Goodbye: Eddie McDoom
This is unfair.
College football has changed. Transfers are a valid option; furthermore, coaches recruit with transfers in mind and, I suspect, often appreciate the opportunity.
It has been clear from the outset that Harbaugh wants to bring a lot of talent in. To do that, he has to have a lot of talent go out, too. McDoom's departure gives Harbaugh another scholarship to offer to a kid who has a chance to become a starter. Extend this over the four years Harbaugh has been here and you have a number of kids who came in with potential that wasn't fulfilled going elsewhere, making room for new guys with potential that may or may not be fulfilled.
Not every kid becomes a starter, and many instead go get a chance to play somewhere else. It's good for them. A new kid comes into the program, and has a chance to become something. It's good for us.
And everybody is an adult about it. Crawford and McDoom were a part of the team in the spring; Crawford changed his number--the coaches knew and he knew that he was leaving--and yet he was still able to go to Europe and still able to lift weights and still able to go to class and still able to be a part of the team while he was here.
That's why I was asking umbig11 about McDoom at the start of camp; this seems to have been expected, yet he was still on the team. My best guess is that he saw the writing on the wall in the spring, talked to the coaches, decided to give summer and camp a shot, and when he saw that things were locked in, he left. It sounds like a fair and cordial situation.
It's good for him--he can go somewhere and get 40 snaps a game and a degree. Good for us--we have Martin and Perry, and now we've got another scholarship to offer next year. Good for everyone.
You make some good points, but life is unfair.
This really sucks man.
All the best to you Eddie!
Guys who have left from the 2016 recruiting class:
Devin Asiasi
Kareem Walker
Eddie McDoom
Nate Johnson
Kekoa Crawford
Elysee Mbem Bossee
Kingston Davis
Ahmir Mitchell
Asiasi is the biggest loss of that group, in my mind.
Easily. Everyone else was either passed by younger players on the depth chart, or of questionable mental makeup, or both.
Glad we have room for the new kicker. :)
Jake will be a good one.
And out of those 8, we had 2-3 contributors.
Asiasi: big loss. Family issues was a major contributing factor
Walker: academic issues early on and got out of shape quickly. Was passed or at least neck and neck with a walk-on in year 3.
McDoom: passed by a RS freshman. Would have been nice to keep him for rotation.
Crawford: high recruit, good returns early, was not big time when role increased. Wouldn’t have sucked to have him stick around for depth.
Nate Johnson: problems, drops/fumble in spring game. Was not going to pass any of the WRs in the class after him.
Mbem Bosse: headcase. Enough said
Ahmir Mitchell: trouble. Now headed to school number 3?
1 high level contributor, couple rotational receivers, a RB who maybe, and that’s a big maybe, could have gotten it together.
I’m getting a little worried about our WR depth. Let’s hope some dudes step up
Not to worry with 5 TE sets.
In all seriousness, we have a versatile TE corps.
On the outside we have Black and DPJ and Collins getting most of the snaps. In the slot, which might get 30-40 snaps a game, we have both Perry (a proven elite route-runner) and Martin. At TE we have Gentry, Mckeon, and Eubanks at a minimum.
Remember that Harbaugh likes fullbacks, so I would expect a minimum of 30-40% of our snaps to have a fullback type in the game, with only three other receiver types total. You get four of these catchy type guys in the rest of the snaps, but there are frequent 2-TE sets to account for as well. And that's not even considering the very real possibility that Evans will get some slotback-type work while Higdon is on the field.
And remember, Gentry in particular is a guy who is a matchup nightmare everywhere he lines up. An injury to one of the three outside guys would make that spot thin, but even then we have a lot of powerful bullets in the chamber.
EDIT: One thing I think I agree with you on is that we're thin outside of the top guys, and while I don't think we need guys underneath to play, the future looks a bit dodgier.
But then DPJ, Black, Collins, and Martin are all in just their second years here, so, they'll be good to go for a while if healthy.
Dr King has this nailed. 2020 WR class key - need 4/5 star replacements.
Dr. King was my dad. Thanks, though.
I think 2019 is still critical. We saw last year that even the most talented of freshmen can use some seasoning, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if both Black and DPJ go to the NFL early. That would leave Collins and... whomever is left outside. It'd be nice to have a talented sophomore ready to step in in 2020.
Why do kids with no chance of NFL leave without a degree ? I would much rather be a regular student at Uofm then a football player in FCS unless it’s a great academic school.
One quick answer: get your checkbook. Some of these kids come from situations where there's simply no money to get an education at Michigan without the football scholarship.
McDoom wasn't going to lose his scholarship. Just playing time.
Because you’re not an elite football player! These young men have a very small window to play the game they love. So if they are not getting the time they thought they would, they leave and try to play elsewhere for the short period of time they can.
August 8th, 2018 at 10:01 PM ^
Any idea what his degree was going to be? I don't mean to generalize, but some football players are far more interested in trying to get to the big game than the degree they can get. An outside shot at the NFL MAY (emphasized) be of greater value than the marginal value of a Michigan bachelors in, say, communication or psychology, over the same degree at other colleges. Not to say that there isn't value in a bachelors from Michigan in those degrees, just that the improvement in worth by getting that degree from Michigan is probably not that great when compared to getting it from a smaller school. And if going to that smaller school gives you a marginally increased possibility to get paid for football, maybe he takes that gamble.
That's how I would convince myself to make this decision.
August 8th, 2018 at 10:16 PM ^
Let’s be honest - I don’t think academics are a priority for some of these kids.
WR recruiting has not been good under this staff.
Except for that one year it was really good
Right, which means that year is an outlier.
2015: Brian Cole, Grant Perry
2016: Ahmir Mitchell, Eddie McDoom, Nate Johnson, Kekoa Crawford
2018: Ronnie Bell
2019: Quintel Kent, George Johnson
That's pitiful.
I can understand being upset about the recruiting at WR this year thus far. But this post is cherry picking to the extreme.
2017 was a huge wide receiver class so it's not exactly shocking they did not haul in a lot of guys in 2018. 2015 was a late start for Harbaugh he had what a month before signing day to recruit. 2016 class it's unfortunate that everyone washed out, but it happens. Perhaps it would be good if half of the guys in the '15 and '16 classes had been able to keep their noses clean.
"Recruiting at this position is terrible if you just ignore the year that they got the best class in school history."
Crawford and McDoom appear to be direct casualties of the quality of the 2017 class, and while the 2018 class was substandard across the board, receivers weren't a priority for exactly the same reason. 2019 will tell more of the story.
This one thing you guys on this board fail miserably to understand. You need talented depth in football to compete throughout a 12 game regular season let alone a post season run. So sweet they have had one good class at WR. The rest have been duds and we are heading for another dud this year at the position.
Cant wait to have this convo again in two years for everyone to point to 17 class again
Yes you need depth in order to be successful, but that is not the argument that he was making in his post. As to the issue of depth at the wide receiver position that is not likely to be a problem this year or next. Maybe in a few years this will be a problem, but who knows what the roster will look like in two years. Everyone is assuming Black and DPJ are gone as early entries. That is a pretty good passing offense in 2019 if they both leave early.
Still pretty thin on the outside this year. 2 of the 3 guys we are counting on were injured for portions of last year. If that happens again this year we would either have to start a walk-on or move one of our slots to the outside.
Let’s let some of these guys get on campus before we write them off.
Landing perry in 2015 was a massive success considering how little time he had. Cole wasn’t his recruit.
Yes, 2016 was a dud.
2017 was not.
You cannot judge 2018 or 19 yet. That’s ridiculous
You are right about 18 and 19 but these guys look eerily similar to what just left
So WR recruiting has been awful for exactly 1 out of 2 years, with 2 classes that haven’t stepped on campus yet and the other year being quite possibly the best WR class in the last 10 years.
August 8th, 2018 at 10:21 PM ^
That was one fricking year. My goodness! Put the Kool Aid down. These guys are saying you can’t have a good WR haul ever two or three years. OSU brings elite recruits every year.
August 9th, 2018 at 12:55 AM ^
Uh, one fricking year out of two unless you want to count the class in which Harbaugh had a couple months to recruit or the class that hasn’t played a snap yet or the class that haven’t played their senior year of high school yet. That means anyone saying that WR recruiting has been awful is referring to the 16 and 17 classes, one of which looks to be one of the better WR classes in recent history. What Kool Aid am I drinking?
McDoom and Crawford were good pickups. Situation might have been a lot different if we had a QB or right tackle last year. Brian Cole and Ahmir Mitchell had non-football issues. Who knows how good 2019 will be. I like Ronnie Bell.
Guess it's time to grab a seat on the Oliver Martin hype train. McDoom's hair game will be missed.
good luck kid!
hope you find a spot where you will excel... I'll miss the Dooooooom chants tho
I’d expect Schonle and Bell get a fair amount of looks this year. Schonle in particular showed promise for a walk on
Just SMH at that. Bell isn’t close to ready and Schonle looks and plays like a walk on. He should not be getting run at a place like Michigan
I never said he was ready SMH, I said he will get plenty of reps with the 4 game red shirt rule. Bell has a huge upside but a project
Man harbaugh is literally starting all over again as if the past 3 seasons never happened. Way too much talent lost from those recruiting classes. I really hope this doesn’t bite us in the ass. A few injuries and our WR depth is fucked. It’s ridiculous to believe that our WR will all be healthy for the entire season. Who do we have left right now other than black jones Collins perry and Martin?
Nothing too special 2 walk-ons that have gotten praise in Mccurry, Schonelle, and the true freshman Bell. You gotta believe Michigan will be after one more WR in the 2019 recruiting class. Maybe Barrett can see some action even though he's practicing at the Viper at the moment.
Development of Harbaugh recruited wide receivers gets a big fat F so far.
But we have Gentry who is a match up nightmare except for the fact he didn’t prove at all last year he was a match up nightmare.
doesn't help that John o Korn overthrew him consistently. how the hell do you overthrow a guy thats 6'8
"Except for the fact he didn't prove at all last year he was a match up nightmare."
Gentry averaged almost 18 yards per catch with 300 receiving yards from the tight end spot in an otherwise anemic passing offense. That's a full 5 yards more per catch than DPJ managed (who, granted, was overthrown on a number of occasions) and is pretty impressive for his first real game action in college. That's a sign of a very good offensive weapon.
This year there is actually a WR coach, though, and McElwain actually has a background in the subject area. Let's see how 2018 goes.
All-Norfleet team. McDoom (and Kekoa) go on the All-Norfleet team. Guys you really liked who just didn't find their groove at Michigan and then transferred.
Best of luck to Mr. McDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
You gotta admit, looking at the latest WR recruits and then seeing the attrition at this position..it is a bit of an eyebrow raiser. Well, I guess we will see what happens.