midwest to supplement their base. We had three basic problems with their philosophy.

1) They gave up on Ohio. Ohio needs to be large pat of any Michigan recruiting effort. Michigan conceding this wealth of high school talent to Coach Tressell without fighting for them is just giving up a great athletic state.

2) Michigan was over reliance on the summer camp. Some of the top tier talent was already committing and getting offers and Michigan was not even engaged. TJ Downing and A. Gonzo are example of Michigan legacy players who were already offered and close to committing before Michigan even got involved. Michigan almost lost Kevin Koger the same way.

3) Michigan was just being slow. Kids with Michigan interest were not even getting letters or calls until well into the process.

written by CoachBt and ErocWolverine