Hand To Alabama
Da'Shawn Hand chose Alabama over Michigan and Florida in an excruciatingly long televised announcement on NBCSN, citing the opportunity to major in civil enginering and the chance to win a national championship.
I've got nothing else. This month can't end soon enough. Please be civil in the comments, especially since it's pretty darn difficult to blame Hand given, you know, the state of things.
November 14th, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^
I live in Orlando and watched Dee play many of times while he was at Dr. Phillips and have buddies whos kids went to school with him. I believe before he left, he had 3 or 4 kids while in high scool. Ended up blowing out both knees while at Bama......thats alot of kids for anyone!
November 14th, 2013 at 1:56 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 8:50 AM ^
We've moved on to blaming Hoke for everything. We'll get a good decade out of that.
November 14th, 2013 at 1:58 PM ^
.......that the player is fat, lazy, takes plays off, is not a true "Michigan Man", etc., etc.,?/s
actually, good luck to him, i'm disappointed, but hard to say that alabama is not a good choice, too
November 14th, 2013 at 2:01 PM ^
IMO Michigan would be 8-4/9-3 with or without him and Peppers. (given the current staff)
November 14th, 2013 at 2:03 PM ^
Nothing to see here. Move along.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:03 PM ^
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Another name to add to the long list of Michigan "locks". It will be interesting to see not only how this season ends up but this recruiting class as well. How did things go from so good to so bad in what seems like 2 months?
November 14th, 2013 at 2:17 PM ^
It's hard to say that Michigan State wouldn't be the better choice for him. I wouldn't be shocked at all if he goes to Lansing (or to the SEC).
November 14th, 2013 at 7:05 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 8:54 AM ^
Huh?? Always the bridesmaid, never the bride?
We're Mrs.freaking Peppers. Check out the RING, sucka.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:03 PM ^
thus far has just been a series of crotch kicks
November 14th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^
pretty much everything subsequent to ND has been a series of dong punches.
November 14th, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
Hand absolutely made the correct choice. School has nothing to do with it, because he'll be NFL bound before he recevies any degree. If you play defense and you want to go to the NFL, go to LSU or Bama. He made the choice that will yield the best returns on his investment. It's upsetting but true.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:27 PM ^
this is the best GIF you could have used... well done Ace, well done
November 14th, 2013 at 2:33 PM ^
That whole tribute to Hoke and Muschamp was Hand's way of saying "many thanks, but no thanks" and anybody who is suprised today had blinders on.
Did Hand really indicate "chance to win a national championship" was what separated Alabama? as if his going to MIchigan was not enough for M to win? Yikes.
so 7-5 (at best) with a whipping from the Bucks.....we were ready to hang RichRod for that.
But Hoke is Brandon's hire, so he probably makes hime lose Borges, maybe Funk in order to give hin year 4.
Sadly, there is no obvious, sexy new HC candidate I can think of..
Thankfully, we got hoops.
CARIS!
November 14th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^
we were ready to hang RichRod for that.
Nope. We weren't exactly playing great in our other B1G games. We nearly lost to Indiana twice. Probably should've lost those games. But I do believe that he was a good defensive coordinator and switch to the 4-3 away from giving us at least what we have had under Hoke's regime.
But unfortunately, he didn't have a chance with the crying about the #1 Jersey, Michigan Man, Practicegate garbage and "we can't run the spread in the B1G (but ignore OSU, NW and Indiana)." I don't mind the Hand decision, but those who ran RR out of town are getting their just desserts right now. Unfortunately, those who wanted some patience in the offseason of 2010-11 are suffering as well.
November 14th, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 2:37 PM ^
I compare this to when Terrell Pryor chose OHIO over Michigan way back when... But Michigan lucked out with that one. I'll take Shoelace any day!
This one stings but can you really blame him? I don't think Michigan losing 3 of the last 4 games, in an 18 year old top prospect, looks ideal leading up to making one of the biggest decisions of his life. We shouldn't be blaming Da'Shawn, blame the performance on the field. What have you done for me lately definitely won out here!
I just hope Malik McDowell doesn't take the same route cuz that would be even more devastating. Then Michigan would really be scrambling more than they already were.
Now that Hand chose Bama, does this open up the possibility of Parker Westphal or Montae Nicholson?
Hoke and Co. need to respond somehow before an already restless/passionate fanbase turns against them!
November 14th, 2013 at 3:43 PM ^
As much as Pryor was an idiot, he was an excellent college QB. I very strongly doubt RR is gone after three years if Pryor came to UM.
November 14th, 2013 at 6:31 PM ^
This is not some crappy class. It had the chance to go from very good to F*CK ALL YOU HATERZ good. There's a couple months left. They need to respond on the football field because most fans truly don't pay attention to the recruiting stuff. They just figure Michigan football = good. We win a couple games, take advantage of the extra practice time for the bowl game and win on hopefully New Years Day. That will calm the fanbase.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:39 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 2:44 PM ^
Alabama got a more recent visit, Alabama has a strong history of recent success and a crapload of players in the NFL, Alabama has a strong talent development record. Once Saban decided he really wanted Hand(and it was obvious that was the case) did anyone realisticslly think he was going anywhere else. This one was over a while back and while I am sure the program looking like a complete tire fire in the past few weeks did not help, I don't think it was the determining factor.
And yes, IMO, McDowell isn't coming here either.
Let's hope the coaches get out and about on the recruiting trail and find the next winners of the Jake Ryan/ Frank Clark / Willie Henry / Dennis Norfleet we really like your Senior film awards.
November 14th, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^
I just hope this brings us one step closer to the change we need: a new coach.
November 14th, 2013 at 3:36 PM ^
November 15th, 2013 at 12:25 AM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 3:00 PM ^
PART (not all) of the reason that not getting Hand hurts for me is that I have absolutely NO FAITH in this staff's ability to develop the lesser rated players it has into something special.
In fact, if I am honest with myself, I would say that my fear about player development stretches well back into the Carr years and that my "gut" level belief about this program is that it is broken. Couple that with a belief that the powers that be are so caught up in the "Michigan Way" that they cannot see what many of us see and my only hope for ever being elite in football lies in our ability to recuit players that are so naturally gifted that even they cannot be screwed up by this program.
I can't shake the belief that underachieving has become part of the DNA at Michigan.
November 14th, 2013 at 3:01 PM ^
I was feeling pretty bad about Hand, but then I pulled off a great trade in fantasy football. I sent Nick Foles & Chris Johnson in return for Jamaal Charles. All of the sudden my day feels great again.
November 14th, 2013 at 3:05 PM ^
How much did this last month factor into Hand's decision?
Put another way, if UM was having a solid season, would Hand be Blue?
November 14th, 2013 at 4:31 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 7:39 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 3:08 PM ^
I get all my recruits to come for the OSU game or move the ND game to late November.
Those on-campus visist to a rivalry game usually seals the deal.
November 14th, 2013 at 5:21 PM ^
Be careful what you wish for. You think any recruits were impressed by the MSU game?
November 14th, 2013 at 3:12 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 3:17 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 7:30 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 8:06 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 3:43 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 4:36 PM ^
I registered a username just to make this comment. I work for the department of civil engineering at Michigan. Our undergrad program is currently ranked #8 in the country. Alabama is currently ranked #80. That is all.
November 14th, 2013 at 4:51 PM ^
November 14th, 2013 at 5:04 PM ^
he wanted to go to Bama for football....but this makes it SEEM like engineering. I am an engineer as well (long time) and saying you are a UofM grad Means a ton in ANY industry
November 14th, 2013 at 5:19 PM ^
Just wondering why these awesome athletes who are obviously great at what they do and on top of that, most everyone else at their school cannot do what they do (be a football player) Seem to be held accountable for an alternate degree which is their 2nd choice OBVIOUSLY.
November 14th, 2013 at 5:22 PM ^
The trouble is that all the football team statistics are reversed -- maybe with even a wider gap.
November 14th, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^
This was a football decision, and I for one don't blame Hand for a second. If I were a top recruit, and Saban offered me, what reason should I have for turning it down? He wins championships, and prepares kids for the NFL. He's unarguably the best coach in America right now, and when its all said and done, he might be the best college coach ever.
Hoke is a great guy with a great personality, but he's got absolutely nothing on Saban. Hoke is still trying to establish himself as a credible big time college coach, while Saban's results speak for themselves. If I could find a way to it my bias aside, I know if make the exact same choice Hand did if I were in his shoes.
November 14th, 2013 at 4:59 PM ^
Yeah, I've been cautioning people lately that he certainly wasn't the "done deal" that most around here seemed to think. I won't say I expected this, but I wasn't confident at all that he was blue. Good luck to the young man. Hope for his sake that Saban sticks around...
November 15th, 2013 at 12:21 AM ^
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