The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/558143
INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS Michigan will enter the 2015 football season with more football commit- ments than it has ever se- cured by Sept. 1, landing 22 verbal pledges under head coach Jim Harbaugh. Brady Hoke's staff had es- tablished the previous high of 21 in recruiting the class of 2013. Rivals.com began track- ing the date of commit- ment in earnest for the 2005 recruiting class, pro- viding 12 years of data. In Lloyd Carr's final three s e a s o n s at M i c h i g a n (2005-07), he averaged almost nine verbal com- mitments by Sept. 1, but that number began to rise exponentially under Rich Rodriguez. His two full recruiting classes of 2009 and 2010 averaged 13 pre- season pledges. Hoke put an emphasis on filling his classes prior to the football season so that he and his coaches could focus their atten- tion on each current team, and his push to land com- mitments reflects this ap- proach, with U-M securing 19 recruits in his first full class of 2012, 21 in 2013 and 15 in 2014. Nationally, Michigan's 22 commitments thus far (The Wolverine went to print on Aug. 18), represented the second-largest tally in the country, behind only Texas Tech (25 commits). A total of 12 schools have already landed 20 pros- pects for the 2016 class, with an additional seven programs at 19 commit- ments. MOST COMMITMENTS NATIONALLY IN 2016 CLASS BY AUG. 18 School No. Avg. Stars Team Rank Texas Tech 25 2.68 No. 18 Michigan 22 3.23 No. 5 Kentucky 22 3.00 No. 15 Iowa 22 2.64 No. 25 Virginia 22 2.64 No. 25 Miami 21 3.29 No. 8 California 21 2.81 No. 21 Southern Meth. 21 2.19 No. 46 Florida Intl. 21 2.29 No. 94 Michigan State 20 3.30 No. 7 Florida 20 3.15 No. 13 Western Michigan 20 2.62 No. 56 Ohio State 19 3.89 No. 1 Mississippi 19 3.47 No. 4 Penn State 19 3.47 No. 6 Northwestern 19 2.84 No. 30 Rutgers 19 2.89 No. 30 Texas State 19 2.11 No. 59 Miami (Ohio) 19 2.10 No. 83 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL COMMITMENTS CLASS BY CLASS BY SEPT. 1 Avg. Class No. Stars 2016 22 3.23 2015 6 3.50 2014 15 3.27 2013 21 3.76 2012 19 3.63 2011 7 3.14 2010 17 3.35 2009 10 3.50 2008 13 3.77 2007 11 3.36 2006 6 3.83 2005 9 3.44 U-M Football Recruiting Continues To Accelerate