Remember 2015? In the preseason expectations were low for 1st year head coaches Jim Harbaugh and Jim McElwain. Both took over teams that had bad records the year before. Neither team had much blue-chip talent on offense. There are huge questions about Florida's offensive line. There were questions about Michigan QB situation. And yet in year 1 both teams ended up winning 10 games and were ranked in the top 10 nationally for at least some time during the season after starting out the season unranked.
What everyone underestimated in 2015 about Michigan and Florida was the amount of blue-chip talent they had on defense. Both schools had recruited really well over the preceding 4 years and even though they didn't win as many games as their recruiting rankings warranted, they still had talent. And what they needed to get that talent to play up to it's potential was a competent head coach. Once they got the new coach both teams took off immediately.
We all know Butch Jones was a totally incompetent head coach. The early practice reports in the spring are showing just how little coaching our players received under the previous coaching staff. With that said, the previous staff did do a decent job recruiting. According to 247sports, our 4-year composite recruiting ranks 11th overall in the nation. That's talent comparable to what Jim Harbaugh inherited at Michigan from Brady Hoke. If Jeremy Pruitt is even halfway decent as a head coach, we have every reason to expect a big turnaround next season. Yes there are questions on this team. Yes we have depth issues as certain positions. However, there is no denying we have a lot of top end talent as well. Especially on defense. And given the fact Jeremy Pruitt is thought of as a defensive mastermind, we should expect to see a big turnaround on defense this year.
We have enough talent on paper to beat everyone on our schedule other than Alabama, Georgia, and Auburn. And it's not impossible to believe we could steal a game from one of those three. This team has had the talent the last 3 years to be ELITE. We were just held back by incompetent coaching and bad luck with injuries. If we can stay healthy, there is no reason why we can't win 10 games in 2018.