The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/111015
������ michigan football said. ���You���ve got to find guys that fit the blueprint of what you want as a program at Michigan. And you have guys that are football players. ���I was joking with [Jordan] Kovacs. He wasn���t even a star. He was like a moon. But every person that watched enough Michigan football, there was one thing you knew ��� he was a football player.��� ��� Michigan���s recruiting class includes long snapper Scott Sypniewski, a 6-1, 230-pounder out of Ottawa, Ill. Hoke didn���t apologize for extending a scholarship to someone at the oft-overlooked position ��� and never will. ���I���ve always taken a long snapper as a head coach, because they are so invaluable,��� Hoke said. ���If you don���t have that mindset, you���re going to go into a game and your guy gets hurt, and you���re going, ���I wish we had another long snapper.��� That job is so critical. ���The timing is perfect. Jareth Glanda is back for another year, and Scott can learn a lot and compete at the same time. He���ll learn a lot from Jareth, and that���s a real plus. ���We had him at camp, got to see him do it live, got to time him, got to see his accuracy. It probably is a plus that his father played for us at Western Michigan. You knew he had a real heart and love for the game. He���s very accurate, and he���s got the speed you want.��� ��� Despite his recruiting class featuring six early enrollees this year, Hoke isn���t a huge fan of the practice. He���ll certainly accept those who wish to come early and get a jump on their University of Michigan experience, including their football careers, but he���ll never push anyone to do so. ���Personally, I think a kid should be a kid,��� he said. ���Your senior year is an important year. That���s my personal opinion on it. If you���re a guy who has been a great basketball player or wrestler for your team, and your life is moving on, and you���re going to move on a little quicker, sometimes I���m not a great fan of it. ���At the same time, that���s a family decision that that young man and his parents have to make. It���s out there for them, and if that���s the direction they want to go, then we���re going to embrace them with open arms. ���This day and age, kids grow up faster than they need to.��� ��� Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer once referred to U-M defensive coordinator Greg Mattison as ���the best recruiter in America.��� For his part, Mattison insists word of mouth among players is the best recruiting tool possible. ���Players will always speak the truth,��� Mattison said. ���You want the way you coach and the way you act day to day to be your sales pitch. That���s what you���re seeing happen here. The way Brady operates, the way our staff operates, the fact that we talk about having players over to our houses. ���The kid comes in and says, ���Yeah, I was at Coach���s house the other day.��� Those kinds of things, when they find out that you���re real, really are doing what you say you���re doing, those enhance recruiting a great deal.���