Michigan Off to a Quick Start with 15 Commitments for 2010

Columnist Written on June 23, 2009

ANN ARBOR, MI - SEPTEMBER 27: Head coach Rich Rodriguez of the Michigan Wolverines holds a football during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers on September 27, 2008 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Whether you think Rich Rodriguez is a master recruiter and can see things other coaches can't (Pat White) or a Snake Oil Salesman (blast from former Purdue headman Joe Tiller after Roy Roundtree selected Michigan instead of Purdue on signing day), you have to applaud the way he and his staff has recruited since he has come to Michigan. I'm not sure how they find time to even coach the team.

Michigan has received 15 verbal commitments to the 2010 class and have roughly 10 more spots to fill with somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 offers still on the street.

A few things have popped up to me this year that seem out of the norm from past recruiting years. For example:

Kids are making decisions much earlier. It seems like yesterday that Terrelle Pryor waited a month after signing day to make his decision.
There seems to be a lot of quality football players that are not rated by the either Scout or Rivals yet.
Coaches could seem to care less about star ranking and more about a fit for their program.
Some schools have a ton of commitments (Texas 19) and some only a few (Michigan State 4).
How hard does it have to be to rate the effectiveness of a player on just their junior year? It's almost like their senior year isn't that important.
There really needs to be an early signing period in football.

If your interested, Rivals has done a chart on top programs and the number of commitments vs. star ranking. Looking at the chart, you can see that there are still a ton of five-star players out there that haven't made a decision yet, but there are a ton of three-stars and many not-rated players already committed.

To me, this is a reflection on the recruiting services and getting caught with the classes coming together. It has to be hard for them in February/March, when it's getting close to signing day for 2009 and there are already 2010 commitments flooding in. I'm sure glad that I'm not the guy having to review all those tapes of the thousands of players looking to get ranked.

Either way, RR and Staff have been on planes, trains, and automobiles looking for the best talent to fit their system. Let's hope all this hard work pays off with some "crystal" hardware in a year or two!

This article is also featured on The BIG HOUSE Blog

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written on June 23, 2009 Opinion

Bleacher Report has a featured columnist opening for Michigan Wolverines Football.

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