UCLA blocks potential Clark transfer to UM
September 23rd, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^
on this blog. I dare you.
September 23rd, 2015 at 2:10 PM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 2:26 PM ^
Especially in the off season.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^
but not MSU.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
And I just don't see the point in asking Mora. He'd just say something like "No I won't." And if you ask specifically about Clark, he'll just say "it's personal for Chris so I don't want to go into detail" or "Chris and I talked about it and we agreed on this."
Also if Clark really is homesick, Michigan isn't the greatest place to go. Until Clark comes out and says he wants to transfer to Michigan, which he hasn't, Mora isn't a confirmed dick in this situation. Maybe Clark just doesn't want to go to Michigan at all.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:33 PM ^
I just diagree with you. Parents can tell when a coach is being genuine and when he's not. The "sure I did it to another kid but I never would to your son" wouldn't get past most parents.
And whether or not Clark wants to come to Michigan has no impact on Mora being a dick. That should be Clark's decision.
September 23rd, 2015 at 8:28 PM ^
Maybe his parents weren't as involved or influential?
Malik McDowell's mom saw the bullshit and she still lost.
September 23rd, 2015 at 3:02 PM ^
If Clark did not want to come to michigan there would be no reason to block him.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^
Ferentz didn't raise a stink about single-D coming to Michigan,though different rules apply. Is UCLA playing MIchigan any time soon?
I'm not going to get worked up about Clark. I've already dealt with that boat leaving the slip.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:54 PM ^
He did deny the transfer requests of Ruddock and Rudddock.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^
the coach should have no say in where the guy wants to continue his education and playing career.
I wonder if he could sue UCLA / the NCAA. Maybe that portion of the NLI violates some part of the Constitution and could be ruled as unenforceable?
September 23rd, 2015 at 3:55 PM ^
It's an issue that's been looked at many times. Apparently lawyers see no merit in filing a lawsuit in his situation. Public pressure has worked, however.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/07/08/austin-nichols…
September 24th, 2015 at 8:44 AM ^
LOI. I assume this is what is binding him to the school. If he signs a financial aid agreement, he may have to follow the NCAA rule but he could transfer to any school.
I don't know if anyone can confirm this but I know they can walk before they enter school.
September 23rd, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
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September 23rd, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^
We dodged two bullets with Snoop Dog's son and Chris Clark not coming here.
Losing two guys in an already-small class would be very bad. Especially if Michigan took them over guys that eventually wound up signing here.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:18 PM ^
Quite premature on that. Maybe not on Boradus since it sounds like he was going to stop playing football wherever he signed, but do you really know the dirty on Clark? Is it possible that the issues he had at UCLA he wouldn't have had at Michigan?
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^
Is it possible that Jim Harbaugh would be more understanding than Jim Mora of coming to practice late, talking on his cell phone or showing up to practice in street clothes without telling the trainers why he was holding himself out of activities?? I'd bet the house that he would have lasted an even shorter time at Michigan than at UCLA. Remember all of this happened and Clark still played in their first game. Harbaugh would have sent his ass back to prep school in the first week of camp.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
Let's not pretend that because you've read a few excerpts from a Scout board that you know what was really going on. It's possible that Clark has some immaturity issues that Mora did a poor job of handling but Michigan's staff could have dealt with. Maybe he felt entitled at UCLA because the coaches kept telling him how great he was, and Michigan would have knocked him down a peg, nipping these issues in the bud.
You don't know the real story here, or certainly the underlying one so there's no reason to speculate how person would act in a different situation.
September 23rd, 2015 at 1:28 PM ^
I may not know the kid, but I know the two coaches. If the kid didn't respond well to Mora he would have had a nightmareish time with our Jim.
September 23rd, 2015 at 3:40 PM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:08 PM ^
means he isn't also good at dealing with them and their problems? It could just be that he would have handled Clark better than Mora and the kid would have responded better. No way it could have been worse.
September 23rd, 2015 at 8:30 PM ^
I call bullshit.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:28 PM ^
I'd like to see examples of that. Jordan Payton was the serialist of decommitters and he is currently one of UCLA's stars and has been a contributor every year. I think this idea that if a 17 year old has a hard time making up his mind that this will impact him as a player down the road. AT LEAST half of that is the influence he gets from his parents and most of the other half if his own maturity which can certainly change a lot from 17-19 or 20.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:53 PM ^
I have a couple examples:
The 'vision quest" kid, who I never heard from again.
Chris Barnett - TE
Cant remember if it was Reon Dawson or Ross Douglass who bounced around commitments to PSU
Kris Frost - LB
There are more.
September 23rd, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^
Both Kris Frost and Vision Quest Kid (Kozan) are starters for Auburn, and were starters at a young age. No idea about Chris Barnett, and it's Ross Douglas you're thinking of. It might be too early to tell on him, but switching a commitment when a school gets sanctions and loses a coach is pretty understandable. He's also sitting behind 3 really highly rated RBs right now.
So with those 4 examples, combined with Jordan Payton, it seems that more often than not, guys end up being successful. At the very least, there's no indication that being a commitment-flipper is an indication you won't be successful as a player.
September 23rd, 2015 at 2:48 PM ^
Just giving a few examples.
I don't care either way.
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:39 PM ^
Barnett fell off the face of the Earth. Literally. I think he's piloting New Horizons.
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:26 PM ^
He and Douglass aren't examples of kids who couldn't make up their minds. They're kids whose first choice changed on them.
I'll add a couple. Trey Burke decommitted from PSU. Caris Levert decommitted from Ohio.
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:38 PM ^
Frost wasn't committed to Michigan.
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:44 PM ^
Talk about a dude flaking out. Slacker.
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:43 PM ^
I'm not really sure what you're getting at. You have a smattering of random decommits, and then one guy (Alex Kozan) who only ever committed to Auburn.
I consider "serial" decommitters to be guys who were committed to multiple places before choosing their final destination. Clark would count because UNC/Michigan before UCLA; Ross Douglas would not count because it was just PSU.
September 23rd, 2015 at 7:34 PM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:54 PM ^
Logicially there may be some sense to it, a kid who easily changes his mind might be quick to transfer when the going gets tough. And people like to mention all the kids that switch schools a couple times not working out. However, they never take into account the fact that many college recruits don't make the NFL or even become starters.
It would be nice to see the statistics though and compare them to the average success rate of equally ranked recruits. Compare the 5 star flips to average 5 stars, 4 star flips to 4 stars and so on. It would be tough though because there are mitigating factors, like a 3 star committed to CMU who blows up his senior year and gets a Michigan offer, or a kid who doesn't do so well his senior year and the coaches kind of stop talking to him until he gets the hint and decommits.
September 23rd, 2015 at 1:57 PM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 10:32 PM ^
It would be tough to compile, but the sample size is so small. Like I said, Jordan Payton committed to both USC and Washington before committing to UCLA and he's been a solid contributor the whole time.
Sometimes kids commit and decommit strategically, sometimes coaches change (head or assistant) and sometimes kids continue to research more schools and realize they committed too early.
In most cases, I think kids get poor advice from parents and coaches who play a big role in this flip flopping.
If was being asked to "verbally commit" to the colleges I was looking at, I would have committed to ND, Grand Valley (to run track), Albion (football), and Purdue before I committed to Michigan. Luckily, I didn't have reporters asking me throughout high school who I favored or any coaches pressuring me to lock up my spot.
September 24th, 2015 at 11:09 AM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 1:22 PM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:00 PM ^
This is a blessing in disguise.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
Why would this be a blessing in disguise? Can't we let Harbaugh make that deicsion instead of Mora? If it was really a bad thing for Clark to transfer here (which I'm not convinced of yet) then Harbaugh simply wouldn't offer him a spot. But I think anyone would agree that you want to have the option.
If Jim Mora really though Clark was a bum who didn't have any value to Michigan, he wouldn't bother blocking us.
September 23rd, 2015 at 2:42 PM ^
to come here, he'll have to pass the "Harbaugh Test", and if he does, great. Hopefully, he can find a way to come here. If he doesn't, the best of luck to him. But, I trust Coach H to sort this thing out if it comes down to that.
September 23rd, 2015 at 4:25 PM ^
it's "blessing in the skies" moran.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^
Why would Mora block just Michigan? or any school not in the Pac-12? What am I missing here.
September 23rd, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^
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September 23rd, 2015 at 12:05 PM ^
Don't play until 2022, well after Clark will be out of school. It does sound like a dick move.
September 23rd, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^
A dick block, if you will.