Is Michigan Head Coach Brady Hoke Looking at the NFL in 2014?

According to one Michigan recruit, head coach Brady Hoke could be leaving Ann Arbor and making a move to the NFL in the very near future.

One of the nation’s top players in the class of 2014, Jabrill Peppers (Paramus, Nj. /Paramus Catholic and perhaps the top cornerback prospect, is unsure if he would want to go to the Wolverines because of concerns that Hoke will leave the program for the NFL and doesn’t want to be a part of a new regime that could disrupt his place within the program.

Peppers currently lists Michigan among his five finalists along with Stanford, Ohio State, Alabama and Notre Dame, so is this just confusion and paranoia from a teenager, an example of negative recruiting or is there legitimate interest from the NFL regarding Hoke?

I tend to think it’s the first two and don’t see Hoke leaving Michigan anytime soon. He has only been the head man in Ann Arbor for two seasons and has a 19-7 record including a win in the 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl. Reports of negative recruiting, where coaches talk negatively about other schools the recruit is interested in rather than sell their own school.

Hypothetically, Ohio State head coach, Urban Meyer could be telling Peppers that he shouldn’t go to Michigan because Hoke isn’t going to be there for his four years.

That is strictly a hypothetical scenario, but that type of recruiting is happens all the time on the recruiting trail and perhaps has permeated into the mind of Peppers and that’s why he has this ridiculous notion that Hoke isn’t long for Michigan.

Sure, there was Chip Kelly and Doug Marrone leaving college football for the NFL and Bill O’Brien thought about making that move for a second, but at no time was there a whisper of Hoke being linked to any NFL team.

Peppers is a fine high school player and may or may not end up playing at Michigan, but he’s completely off-base intimating that Hoke is leaving for the NFL and Wolverines fans can rest easy knowing that Hoke isn’t going anywhere soon.

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Patrick is the host of “The Wake-up Call,” on Sportstownchicago.com airing Wednesday mornings from 8-10. View his show’s website here.