Eric Olson deciding any day
Is how you were able to post a board topic with only 13 points
you get what you pay for...
I think he gets a mulligan for that.
I'm sure the coaches have it under control. They know how to analyze talent and they know how to count to 25/26.
the first part of your second sentence is still unproven, right? It's pretty clear now that the staff are fantastic recruiters (i.e., they're awesome at getting kids to want to come to Michigan). But they haven't had a single team take the field at Michigan yet, let alone have a class they recruited come through the program.
I absolutely trust the coaches' ability to get talent excited about Michigan, but I don't feel like I have anywhere near enough data points to know whether they're good at identifying sleepers or not. Given how correlated recruiting rankings are with college productivity, I can't fault anyone for wondering why we're going so hard after Olson so early in the process with so many big name OL on the board (this isn't to say Olson isn't a good prospect, just that we seem to be moving pretty fast on it).
Tom mentioned that he would have a lot
<br>More offers, but is very high on academics and basically told them not to bother. In essence he narrowed his list before it ever really got started.
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But I haven't heard anyone say what teams would have offered if he weren't so focused on academics, and there are some academic powerhouses with good football teams who haven't offered (Stanford and ND, for example).
I won't be angry if he ends up in the class or anything. Just wouldn't mind seeing the board shake itself out a bit first.
Hey I'm with you, just trying to look at things with the glass half full
I think he was considering camping at Stanford in hopes of an offer. I'm curious as to where the OP got this info.
In HS, I competed against Olson's HS. His offer sheet is schools that most guys at his school or mine would want to get in and attend, such as Duke, Virginia, and Boston College. This doesn't make him a better or worse football player, but it isn't hard for me to believe that his offers are the ones that he wanted.
BBN is known for academics more than sports. The idea that he is eyeing a good business program, as opposed to a pure football factory is completely likely for a BBN guy.
Also, things very well may have changed since I was in HS, but there would not have been a lot of scouts showing up to BBN games, and they wouldn't have played anyone noteworthy, hindering his chances at getting those high rankings. I am sure that the people giving out the stars have only seen video as opposed to seeing him in person.
Where'd you go and what year did you graduate?
(I was a BB&N '06)
Portsmouth Abbey, '88. Do we still compete in anything?
When I went there, we always wrestled against BBN in a tri meet with St. Mark's. It was a long time ago, but I think that I also drew a BBN wrestler in the first round of the Graves-Kelsey tournament. I always wondered why BBN and St. Mark's got packaged together, but never bothered to ask. Do they still do that?
PS - As I am sure you probably know, basketball commit Nik Stauskas currently plays for St. Mark's . . .
We might compete in early season basketball or something and may be New Englands if both teams are doing well.
I posted this in the first Olson thread, but in my years at BB&N, the team sucked until my senior year when they got a new coach. The new coach has rejuvenated the program and BB&N has consistently been amongst the best (if not the best) team in the ISL. They've won three consecutive ISL titles (Lawrence had a recruiting scandal?). I think they won NEs in 08? The program really has gotten better where it used to be a joke. I don't know how good our football team was in the late-80s.
I do agree with your assessment though that most of the players in the ISL and most of the elite NE prep schools get attention from BC and the Ivys plus some of the small D3 preps.
In the late 80s, the kind of programs that we went to were pretty bad at football and basketball. The only way we typically had guys get into college athletics programs would be hockey, lacrosse, or one of the obscure sports, like squash or whatever. It seems like the times have really changed though, and now the prep schools are getting more involved in football and basketball. I don't know what prompted the change, but that's just how it looks.
I don't know about you, but out of my class of 75 or so seniors, over ten went to BC, and over ten went to Georgetown. Obviously, the Abbey is Catholic though, so the fact that we skew to the Jesuit schools isn't that surprising. But most guys when I was in school knew that their future career wasn't in athletics and would rather get in Amherst or Williams than a school with a big football or basketball program.
But most guys when I was in school knew that their future career wasn't in athletics and would rather get in Amherst or Williams than a school with a big football or basketball program.
I think this last part still holds true for the most part. I think there have been one or two kids each year trying to make the leap to a D1 BCS program (can I call BC that?). I just think the ISL has just gotten more competitive on the sports field or rather certain sports have become more of a priority to develop, in particular football.
I know my senior year, our football team played Bel Hill at BC. That was a pretty neat. I don't think they could have ever done it before then though.
I just took a look at the Abbey web site, and it looks like we are still going to do best at those sports that coddled preppies do well at, and for good reason. How many public schools have a sailing team, and even if they did, would the kids know how to do it? Looks like our lacrosse is doing well too. I wonder if any of our guys will eye the new UM program.
I noticed that the Abbey and BBN don't do much together anymore, but still have a bit of contact. I noticed that in baseball, BBN clobbered us.
Sadly, we don't even have wrestling anymore. Oh well . . .
Yeah I think most of the games are concentrated within the respective leagues.
Wrestling seems to be one of the sports that coed schools struggle at and the all-boys schools thrive. I guess something about having to duke it out with another dude in a onesie makes it the bottom of the totem pole. We always struggled to fill the roster with guys. We had to forfeit a lot of matches. A lot of my friends were on the team; I felt pretty bad for them because they'd individually be good, but the team would lose due to lack of numbers.
When looking at the talent and turnaround at S.D.State and the fact that Ball State had 12 wins under Hoke, I assume he knows what he's doing with getting the best out of his recruits.
over Hoke's resume. Let's just say I'm not comfortable with "trust the coaches" before they've even coached a game here.
I think in order to recruit and succeed at Ball State and San Diego State, you will need to identify talent pretty well.
have both recruited and coached their recruits at Michigan. Mattison also recruited Floridas National Campionship squads, but both his full classes were ranked 1 and 2.
I know Tom said that Olsen has controlled his offer list and only wants elite academic institutions, but put me in the camp that's a little skeptical. We're in on a LOT of top-tier linemen, and there's always the option to offer Magnuson's friend (who is excellent, and - according to Magnuson - likely to come if he gets an offer). This isn't to say I don't think Olsen is good, it's just that we seem to be in on a whole lot of huge names at this point.
Wow - Gores knows how to copy article titles wholesale from Rivals. I'm impressed.
This guy is unranked by all three of the major recruiting sites. We have limited space left in our class, and there are several 4 and 5 star prospects interested in UMich. I can't imagine that the UM coaches haven't cooled off on this kid and pulled their offer before he accepts. There could be no other explanation, but that he is going somewhere else.
The explanation could be that the coaches like this kid and want him to be part of the class.
He's a 3 star (5.6) to Rivals.
Can Olsen play OG?
Coaches were able to recruit before the internet, they have their own criteria. If they offer a kid who is ranked low because he didn't market himself by going to all of the camps the sites pay attention to, it doesn't mean the coaches don't think he is a better fit than someone highly ranked.
Recruiting sites are for the fans. It's like complaining about an NFL team drafting someone ranked below one of Mel Kiper's favorites.
What are his other offers?
Boston College, Duke, Virginia, And I think Uconn but not sure about the last one
I think this could be a case of Massachusetts not being scouted very well.
I just looked at how many players from MA were in the NFL in 2009 and it was 15. If you look at Arizona is was 16, Oregan 12, and Washington 16. If you follow recruiting you probably don't think of Massachusetts as on even ground with those three west coast states but at least if you take snapshot in 2009 they were.
Point being, there may be some great prospects coming out of MA that just aren't being scouted as heavily or are being discounted due to competition. I don't think the coaches would take Olsen if they didn't think he was on par with the other linemen or that the other guys aren't as likely to commit as we imagine.
Honestly if we end up taking Olson but we pretty much passed on Wayne Morgan and Armani Reeves I'm gonna be a little pissed.
Isn't Jordan Diamond supposed to be visiting the campus this week ? Per Tom's interview with his mom last week:
MRS. DIAMOND: Next weekend, we'll leave here Wednesday morning for Michigan and we'll be back Sunday. He's not participating in any more camps, but he'll be watching some of his teammates at the Sound Mind Sound Body camp.
Sure hope we land Jordan, and then can get E. Olson's commitment " a diamond in the rough " !!!!
+2
Aren't we only taking two more o-line commits? If so I would pass on olson, get diamond and wait on some guys like paul thurston, andrus peat, kyle kalis, adam bisnowaty etc., or any others..just my opinion
Even the topic question has a little cheap shot in it. Give it a break already and let the caching staff make the calls.
So we're talking about booting some fifth year seniors like Terrence Robinson or Mike Cox to make room for recruits, and one of the guys that we make room for is a generously-rated three-star whose best competing offer is from Boston College?
Take a look at this article that mentions all the talent that has come out of there recently.
Olsens are typically from Norway or Denmark and Olsons from Sweden.
Molsons are from Canada.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are from my bedroom . . .
Ok, I just made that up to sound impressive. It would have been cool if they did though . . .
I trust the coaches, and if they feel he is a top lineman worthy of an offer this early and a spot in this class, then I am completely fine with him become an outstanding Wolverine, both in the football field and in the classroom. Hoke and Mattison maybe more defensive lineman guys, but they know the trenches well and know what it takes to succeed there, both on defense and offense.
However, if he wants to come to Michigan more for the academics (top 5 business school) then the football program, is it possible that he might come/commit as a preferred walk-on? (If infact the coaches made his offer uncommitable due to other higher rated prospects)
However, if he wants to come to Michigan more for the academics (top 5 business school) then the football program, is it possible that he might come/commit as a preferred walk-on? (If infact the coaches made his offer uncommitable due to other higher rated prospects)
I don't think this really makes sense when he has scholarship offers from equally prestigious universities. UVa has a great business program as well. Northwestern is a great school with very good Econ program as well as the Kellogg Certificate Program. Duke has something similar. BC has a decent business school. Of course, none of them are on the level of Michigan in terms of football, but academically, he has some very good options.
I understand the sort of apprehensiveness in potentially taking a kid like Olson when you have higher ranked guys that could potentially come here, but you also have to realize that if a guy commits to Michigan, he's our guy. I think Olson will be a high character guy for our team, the type of character we expect from our football players.