It starts with recruiting, retention and development, and more specifically, recruiting, retention and development in the 2017 and 2018 classes which are the ones which created the senior and junior classes of 2020. The 2017 class had 19 4 and 5 star recruits, which sounds great until you notice that only 5 of them--Chuck Filiaga, Donovan Jeter, Luigi Vilain, Josh Ross, and Brad Hawkins--played last night. A few of the others left early for the pros (DPJ and Ruiz), which happens in any program which aspires to greatness (though other aspiring to greatness programs don't seem to have guys like DPJ leave early to be sixth round draft choices), another was injured (Steubner), which also happens, but the vast bulk of the 2017 4 and 5 stars missing last night from that class transferred out or, in the cases ofThomas and Collins, opted out. That leaves five highly recruited guys in the senior class, none of who has developed into an impact player, or even an upper half Big Ten starter. It's hard to be really good in football when the guys you counted on to be expereinced "dudes" aren't there and/or aren't producing.
It's even harder when that class is followed up by similar results in the one which followed. The class of 2018 was a small class and one which was rated below Micigan standards, with only 7 4 stars and 0 5 stars among the signees. Of those 7, only 3 played last night--Cam McGrone, Joe Milton and Gemon Green--and charitably, none played remotely close to even OK. The other were either injured (Hutchinson and Mayfield) or gone.
All this means that we are a college football team with little experience and no star power (or even solid production) at the upperclass levels. You can survive that in basketball if you bring in an amazing freshman group, but (a) college football isn't college basketball, and (b) our classes of 2019 and 2020, while good, aren't amazing. You can sometimes survive in football if you've developed 3 stars into impact guys at the upperclass level, but that hasn't happened much either--only Kwitty Paye from the 3 stars in those 2 classes would classify as a star, and he didn't play last night, and only Ronnie Bell (a 2 star) would, at this point, be a solid starter for good Big Ten teams. While there are some upperclass 3 stars who have shown some promise, none other than Barrett (and he only against a woeful Minnesota team) has looked like he could be special.
This is compounded by gigantic holes in the recruiting process. We signed 0 defensive tackles in the class of 2018, which is inexcusable. We signed only 2, Jeter and Solomon, in the class of 2017. By the time the 2019 class, with only 2 defensive tackles, showed up on campus, Solomon was gone, and Jeter had demonstrated that he was not going to be transcendent, or even an upper level Big Ten starter. That kind of "planning" forces reliance on fullbacks (Ben Mason), converted defensive ends (Vilain) or underclassmen (Hinton and Smith) to hold up against experienced, developed Big Ten lines. And it leads to what we've been seeing.
The foregoing descriptions of roster issues sets forth reasons why many overrated the talent on this team going into this season, and why, especially given the loss of our 5 clearly best returning players (Paye, Hutchinson, Mayfield, Thomas and Collins), we are far from a great team. It does NOT, however, absolve the coaching in any way, shape or form. The guys we recruited, including the ones who transferred and opted out fall squarely on the staff. The failure to develop players is squarely on the staff as well. The lack of ability to adjust or change on defense, and the inability to run an offense with any cohesion or identity (hello, Al Borges--I thought those days were done)--those are on the staff too.. And the horrible body language and lack of leadership on the field and/or on the sidelines--well, let's just say I'm not seeing much of that in my football watching on other Big Ten teams.
I don't know what the answer is. Firing Jim Harbaugh at season's end, or firing Don Brown and other staffers may be it, but they aren't going to solve this programs problems overnight. This looks to me like a multi-tear fix no matter who coaches and what is done. I hope I'm wrong--I hate losing, and at 66, I have less multi-year fixes left than some others here. That's the way it looks to me though after 3 weeks of horrendous football and effort.
One thing can change, and change right now--attitude. You can't make me into Tom Brady by coaching (you can't make me into John O'Korn by coaching either, but that's a different story), but you can have a team which doesn't give up. The drive late in the game where Wisconsin's second string ran 3 plays on the ground, up the middle, for 72 yards was disgraceful. Everybody on the field and on the sidelines looked checked out. That's unacceptable. If that doesn't change in the last 4 games, the jury has spoken, and it has spoken undeniably.
It's even harder when that class is followed up by similar results in the one which followed. The class of 2018 was a small class and one which was rated below Micigan standards, with only 7 4 stars and 0 5 stars among the signees. Of those 7, only 3 played last night--Cam McGrone, Joe Milton and Gemon Green--and charitably, none played remotely close to even OK. The other were either injured (Hutchinson and Mayfield) or gone.
All this means that we are a college football team with little experience and no star power (or even solid production) at the upperclass levels. You can survive that in basketball if you bring in an amazing freshman group, but (a) college football isn't college basketball, and (b) our classes of 2019 and 2020, while good, aren't amazing. You can sometimes survive in football if you've developed 3 stars into impact guys at the upperclass level, but that hasn't happened much either--only Kwitty Paye from the 3 stars in those 2 classes would classify as a star, and he didn't play last night, and only Ronnie Bell (a 2 star) would, at this point, be a solid starter for good Big Ten teams. While there are some upperclass 3 stars who have shown some promise, none other than Barrett (and he only against a woeful Minnesota team) has looked like he could be special.
This is compounded by gigantic holes in the recruiting process. We signed 0 defensive tackles in the class of 2018, which is inexcusable. We signed only 2, Jeter and Solomon, in the class of 2017. By the time the 2019 class, with only 2 defensive tackles, showed up on campus, Solomon was gone, and Jeter had demonstrated that he was not going to be transcendent, or even an upper level Big Ten starter. That kind of "planning" forces reliance on fullbacks (Ben Mason), converted defensive ends (Vilain) or underclassmen (Hinton and Smith) to hold up against experienced, developed Big Ten lines. And it leads to what we've been seeing.
The foregoing descriptions of roster issues sets forth reasons why many overrated the talent on this team going into this season, and why, especially given the loss of our 5 clearly best returning players (Paye, Hutchinson, Mayfield, Thomas and Collins), we are far from a great team. It does NOT, however, absolve the coaching in any way, shape or form. The guys we recruited, including the ones who transferred and opted out fall squarely on the staff. The failure to develop players is squarely on the staff as well. The lack of ability to adjust or change on defense, and the inability to run an offense with any cohesion or identity (hello, Al Borges--I thought those days were done)--those are on the staff too.. And the horrible body language and lack of leadership on the field and/or on the sidelines--well, let's just say I'm not seeing much of that in my football watching on other Big Ten teams.
I don't know what the answer is. Firing Jim Harbaugh at season's end, or firing Don Brown and other staffers may be it, but they aren't going to solve this programs problems overnight. This looks to me like a multi-tear fix no matter who coaches and what is done. I hope I'm wrong--I hate losing, and at 66, I have less multi-year fixes left than some others here. That's the way it looks to me though after 3 weeks of horrendous football and effort.
One thing can change, and change right now--attitude. You can't make me into Tom Brady by coaching (you can't make me into John O'Korn by coaching either, but that's a different story), but you can have a team which doesn't give up. The drive late in the game where Wisconsin's second string ran 3 plays on the ground, up the middle, for 72 yards was disgraceful. Everybody on the field and on the sidelines looked checked out. That's unacceptable. If that doesn't change in the last 4 games, the jury has spoken, and it has spoken undeniably.
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