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U of M needs to keep state players
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Erik Westlund |
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| The University of Michigan football team was dealt another tough loss
by the University of Southern California this month — and the
team did not have to board a plane to the Rose Bowl for this one. Wide receiver and corner back Ronald Johnson from Muskegon High School, the only Rivals.com five-star rated recruit in the state, signed his letter of intent to play for Pete Carroll at USC rather than stay in Michigan and play for the Wolverines. And he is not the only big-name high school football player leaving this year. The top-ranked defensive player in the state, defensive back Dionte Allen, chose a struggling Florida State University squad over Lloyd Carr’s program. In all, eight of the nine top-ranked recruits left the state to play for national powerhouse programs such as Louisiana State, Oklahoma and Penn State universities. Even more surprising, the one player in the top nine who did not leave the state, wide receiver Mark Dell from Farmington Hills Harrison High School, followed Drew Stanton’s lead and signed on as a Spartan. The Wolverines do not come in to the picture until the 10-slot, picking up defensive end stud Ryan VanBergen out of Whitehall, Mich. Clearly, something is amiss here. One of the most storied programs in all of college football managed to recruit only one of the top 10 players in its own state. This is not to say that U of M had a terrible recruiting class. In fact, they had a very good recruiting class overall – ranked No. 12 by Rivals.com. Carr will have more potential coming in at the quarterback position with Texarkana, Texas Native Ryan Mallett. Junior Hemmingway, out of Conway, S.C. who may prove to be one of the top five wideouts headed to play college ball this year and should become a consistent, big-play target for Mallett. Much credit to Carr and his staff for going out of state to acquire some exceptional talent, but this is far overshadowed by their inability to keep our best players in the state. Michigan’s recruiting at cornerback provides a great example of the problem. Donovan Warren, a five-star recruit out of Long Beach, Calif. was a surprise signing, but fell far short of expectations. Two near equally talented defensive backs — Johnson and Allen — left the state for USC and FSU respectively. Signing just one of these players would have drastically improved the Wolverines’ recruiting class. Michigan has established itself as a national recruiting power under Carr, but is losing its connection with local players at the same time. Top recruits often follow in the footsteps of previous graduates for years to come, as is the case with Dell going to MSU after Stanton had already declared for the NFL draft. The sustenance of a successful Division I football program is keeping the most talented players in state and, almost as important, keeping them away from the other schools competing for the national championship on a consistent basis. If this trend continues, Michigan fans can look forward to another three straight seasons of losing to Ohio State University followed by a bowl game embarrassment. |
