Don

February 2nd, 2016 at 7:16 PM ^

FWIW, that wasn't Sam Webb's take on things this morning by a long shot. He's been saying for at least a couple of weeks that Clemson would be the most serious competition, and he said the notion that Gary was a lock to UM was very mistaken. I'm not a member over at Scout so I don't what Webb might have said later in the day today, though.

The fact that CBs are now coming in for Gary isn't reassuring. I've seen recruitments go south at the last minute for us too many times over the past 20 years to take anything for granted.

One thing this has done is deepen my skepticism about the whole "academics are very important to me" routine. When they hear those words, Michigan football fans automatically assume that Michigan is the sure destination, since it's rarely the case that we're going up against Stanford or some other school with equivalent academic reputation. The problem is that those words may well mean something very different to the recruit and his family.

DomIngerson

February 2nd, 2016 at 7:46 PM ^

I'm with you on the Academics thing but this recruitment is about Relationships. Michigan has been the one constant with other schools making a push here and there. USC a couple of weeks ago was an "eye-opener" and then his visit schedule was split between Bama/Clemson because he was in the South (ATL) for an award event. He decides to visit Clemson and all of a sudden they're "in the mix." I don't buy it. I'm a big fan of Sam and trust him for the most part but there's no denying he has an agenda. He's got to drive traffic and this is an easy and ultimately harmless way to do it. Rashan wants to drive interest and Sam wants to generate clicks. I don't blame either one of them - I'd do the same damn thing.

Don

February 2nd, 2016 at 8:11 PM ^

If that's his goal, Rashan's mother is certainly cooperating since much of Sam's reasoning is a result of comments she made just a couple of days ago.

Trying to get concrete information about where a recruit is headed from random tweets and comments to recruiting analysts by parents is just slightly more reliable than looking at tea leaves and goat entrails for hints about the weather.

Regardless, all the drama will be done one way or another by this time tomorrow.

readyourguard

February 2nd, 2016 at 7:10 PM ^

After bludgeoning Penn State for the last 6 months, Jim Delaney intervened and threw James Franklin a bone.  Any win over Michigan is a good win for the fragile Nittany Lion fan base.