Exit Ahmir Mitchell
[Eric Upchurch]
That didn't last long:
All love for the people of Michigan and U of M pic.twitter.com/dATIELCJQe
— Ahmir_SoDevoted (@TheDeuce_2_Nice) August 24, 2016
Mitchell got in serious trouble over the summer that warranted what was probably going to be a year-long suspension. He was also apparently in the habit of posting images of him partying at various late-night hours on Snapchat. By all reports he was not a good fit for the program.
Privately we were expecting this, and I tried to gesture that direction in his recruiting profile:
General Excitement Level: Moderate-minus. Washout potential is high. Pure athlete at the moment.
And lo, it has come to pass. Dude could have sped it up a bit so that I didn't have to write that profile.
Even though he was nominally a receiver, Mitchell's departure is mostly a hit to the safety depth chart. Michigan really likes the McDoom/Crawford/Johnson trio and with Brad Hawkins an academic casualty both WR recruits who could play S have burned out before they could even get started.
That brings Michigan to 23 scholarships in a class we expect to reach 30.
August 24th, 2016 at 2:02 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
August 24th, 2016 at 2:04 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
August 24th, 2016 at 2:25 PM ^
It happens, but feeding the trolls is discouraged.
Thanks moms!
August 24th, 2016 at 2:53 PM ^
if another coach takes a chance on him, and he basically transfers to another school, BUT he didn't play a down this season, what does that mean for him? Will he have to sit this year out like normal since he enrolled early, or is the sit-out year waived since he transfered before his first season even began? Anyone know?
August 24th, 2016 at 4:08 PM ^
heard of a transfer right before school starts. He is enrolled at Michigan. Just to quit and go to another school because you got into trouble is pretty strange.
August 24th, 2016 at 4:21 PM ^
August 24th, 2016 at 1:55 PM ^
August 24th, 2016 at 2:22 PM ^
...that some of these kids don't see and fully appreciate the gift they're being afforded. From the university's perspective, asking someone to walk the straight and narrow for four years in exchange for a fully-funded education and potential NFL opportunity isn't too much to ask.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:57 PM ^
But this kind of thing happens with every class Michigan brings in. Like a lot of non-athletes we saw at Michigan when we were students, some people just don't adjust to college life well. It becomes all fun and not nearly enough work for them. You can hope the light bulb goes on for Ahmir wherever he ends up.
August 24th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^
What a week. Come on real football.
August 24th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^
This week has just been awesome. Can't wait to see what shit gets dropped tomorrow!
August 24th, 2016 at 5:50 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
August 24th, 2016 at 1:59 PM ^
that spearheaded all of this? Do we expect to hear something about criminal charges later or is it just a failure to adjust to college life situation?
August 24th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^
is in the weeds
August 24th, 2016 at 6:25 PM ^
Blowing or Lying?
August 24th, 2016 at 1:59 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
August 24th, 2016 at 2:00 PM ^
I would guess Rutgers but they're in-conference now and he already enrolled at Michigan. I'll put my money on Temple.
August 24th, 2016 at 2:00 PM ^
I get that Harbaugh has the authority to put him in the doghouse, and that's fine. It's not expulsion or a sentence or even revoking his scholarship; assuming he didn't do anything to deserve those punishments in the first place. So, "bad fit" I get. You play for Harbaugh, you play by his rules. That said, I think at his age I wouldn't be a good fit either. I was DUUUUUMB. I'm kind of amazed I graduated.
What I'm trying to say is, it's too bad it didn't work out, but if he was gonna go in the doghouse because he's just an immature nitwit, as a person there's still plenty of time for him to get his head turned around. Just thinking back, I passed my classes and never got in trouble with the police, but even if I was athletically gifted I could see Harbaugh kicking me out just on the grounds of being a toxic jackass.
August 24th, 2016 at 2:03 PM ^
Dude, if JH could kick you off Mgoblog he probably would...
Your work ethic does not rise to his expectations!
August 24th, 2016 at 5:51 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
August 24th, 2016 at 2:04 PM ^
So...you think that Harbaugh is willing to fly to NJ multiple times... have Mitchell come here on our dime... and then suspend him for a full year just for "partying"? Cmon... wake up.... it obviously wouldnt be the vanilla type of partying youre alluding to... or at the very best, a suspsension based on repeated partying after the coach said to tone it down, and didnt.
August 24th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
I'm not sure what you think you're telling me to wake up from, because I basically guess something like what you described -- partying when or where he shouldn't have. Maybe he uploaded a selfie from a frat party while the team was in the submarine, or took a piss on a statue of Bo or something. Serious in a responsibility context, very bad fit for the team, but not an indication that he's completely broken.
I want to make clear I'm not throwing these out as a specific guesses of what he actually did. I just note that Harbaugh tried to handle this matter internally, adamantly. As in, this press conference is OVER level of having Mitchell's back. He obviously thought it was something Mitchell could grow out of. If he did something like assault someone he'd have been kicked to the curb.
August 24th, 2016 at 4:21 PM ^
August 24th, 2016 at 2:08 PM ^
"Mitchell got in serious trouble over the summer that warranted what was probably going to be a year-long suspension."
Rumor has it was a LOT more than just partying.
August 24th, 2016 at 2:17 PM ^
Well, I'll stop there then. I think it's harmless to speculate on how a dumb teenager could piss off a grown-up if only because that's a day that ends in y, but if the emphasis was on SERIOUS then I'm not going to guess what that was.
But again, he didn't get kicked off the team outright, which puts a ceiling on his worst offense.
August 24th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
I'm not sure that's right. The post says "he got in trouble. He was *also* in the habit of posting partying on snapchat." Seems a more generalized comment on fit, not the cause of his suspension. And I have no idea if he was partying daily during fall camp or just over the summer, the former would have some bearing on fit I would think.
There were rumors it was weed (I think?), which would also be a dumb-as-hell reason to get a year-long suspension, but we really have no idea afaik.
August 24th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
It was something more than just, like, "weed."
August 24th, 2016 at 2:19 PM ^
Where is everyone getting their information because no one on this boards seems to want to just tell everyone what happened they just keep intimating they know. Someone go on the dang record!
August 24th, 2016 at 2:35 PM ^
August 24th, 2016 at 2:49 PM ^
did he break into a gas station bathroom (or not), pee on the wall of an alley way and rip down a sign before getting shook down by security guards for money to pay for the damages?
August 25th, 2016 at 3:00 AM ^
Nah, I think that was some other dude.
August 24th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^
But I've read this site long enough to know Brian's writing style and it's not that hard to see when he knows something to be true that he's not going to share the details. He's put more red flags up on this kid than a 4th of July parade so whatever it was he did I'm pretty sure it was more than youthful partying or a joint or two.
August 24th, 2016 at 2:54 PM ^
Dude, I think you mean more red flags than May Day in Moscow?!
August 24th, 2016 at 3:07 PM ^
I agree with everything you said, but people in both this post and the Boards thread keep very pointedly shutting down speculation as if they know the exact story. That gets old real fast. If you know the answer and don't want to speak about it in order to not throw around unsourced info or to give the kid his privacy just don't post anything. To make it apparent that you know the answer but aren't going to share it makes a poster seem like that gossip queen that totally knows all the info but isn't gonna tell you because you soooo aren't cool enough. Put up or shut up I say.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:14 PM ^
Agreed. If they knew, they would say. Not much is kept that quiet on here. It's obvious they don't know.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:58 PM ^
August 24th, 2016 at 3:17 PM ^
They're shutting down wrong speculation, like "he's just been suspended because he is partying too much."
Some average guy off the street pretending to know something and not, that's pretty obnoxious, yes. Brian is not some average guy off the street. He's heard stuff. Some or most of it is stuff he can't repeat. Magnus, who follows things pretty closely, either has information himself or is verifying that what people are hearing from people like Brian is reliable based on his understanding of the accuracy of those people.
A lot of people are just backing Brian up here because we *know* he has credibility and he is not going to waste it on the disciplinary status of a guy who hasn't played a down at Michigan. When Brian drops smoke hints, the fire is down there somewhere.
And through several recruit profiles, Brian was dropping smoke bombs on Mitchell.
The reason we don't hear more is because the information is communicated to people in confidence. Which is to say, the only way they get that information at all is by being someone that can be trusted not to reveal its specifics publicly.
The alternative to this isn't specific details; the alternative is no information at all. Be happy for what you get.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:25 PM ^
I didn't complain about Brian or the lack of info from him one bit. I did mention that it's annoying to see posters indicating they know all about it but not sharing. Posters can either get down in the mud with the speculators or keep themselves clean by shutting up.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:47 PM ^
I think you're making too big of a deal about this. There have been a couple of speculations that have been shut down (ie "it's weed" or "it's partying") because there is an understanding that whatever Mitchell did was a lot more serious than some excessive partying or because he hit a joint once or twice over the summer. Those ideas are getting shot down because the hints from Brian are rather stronger than that and because it's generally understood that those kinds of infractions aren't enough to get someone shipped on their own.
You started this subsection of the thread basically by asking people to spill all the dirt on Mitchell. It sounds to me like it bothers you that there's stuff you don't know and apparently stuff a few people do know. But that's life--we don't know everything and it's not appropriate for us to know everything. Unless there is a legal charge in court, we probably never will. That's how it goes.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:54 PM ^
Yep. I'm making a big deal out of it, says the guys who's written two walls of text.
August 24th, 2016 at 4:48 PM ^
Takes two minutes to produce one of those posts. You're the one expressing anger at people for not giving you the inside dirt on the mistakes of a kid who just graduated from high school.
August 24th, 2016 at 5:09 PM ^
Not once did I express anger (annoyance yes). I think you're inferring something that isn't there.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:34 PM ^
August 24th, 2016 at 4:58 PM ^
"The alternative to this isn't specific details; the alternative is no information at all."
...and no information at all IS the better alternative.
August 24th, 2016 at 5:07 PM ^
This guy gets it.
August 25th, 2016 at 3:06 AM ^
No speculation IS the better alternative. Nothing wrong with partial information; it is still information. It is the speculation that is toxic.
August 24th, 2016 at 3:07 PM ^
Comments