Michigan Football: Signing Day Aftermath

Since we have already re-capped signing day, we will use this post to discuss what's next and try to clarify a couple things.

First off, it seems I have angered some Texas Tech fans when I mentioned that Mike Leach might have been doing some negative recruiting against Michigan.

Please let me be clear, I don't have any proof that Mike or his staff was doing any negative recruiting, but Sam Web from Scouts and GBW did mention that coaches close to Pearlie were saying things like Rich Rodriguez and staff are going to be fired or will leave after next year.

Since Pearlie was down to Texas Tech and Michigan, I assumed it came from TT. Again, no solid proof, but it's not a long jump.

Also, Rich Rodriguez talked about some negative recruiting "in general" on ESPN yesterday. Negative recruiting is part of recruiting and mostly after a 3-9 season, but lying to kids is another matter—no mater who did it.

Rod Smith, Michigan's QB coach spoke about the negative recruiting in this Detroit News article: "It's sad, it really is, but at the same time it's out there," he said. "It's some people's tactics. To me, if you've got to bash someone, you're hiding something you don't want to reveal." Smith offered some examples of negative recruiting.

• "Everybody talks about the weather -- that got worn out."
• "Rich is going to get fired after one year."
• "They're not going to play you at quarterback, they're going to move you to another position because they've talked to someone up here.

Michigan signed 22 out of the 24 recruits they wanted yesterday. So what happens with the two other scholarships available? Most likely those will go to walk-ons, or Michigan could look for a couple of "under the radar" players to fill depth concerns on the defensive line or at linebacker.

How did the class rank nationally? When you look at class ranking the best serviceses to use are Scouts or Rivals. Their business is recruiting. It's just a part time thing for ESPN and they usually rely on Scouts anyway. Michigan finished seventh in the country to Rivals and 13th to Scouts. Which on average places Michigan second in the Big Ten to Ohio State.

Penn State was ranked 10th on Scouts but 25th on Rivals. For those of you that follow Michigan State, they came in at 16th on Rivals and 37th on Scout.

There have been some rumors flying around about a few guys in this class that might need to get their test scores up or finish strong in the last semester. Here is what Coach Rod had to say about that during his press conference yesterday:

"Everybody's registered with the clearing house, but there are still a couple of them that have to have good semesters. Every one of them that was on the list that we signed had (an academic) plan. They're taking the right classes. They're doing the right things to prepare for the test and all of that to be eligible. There's just a couple of them, but that's going to be the case every year, probably just about every program. You're going to have two or three guys that their senior year they better make sure they do the right things and follow the plan.

"Every one of these guys has a plan from their high school guidance counselors and coaches and families to make sure they're set and ready to go. Our plan is to have them here by summer school so they can get oriented to Ann Arbor and our football program."

By the way, kids should have three or four more chances to get their SAT scores up before August.

Recruiting never sleeps—time to look for at the class of 2010. Who will Michigan be recruiting? Michigan already has a jump start on 2010 with WRs Ricardo Miller and local boy Jeremy Jackson already verbally committed. Both are considered four-star WRs—and Ricardo might be five-star worthy.

Michigan also is recruiting a few names you might have heard about already: Dior Mathis, a DB from Cass Tech has 4.3 speed another cornerback from Florida Lo Wood, and maybe one of the top players in the country Safety Marvin Robinson from Eagle Lake, Florida.

Along with Dior, Michigan will need to do a lot of work in-state with some big-time prospects like: Devin Gardner, a 6'4" dual threat QB from Inkster and five-star worthy defensive end William Gholston from Detroit's Southeastern (yes, he is related to former OSU's DE Gholston).