Rodriguez Inks Class of 27
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LOI's are in for 27 new Wolverines. Biggest class ever. 15 of them play defense. Warm bodies = less starting walk-ons. I'm not a big fan of starting walk-ons, so, ya, successful class.
The prize of the 15 would-be defenders? Demar Dorsey, who saved the day and wiped a little egg off of our faces after perceived lock CA-S Sean Parker LOI'ed to UW at 9am. Dorsey, at #12 overall and the #2 safety according to ESPN, is the highest rated recruit in Michigan's class. He is also the highest rated recruit to sign with ANY Big Ten team. In the words of Rittenburg, "a big, big score for Rich Rodriguez."
I don't know what it is, but I really like the looks of this class on paper...and youtube. Nothing too gaudy. Simple guys with a specific skill set made for a complex system. Against everything I believe in, I've google-stalked the lot of them, watched some highlights, read some coach quotes... Yes, following recruiting makes you less of a man, and there's a whole lotta folks that should be turning in their man cards tomorrow...we crashed MGoBlog before noon.
Devin Gardner leads the offensive side of the group, and he is already eating Blimpy Burger with 6 other early arrivals on campus. The class includes a couple of running backs, just in case that surgery doesn't go well for Vincent Smith. And it's always good to snatch another rabbit chaser from Pahokee...we did that with DT Richard Ash. Also of note, the lone inked offensive lineman's last name is Pace. These things just seem to add up for me.
The 3pm presser didn't go so well though. Coach thought that for some reason he'd get some softball questions, handshakes, and congratulations from the media after landing Dorsey. Â Instead, Dorsey's "checkered" high school past was brought up. Demar was acquitted for a couple of felonies back in high school. Rodriguez said he checked him out and said that everything was ok. Guess who else checked him out? Pretty much every other coach of a major program in the country. Of those coaches, how many would have turned down a letter of intent from the #12 player in the nation? ZERO. Either way, Coach wasn't ready for it. He probably should have been. He should know better by now. He should know that there can be no good until good comes on Saturdays with regularity.
Instead of being able to celebrate his second full class as a coach at Michigan, he instead had to defend a player that was found INNOCENT in a Florida court, and that won't set foot on the practice field until August. There's a big price to pay in Ann Arbor for only mustering 8 wins in two seasons...and Rich Rodriguez has his wallet open. This man can do no right until this team wins. It's a policy that is tough to like, a bitch to endure...yet hard to argue with.
Welcome fellas...and GO BLUE!