Exit JaRaymond Hall Comment Count

Brian

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Sam Webb reports that freshman OL JaRaymond Hall is exiting the program. Hall enrolled early and then redshirted, and while he was one of the lower-ranked guys in the class he was another bullet in the chamber at a tackle position that needs as many as it can get.

OTOH, Webb reports that Hall might land at Iowa State or Arizona, so maybe this is a situation where the guy already feels he's behind a large number of classmates. Michigan brought in Chuck Filiaga, Andrew Stueber, and Joel Honigford last year and then moved James Hudson to tackle in fall camp. If Hall was fifth in that pecking order, with little near-term path to the field on the interior, that might be enough to bail this early.

FWIW, this brings Michigan to 15 open spots for this year's class, with 6-7 potential fifth year players who are either not projected contributors or borderline. Two to four of those guys probably won't be back. Also, Mike Spath reported a couple days ago that Alex Malzone would graduate in 3.5 years and seek a two-year gig elsewhere. A class from 20 to 22 seems likely. Michigan has 16 commits currently.

Comments

gbdub

November 29th, 2017 at 8:55 AM ^

As a transfer, he has to sit a year. As an OL, and a skinny one at that, he’s probably not playing next year regardless. If he waits another year to transfer, he risks wasting a year he could be playing (his redshirt sophomore year) on the bench sitting out.



So if he feels he’s well behind his classmates and/or just feels Michigan isn’t a great fit for him, now is actually the perfect time to transfer.

Kevin13

November 29th, 2017 at 9:41 AM ^

many kids do that. He's been practicing he knows where he stands talent wise with the kids in his class. He's way down the depth chart and after a year in the program he's realized he has basically no shot of getting significant playing time here. The kid wants to play and the only way he can do that is to transfer to a school with less talent where he has a shot to play.  It's not bizarre at all.

TrueBlue2003

November 28th, 2017 at 11:20 PM ^

are very rarely at playing weight at the end of their first semester in college.  So to say that he "never developed the skill set of a tackle" and that he's not big enough at this point in his career is stupid.

But yeah, it's almost certainly not a case of processing. If he's already behind several guys in his own class, and doesn't feel like he can pull ahead of them, it's best for him to move somewhere else.

Jasper

November 29th, 2017 at 8:32 AM ^

Assuming RichRod doesn't get fired (safe, AFAICS from Tucson online sources), Arizona would be a potentially good place for Hall.

RR has shown the questionable roster management that seems to mark his career. There are some holes on the offensive line (which may sound familiar).

gbdub

November 29th, 2017 at 9:01 AM ^

2010 was the best OLine we’ve had in a decade, it was really the transition (couple of weak classes, plus the shift in style) that hurt us there. I don’t think it was poor planning, at least not quite to the level of Hoke skipping a QB after Morris or Harbaugh’s adventures with Swenson.

evenyoubrutus

November 28th, 2017 at 10:27 PM ^

I'd assume you mean that in the pejorative sense, but there's a difference between telling a guy he has to leave when he wants to stay, and telling a guy he probably won't ever crack the starting the lineup. I'm sure Harbaugh is up front with these guys when he thinks they aren't developing the skills to contribute and if they want to leave they can go right ahead.

Blue in Paradise

November 28th, 2017 at 10:59 PM ^

Is that a rumor or something?  You seem to be the only one saying this.  There are plenty of scholarship players on the team that have had very little hope of making an impact and yet they haven't been processed.

Why would Harbaugh suddenly decide to process a player who is at a HUGE position of need after his freshman year?  It makes no sense.

Why do you think that is more likely than the kid deciding to transfer on his own?

Kevin13

November 29th, 2017 at 9:46 AM ^

meet with players at the end of the season and tell them how they are doing and what they need to work on and basically where they stand in the program. It's not necessarly processing them out, it's being honest and telling them where they stand. A kid can take that information and do what they want with it.

It might motivate them to work harder and try to prove the coach wrong. Or they might take it to heart and realize they are out of their league at UM and decide they still want to play but need to find a more suitable place to make that happen.

TrueBlue2003

November 28th, 2017 at 11:26 PM ^

but these coaches have a very good idea of who is going to get to the two-deep after a full year of seeing how they work, how quickly they pick things up, how their raw talent projects, etc. I'm sure one out fifty guys surprises them in year two or three against their expectations, but it'd be the exception rather than the rule.

Of course they wouldn't say, "there is no chance for you", but it'd be fair to say, "you're behind so-and-so, so-and-so, and so-and-so and if you work really hard at this and this and this you could pass them, or you might want to look elsewhere for a place without as much depth at this position."

FL_Steve

November 29th, 2017 at 3:50 AM ^

Silver lining, a potentially great recruiting class. I hope the staff is able to capitalize on it. Furthermore, this is big time football on the largest stage, and it's also a business, aergo, Theory of Work Adjustment. Best of luck to the men in the future, and looking forward to seeing some new Blue blood!

 

 

Commie_High96

November 28th, 2017 at 11:06 PM ^

who cares if he was "processed?"   He needs to go somewhere else to play cause it isnt happening here.  Why have him hang around for 4 years like Mo Ways?  Mo could have had a solid couple years at Cincinati or Troy or something.  If he wanted to make the NFL, getting 2 catches a year here the past 4 years didnt help.

TrueBlue2003

November 28th, 2017 at 11:42 PM ^

to honor the scholarship for four years, and it wasn't contingent on him cracking the two-deep.

If the guy wants to compete fairly for a spot and earn his Michigan degree, he deserves to do so under the commitment the coaches made.  So, if the coaches are forcing him to quit or treating him like Collins treated Vassar to try to get him to leave, there's something very wrong with that and people should care. 

If the coaches were just honest with him about his likelihood of playing as I'm sure they were with Mo Ways (and as I'm sure Mo Ways could tell), and he decided to leave for a better chance of seeing the field, that's fine, and that's probably what happened. So I guess it depends on your defintion of "processed".

For a good number of these guys that won't make the NFL, their degree actually does matter. And that's probably why Mo Ways stayed.  Having a solid couple years at Troy isn't going to get him to the NFL so why assume a guy would prefer that to practicing hard at Michigan, helping the scout team, and getting his Michigan degree? For those that don't care about playing time at a mediocre program, staying for the better degree is a smart career decision.

Rasmus

November 29th, 2017 at 8:29 AM ^

I mean, if that were going on (breaking the Michigan commitment), that would be grounds for firing Harbaugh. I can deal with painful losses and pretty much anything else, but not that.

But I'm also supremely confident that is not the case. If young Mr. Hall is going to transfer, it's not because of anything like that. Harbaugh was known and respected as a players' coach in the NFL -- no doubt it's also true on the college level.

I understand that these guys want to play. You don't get to this level without being competitive, and that's something Harbaugh looks for. My advice to them would always be to stay and get the Michigan degree, but I get why they don't.

Tater

November 29th, 2017 at 2:29 AM ^

"Processing redshirt freshmen?"

Why on earth would anyone automatically assume that a 19 year old kid being frustrated about his place on the depth chart was being "processed?"  I don't know about everyone else here, but I certainly didn't make a lot of rational decisions when I was 19.  

EVeryone wants to play now.  Nobody wants to wait.  Ironically enough, a lot of kids get frustrated with the depth chart, transfer, sit out a year, and then find out they would have played sooner if they had stayed.

 

bamf16

November 29th, 2017 at 6:56 AM ^

So on this blog are posters who are reacting emotionally to a situation involving a player they never saw play, a conversation/conversations that may or may not have happened, and if they did, the posters have no idea what was said.

 

Sounds reasonable.

m83econ

November 28th, 2017 at 10:09 PM ^

In a world of unlimited scholarships, every player would use up his eligibility at the school he signed with.  That's not today's world and the opposition (looking at you, Urban & Nick) practices aggressive roster management.  Failing to maximize scholarship value means falling behind.

OwenGoBlue

November 29th, 2017 at 10:55 AM ^

Need to manage your roster but even with unlimited scholarships you would get opportunity-related transfers, which this appears to be.

Guys want to play and many have NFL dreams. If you're running, say, 5/5 out of your class of OL you might want to look elsewhere for PT.