The last couple of weeks certainly have been a mixed bag for Michigan football. Losing to OSU like that hurt, and it obviously didn’t help recruiting. But I’m still very bullish on the future of Michigan football, and here’s why:
- We have the best coach in the Big Ten. I really believe that now that Urban is gone. Ryan Day may be the next great coach, but he also might be Mark Helfrich. Either way, he’s following one of the top coaches of all time and there will be drop off. And while Dantonio and Franklin have accomplished some things, I think overall Jim is better than both and has proven it on the field over the course of his career.
- We’ve completely stabilized the program. From 2007-2014, there was significant instability and the record reflected that. If we are back to complaining about 10 or 11 win seasons, the base expectations that most of us grew up with are now back in place. Additionally, once you can consistently win 10 games a year, it allows you to figure out how to make that leap to 11, 12 etc. Clemson has some other things they have be leveraging, but it still took Dabo five years to consistently win 11 games a year and until his 7th full year before he was a national championship contender. We are ahead of that pace.
- Depth. One of the biggest challenges faced by RR, Hoke and Harbaugh early on was that the one thing that had made Michigan so formidable for so many years - depth - had been erased. The turnover from recruiting classes under RR and Hoke was a killer for long term success and we also just didn't do a good job of recruiting for the needs of the roster. While no situation is perfect, looking at the depth chart for next year and beyond, I feel comfortable with our numbers in most positions. Most importantly, we finally have quarterback depth.
- We're still a young team. We should return 18/22 guys on the offensive two deep for next year (JBB, Higdon, Perry, and Wangler are the departures). And of those 18, 13 have two more years of eligibility. On defense the departures will be more significant, but its still a two deep filled with mostly sophomores and juniors (I think I count 11 guys with two more years of eligibility).
- Recruiting is still going well. Yes, there have been some misses and disappointments, but by and large we're doing a very good job. Given some of our constraints (recruiting base, playing by the rules, etc) this is about what I expected. And if we can make that next leap to Big Ten titles and the playoffs, I think we'll really see a boost in recruiting.
