I’ve seen posts discussing player development under Harbaugh, and some have pointed to the significant number of players we’ve had who have made it to the NFL as an indication of positive player improvement. I feel the opposite is true. Yes, we have had numerous players who are talented enough to make NFL rosters ( and some even star ), but did we see many of them while playing at Michigan dominate at their position on the field?
Last year, we had 4 offensive linemen drafted, with the 5th undergrad starter being a likely 1st round pick. You would think our running game in 2019 would have been rolling over teams, and racking up 150-200 yard rushing stats game after game. Didn’t happen.
Did we see the absolute best at Michigan out of 5 star recruits like Peppers and Gary? Hardly! Even much maligned players like Bryan Mone and Josh Metallus are hanging around the league.
My point is simple - recruiting under Jim has not been the primary weakness of his program. It’s how he and his staff have failed to fully develop the talent that they have. For those of you old enough to remember, I call it the “Gerry Faust syndrome”. Faust was a high school superstar coach that Notre Dame hired to bring back their glory years. He recruited extremely well - but his teams never lived up to the hype. Yet many, many players off his roster turned out to be solid NFL players.
Last year, we had 4 offensive linemen drafted, with the 5th undergrad starter being a likely 1st round pick. You would think our running game in 2019 would have been rolling over teams, and racking up 150-200 yard rushing stats game after game. Didn’t happen.
Did we see the absolute best at Michigan out of 5 star recruits like Peppers and Gary? Hardly! Even much maligned players like Bryan Mone and Josh Metallus are hanging around the league.
My point is simple - recruiting under Jim has not been the primary weakness of his program. It’s how he and his staff have failed to fully develop the talent that they have. For those of you old enough to remember, I call it the “Gerry Faust syndrome”. Faust was a high school superstar coach that Notre Dame hired to bring back their glory years. He recruited extremely well - but his teams never lived up to the hype. Yet many, many players off his roster turned out to be solid NFL players.
