The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/201975
football recruiting football recruiting The Wolverines Are Recruiting Talent And Speed S By Tim Sullivan ince arriving in Ann Arbor, Brady Hoke and his coaching staff have focused on returning Michigan football to being, well, Michigan football. The Wolverines' results in the previous four years — a 24-26 record from Lloyd Carr's final season through the Rich Rodriguez era — showed that there was a long way to go to bring the program back to its historical standard. A sub-.500 record over that fouryear span paled in comparison to Michigan's all-time winning percentage of .735, tops in major college football. Fortunately for Hoke, and to his credit, the return to prominence came quickly for the Maize and Blue. U‑M notched an 11-2 record in his first year at the helm, including a Sugar Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. The road to sustained success, as is always the case with college football, is through recruiting. Rodriguez's staff reeled in the nation's No. 10 class in their combined year with Lloyd Carr's efforts, and climbed to No. 8 in their first full recruiting year in Ann Arbor. There were diminishing returns from that point, however. U-M's 2010 class slid to No. 20, and the 2011 class — which was a joint effort between Rodriguez's staff and Hoke's — was only No. 21 in the nation. It was clear that there needed to be an upgrade to the U‑M recruiting effort, and Hoke and his staff wasted Michigan class of 2014 commitment Jabrill Peppers, a five-star defensive back who is ranked as the No. 2 overall player nationally by Rivals.com, ran a 10.51 100 meters last spring, which tied for the 17th-fastest time in the country by a prep sprinter. photo by Cyle Nunemaker no time in putting their own stamp on the program. With the more obvious numbers — class rankings and player size — back to the pre-Rodriguez levels, the U‑M coaching staff is now focused on team speed. Early returns on that front are good. Laying The Groundwork A coaching staff that preaches the