Does Loss to ND Hurt Recruiting?

So coming off of the horrible loss to Notre Dame last night, I figured I'd share my opinion on whether or not I think the game hurt us in recruiting.  Right off the bat, I'm going to have to say no and I'll state my reasons why.  There were lots of recruits at the game with interest in both teams such as Damon Webb, a 2014 DB/WR out of Detroit Cass Tech.  However, most of the responses that we heard were in regards to recruits believing that could have an earlier impact at Michigan, which is definitely not a negative sign.

It was a great atmosphere, but a guy like Webb has visited Michigan the last two weeks for needless to say not very big games.  Michigan hasn't had a big game atmosphere at home yet and I believe that come October 20th when the Spartans come to town, it could be huge.  A vast majority of the 2013 commits have scheduled their official visits for this game along with big time 2013 target RB Derrick Green.  Michigan is  2-2 right now, which isn't the start that we had all hoped for, but let's face it, we did lose to Alabama who is I think far and above the best team in college football.  We gave away the game to the #11 team in the country so it's not like we have been upset in any means.

I think it showed where we need to improve and it allowed recruits to see themselves playing for Michigan and helping out the team.  I'm not worried about recruiting as Michigan sits at #2 on all of the recruiting sites behind USC and depending on how they close the 2013 class out, they could take over the top spot.  2014 has started off very good with the commitment of LB Michael Ferns out of Ohio, arguably one of the top players in that state.  The ultimate goal for Michigan is winning the Big Ten and lets face it even with two losses I think Michigan is definitely the best team in the conference.

We have lost to two Top-15 opponents and not slouches like Iowa losing to Central Michigan.  Michigan State, who everyone has been saying is the best team, barely beat Eastern Michigan and got smoked by Notre Dame 20-3.  If Michigan performs well in the Big Ten schedule, they will set themselves up very well and I think we will know a lot about how future recruiting is going to go after the Michigan State game.  Expect things to heat up especially if Michigan wins that game because there will be a lot of big name recruits on hand and with all of the 2013 commits attending, don't be surprised if it does a lot for Derrick Green.

2015 Prospect Damien Harris has also shown a lot of interest in Michigan.  Michigan's recruiting is going fine and one game is not going to derail what's already being built.  The main reason I posted today was to get people to avoid thinking negatively about this year and future recruiting.  The team is certainly not perfect, but there's plenty of time to recover and improve.  Along with that, recruiting is going to turn out just fine for 2013 and beyond as long as Michigan does fine in Big Ten season, which seems likely.