Michigan needs to stop recruiting guards to play tackle! Everyone and grandma knew Bredeson was a guard but that was M's signature tackle recruit that season because they told him so. And.. he's a guard. Shocking.
That shit is gonna hurt in the long term.
Michigan also needs to stop trying to do recruiting as if it's Bama or OSU or OU. Michigan is not that anymore. Today's recruits were 3 or 4 years old the last time Michigan won the Big Ten title.
Bredeson was recruited by Michigan to play guard. The OT recruit in that 2016 class was Devery Hamilton. Hamilton flipped to Stanford on NSD. Believe he is the starting RT right now at Stanford.
They took 3 interior guys in 2016 and zero tackles. That's the real problem rearing it's ugly head right now. It wouldn't have been such a glaring issue had the starting LT Grant Newsome not had the devastating career ending injury. But injuries are part of the game. You need depth. They haven't had it at the position. They have actual tackles on the roster right now. They are all rs frosh or true frosh. I say to hell with it- start them. Can't be worse than seniors Jon Runyan Jr or Juwan Bushell Beatty. Runyan is 6'3.5" and honestly might not be at Michigan if not for who his dad is. How many tackles that size are actually effective? It's extremely rare and the guys that are have really long arms and are athletic freaks. Juwann Bushell Beatty really only got the offer because of who his high school head coach and high school teammates were. Chris Partridge, Jabrill Peppers, and Rashan Gary. Neither of them belong at this level.
Not sure I buy your last part. First of all- no one recruits like Alabama. They had the #1 class like 7 years in a row. Something ridiculous like that. If anybody is coming close to Alabama right now it's Georgia. They are red hot on the recruiting trail these past two classes.
Michigan had the #8th ranked class in the 247Composite in Harbaugh's first real class in 2016. Add Shea Patterson (5*, #1 QB, and #4 player overall) into that class and it shoots up to #5. They had the #5 ranked class in the 247Composite in 2017. That's back to back top 5 classes if you include Patterson. The guy can definitely recruit.
The recruiting has been sliding downhill in 2018 and 2019 though because: on field results. That matters. A lot. Losing to a far inferior Iowa team by 1 point and then the heart-breaker in Columbus in double OT to end 2016 and then the 8-5 debacle in 2017 has definitely affected recruiting.
2018 Jim finished with the #22 ranked class. Right now his class is ranked #13 and if he doesn't turn it around fast this season he's going to have another subpar class. Michigan is a school that still recruits itself. They landed a 5* DE Chris Hinton out of Georgia in the 2019 class. They are right in it in the top two with Tennessee for 5*, #2 ATH Quavaris Crouch out of North Carolina. They are right there in it in the top two with Alabama for 5*, #1 safety Dax Hill out of Oklahoma. They are right there in the top two with Ohio State for 5*, #3 DE Zach Harrison. They are right there in the top 3 with USC and Colorado for 5*, #5 WR Kyle Ford out of California. Most of these guys will go to the end on NSD. Not gonna land any of them going 8-5 again and losing to all your rivals.
IF Jim gets the results on the field- meaning beating his rivals and having 11+ win seasons- he'd have zero problem landing recruits. Zero.
