Michigan’s recruiting wins need to translate on the field

By Bart Doan  |   Monday, March 16, 2009  |  Comments( 3 )

Michigan Wolverines
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College hockey notwithstanding, it has been hard to find anything not archived regarding Michigan defeating Ohio State in some sort of athletic competition of recent. So, when you’re looking for something to hold onto as a Michigan fan, you’ll take any type of victory you can get.

Enter quarterback Devin Gardner, a native of Inkster, Mich., who this past week verbally committed to the Wolverines.

By now, it has become too commonplace to gush about Michigan’s recruiting forays into the world of quarterbacks, but this easily is Rich Rodriguez’s biggest coup to date. Gardner -- often compared to the likes of Terrelle Pryor and Vince Young -- has the skills to warrant the hype that comes his way.

It should be noted that he was considered a front-runner to land with the Buckeyes in Columbus; he actually somehow grew up a huge Buckeye fan in the heart of Michigan. Despite his allegiance to Ohio State, word is that Gardner was put off that it didn’t drop an offer by as quickly as other programs like Michigan. In fact, OSU was only lightly recruiting Gardner when his quick rise to high school football fame was in the midst of happening.

Criticized in the past for ignoring instate talent, among other offenses, it appears Rodriguez is getting the hang of things with his pickup of Gardner. Among the incoming freshmen this season for Michigan is a lightly recruited wide receiver/defensive back named Cameron Gordon of -- you guessed it -- Inkster High. Gordon is a good friend of Gardner's.

Thus, Rodriguez -- for all of his instate woes that keep being glossed over -- has now gained commitments from the top player in the state in 2009 and two of the top three Michigan products for 2010. One of those is Ricardo Miller, who has gone so much as to move from Florida to Ann Arbor just to be closer to the program. Miller, supposedly another key in attaining Gardner, was one of the top-rated prospects in the talent-rich southern state and already had an offer on the table from Urban Meyer.

All of this means nothing in terms of wins and losses, of course, and that is where Michigan over Ohio State must happen. In the press clippings or in recruiting battles, paper victories are nice for fans and alumni to talk about, and they help coaches deflect negative attention.

And ultimately, whether Gardner is Vince Young or Brock Berlin won’t matter unless the scoreboard has more points for UM than OSU when the smoke clears at the end of November. With all of these recruits coming in and changing the face of a once-negative Michigan program, just imagine what would be going on if Rodriguez was actually winning.
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About Bart Doan

Bart has been with Realfootball365.com for about six months and thoroughly enjoys writing for the site. He has been featured for his writings on college football in The Sporting News, The Indianapolis Star, Sports Illustrated, and on CBS Sportsline.com. When he's not drowning himself in the ...
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