The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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18 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2021 FOOTBALL PREVIEW MICHIGAN FOOTBALL Former head coach Lloyd Carr's wife, Laurie, known to most who knew her as one of the kinder people they'd met, passed away May 25 after a battle with cancer. She was diagnosed in 2020 after the couple moved to South Carolina in 2019 but passed away in Ann Arbor, where they'd moved so she could be treated at the University of Michigan Hospital. She was 70 years old. "The great thing about Lloyd and Laurie is that even though Lloyd was the head coach at Michigan football, all of that we know goes into it, we always knew it was Lloyd and Laurie," former Michigan captain and All-American Jon Jansen told The Detroit News. "It was never, 'Oh, I had no idea Coach was married,' or 'I had no idea he had a life.' That's the thing that is special about Lloyd is that he always understood that there's football, but there's also life outside of football." It was the same for Laurie, who was always supportive but remained in the background throughout his 13-year Michigan career as head coach. The two were married 26 years. "Whether guys understood it or not, Laurie — whether it was through Lloyd or through herself directly — was able to get that message to players that, 'You know what, when you're at Michigan football, there's a sacrifice that families make,'" Jansen added. "She made that sacrifice as much or as well and gracefully as anybody can make." Laurie served as an Honorary Chair for the United Way of Washtenaw County, as well as Honorary Co-Chair for construction of the new Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital with Lloyd. She was on the board of the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor and was a passionate supporter of the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation. In addition to Lloyd, Laurie is survived by three children, Brett (Jenni) McCartney, Ryan (Stacey) McCartney and Jarrett McCartney; her stepchildren, Melissa Carr, Jason (Tammi) Carr, and Emily (Andy) Vigo; 11 grandchildren; and their dogs, Parker and Savannah. She was preceded in death by her parents, Harry and Betty; her brother, Kenny; and her grandson, Chad Carr. — Chris Balas Carr passed away May 25 after a battle with cancer. PHOTO VIA TWITTER Many college football prog- nosticators and experts will mention that Michigan's roster possesses a lot of talent. Re- cruiting rankings aren't perfect — look no further than two-star prospect Ronnie Bell, who beat out four- and five-star team- mates to become the Wolverines' top receiver the last two years — but they do support that claim. There are more four-star pros- pects on the Wolverines' roster as of early June than any other recruiting classification. Despite that fact, it's also fair to point out the Wolverines suf- fer from a lack of top-end tal- ent per the listings. While there are 10 former top-100 recruits according to Rivals.com on the roster — led by defensive tackle Chris Hinton, who was ranked No. 15 in the 2019 class — only three were listed among the top 50 in their respective classes (safety Daxton Hill, No. 24 in 2019, and quarterback J.J. McCarthy, No. 44 in 2021, are the others). Among the four-star prep- sters, 22 were not listed among Rivals' top-250 recruits nation- ally, and there was a fairly even distribution of those that did make the listing — seven were listed from 51-100, seven more from 101-150, another seven between 151-200 and four from 201-250. That's an important distinc- tion to make because of who the Wolverines have to compete against and go through to even get to the conference title game. Ohio State is recruiting on a different level than their Big Ten brethren, and signed three five- star and 10 top-100 recruits in the 2021 class alone. The Buck- eyes boast 10 of the 15 former five-star recruits in the league this fall. The Wolverines and Maryland, both with two, are the only other programs with multiple such elite recruits, and Wisconsin boasts the other. And the rich could get richer. The nation's No. 6 overall pros- pect in the 2021 class, defen- sive end J.T. Tuimoloau, has not signed with anyone yet and an- nounced in late May that he'd take his five official visits in the month of June, to Washington, USC, Ohio State, Oregon and Alabama. The Buckeyes were rumored to be the favorites going into those, and if he picks OSU he'd become the highest-rated recruit by Rivals playing in the league in 2021. Penn State has been the third-best recruit- ing team in the Big Ten over the last five years, with an average conference finish of 3.4 in the Rivals team recruiting rankings (Michigan's is 2.2, and Ohio State's is 1.6). U-M's 2021 roster does stack up favorably to the Nittany Lions, and therefore presumably everyone else in the league, edging PSU in five stars (two to zero), top-100 recruits (10 to seven), top-150 prospects (17 to 12) and Rivals250 honorees (28 to 27). — Ryan Tice Michigan Family Mourns The Loss Of Laurie Carr MICHIGAN'S ROSTER BY RIVALS RANKINGS 2-Stars/ Pos. 5-Stars 4-Stars 3-Stars Unranked Top-250 Top-100 QB 0 2 2 0 1 1 RB 0 2 2 0 2 1 WR 0 3 3 1 3 0 TE 0 2 2 0 1 1 OL 0 11 4 1 7 2 DL 1 8 9 2 5 2 LB 0 4 6 0 4 2 DB 1 8 9 0 5 1 ST 0 0 1 2 0 0 Total 2 40 38 6 28 10 Sophomore defensive tackle Chris Hinton was ranked No. 15 overall in the 2019 class by Rivals.com coming out of high school. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL Michigan's Roster Is Big Ten's Second-Most Talented Per Rivals Recruiting Rankings