The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/262939
BY MICHAEL SPATH T he Wolverine debuted in Au- gust 1989, and beginning in the spring of 1990 our magazine has been tracking the recruiting classes Michigan has signed each year. During the 25 classes from 1990-2014, the Maize and Blue has landed the No. 1 class twice (1991 and 1998) while inking 543 players, of which 70.4 percent spent at least four seasons in Ann Arbor, helping U-M capture eight Big Ten championships and the 1997 national title. Here is a look at 25 years worth of classes. MICHIGAN'S HIGHEST-RANKED CLASS: When Michigan signed Rivals.com's No. 5 class in 2013, fans were under- standably giddy with anticipation, but the Maize and Blue has actually done better than that, landing the No. 4 class in 2001, the No. 3 class in 1994, and the consensus top-ranked cohorts in both 1998 and 1991. Using the criteria utilized by Ri- vals.com today, the 1998 class would have produced an average star rat- ing of 3.95. It included five five-stars — quarterback Drew Henson, tail- back Justin Fargas, wide receiver Da- vid Terrell, wide receiver Marquise Walker and linebacker Larry Foote — and an additional eight four-stars, thus totaling 13 of 19 signees of four- star status or better. Hayden Epstein would be ranked a three-star by to- day's standards, but he was consid- ered the best placekicker in the coun- try. Determining a star rating for indi- viduals in the 1991 class is a little more difficult because national top-100 lists did not begin appearing until 1997. However, the 1991 cohort included eight Tom Lemming All-Americans — offensive lineman Lloyd Cameron, running back Che Foster, defensive tackle Jason Horn, running back Ty- rone Wheatley, defensive tackle Trent Zenkewicz, offensive guard Joe Marin- aro, defensive tackle Walter Reggans and linebacker Jamie Mignon — and Lemming is largely considered the godfather of recruiting, still going strong today. HISTORY MAKERS The Highs And Lows Of Michigan Recruiting Over The Last Quarter Century