Harbaugh wanted Viramontes to play QB
247's Clint Brewster reporting the exact opposite of what we've all heard/assumed, Jim Harbaugh had every intention of Vic Viramontes starting out at QB when he got to Michigan. Looks like he fell victim to some negative recruiting:
"We have been told that Viramontes was given bad information from a member of his camp that Michigan wouldn’t give him a shot at quarterback and he would immediately be a fullback or linebacker, which is completely false. Jim Harbaugh see's Viramontes as a high ceiling prospect at quarterback that has a lot of similar qualities to Colin Kaepernick."
December 8th, 2015 at 10:02 AM ^
If this is indeed the case, it's too bad that Vic didn't check with Harbaugh/the UM staff about their definite plans for him, and instead took the word of a member of his camp who may not have had the accurate info. That's a big decision to make when you don't have all the facts.
Or, regardless of Harbaugh's plans, it still could be that Vic saw too much high-rated competition at QB, and may have wanted to go where the path to playing time might be a little easier.
We'll probably never know. At any rate, good luck Vic - and now there's another scholarship available.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:46 AM ^
Viramontes seemed to indicate that he'd been considering this choice for sometime and that it was made with the support of his family whether or not he was given false information about his chance to compete for the quarterback job, and of course, that aspect of his decision-making wasn't disclosed. But it's very possible that Harbaugh or his primary recruiter hadn't been in touch with Viramontes lately and that lack of connection and contact by another school, reportedly Cal, prompted the decommitment and the idea that Michigan was not really going to give him a chance to play quarterback.
December 8th, 2015 at 12:48 PM ^
communication issue. I thought I read on another thread that another commit (Enis maybe?) had said something about not talking to any of the coaches for a while. Whatever, but I definitely think there's been some negative recruiting going on. In addition to the position switch, he could also have been told he'd be lost in the QB shuffle at Michigan. The competition situation may be the crux of it. Some players seem to embrace it. Others would rather go somewhere where they can be the big fish in the pond. I do hope we can get him back somehow.
December 8th, 2015 at 1:25 PM ^
"Some players seem to embrace it" - see I don't think we should be too hard on guys that make an honest assessment of their skills and decide to go to a place where there's a clearer path to starting. Sure, if a guy wants to be a diva and demand a school not recruit anyone else, that's annoying, but taking a 50-50 or better shot at being a multi-year starter vs. being locked in a competion with 5 or 6 guys as highly rated as you or better is just smart. Hard to make an NFL team as a middling recruit from the bench, but a ton of 3 and 4 stars have made the league by being the "big fish in a small pond".
December 8th, 2015 at 9:00 PM ^
Agreed.
It's just simple football development at that point. Nothing beats in-game experience. Live-action is the only place you'll get better.
And everyone develops at different rates, plenty of NFL starters coming out of no-name schools where they played all four years.
Don't get me wrong, Harbaugh is one of a handful of coaches who can get you to the NFL if you can put in the work and have the determination for excellence (and in a few years he might be THE guy to).
It works both ways. Pros and cons to both. Not a simple situation at all.
Dude, I was so stupid when I was 17 (and still am years later), I can't fault these kids for any decision they make.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:03 AM ^
Wome Wack, Weeektor Wiramontes! We WOVE wou!!!!
December 8th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
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December 8th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
Pure speculation, but I'm guessing the Viramontes family has a computer at home and happened to check out the senior season highlights of Brandon Peters. If I was an incoming QB and knew that Peters was going to be in the same class, I might look around at other schools also.
Publicly, many kids will say the competition doesn't matter, but it probably factors in more often than we hear.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:07 AM ^
Maybe they would have said the same if they saw Shane Morris' highlights and saw that he was an Elite 11 QB. In that case, they would have been dead wrong since HS highlights and stats don't always transcribe to the college setting. Harbaugh wants competitors. This guy is a competitor, he just wants to make sure he is getting a fair shake from day one.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^
Shane Morris made the Elite 11 finals (Top 25) but he didn't make the final cut. So he wasn't an Elite 11 QB.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:18 AM ^
Go ahead and compare Shane's highlights to Peters. They don't look the same, not even close.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:20 AM ^
But I was apprehensive about all the praise the second I saw his HS senior day performance. Those two on film are LIGHT YEARS apart. I'm not sure how Shane got his lofty rankings on the recruiting sites. Peters actually looks to be underrated to me.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:08 AM ^
December 8th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
The timing seemed weird. He did an OV (where Harbaugh did the full court press including getting his dad involved on the recruiting) and then he came back for an UV on his own dime for the OSU game. Then Baxter flies out to spend time with him in person and goes to his gym where they take a pic showing how connected Baxter is over there. Then Boom. Decommit and Cal Bears offer.
Seemed strange. I think there was definitely someone getting in his ear and pulling him away from Michigan.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
December 8th, 2015 at 10:17 AM ^
The turnaround on his decision was so quick that there had to be outside factors. Maybe he wanted to play for Cal all along, and we were his backup school if they never offered?
Maybe he saw the OSU game and thought, holy shit, if I play here I'm going to get killed?
Whatever his reasons I'm not that broken up about it. He's not that highly rated and I think we're good on OB's for the moment. I'd much rather us find some 4* LB's.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^
He is a 4* (on some sites - split 3/4*). But in either case, I think he got sold some bad info.
On your first point, no one wants to go to Cal. It's like the 4th best Pac-12 school in California alone. I would put Stanford, UCLA and USC first by a mile.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:27 AM ^
...but they do have a decent history of producing highly rated QBs (Rodgers, Boller, etc.), and currently, Jared Goff is considered a potential 1st round pick.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:31 AM ^
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December 8th, 2015 at 11:41 AM ^
Co-eds?
December 8th, 2015 at 1:28 PM ^
No, because it's Berkeley - one of the very few public universities with a legitimate claim to being better than UofM (from an academic quality/reputation standpoint).
December 8th, 2015 at 5:38 PM ^
It's also in the middle of a ghetto, was the worst campus i visited back when I was looking at colleges...20 years ago. God I've gotten old.
December 8th, 2015 at 8:57 PM ^
Ghetto? Seriously? Have you been there lately? Sure, there's some skank to the south, but on the whole the area is very nice.
December 8th, 2015 at 9:17 PM ^
and they found your walkman.
December 8th, 2015 at 1:40 PM ^
Cal reportedly has them.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:38 AM ^
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December 8th, 2015 at 10:48 AM ^
I don't know that I'd say that, Berkley is a GREAT location, it's a great school, and there's a definite QB history there. It's a good option, reading the tea leaves using this new information, this feels like family members wanting him to stay close to home and emphasizing the Cal opportunity as it is fairly equivalent to a Michigan opportunity, but close by(Yes, yes, Harbaugh and all that, my point is still valid).
December 8th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^
Having Victor Viramontes in the fold does not prevent us from getting 4-star linebackers. Conversely, having him gone does not automatically grant us 4-star linebackers.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:44 AM ^
What does automatically grant us 4-star linebackers? Can we have some of that?
December 8th, 2015 at 10:46 AM ^
Having him on the team would be great, but the level of freak-out over his decommitment seemed a bit out of proportion given his rating and position. If we lost the commitment of a highly rated LB, a position of significant need, then go ahead and freak out.
But you knew what I meant. I find your response to be shallow and pedantic.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:55 AM ^
December 8th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
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December 8th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^
I found your response to be totally pointless. The two have nothing to do with each other (an athletic QB and a lack of 4-star linebackers).
Also, I don't think people are "freaking out," but they are concerned that we have a lack of depth at linebacker. Since Viramontes is a potential body at linebacker, then it makes sense to be concerned. If we get zero or just one or two of the linebackers currently on the board, we could have some real problems fielding a competent linebacker crew.
December 8th, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^
December 8th, 2015 at 10:26 AM ^
he is a 4* LB... just doesn't know it yet
December 8th, 2015 at 10:06 AM ^
December 8th, 2015 at 10:09 AM ^
These are the same type of blog/board discussions that put together the perfect RB pecking order of Green, Smith then Johnson. Once we got Isaac, he went right to the top, because 5 stars, duh.
Bottom line is no one knows at this point. We can hypothesize all we want, but if Harbaugh sees a competitor and sees a "football player", then I trust him because he has a better eye for talent than anyone on this board.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
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December 8th, 2015 at 10:26 AM ^
Or Peters gets injured or leaves early, etc. Stuff happens. Harbaugh wants more than one weapon in his arsenal.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:48 AM ^
I think he's going to turn out to be a solid back-up and maybe even a potential starter.
But I love underdog stories, so I'm a little biased.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^
50-50. Once kids get on campus and practice starts, the stars and 7 on 7 reviews don't matter anymore. If he performs better in camp, he will play and he'll get that opportunity.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:15 AM ^
Playing time in college does not often conform exactly to what the rankings say. You need only to look at the last 10 years of Michigan football to see that. Shane Morris should have been starting this year, but he was beaten out by a 3-star (Rudock) and another 3-star (Speight). Tate Forcier should have been the starter for four years, but he was beaten out by an "athlete" that very few schools wanted to play QB (Denard Robinson).
Okay, actually, Forcier should have been sitting behind Ryan Mallett, but Mallett transferred.
So what are the chances that Viramontes ever would start over Peters? I dunno...maybe 50/50?
December 8th, 2015 at 10:22 AM ^
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December 8th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
You never know, especially this far out. 4 years ago everyone said that Shane Morris would be a heisman finalist and have Michigan in the National Championship game in 2015. In college football nothing should be taken for granted.
December 8th, 2015 at 10:31 AM ^
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December 8th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^
Quick! Someone send this link to Vic!
December 8th, 2015 at 10:12 AM ^
The guy who was on here yesterday repeatedly claiming to have insider information that Harbaugh told VV he couldn't compete at QB...might've been wrong?
December 8th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
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December 8th, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^
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December 8th, 2015 at 10:34 AM ^
He might have been wrong but was definately an idiot.