With recruits on the way, hope springs eternal for Michigan(Let's Hope NOT) football team
by Pete Bigelow | The Ann Arbor News
Wednesday November 26, 2008, 12:43 AM
The concrete ramp led away from the field on which the Michigan football team had just suffered a 42-7 drubbing at the hands of Ohio State.
It led toward a cadre of Buckeyes fans, whose insults rained on Wolverines as they walked toward the buses waiting to return them to Ann Arbor.
Walking that path Saturday, Calvin Magee had every plausible reason to silently hustle toward safer confines. But on the dreariest of days, the U-M offensive coordinator stood amid the chaos and let his feelings spill out.
"I'm going to tell you this," he said. "I really can't wait to get going again. Believe me. Believe me when I tell you that."
Answering another question about injuries, his thoughts wandered again toward his excitement. "I know I might seem crazy," he said, "but I'll tell you right now. I really can't wait. Believe me when I tell you that."
Crazy?
Let's just say optimism can be found in strange places.
Magee's enthusiasm was contagious. On Monday, coach Rich Rodriguez was just as eager to keep going. Asked if he planned to decompress after 10 topsy-turvy months on the job, Rodriguez said, "I'll slow down when I retire."
That's good, because these late November and December days - the ones without bowl practices and BCS chatter - are the ones everybody's awaited.
Since Oct. 11, when the Toledo handed Michigan a 13-10 defeat, a good portion of the fan base started treating the remaining games on the 2008 schedule as a nuisance to be endured until December.
That's about the same time they focused less on debating who's the better quarterback between Steven Threet and Nick Sheridan and more on the better quarterback between Tate Forcier and Shadrovick Beaver.
The only game that really mattered became the recruiting game, and now it's in full swing.
Rodriguez unveiled as much about his recruiting plan as NCAA restrictions allowed Monday. He talked about hitting the road for three weeks once a contact period begins next week and said he hoped to sign a class of 20 to 23 players.
Asked if he planned to target one or two particular positions in the 2009 class, he countered with an even better idea: "One or two or six or ten," he said.
Then he rattled off his wish list: Speedy skill-position players on offense. Faster athletes at linebacker. Defensive linemen to replace the veterans graduating. And defensive backs. "We're low on defensive DBs," he said.
And last but certainly not least, more quarterbacks.
Help wanted everywhere.
If the shopping list sounds a little ambitious for one trip, it's because it probably is. If it seems a bit too far-fetched to believe that a group of true freshmen will rescue the Wolverines, especially at quarterback, it's because it probably is.
But there's foundation for the optimism, and not only because there's nowhere really to go from 3-9 but up.
Rodriguez plans to enroll seven or eight freshmen in January, who will then have the benefit of spring ball. Six offensive linemen who redshirted this past year will be available, and likely join '09 recruits in offering quick fixes for next year.
Narrowing the talent gap between Michigan and programs at the top of the Big Ten won't be accomplished in one recruiting class, but those are at least steps in the right direction.
Rodriguez seems to believe it won't take as long as many fear it will to catch the rest.
"I remember my first year at West Virginia," he said. "We played Miami back when Miami was winning national championships. We got killed my first year. I thought, 'Geez, it's going to take us four years to close this gap.' In two years, it closed."
Can the same happen here? Hope springs eternal. Even in November.
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