Expectations for Brady Hoke's Second Year

Last year, around this time, there was a lot to talk about in terms of news because Michigan had just hired new coach Brady Hoke and a lot of people were not entirely sure how his first year was going to go. We at the Michigan Fanatic wondered this as well, starting with the expectations for Hoke's first year.

As you can see, there were several priorities which hit the "High" mark in terms of our expectation: Most important was snapping the losing streak to Ohio State, and the second was showing remarkable improvement on defense. Snapping the losing streak to Michigan State also ranked on the extremely high mark.

Hoke snapped the losing streak to Ohio State, made Michigan competitive on defense, utilized Denard Robinson effectively, and won a BCS bowl, all of which is noted in the 2011 season-in-review post. Now Hoke enters his second year with arguably the most experienced offense in the conference, a potential Heisman candidate at quarterback, and great players at wide receiver, line backer, cornerback/safety, running back, and kicker, all of which are field tested and battle hardened.

So the expectations for Year Two are slightly different. Some are slightly higher, while others are slightly lower. You'll notice that there are less priorities in this go-around than last year's. That's largely because most of the priorities of 2011 were of a first-year coach, and Hoke has already achieved some of those.

1. Win the Big Ten Championship
Priority Level: High

Chalk this one up as Brady Hoke's No. 1 priority for 2012. He may have beaten Ohio State, he may have beaten Notre Dame, he may have beaten Nebraska, he may have won a BCS bowl, but as far as Brady Hoke is concerned, 2011 was a failure. Not a monumental failure, mind you, but he cannot reiterate enough how they failed to meet their goal, and their goal is to win the Big Ten championship.

The Wolverines have all the tools this year to signal that achieving this is not only possible, it is doable. Denard Robinson is a senior at quarterback. Michigan has depth behind him in Devin Gardner (who may be doubling as a wide receiver) and Russell Bellomy. Roy Roundtree is a senior. Jordan Kovacs is a senior. There is depth at running back with Fitzgerald Toussaint (whose current status is still undetermined) and Thomas Rawls. Vincent Smith is a playmaker. Even senior Will Campbell is looking to have a big year (the biggest of his career, actually) as the leader of the defensive line. All of the experience is there.

The only major concerns in Michigan's roster are on the offensive and defensive line. Team leaders such as David Molk at center, Ryan Van Bergen at defensive end, Mike Martin at defensive tackle, and Kevin Koger at tight end have all graduated. This leads some to believe that Michigan will, if anything, take a step back in terms of wins and losses. However, let's not forget that Hoke and Greg Mattison, both defensive line coaches who both stress that the game is won and lost in the trenches, took a 110th-ranked defense and made them the 14th-ranked defense. If they can do that in one year, I'm confident they'll manage the offensive and defensive lines. If there was ever a time where Michigan is poised to make a run at the conference championship (something they haven't done successfully since 2004), it would be now.

Granted, Michigan doesn't have the benefit that, say, Wisconsin does. The Badgers have a cakewalk to the Big Ten championship, with two powerhouse teams in the Leaders Division ineligible to even compete in the postseason. In the Legends Division (Michigan's division), all of the teams are eligible, and all of them except maybe Minnesota are legitimate contenders for the spot. Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, and Northwestern have just a good a chance as Michigan does of going to Indianapolis.

Last year I placed this priority at the Medium level because I thought it was more important for Hoke to snap the losing streaks to rivals and establish some momentum. While even this year individual games such as Michigan State receive the Extremely High priority level, winning the Big Ten championship is a very big deal this year. There is no reason why Michigan shouldn't be able to do it. Let's hope they can.

2. Defeat Alabama in Season Opener
Priority Level: Medium

Is anyone really expecting this to happen? I would say that I'm hoping for it, but not expecting it. Obviously the implications if Michigan is able to defeat the reigning national champions are enough to make any skeptical or cynical Michigan fan giddy with excitement over the possibilities. Michigan is currently ranked at No. 8 in the coaches' poll, which may seem a bit high. I had expected Michigan to be somewhere around the 20-22 ranking, much like Penn State was when they faced Alabama in 2011. But I suppose it kind of makes sense: if Michigan loses, they drop to anywhere from No. 20 to No. 25. If they win, people are talking national championship and Michigan is in the Top 5, maybe even No. 1.

Brady Hoke's first game of 2012 is no where near as important as was his first game of 2011. I had listed that game as "High" on the priority scale because Hoke needed to establish some early momentum and take home the inaugural victory that eluded Rich Rodriguez when he coached his first Michigan game against Utah in 2008. That expectation was based largely on what it would mean for the results. For him to be universally seen as a better coach, Hoke needed to be better than Rodriguez. That meant he needed to win his first game.

When Michigan meets Alabama in Dallas, Texas, in the "Cowboys Classic" on September 1, it won't be Hoke's first game as Michigan's head coach. It won't have any bearing on whether or not he can lead Michigan to the Big Ten championship. Even if they lose to Alabama, the following game is against Air Force in the Big House--a game which many Michigan fans consider the true season opener. Hoke will be able to recover from a loss with a win over Air Force. A loss to the Crimson Tide won't affect Michigan insofar as it will be probably the toughest game they play until Ohio State. It is possible for Michigan to lose to Alabama and still go 10-2.

3. Defeat Notre Dame to create a Four(!) year winning streak
Priority Level: Medium

I still cannot believe we won the night game last year. I still watch the last 1:41 on Youtube and cheer when Roy Roundtree caught that touchdown pass with only two seconds left in the game. I still go read Notre Dame liveblogs and open threads and see the panicking comments of Irish fans: how they freak out that Michigan has beaten them yet again, how they realize that they are now 0-2 when they were supposed to go undefeated, how they waive goodbye to a BCS bowl. It is glorious schadenfreude.

I didn't expect us to win that game last year. Michigan's priorities seemed more focused on getting the defense together and focusing on rivalry games like Michigan State and Ohio State, both losing streaks that needed to be snapped. Michigan already had a winning streak going against Notre Dame. I was also trying to get people to focus more on the MSU and OSU games because Notre Dame seemed like one we could very well lose, and I didn't want people unnecessarily getting all upset with Hoke when it was just his second game. But no, he won anyway, and that propelled Michigan to a 6-0 start. Thanks, Brady. Thanks for making me feel like an idiot for predicting a loss. (He did the same thing with the Nebraska game.)

To say that Notre Dame and Brian Kelly are feeling pressure to win this game is probably the biggest understatement of the year. Things are heating up for the coach in South Bend, and Brady Hoke did Brian Kelly no favors by exasperating the 0-1 start to 0-2--and in a last-second thriller no less. If Brian Kelly fails to beat Michigan for the third time in a row (which will make Michigan's winning streak over the Irish top out at four, which started with Charlie Weis's final loss in 2009), it will signal the beginning of the end for the Kelly regime and there will be people within the Irish fanbase saying he has to go.

Having played Alabama, Michigan will already be battle tested by the time they face the Irish in South Bend. Yet like the game against the Crimson Tide, this one has no bearing on Michigan's standing in the Big Ten. Michigan can lose to both Alabama and Notre Dame and still play in the Rose Bowl. The Wolverines have had the edge in the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry as of late, and no one seems to know what that edge is. Maybe Notre Dame is experiencing the good old-fashioned irony of some perpetual bad luck. A win against them would be great, and it would further the notion of the Irish's woes. If nothing else, this game will be a good indicator of how Michigan performs against other teams outside the Big Ten.

4. Snap the Losing Streak to Michigan State
Priority Level: Extremely High

This isn't just a pride thing anymore. The Spartans are legitimate contenders for the Big Ten title for the third consecutive year, and they are Michigan's most palpable obstacle to the championship. It used to be that Michigan State was the little brother who couldn't keep up with Michigan, no matter how hard they tried. It's not that way anymore. No one is making fun of Michigan State these days. The era of incompetence under John L. Smith (colloquially called "Sparty No!" by Michigan fans) is over. Mark Dantonio has shown that he can coach. As one Michigan blog points out, the Spartans have transformed into a legitimate football team.

So this isn't just some pithy rivalry over who has bragging rights for another year, where Michigan fans have to sit back and take verbal abuse from Spartans and reassure themselves that things will be restored to the natural order next season, or where Michigan State fans have to grumble and grudgingly accept another loss to Michigan while dealing with their annual inferiority complex. This has become a true rivalry where Michigan State has just as much of a conceivable chance to get to the Big Ten championship as Michigan does. That means that winning this game is more important than ever.

The Spartans have their weaknesses, however. They'll be breaking in a new quarterback in Andrew Maxwell, who served as the backup to Kirk Cousins for two years. Even Dantonio has admitted that replacing Cousins--statistically Michigan State's best quarterback of all time--is a massive challenge. Naturally, MSU fans are confident Maxwell is up to the task, but the biggest question going into 2012 will be if he can replicate Cousins' abilities as a leader. They also lose key playmakers at wide receiver and running back. B.J. Cunningham, Keith Nichol, Keshawn Martin, and Edwin Baker are all gone.

Where the Spartans really shine is in their defense, which looks to be just as foreboding as it was last year. The priority for Michigan to put something together when they were unable to do in 2011 cannot be anything other than astronomical. The Wolverines are also playing them at home. In 2010, everyone hoped that a defeat of the Spartans would mark a turning point for Rich Rodriguez, but it didn't happen--Michigan was humiliated. When Hoke came in, everyone thought the change at the helm would mean a change in the in-state rivalry when he traveled to Spartan Stadium. It happened on the recruiting trail, but not on the field. If Hoke has any hopes of getting to the Big Ten Championship this year, this is a game he absolutely has to win.

5. Beat Ohio State
Priority Level: High

I know what you're thinking: how could this be anything other than Extremely High? Well, when it comes to Michigan and Ohio State this year, there isn't quite as much riding on the table. Hoke has already beaten them as a first-year Michigan coach, entering the pantheon of other recent coaches to do the same in their first years (Schembechler, Moeller, and Carr). The victory snapped the losing streak, so a lot of the pressure is off to do so, and a lot of the scrutiny of whether or not Brady Hoke is the "Right Guy" has dissipated for the same reason.

Ohio State is ineligible to compete for the Big Ten championship this year. That statement, in and of itself, has several connotations for The Game that will be played on November 24 in Columbus. It will effectively be Ohio State's last game of the season. It will also be the only opportunity Michigan has to play Ohio State in the season. (In some circumstances, Michigan and Ohio State could theoretically meet for a rematch in the Big Ten championship game. That is definitely off the table this year, ramping up The Game's importance to both sides.)

Brady Hoke might consider this priority Extremely High. In fact, he probably does. Nothing would be better than for Michigan to spoil Urban Meyer's first year as the Buckeyes' head coach by coming into their house in their last game of the season and coming home with a victory. It would be adequate payback for all those years where Ohio State left Michigan heartbroken in defeat. Make no mistake: regardless of the circumstances, The Game is just as important as it always has been. Some will say that is more important to Ohio State than it is to Michigan. That just means, for Michigan, it's all the more important to beat them.

Even More Uniforms?

About four days ago, the Michigan athletic department released images of the commemorative uniforms that will be worn in the upcoming 2012 season opener against Alabama.

The design features most notably a maize coloring along the shoulder-line. The football gloves, which are also part of the ensemble, display the entire chorus text of "The Victors," Michigan's famous fight song. You can see a closer image of the gloves here. There is also a short hype video featuring the uniform.

We apparently live in a world where Michigan will without a doubt produce these kind of uniforms on a regular basis. I'd like to offer another 1,000-word rant on why Michigan has no business changing uniforms that looked perfect and stunning during the Charles Woodson era, but there's really nothing more to say.

I had a general reaction to the sea of uniform change when Michigan released "special uniforms" months before the Notre Dame night game, although that was based on the assumption that the special uniforms would be a one-time thing, and then I had a more visceral reaction, though not in so many words, to the downright ugly uniforms the Michigan athletic department thought would be a nice surprise for the Michigan State game. And then of course Michigan had special uniforms for the Sugar Bowl.

The rationale here from the Michigan athletic department, at least according to the press release, appears to be that Michigan players and staff like to change things up once in a while. "From time to time, whether it's a regular-season or bowl game, our coaches and players enjoy an opportunity to choose an alternate jersey to wear," athletic director David Brandon said in the released statement.

It sounds innocent enough, and most people are on the sides of the players--whatever can help them win, do it. The hardcore Michigan fan in me immediately thinks all this means is "Tradition be damned," but I suppose I wouldn't have such a colossal problem with the new uniforms if they weren't always such an eyesore. Not to mention how much of a departure it is for Michigan suddenly wanting to become Oregon, at least in a visual sense, though that's probably an extreme position.

There have been a couple of reactions to these uniforms. As expected, the reaction on Michigan football's Facebook page has been mixed. I am continuously amazed that there are always people who love everything the athletic department does, no matter what it is. On the other side, most of the dissenters are hardcore traditionalists like myself.

Meanwhile, at mgoblog.com, Brian Cook (the website's administrator and lead blogger), who has long been a protester of uniform changes, said in a recent blog post that he is "filled with moderate distaste, so these are probably good as far as alternate uniforms go."

He also pointed out an important caveat: the season opener against Alabama in Dallas, Texas, will be the final time that the Michigan winged helmets feature numbers. As it says in the previously linked press release, the practice of numbers on the helmets "will be suspended after the season opener." Michigan will also use its traditional home and away uniforms for the remainder of the regular season, so that's good. Nothing was said, however, about the uniforms that could be worn if Michigan played in a bowl game.

Brad at Maize n' Blue Nation said that these commemorative uniforms are "not bad" and sees a "steady march towards the more subtle and toned down maize." He's also relieved that the pants aren't white, and unlike myself, he rather likes the gloves. "The 2011 helmet numbers will make a single game cameo for this game only, then discontinued," he added, "which I think is for the best."

The irony is not lost on me that most of what Michigan fans complain about these days are the decisions with the uniforms rather than the decisions in coaching. Dave Brandon bought himself a lot of slack by hiring Brady Hoke and delivering the smash hit that was the "Under the Lights" event against Notre Dame that kicked-off Michigan's 11-2 run. This is probably even the most traditional fan like myself doesn't call for Brandon to be fired all based on these uniforms. It's just a little depressing that there doesn't seem to be an end to it.

As Michigan fans we're so used to the uniforms changing only extremely rarely, and under Brandon's tenure, the uniforms changed more times in one year than they did in the past decade. So, forgive me if whenever I see a new uniform design, I get a little queasy about it. I'd also have less of a problem if, at least once, we just stuck with something consistent.

Like I said, there doesn't appear to be any type of end to Michigan making "special" uniforms. This is a bold new era in Michigan football, and I don't think I'll ever get used to it. Hopefully there will be more victories on the field to make the new uniforms a little easier to handle.

Michigan’s 2013 Recruiting Class is Filling Up Quickly

There’s not a whole lot going on in the world of Michigan football these days. All’s generally quiet in Ann Arbor with the exception of the looming season opener with Alabama only three months away, and of course the stellar effort Brady Hoke and his staff have put together on the recruiting trail.

Probably the biggest reason why I don’t post about recruiting is very simply because I don’t want to get my hopes up until these players put pen to paper. A million things could happen before or even after signing day.

They could switch commitments, they could get in trouble with the law and lose their scholarship offer, they could not qualify academically, or even if they do commit and show up on campus, they decide for whatever reason to leave the team. Every team in college football faces this, and frankly it’s not worth devoting all kinds of energy to recruits who might not even pan out. People mainly talk about recruiting during the off-season because there’s nothing else to talk about.

I especially hate the notion that “you’re always going to have some attrition.” Brady Hoke is not the first coach to say this, but that doesn’t make it any better. Yes, I’m well aware that in an ideal world every recruit who commits stays in the program until he graduates, and in the real world this simply doesn’t always happen. I guess it’s because it happened more often than usual during the Rodriguez years that puts me a little on edge. You know the old saying about “once burned” and all that.

However, as should be obvious by now, there are a certain number of stories in Michigan’s recruiting world that have piqued my interest and have forced my hand. By “forced my hand,” I mean that I feel somewhat compelled to weigh in. This isn’t something that I’ll do frequently. I’m better off saying that I may do it once in a while than never at all. The point is you shouldn’t expect it.

For anyone who thought that Michigan’s amazing 2012 recruiting class was just a flash in the pan and that Brady Hoke was simply benefitting from the honeymoon period of a first-year head coach, you might be surprised to learn that Michigan’s 2013 class is shaping up to be just as impressive, if not more so.

After the initial commitment from Shane Morris (pictured above), Michigan landed nine commitments from February 18 to February 22, all of whom were four-stars. This clearly took the Michigan recruitniks by surprise and became one of the most intense recruiting weekends in recent memory. What now appears to be happening in recruiting circles is the debate about to whom the remaining offers should go to and from whom the remaining commits will come. In other words, “Who’s left?”

Michigan is currently up to 21 commitments (colloquially called “commits”) and has filled all of their positions of need: Shane Morris (Warren, MI) at quarterback, Jaron Dukes (Columbus, OH) and C’sonte York (Harper Woods, MI) at wide receiver, Deveon Smith (Warren, OH) at running back, Patrick Kugler (Wexford, PA) and Logan Tulley-Tillman (Peoria, IL) on offensive line, and defensive tackles Maurice Hurst Jr. (Westwood, MA) and Henry Poggi (Baltimore, MD). The assumption going forward was that Michigan was going to potentially use their remaining time (the rest of the year) and offers to pursue elite athletes.

This is called “star chasing.” The term emerged as a concern of USC coach Lane Kiffin’s recruiting tactics of pursuing the highest-rated skill players in the country instead of filling position needs, and especially in the wake of scholarship reductions. While most schools go “star chasing” when their needs are already met, Kiffin goes “star chasing” from day one. The results speak for themselves: Kiffin and USC have landed the No. 1 players at quarterback (Max Browne), running back (Ty Isaac), and most recently safety (Su’a Cravens), but virtually no guards or offensive tackles.

Ironically, Brady Hoke’s staff filled their needs with highly rated players in a recruiting effort that some believe is on par with Alabama. Patrick Kugler, the Michigan commitment to offensive guard, is the No. 1 rated offensive guard in the country. Recruit Wyatt Shallman is the No. 2 fullback. Kyle Bosch, Chris Fox, and David Dawson are the No. 4, No. 5, and No. 7 offensive linesmen in the country, respectively. Shane Morris is the No. 3 quarterback. Dymonte Thomas (Alliance, OH) is the No. 4 safety. Some might say this is ironic, but others would say it is to be expected.

It’s almost amusing to see how far Michigan has come from the days of constant attrition, lack of qualifying academically, and surprise injuries under Rich Rodriguez. The concern is now what Michigan will do now that all of its needs are met. Who will be the last remaining commitments? Michigan is reportedly holding a spot for Laquon Treadwell, a four-star wide receiver from Crete, Illinois. Treadwell has said that he doesn’t plan to choose a school until signing day (nearly eight months from now), but by that time it may be too late. Personally, I’m not going to hold my breath on Treadwell. The fact that he hasn’t committed yet only means that he isn’t as interested in Michigan as everyone thinks. If he was, there’s nothing to stop him from committing.

Michigan’s most recent commitment from a long-snapper Scott Synpiewski (Ottawa, IL) is an interesting story in and of itself. Synpiewski is not rated and not ranked. This is not because he isn’t good; it’s probably because he’s a long snapper. That position is typically filled by a walk-on rather than a scholarship player, not just at Michigan, but practically everywhere. Most long-snappers are the anonymous, unsung heroes of field goal teams. Even place kickers get more recognition. So why did Michigan offer him a scholarship at all? Well, the purveying rumor is that Hoke’s staff wanted to lock down someone after Michigan State poached their last walk-on long snapper.

The greater concern is that this significantly limits the remaining spots available, assuming one is still open for Laquon Treadwell. In a class that is supposed to finish at 22 to 23 signees, Michigan currently has 21 commitments. That means that there are only one or two spots left.

This all must be frustrating news for Berkley Edwards, who has been hoping for an offer from the Wolverines but has yet to receive one. Berkley is the younger brother of Braylon Edwards, who wore #1 at Michigan as a wide receiver and famously caught the touchdown that won an overtime thriller against Michigan State. Braylon took to Twitter a while ago and publicly complained that his brother was getting overlooked and that Michigan should offer Berkley a scholarship. Berkley plays running back at Chelsea High School in Chelsea, MI. He supposedly can also play wide receiver, but running back is reportedly where his heart is. This is a problem because most of the Big Ten powers (Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Nebraska, etc.) are all set at running back, and while he may be underrated, it’s just as possible that he’s suffering a case of bad timing.

Braylon Edwards claims that his brother has elite speed, and indeed he does (4.4 is nothing to sneeze at), but Michigan already got a running back with Berkley Edwards’ size and speed when Dennis Norfleet of Martin Luther King High School in Detroit signed with the class of 2012. Berkley Edwards’ two best offers are currently from Cal and Minnesota. More offers could be on the way, and it will be interesting to see where he ends up. If Michigan does offer him it will be as a wide receiver, not as a running back. Berkley would then have to decide which is more important to him: the position, or the school.

Michigan has largely taken the recruiting world by storm by landing so many commitments in such a short amount of time. Their class is practically full, and it’s only June. This has intimidated some of the fans of Michigan’s rivals, while both placating and worrying Michigan’s fans. Even Hoke’s staunchest supporters don’t entirely know what to make of this. Before he arrived at Michigan, the general truism with regards to recruiting was “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Hoke has apparently changed the game on that.

He’s also looking more and more like the real deal.