Quote:Coach 1: Head coach of a school near Detroit
Coach 2: Offensive coordinator at a school in Detroit
Coach 3: Head coach of a school near Detroit
Coach 4: Head coach of a school north of Detroit
Coach 5: Head coach in the Detroit area
Coach 6: Head coach in the Detroit area
Coach 7: Head coach in the Detroit area

Quote:How do you assess the talent level in the state of Michigan, and how has it changed during your career?

Coach 1: I think the skill level has gone up. The only part that I look at and am a little frustrated with is the amount of shorts- and T-shirt football players. There’s a lot of that. We have better talent as a state than we’re sometimes portrayed because a lot of time is spent doing that stuff rather than maximizing their abilities.

Coach 2: I think the talent level is good. It goes up and down. Some years we can have upwards of 20 to 30 true Power 5 prospects that are going to contribute in a big way. It just depends on the year. Twenty, 25 years ago, Michigan was a basketball state. I think that’s changed. It’s become a football state. The state used to max out at about 20 Division I kids a year, and the number has grown closer to 60 if you look at how many kids are signing. There’s a lot more talent being developed in the state. It just depends on the year how much of that high-end, Power 5 talent is available in the state.

Coach 5: It’s definitely increased a lot. A lot of that has to do with the way that we train in Michigan now. We go year-round now. You got certain programs like Rising Star, Sound Mind Sound Body, Legacy — that stuff has helped guys really get better. I think it’s been a huge difference from when I was in school. Guys really did other sports, guys really did other things. The year-round thing just keeps the football on, so you’re just always touching the football, always getting better at your craft. So it’s definitely increased the talent in Michigan.

Coach 6: I definitely believe it’s gotten better. I would like to credit that to coaching on the youth level in the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan. And then the high school levels taking camp season and seven-on-sevens and everything like that to the next level. Usually, traditionally, in the state of Michigan, it used to just be football season, “OK, now go play basketball.” Now, it’s football season, then football season, then football season and football season. It’s become more of a year-round training tool as opposed to just being a seasonal sport here in the state of Michigan.

Coach 7: The talent has always been there. It’s easier to access a kid through technology. Whereas in the past, in my days, we had to go run over the tape if you had one or drive there. Now I can call up a coach and say, “Look up (this player) and look at his highlight film and tell me what you think.” I think a lot of technology has changed. It’s really changed the game.

Quote:Aside from Michigan and Michigan State, which schools do the best job recruiting players from Michigan?

Coach 1: No matter how much turnover they have, coach (Chris) Crieghton’s coaches are always out and about (from Eastern Michigan). Central (Michigan) has a great staff right now that’s doing a great job shaking the bushes to find players.

Coach 6: I would say that Central Michigan kind of does a better job than Western and Eastern. Eastern really should be kicking everybody’s, but outside of Michigan and Michigan State because they like 20 minutes, 25 minutes from the city of Detroit. It’s crazy to me.

(07-15-2021 12:27 PM)utpotts Wrote:  LOL. There are more cities and more talent in Michigan than just the Detroit area.

(07-15-2021 12:27 PM)utpotts Wrote:  LOL. There are more cities and more talent in Michigan than just the Detroit area.

(07-16-2021 09:42 AM)Bronco14 Wrote:  Every coach being a Detroit area coach is fair. Each region of the rest of the state just doesn't send talent to the Big 10 in the numbers to warrant a rep (& let's be honest, that's the conference the article's geared to)

In regards to the article's analysis of Central/Eastern/Western in-state recruiting: I wonder how much their opinion is influenced by Central's historically recruiting the state better? Also, all the article's saying is they feel Eastern should do better recruiting Detroit given they're in "metro" Detroit.

(07-16-2021 11:43 AM)emu steve Wrote:  

(07-16-2021 09:42 AM)Bronco14 Wrote:  Every coach being a Detroit area coach is fair. Each region of the rest of the state just doesn't send talent to the Big 10 in the numbers to warrant a rep (& let's be honest, that's the conference the article's geared to)

In regards to the article's analysis of Central/Eastern/Western in-state recruiting: I wonder how much their opinion is influenced by Central's historically recruiting the state better? Also, all the article's saying is they feel Eastern should do better recruiting Detroit given they're in "metro" Detroit.

What I see:

CMU has always done very well in-state.

WMU is good at hitting Illinois.

And, surprise, EMU is making big inroads into greater Chicago area. I'll post from the EMU roster but remember when EMU has a lot of MI players, a good number might be walk-ons. Walk-ons are usually players who are nearby. We are getting more 2-deeps from MI, though.

https://emueagles.com/sports/football/roster

From IL: Bryant, Stewart, Samson Evans, Shine, Nowling, Jefferson, Carter Evans, Johnson, Nawrot, Summers, Rusk.

All 11 are scholarship. I assume most will make the 2-deeps. This is a talented group EMU recruited mostly from greater Chicago area.