well an Oregon can slip into the NC game like they did in what 2008? if a bunch of other teams loses and if they get lucky play someone with similar talent. while if they end up in the college football playoff they'll play a one loss Alabama or ohio state and likely get out talented at some point.
Spurrier has openly said before that he pretty much just recruits metro Atlanta. There's so much talent there. Plenty to go around.
And Luck, Sherman among others turned out pretty well. Stars are over rated. Given where the (Stanford) program was when he took it over and where he left it I'd say he did an excellent job of recruiting (to his needs). No disrespect to Stanford but they're not Michigan. At Ann Arbor there's the history, The Big House, National Titles, ... 3* Richard Sherman back in the day
why do you think every USC coach in history basically including the likes of paul Hackett and larry smith have signed top 5 recruiting classes. if USC didn't stupidly hire within the Trojan family 90% of the time, they'd have an Alabama level number of NCs.
No doubt he maxed out what he was left and what he recruited. I don't agree stars are overrated though. Oregon and Virginia tech with vick basically are the only programs in 20 years to make the national title game without having a top 5 class proceeding it. I hate Stanford, but they have a national recruiting base and Northern California produces a lot more players just by itself than Michigan. It's obviously easier to recruit to Michigan, btw, I'm just suggesting it's not significantly easier. the recruiting advantages Michigan has are mostly memories of 20 years ago. the demographics are working against them. there is a reason why ohio state is basically the only big 10 team that has high end talent anymore. That isn't to say harbaugh can't average top 10 recruiting classes. I'm just suggesting it won't be at ohio state's level.
not to me. they've been producing nfl players for a while now. Grant is a powerhouse. USC seems to poach one 5 star guy annually from Sacramento.
Stars are a media fabrication. Another method to drive sales and revenue. We can agree to disagree. There's more in Ann Arbor than just memories. Watching Harbaugh and Meyer going at it will be fun. Michigan has plenty of talent. As does the region. Three of Harbaugh's current six recruits commits are not only from the area but at or near the top at their perspective positions.
respectfully disagree: It has some talent, but not enough to have top 5 recruiting classes annually like ohio state. There is a reason why ohio state has dominated Michigan the past 20 years and it's not solely coaching.
We've had this discussion before, but I think stars are a better indicator as a trend than applying them to one player, i.e. there's plenty of 5 star busts and 3-star studs, but looking at entire classes over a couple of years, the # of 4/5 stars matters.
of course. generally those that play the stars don't matter game are those teams that aren't recruiting well. I always laugh when I see a fan play the "I'll take who the coaches think is the best, I don't care about stars" card while chances are all that means is the coach whiffed on the higher ranked guys first. we know on average higher ranked teams win more games and win more championships. there are exceptions in both direction (texas sucking for instance, or Oregon being good), but personally I'd rather play the odds than hope my coach can find a bunch of diamonds in the rough and compete at a high level.
Yes. Applying probabilities to an individual is reckless, but is very telling in a population. There is no secret why teams with top 10 classes in college habitually are the best teams in the country (coaching notwithstanding).
Coincidence. Stars matter to the fans not coaches. Coaches make their own evals. Over the yrs coaches have been asked if they follow recruiting sites and/or go by site recommendations. Don't recall one saying they did, most chalked them up to a source of entertainment more than anything.
they pull some, but ohio pulls some from Michigan too. I looked it up, according to rivals Michigan currently ranks 23rd in recruiting (ok still early). 2015 - Michigan 50th, OSU 9th 2014 - 31st, 3rd 2013 - 5th, 2nd 2012 - 7th, 4th 2011 - 21st, 11th 2010 - 20th, 25th 2009 - 8th, 3rd 2008 - 10th, 4th 2007 - 12th, 15th 2006 - 13th, 12th Michigan average 17th. Ohio State 8th That's a rather dramatic difference. I don't think it's all coaching related.