The Wolverine

March 2013 - Signing Day Edition

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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football recruiting issue Henry Poggi Is Instilled With A Hungry Mindset Some Michigan football rookies might think they���ve arrived when they pull on the winged helmet for the first time. That���s not likely the case for Henry Poggi, the 6-4, 260-pound defensive lineman identified by MaxPreps.com as the top defensive tackle in the nation. Poggi���s high school coach and his father have impressed upon the product of Maryland���s high-powered Gilman School that he���s starting from scratch in a Michigan uniform. Those two are, of course, one and the same ��� Biff Poggi serves as head coach at Gilman. The elder Poggi stressed, ���What I���ve told him is this, and it���s what I tell all the players who play for me that play Division I football, and there are a lot of them: ���Right now, there are 85 kids on that roster that are better than you, because they���ve all played college football, and you have not. You���ve had a good high school career, and that���s it. You need to go in at the bottom of the deck, which is where you belong, and you need to work every day making your team better. If you do that, you���ll have a fulfilling career, and you���ll do what they recruited you to do.��� ���That���s kind of his mindset. He wants to go, not with a sense of entitlement. All this recruiting stuff is really baloney, and he understands that. He had two brothers who Poggi was ranked as a four-star player, the No. 4 performer in Maryland, the No. 5 defensive tackle in the land and the No. 70 overall player in the nation by Rivals.com. photo courtesy rivals.com played college football, and I played college football, so he knows that. He���s seen countless kids out of our program go play.��� What they���ve learned, what every college football player inevitably learns, the Gilman coach stressed, is that there���s no free pass. That���s not to say the younger Poggi doesn���t possess skills to bring to the table. Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison himself loves what he sees in the incoming defensive lineman. ���What he did in his high school career, what he���s done in the Under Armour game against the best, everywhere he���s been, you���ve seen his ability,��� Mattison said. ���He���ll start at an end. One thing I like doing is,

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