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It’s been a long time since we’ve done a Sunday Thoughts, but today seemed like a good day to resurrect it, even if it’s only for one week.
Let’s dig in.
Recruiting
This week, I delved into recruiting in a way I hadn’t since my tenure at 247Sports — and in some ways, with an even more tenacious edge.
It started with going to SMSB to see 2022 five-star Will Johnson from Grosse Pointe (MI) South, the Michigan legacy who’s also being heavily courted by Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State and Arizona State. I feel like Michigan is in great standing, but it’s going to be a long process for him. With all the coaches seemingly in on his recruitment, there’s no school from what I can tell, that’s pushing harder.
If that doesn’t kill the in-state narrative, I don’t know what will. Like Allen Trieu told me at the event, Michigan is doing what it’s always done — going after who it wants in-state. It won’t win them all, and hasn’t done so, historically. But I think, this early, Michigan looks good for Johnson.
Then I started delving mostly into 2022, but also spoke to numerous 2021 commits (and just a handful of targets in the current class).
While many think Michigan could be done at cornerback with just Ft. Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas three-star Ja’Den McBurrows committed, keep an eye on two targets in 2021: Tuscaloosa (AL) American Christian three-star Kamari Lassiter and Lehigh Acres (FL) Senior four-star Omarion Cooper, the Florida State commit.
I spoke briefly to Cooper who confirmed that Michigan is throwing everything it has to work to get him to flip — and he’s seemingly receptive. “They are still recruiting me hard,” Cooper told me. Hopefully I’ll get more on that soon.
When it comes to Michigan’s recruiting strategy, this that J.J. McCarthy told me, I think, tells you what you need to know:
“I’d almost come up with — like pick out recruits from Twitter and watching film and even from camps and everything,” McCarthy said. “And I’d always bring them back to Matty Dudek and everything like that, and he would say, ‘Awesome, love it.’ If he’d love a player, he’d be like, ‘We’re probably gonna offer him.’ And sometimes, he’d be like, ‘He’s just not our guy. He’s not a fit for what we want to do here.’ Character-traits and everything like that. And I kind of never understood his philosophy behind it and the whole staff’s philosophy.
“Until I actually got into the group chat. And we started communicating as a class together. And I was like, ‘Oh. Now I get it. Now I get it.’ They’re recruiting a certain type of man to come to Michigan, and they believe that’s the most successful for them. We’re all gonna be able to do our job to make Michigan the most successful.
“In the group chat, we’re all so similar in so many ways, and I really recognize that and realize that to where I’m like, ‘Oh, I get it! He actually knows what he’s doing! He’s getting the job done!’”
Once you know that — and it’s something I’ve seen over the past two years — the recruits that you hear saying they’re looking for a place that feels like ‘home,’ ‘a brotherhood’ or ‘a family atmosphere’ — you can pretty much assure that Michigan will be one of its finalists.
Moving onto 2022, there’s one recruit I spoke to who definitely espoused that mentality, and it’s one of the most impressive prospects I’ve ever spoken to. That’s St. Louis (MO) Lutheran of St. Charles County four-star running back Arlen Harris Jr.
I could have talked to Harris for an hour, as he’s mature beyond his years and has a firm grasp on who he is, who he wants to be and what he’s looking for. His top schools at this juncture, from what he told me, are Michigan, Stanford, Iowa, Mizzou and Penn State.
Here’s what he said that made me think Michigan will be in it for the long haul:
“I would say a big thing for me is being challenged on and off the field. Michigan definitely brings that to the table,” Harris said. “That’s why they’re a top school for me. I want to be able to work just as hard on the field and do that off. Just a balanced challenge for me. Obviously, I want to be at a place that feels like home and makes me feel wanted and not just a part of a program, a business or a team – but a family. I think those are some of the things I desire in a college team.”
But the notion that Michigan is fading on the national scene is just a narrative.
I spoke to plenty of top prospects, including Earl Little Jr., Jaleel Skinner, MJ Morris and Fabian Ross, and all of them spoke about how meaningful it was to be able to have that Sept. 1 conversation with head coach Jim Harbaugh — with some being somewhat awestruck about it. All being national recruits, however, it’s going to take some time before any of them comes to a decision, especially since none of the above have been to Ann Arbor.
Nonetheless, Michigan is doing an excellent job on the trail. It might take a minute, but I believe that 2022 could be equally as impressive on paper as 2021, once things start to open up and some of these prospects can actually get to campus.
Misconceptions
Listen — I’ve been pretty forthright on my thoughts on the Big Ten, at least on my podcast. I’ll explain.
I’m not saying that the Big Ten made a bad decision — I think that can only be answered in hindsight. But it made a hasty one. And if there were more skepticism from the players about playing football this fall, I’d be more inclined to think it’s potentially unsafe to play. But, with Michigan having, as Jim Harbaugh said on Saturday, nearly one-thousand tests in a row without any positives, if every school in the conference can adopt the same strategies as Michigan, there’s no reason why a season can’t be played safely.
But there are certainly some disinformation campaigns out there.
Take the Penn State doctor, who claimed myocarditis was found in 30-35% of Big Ten athletes before fully recanting. Many breathlessly shared the original article without looking at it critically, crying, ‘See?!’ There’s a reason why there’s so much distrust at the moment, and confirmation bias has certainly played a role. Again, I reserve judgment until we get the full breadth of what’s an actual danger and what isn’t in the long-term. But, I also find it funny that so many who rebut the amateurism model aren’t on the side of the players here. To a large degree, I do believe that if the players want to play, they should be given that opportunity, at least as other conferences take the field — and especially now that high school football is basically happening across the Midwest, with Michigan reversing course and allowing the MHSAA to start up here soon. Assuredly, U-M can protect its student-athletes better than some random high school that doesn’t have similar resources, right? And with those saying that college students are gonna behave poorly, based on what we’ve seen coming out of football, I don’t believe that’s the case. I think those going through stringent protocols who have had close to zero (but not zero) positive tests should have earned the benefit of the doubt given the track record.
Many will argue that it’s not about Michigan, but other schools. That’s fair. We’ve seen outbreaks with other programs. I do think there has to be a baseline of safety, as well as some baseline of protocols. Without of which, there can’t be play. I’m sure that’s being taken under consideration, and it’s also why we need to be patient as these things are potentially reevaluated.
But this rumor mill has been absurd.
I’ve had conversations with one person close to the situation behind the scenes at Michigan who would have full knowledge of the school’s current happenings. Based on that, no, the board of regents have not met and aren’t meeting this weekend for any reason, let alone to discuss U-M president Dr. Mark Schlissel. Also based on those conversations, I do not believe the report out there that Schlissel is holding the conference hostage and that he stands in the way of a potential fall season. No, him not returning Harbaugh’s correspondence is not a good look. I do think he should visit the football facilities and speak with those whose futures he’s potentially affecting. But these behind-the-scenes high crimes are laughable, to be honest, and it just feeds into a lot of wishful thinking.
Could a season start in October? I think it’s possible. But I don’t buy into these conspiracy theories and you shouldn’t either.