Why Rich Rodriguez Isn't To Blame for Michigan's Lack of Big Recruits

These are just two of the many examples why star-ratings are nothing but a guess, and probably not even an educated guess in some cases.

Like a fan of any team, I get excited when Michigan has a chance to grab a hot recruit. It's impossible not to.

When Michigan unexpectedly found itself in the Terelle Pryor sweepstakes a little over a year ago, I was singing Rich Rodriguez's praises. Pryor was ranked by rivals.com as the No. 1 recruit in the entire country.

However, it turned into something uglier.

Pryor became a war, an argument over who was the better coach, Rich Rodriguez or Ohio State's Jim Tressel. It was absurd, that a single player, who hadn't played a single down of college ball, could determine a coach's reputation. 

Pryor of course, chose Ohio State and suddenly Rich Rodriguez became the coach who couldn't bring in the big recruit.

Should he even care? Should we?

Rodriguez has never needed five-star recruits to win.

When he came to West Virginia, they were about as relevant as North Texas. When he brought in mediocre three-star recruits like Steve Slaton and Pat White, people said "who?"

By the end of Rodriguez's time there, five-star recruits wanted to come play for the Mountaineers. Not that Rodriguez really needed them to win.

A five-star recruit will put a university on the national spotlight, it will make the masses ramp up the excitement, but in the end that star-rating is only a hope. A hope that maybe this player will help win a championship if he lives up to his potential.

That's a lot of ifs and maybes.

This year's No. 1 ranked recruit by rivals.com is a 6-feet-8, 301 lb. offensive lineman named Seantrel Henderson.

He has received offers from every big program in the nation, including Michigan and Ohio State.

Here we go again folks.

I'm not a Rodriguez apologist, I still shudder at the mention or thought of the abomination that was the Wolverines 2008 season.

All I'm asking is let's just judge the man fairly, not on hype, not on classes filled with potential that have proven nothing.

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