The minute Michigan State linebacker Greg Jones decided to stay in school for his senior season, it became obvious how slim the pickings were for draftable players from the state. Before Michigan DE Brandon Graham's stellar postseason pushed him into the middle of the first round, it was eminently possible that the entire state could be shut out of the first day of the NFL's new three-day draft format.

While the Big Ten had the second-most players (34) selected of any conference, only four of those were from Michigan or Michigan State. It's a pretty good argument for the people who insist that John L. Smith was recruiting MAC-level talent in his years at MSU, and those that insist that Lloyd Carr left the cupboard bare at U-M.

Even with Graham's selection at No. 13 by the Eagles, it was still nearly 36 hours before another player from one of the major universities in the state would come off the board. Small-school workout warrior Jared Veldheer of Hillsdale was picked in the third round by Oakland on Friday, but punter Zoltan Mesko was the next player with ties to the state drafted, midway through the fifth round, shortly before noon on Saturday.

Central Michigan's record-setting duo of QB Dan LeFevour and WR Antonio Brown  were the next two to go off the board, 14 picks apart in the sixth round, then the Raiders nabbed a pair of defensive backs — Michigan State's Jeremy Ware and Michigan's Stevie Brown — with seventh-round picks.

Michigan cornerback Donovan Warren, who entered the draft early, was not selected, and signed a free-agent contract with the DB-rich New York Jets. He's not alone in that ignominy: Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Sneed, once considered a sure-fire first-round pick, went undrafted and was signed by Tampa Bay, while LaGarrette Blount, the troubled tailback from Oregon, signed with the Titans.

Another local product, Michigan State's Blair White, knows all about beating long odds after going from walk-on to the Spartans' leading receiver last season.
UPDATE: Trevor Anderson joined former MSU teammates White and kicker Brett Swenson as an undrafted free agent signed by the Colts. Western Michigan QB Tim Hiller is also in the Colts' rookie camp this week.


DRAFTED PLAYERS
Round 1, pick 13 — Michigan DE Brandon Graham, drafted by Philadelphia
Round 3, pick 5   — Hillsdale OT Jared Veldheer, drafted by Oakland
Round 5, pick 19 — Michigan P Zoltan Mesko, drafted by New England
Round 6, pick 12 — Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour, drafted by Chicago
Round 6, pick 26 — Central Michigan WR Antonio Brown, drafted by Pittsburgh
Round 7, pick 8   — Michigan St. CB Jeremy Ware, drafted by Oakland
Round 7, pick 44 — Michigan S Stevie Brown, drafted by Oakland

UNDRAFTED PLAYERS

Michigan

RB Carlos Brown — New Orleans

WR Greg Mathews — Chicago

RB Brandon Minor — Chicago

OG David Moosman — Arizona

OT Mark Ortmann — Carolina

CB Donovan Warren — New York Jets

Michigan State

PK Brett Swenson — Indianapolis

CB Ross Weaver (Southfield) — Miami

WR Blair White — Indianapolis

Central Michigan

WR Bryan Anderson— New England

CB Josh Gordy — Jacksonville

DE Frank Zombo — Green Bay

Others

Cincinnati FS Aaron Webster (Birmingham Groves) — Houston

Grand Valley State OT Nick McDonald — Green Bay

Saginaw Valley State DT Rob Callaway — Detroit

Wayne State RB Joique Bell — Buffalo

Western Michigan QB Tim Hiller — Indianapolis

NOTE: This column first appeared in The Oakland Press' print edition on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010.

ANN ARBOR — However you want to look at it, the 2010 recruiting class for Michigan could go down as either the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end.

Amidst all the happiness of signing an enormous class of 27 players — one that coach Rich Rodriguez called the biggest he’d ever had — there was as much a note of caution coming out of Wednesday’s National Signing Day news conference.

Yes, the Wolverines’ haul earned them another consensus top 20 class nationally.

Yes, this group of athletic speedsters more fits the style that the Rodriguez’s Wolverines want to play on offense and NEED to play on defense.

Yes, the fact that nearly two-thirds of those recruits are on defense, allowing the U-M staff to replenish a badly-depleted corps that had allowed the second-most points in school history last year — then lost its two best players.

Yes, the early enrollment of seven of the players — including the nation’s best all-purpose quarterback in Inkster’s Devin Gardner — will give U-M another jump-start on building depth across the board before spring practice is even over.

And, yes, Rodriguez — whose voice was hoarse from weeks of non-stop phone calls — lived up to his reputation as a closer by keeping one key recruit who was wavering right up until Wednesday morning, then trumping that by adding a much-sought-after safety prospect shortly thereafter.

But no, not everything is hunky-dory ... not yet.

Coming off the worst two consecutive seasons since the 1960s — 3-9 and 5-7 — the Wolverines needed a strong recruiting effort, but it wasn’t easy, considering the lack of success they’ve had so far under Rodriguez. It’s been a rougher start than most people expected.

“It’s tougher than if you won a national championship, no question. I’ve been on both ends. If you’re on this end, you know, we’ve gotten a little bit better, so you can see progress, but I think you can also sell opportunity,” the embattled head coach admitted. “As I tell coaches, you’re not really selling. Sometimes it looks like salesmanship. I heard one time, you’re not really selling anything, you’re just giving people what they want. Maybe I sound like a salesman, to tell you that.”

What people want — at least people not named Bill Martin (the outgoing AD) and Mary Sue Coleman (U-M’s president) — is wins. If Rodriguez can use this recruiting class — truly just his second full class of his own — to get things righted on the field, there may be a chance that he outlives lame-duck status when incoming AD David Brandon takes over in the fall.

If not, Brandon likely won’t hesitate to change the recipe, like he did when he was still the CEO of Domino’s Pizza.

You’d think that a coach dangling in the wind as much as Rodriguez is wouldn’t take chances on kids with red-flag character issues, especially since he’s still got a pending NCAA investigation — you remember the whole practice fiasco from late last summer — hanging over his head. Nothing is an easier excuse to fire an underperforming coach than off-the-field issues.

Yet, here was Rodriguez on Wednesday, getting red in the face defending that late addition to his recruiting class, four-star Lauderdale Lakes (Fla.) safety Demar Dorsey, who had reported run-ins with the law as a prep star. And it’s not the first time Rodriguez has taken a leap of faith on a kid with a checkered past — either here or at West Virginia, where he had a penchant for recruiting kids like the much-vilified Pat Lazear and eventual NFL miscreant Pacman Jones.

“All I want to say is that, every guy we sign, we do our research on, as well. I think sometimes people are too quick to judge something they read on the Internet, and I think that’s dangerous to do that. I don’t think it’s fair to the young man and his family to pass judgment before you know the whole story,” Rodriguez said.

“I get a little upset when people have labeled ... ‘Aw, coach, you’ll bring this guy or that guy in.’ ... Unfortunately, you’ll have guys that disappoint you, make a mistake. We’ve had a couple that have come and make a mistake. God forbid they make a mistake, but unfortunately they did, and you have to have discipline, you have to enforce it. ... I think generally, for the most part, our guys have behaved pretty well. ...
“There’s nobody on this football team that we would sign that has a felony conviction, or there’s nobody on this football team that we would sign that has a misdemeanor conviction. So you have to look at the whole story, before you pass judgment. That’s all I’m asking you to do.”

The whole story isn’t written yet on Rodriguez’s tenure at Michigan. He’ll have the fall to prove — once and for all — that his system will work, if equipped with the right parts.

And members of this recruiting class will have to be a big part of that. Of the five defensive backs, it’s likely that at least two will have to start. The new defensive linemen will have to try to collectively fill the huge shoes of the graduated Brandon Graham, a likely first-round pick in April’s NFL draft.

Is this class good enough to do that?

Even Rodriguez was hesitant to say that.

“I’m a little a little bit reluctant, like most coaches are — everybody wants to rank a recruiting class, or put a stigma or something on guys coming in. Really — and this sounds like coachspeak — you really need to wait a couple years and then determine how good the class is,” he said. “I’ve had recruiting classes before that weren’t ranked anywhere in the top 25 or 30, and they end up leading the team to a top-five ranking in the country, and winning a BCS bowl, so I think you have to be careful about all that.”

Problem is, Rich, you may not HAVE a couple of years.

Blair White may have had his future all mapped out, finishing his undergraduate degree from Michigan State last spring, then gaining acceptance to Wayne State's School of Dentistry, whenever he's ready to go.

But for the former walk-on Spartan wideout, that could be much later, rather than sooner, if he keeps impressing NFL scouts.

Hot on the heels of leading MSU with a Big Ten-leading nine TDs, and in receptions (70), receiving yards (990) this fall, the Saginaw native was the only player with local ties invited to the East-West Shrine all-star game over the weekend.

"The daily schedule has been pretty intense. Many fans have the wrong impression about all-star games. They think that we have a lot of time to chill and relax, and that's simply not the case. It's a job interview. ... My approach has been pretty simple. I've been focused on going my hardest every day in practice while trying to put my best foot forward in everything that I've been asked to do," White told msuspartans.com after Thursday's practice session.

"I have no idea how many opportunities I might have to catch the football on Saturday because there are so many different factors that I can't control. What will we see from the West defense? How will the score impact play calling? That's why I have focused on performing well in each and every practice session. I also have to make the most of the opportunities that I do get on game day to make plays."

Turns out the East team had installed the same "Throw It To Blair, Whether He's Open Or Not" play that MSU relied on so heavily this fall. White led all pass-catchers in the game with seven grabs for 93 yards in the East's come-from-behind, 13-10 win.

As far as job interviews go, it seems that White did pretty well. A good showing at the NFL Combine in late February could cement White as a middle-round draft pick, especially if he runs a 40-yard dash in the 4.55- to 4.6-second range, like BYU's Austin Collie did last year. Despite a record-setting career for the Cougars, Collie skipped his senior season, ran a 4.55 in the 40 at the Combine, and was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth round. Collie caught seven passes for 123 yards and a TD in the Colts' 30-17 win in the AFC Championship game Sunday.

White has the skill-set to be the same type of player — good route runner, great hands, good strength, adequate quickness and speed to get open.

With junior linebacker Greg Jones choosing to stay at MSU for his senior season, White has the potential to be the first Spartan selected, and could possibly be the second local player drafted in what's shaping up to be one of the worst local draft classes in years. Three other draftable players — U-M's Brandon Graham and Zoltan Mesko, and CMU quarterback Dan LeFevour — will all be at this week's Senior Bowl, where they'll get their own time in front of scouts, but it's hard to project many other players with Michigan ties going in the NFL draft.

Those four players — White, Graham, Mesko and LeFevour — have all been invited to the NFL Combine, along with U-M running back Brandon Minor, MSU kicker Brett Swenson, Western Michigan quarterback Tim Hiller, and a pair of prospects from Division II schools in Michigan: Hillsdale OT Jared Veldheer and Wayne State RB Joique Bell. Central Michigan WR/KR Antonio Brown, an early entrant into the draft, will also likely be a mid- to late-round selection.