The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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22 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2021 He made it seem as though McCar- thy could be the player the program has been lacking. "That kind that really has a lot of arm talent, but is also really light on his feet, makes plays when there's not a play to be made," Harbaugh continued. "Maybe the protection broke down a little bit, there was maybe a free runner at the quarter- back, and he has got the ability to sidestep it, has really good vision. "Sometimes it looks like he has eyes in the back of his head, and then he makes that sharp, crisp throw, finds the open guy. He moves the chains, gets the team into the end zone and has the ability to rally people." Can he do it as a true freshman? We might find out. 3. REEVALUATE THE RECRUITING STRATEGY Like the culture issue, this, too, is a combination of many different fac- tors. On paper, Harbaugh and his various staffs have strung together a number of very good recruiting classes. Since 2016, they've landed the No. 4, 4, 24, 10 and 11 classes nationally per Rivals.com, in chrono- logical order, and they're currently No. 11 in 2021 with late signees still potentially to come. Too many, however, are flaming out early, transferring or not living up to their potential. Of the 30 class of 2017 signees, for example, only 10 were making significant contribu- tions to this year 's team. Fourteen — nearly half — were with other schools or out of football. Of the five-star recruits Harbaugh has inked — the supposed program- changers — defensive end Rashan Gary (class of 2016) played three sea- sons and was a first-round draft pick but never earned anything more than All-Big Ten honors. Wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones (2017) was never awarded anything more prestigious than third-team all- conference in his three years on cam- pus, while five-star classmates line- backer Jordan Anthony and defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon combined for just 38 tackles before transferring. Safety Daxton Hill and defensive tackle Christopher Hinton were five- stars in the class of 2019, and both have shown flashes in their two years on campus but not emerged yet as program-changers. Bo Schembechler used to say of re- cruiting classes that a third would be- come very good players, a third would contribute and a third would flame out. U-M needs to get back to those numbers, and former Michigan defen- sive lineman Ryan Van Bergen believes focusing on kids closer to home is the place to start in correcting the issue. "I think it would be helpful to look at as an ideology — you need to re- cruit from home the best you can," he said. "I feel like we could do a better job bringing in guys from the Mid- west, even Michigan just specifically, that understand the program, under- stand the emphasis on the Michigan State and Ohio State games. "Those guys don't know about it just because it's on national TV. They have friends and family that are committed to either team, have feuds over Thanksgiving dinners. Those are the types of kids you need in order to embrace how serious this is taken and to build the culture back to what Michigan is and can be." Several of the state's best got away this year, including a pair of Clarkston offensive linemen in Rocco Spindler (Notre Dame) and Garrett Dellinger (LSU). A pair of Detroit de- fensive backs, Kalen King and Jaylen Reed, ended up at Penn State. All four were four-star prospects, and the three besides Reed were top-200 recruits nationally by Rivals. U-M's last two classes combined, meanwhile, have had just one state of Ohio prospect. Schembechler made a living taking players from The Buck- eye State who couldn't wait to stick it to their home-state team, and Lloyd Carr and even Brady Hoke had suc- cess there. "Put a fence around the Midwest," Van Bergen said. It's tougher now in Ohio, of course, given OSU's unprecedented success, but it could certainly be better for U-M. And as former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer once said, you'd bet- Four-star quarterback and consensus top-50 recruit J.J. McCarthy will contend to start under center for Michigan next season. PHOTO BY EJ HOLLAND