No. 1 no more: Michigan's 2013 football recruiting class falls from Rivals' top spot
The Michigan football team's acclaimed 2013 recruiting class was No. 1 in the country according to each of the three major services.
That run is no more.
The Wolverines dropped from their perch atop Rivals' rankings Monday after USC picked up a commitment from four-star defensive back Jalen Ramsey. The move, bolstered by the commitment of three other four-star recruits in the past five days, boosted the Trojans into Rivals' top spot.
Scout and ESPN have yet to update their team rankings.
NCAA sanctions will limit the overall size of USC's class, but the quality of players who have pledged verbal commitments put the Trojans on pace to set a Rivals ranking record.
"USC is recruiting this year on a level that rivals the Pete Carroll dominance of the mid 2000's," Rivals national analyst Mike Farrell said in the report, referring to USC's former coach. "The quality of each prospect is amazing and they will make a run at the average star ranking record held by USC in 2007 (4.22).
"What (current coach) Lane Kiffin and his staff have done, especially with NCAA sanctions in place, is nothing short of remarkable."
Michigan, which has 22 commitments -- seven more than USC -- still has 2,569 points. That easily beats No. 3 LSU (2,296), No. 4 Georgia (2127) and No. 5 Texas A&M (2,121). USC leads the way with 2,652.
The Wolverines' 14 four-star commitments matches LSU for most in the country. But USC averages 4.20 stars per recruit, while Michigan averages only 3.55.
Click here for Rivals' updated ranking of the top 50 recruiting classes for 2013. Other Big Teams on the list include No. 10 Ohio State, No. 15 Penn State, No. 21 Illinois, No. 25 Nebraska, No. 26 Iowa, No. 32 Wisconsin, No. 40 Michigan State and No. 46 Northwestern.
Kyle Meinke covers Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2588, by email at kylemeinke@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @kmeinke.
Comments
81wolverine
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 11:04 p.m.
One thing that this indicates is that the penalties the NCAA is levying on programs like USC make NO DIFFERENCE in recruiting top talent. Another thing it indicates is that Lane Kifflin can still con (I'm sorry, I meant recruit) top athletes with the best of them. Either way, I don't care. Michigan will win out in the long run by recruiting student athletes who fit our system and want to be part of a championship team (as opposed to those who only want to improve their NFL draft stock).
Blue Marker
Wed, Jul 18, 2012 : 7:03 p.m.
I can't stand Kiffen either but the dude can recruit. Don't forget about Ed Orgeron, he's a top flight recruiter (and a tool) as well. Southern California is a pretty easy sell too.
HomeTownBlue
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 12:34 p.m.
It doesn't matter how many 4 star recruits Lane Kiffin gets, HE CAN"T COACH!!!!!
truebluefan
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 11:55 a.m.
To be neck and neck with teams like USC and LSU for the top recruiting spot is remarkable. The warm weather schools have dominated recruiting for the past 10 to 15 years. Hoke and staff have done an incredible job recruiting.
Scott
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 6:08 a.m.
Oh no. All is lost. Wait. Boise State's top recruiting class ever was ranked number 60. They have gone 51 and 2 the last 4 years. Two guys drafted by the NFL this year in the first round were Boise State 2 star recruits. Could it be that recruiting rankings cannot accurately measure a players potential or the size of his heart? Brady Hoke and Chris Peterson are the two greatest coaches in the game. Everyone else is at a disadvantage. Both teams should have to spot the opposition 7 points.
RWBill
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 2:29 a.m.
Like last year, the early number one ranking was due to the high number of verbals, more than the high ranking of the recruits. M will still finish with a top 5 or 7 class, and hopefully they will grow into dominant players as 21 and 22 year-olds.
Terry Star21
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 1:53 a.m.
And thats all good - sometimes ratings and names on paper are misleading, blown out of proportion by so called agencies and media. The hard facts are; in reality world - we have the number one college football team and we are everyone's threat. And Michigan faithful, it's going to stay that way for a long time. We're capable of going all he way every time a season starts, smart people know that and idiots don't (and try to berate us). Don't be an idiot - follow Michigan football. MgoBlueForTiM...not on paper, just the best team on field.
JustfortheRecord
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 2:17 a.m.
Can you imagine what kind of people get involved in the business of "rating" high school athletes. It's gotta be a sad scene...
Paul
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 12:15 a.m.
"USC is recruiting this year on a level that rivals the Pete Carroll dominance of the mid 2000's," LOL- yea rivals the CHEATING that Carroll/U$C carried on in the mid 2000s. Kiffin is the perfect heir apparent to one of the dirtiest programs in the country.
Jarhead
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 1:25 a.m.
I didn't expect us to maintain the #1 spot all season. But great post Paul.
ted
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 12:57 a.m.
I would have to agree with rivals' comment. All you have to do is look at the commit list.
lefty48197
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 11:34 p.m.
Maybe one day Hoke will figure out that Dernard Robinson is a punt returner and not a QB?
azwolverine
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 10:02 p.m.
Yeah, lefty...11-2 with a Sugar Bowl victory absolutely proves that Denard can't play QB.
RWBill
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 2:31 a.m.
Maybe one day you will figure out that Denard is the most dangerous college QB in the country.
Jarhead
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 1:22 a.m.
Yah, like Denard was so awful for us the last two seasons. If Denard isn't playing QB, we don't win as many games as we did.
ted
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 12:58 a.m.
he will be in the pros. Too valuable to expose him there in college.
Bill Kurtz
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 11:32 p.m.
Do any of you fans realize how sick all of this is in light of the Penn State affair and all that it means? How meaningless it is??
saveferris
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 4:41 a.m.
Very meaningless. Do we realize that someday the sun will expand and melt the earth??? We should enjoy UM football until then. And worry about recruiting.
RWBill
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 2:33 a.m.
It is not meaningless just because JoPa was too old, proud and senile to turn in a serial pedophile.
JustfortheRecord
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 12:18 a.m.
Penn State is ONE school in a group of 124 schools that have "big time" college football. So they represent less than 1% of Division I college football. There are something like 2,600 four-year colleges in the United States. That means Penn State represents less than 0.03% of american Universities. But, it is an abhorrent representation, and hopefully they will work it out in State College.
ted
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 9:44 p.m.
And I'm guessing that the Illinois wr, Laquan Treadwell will now have to make a decision so he won't miss out on the final spot . That theory is reinforced by a 2 hour old tweet that indicated his decision is coming sometime very soon..
azwolverine
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 9:40 p.m.
First, second, third...doesn't matter. The bottom line is, Hoke is stocking UM with the type of talent to keep UM at an elite level for years to come.
ted
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 9:40 p.m.
In other news....the USC commit that clinched The top spot was a db. In which case it is most likely between Michigan and Vanderbelt for the 33rd player in the nation, Leon Mcquay,III, a db., since USC was also in the mix
MRunner73
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 9:26 p.m.
Rivals, Scout and ESPN, so one of three. No biggy. It has and is a great recruiting class at Michigan. Congrats to Brady Hoke and staff.
ted
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 9:05 p.m.
I would say we are going to finish up at number 6 anyway. But that is what happens when you give a scholorship to a long-snapper and a 2 star
unclefred
Thu, Jul 19, 2012 : 4:43 p.m.
My guess is top 5, but that depends on how our guys (and the members of the other top 10 classes) play their senior year. Not that there is that much difference between #1 and #5. It's about how players fit into a given school's system, their motivation, and how well they are coached. Other than its impact on the next year's recruiting, the ranking of a class on NSD is just bragging rights among the top ten or so.
Luke Bromberg
Thu, Jul 19, 2012 : 1:31 p.m.
You are right that we should have instead of giving two scholarships to two star recruits instead of three or four stars is really bad for Michigan
Alan
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 1:42 p.m.
Having a top ranked recruiting class wins you nothing except bragging rights. Having a long snapper who can hit the mark under pressure might win a LOT of games.
ThoseWhoStayUofM
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 12:54 a.m.
We will probably finish second. All indications say that Laquon Treadwell will commit and boost our class even further. Plus, we have a few sleeper commits who are "late bloomers". I'm not saying they became really really good at football recently. They've always been fundamentally sound. What I'm saying is they literally hit their growth-spurts late in life and are putting on weight rapidly. This lack of weight held them back in the rankings but now that it has arrived, the coaches feel these players will fly up the charts during their senior football season.
ted
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 12:52 a.m.
thanks gobigblue
GoBigBlue
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 10:37 p.m.
Good call Ted. If they do finish 6th as you predict, that would be terrible out of 100+ division 1 schools. Good point.
Billy Bob Schwartz
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 8:18 p.m.
Yeah, Baby! SURF'S UP, DUDE!!!!
Poorman
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 8:09 p.m.
These restrictions are really showing USC and OSU that you simply can not benefit from cheating in college football.
OldBittyBates
Thu, Jul 19, 2012 : 2:23 a.m.
The two schools in college football who are noted as having Darth Vader like qualities would be USC and OSU. Both have had the reputation of being borderline evil if not in fact way beyond the line evil for many decades. Why is it that player students love these two university football programs to pieces and yet the vast majority of fans can't stand either one? Their philosophies state simply "Win at any cost". When will we finally see true justice come against these two bully colleges? They are about as popular with me as Osama Bin Laden.
Scott
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 6:14 a.m.
Your right but I'm proud that Michigan is clean. Winning and cheating has no value. who looks back on the fab five with any good feelings. I'll remember Hoke, Mattison, Denard and the 2011 Wolverines forever.
RWBill
Tue, Jul 17, 2012 : 2:25 a.m.
The cost of not cheating is more than the punishment if you get caught.
Ted Bundy
Mon, Jul 16, 2012 : 7:32 p.m.
Well with the reduced scholarships punishment from their NCAA infractions, U$C can pay each recruit even more now...