Every week Sam Webb, Steve Lorenz, Brice Marich and Josh Henschke from TMI come together for a podcast called ‘The Michigan Recruiting Insider’. Each show offers a deep dive into Michigan’s football and basketball recruiting, with unparalleled insight and information about Wolverines’ targets and recruitment strategies.
Sam, Steve and Brice spend the first two segments of the podcast focusing on important topics and pressing questions about football recruitment. Then, in the last segment, Sam and Josh offer the same type of analysis for recruiting basketball.
In episode 31, Sam, Brice and Steve explain why the new roles for Ron Bellamy and Sherrone Moore will give Jim Harbaugh arguably the strongest recruiting team in his term. The team looks at the immediate impact on recruiting both coaches, including how five-star CB Will Johnson is affected. Later, the trio discusses targets in the state ready to move up the board, a new defensive line target and the latest transfer portal target Henry To’o To’o.
In the excerpt below, Sam and Steve highlight the immediate impact Bellamy is likely to have on recruiting the state of Michigan.
Sam Webb: “When maybe there was some relationship impasse for Michigan and certain schools or certain coaches … where maybe communication had broken off or Michigan didn’t have a player here or there just because of the relationships and turnover and coaches. I have explained this before … coach turnover has been so frequent in Michigan that where you had some relationships established before, when new coaches arrive, you may have the connections to the program totally missing for some of these coaching colleges. So it can get to the point where some guys feel like they don’t have a real connection to the school. And Ron Bellamy was one of the guys who, from the point of view of the high school coach, would help fill that gap. He said, ‘Hey guys, I know we may not know as many people as we used to, but this is a line of communication that we need to keep open for children, or that we need to make an effort to open up for the good of children. You may have some children who want to go to Michigan. This is an avenue that we need (to open). This is an effort that we may need to facilitate a little more. Now guaranteed, Michigan had to be part of that survey as well, but there had to be some receptivity on the other side, and I think Ron Bellamy was the key to filling that gap as much as possible. “
“With (Bellamy) joining the team, I don’t think there is any doubt … I get asked all the time about Bellville because there was a cavernous gap between Michigan and Belleville. In the last years. I think Ron Bellamy immediately walks in the door, and because he and Jermaine Crowell were not just rivals, they are friends. They talk about players and philosophy, and these are two guys who really respect each other. And then, if there is an impasse there, that there was, Ron Bellamy entering the door allows you to enter Belleville High School and have a greater chance of having children than before. People have been asking me nonstop since the possibility of Ron Bellamy came up. – Michigan will take a picture of Bellville now? Yes. Ron Bellamy gives you a better chance at Belleville school. It’s not like they haven’t had a chance before. It was depressing, but it was not a zero shot. Ron Bellamy helps you with this right away. And, Steve, at your point, when you look at southeastern Michigan, you have to put Ron Bellamy in Michigan, right? Well, at least in the southeast. And that’s where I think Michigan with this new team, they have some versatility. Why guess who else has connections in southeastern Michigan? Mike Hart together with Sherrone Moore. Obviously, for me (southeast Michigan) it must be Ron Bellamy’s territory. You can place other guys while also (focusing) them out of state. So, Grand Rapids, Flint, Saginaw, Traverse City … you can have Ron Bellamy concentrating in southeastern Michigan and his other guys in the state maybe target guys here and there in southeastern Michigan, so go out of state , and cover the state from a relationship point of view that we haven’t seen in a while. I just think there are a lot of opportunities here. “
Steve Lorenz: “The work that Sherrone Moore, Josh Gattis done in the state in the last 12 months is going to be a big benefit now that you have guys who can be forces within the state. Because now, all of a sudden, 18 months ago, you stopped having almost none (established relationship) in the state, to have four coaches on the team that could really make a difference with any recruitment in the state. I mean, it’s a 180 where things weren’t that long ago. Practically since Tyrone Wheatley left. There was that time gap where the plan seemed almost non-existent with regard to the situation in the state. So yes, you bring Ron, it would obviously be incomprehensible for him not to be the main guy in southeastern Michigan. I cannot imagine that they will not try to make the most of it. But then again, you said Mike Hart had experience there. It is like I said, Sherrone Moore really did a good job of being included in the mix. And again, speak back to Sherrone Moore and just the job he did as a recruiter … and Josh Gattis too. He also did some work. I think they kind of split up for a while when they were kind of reshaping their situation. So, yes, many real possibilities. And as you said, Michigan State, new coaching staff … I feel like they’re working hard. I will give credit to the state of Michigan. We are hearing a little more about them in the state. As you will do with a new coach and a new team. But man, Michigan kind of prepared it to get a lot of guys in the state. I will never say something like they are going to sweep, or all the kids in the state are Michigan locks, because that is not going to be the case. But this is by far the best his team has seen from a recruiting standpoint in the state, since Harbaugh was there. I mean, not even close. “
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