Wolverine247 Board

I would be nice to pick up more high-profile, immediate impact players at the position. Hopefully Michigan can get a few of those type of receivers in '14.

However, as the fruits of Michigan excellent OL recruiting begin to show I think it will be less important (that's not to say that it won't still be important to recruit high quality players at the position). If you go 3 wide and have a OL that can give the QB a good 5-6 seconds or more of time, someone is going to get open more often than not. Just my 2 cents, though.

In all honesty, WR is probably the least important position in the offense that we're going towards. We don't need a playmaker. What we need is someone with reliable hands who won't drop the ones thrown to him. Our foundation will be a power running game. Big OL, big RBs, TEs, FBs, all that fun stuff. That will all set up the playaction where the WR will ideally be wide open and just has to not drop the ball.

I have high hopes for the guys we've got. I really like Darboh and Chesson (Chesson beat Ezekiel Elliot in track last year, btw) and I think the guys this year will be solid. Dukes in the RZ and the others as sure handed receivers.

I think guys like Darboh and Chesson's future performance will determine a lot. I have high hopes, but I don't think us missing out on Treadwell is that bad. I have faith in the players we have and have recruited, until I see a reason to change my opinion, that will always remain the case. Offensive Lineman has taken a drivers seat in recruiting, so that contributes as well.

I agree with this. Ducks is right, WR's are not an integral part of our future offense. We will move the chains with our RB's and low-risk west coast style passes. TE's will also be huge for attacking through the air. With that said, the bigger threat our WR corps is, the more honest we keep the defenses thus further opening our run game. I like the kids we've brought in, they are tall and have good hands. As time progresses, we will pick up kids like Corey Holmes, Artavis Scott, etc. Not necessarily them two, but we can already see that WR is becoming a more significant priority in each progressive class. Before we know it, our good WR's will get replaced by great WR's. I don't think we need elite receivers to be national contenders, but if we have them it will be hard to slow us down.

In terms of development just look at Gallon. Gallon is making plays a someone with 5 more inches should make. He certainly didn't show glimpses of that under RR, I just recall him being a mildly confident punt returner.

I fully expect our WRs to surpass their potential. I also expect higher rated WRs becoming apart of our class because for once they'll see our offense from the spring forward and they'll see young guys in the offense. I'm not worried.

They have 1 elite WR. Who is a true frosh.

Still, their entire offense is based around the OL.

I agree partially. We need at least 1 elite wideout. You are assuming the QBs will always get the ball at the right spot - at all times. I would rather have a LT-esque player in the offense, which can make 'the play' when needed.

In 2014 I think we target those guys. I am still waiting to see how Darboh pans out, he may be that guy.

The lack of WR's, I feel, is due to the RR regime wringing out of our system. I feel we were probably negatively recruited against for the Arnett kid who transferred to MSU(hows that looking now?)and other WR's(treadwell) by the perspective schools telling these kids that we were FAR away from a system that would benefit them. Denard hamstrung our efforts for WR's and this was pointed out to these guys. If Devin can show any semblance of a passing QB, get his medical redshirt and the development of Shane and Co.. I think we will be back to being a destination place for WR's

I'd also add that no running game adds to negative recruiting. Do you wnat to go to Michigan and be the only stud on Offense where you are double teamed all game?

I think Michigan's WR recruiting will improve significantly once Morris takes over and proves himself as a great pass-first QB (which I personally believe he will). Most big-time WRs don't want to play with spread QBs, that's the honest truth. Manziel is one of the few, but he's already won a Heisman and has proven that he's an effective thrower, and often pass-first run-second. Teddy Bridgewater is very similar. OSU is facing that same problem, and most OSU fans don't want to face the fact that most elite WRs don't really care to play with a QB like Braxton Miller who is more of a runner than a thrower. UM faced that with DRob, Gardner is kind of breaking that mold, but I see Morris as the one that changes the perception of the style of offense UM plays. Just my 2 cents.

Except Laquon Treadwell, of course.

Sorry, I misspoke. The rest of my post kind of made the point I was aiming for, but didn't articulate well, a little more clearly. I don't think it's necessarily a spread offense thing in most situations, to me it's more of a pass-first vs run-first QB thing. Bo Wallace at Ole Miss, and both of the QBs at OkSt operate more of a pass-first version of the spread from the QB position--which might be part of why Treadwell is high on them (I haven't followed his recruitment very closely since he dumped OSU early on, so I could be completely off the mark on that one). DRob and Braxton to me are seen as run-first QBs, so I think they're not very attractive to elite WR recruits, because the most important thing to most important WR recruits is how much they're going to get the ball, whether they'll be able to pad their statistics and garner national attention, naturally. Gardner is developing a pass-first reputation as we speak, but my opinion is just that once Morris takes the rains at Michigan and WR recruits see that Michigan will have an effective pro-style offense that feeds WRs, Michigan will have no problem attracting elite WR recruits again.