It's Over For Demar Dorsey And Michigan Comment Count

Brian

As of yesterday, Michigan coaches were reported to be trying to get Dorsey in. Letter campaigns and what-not were in the process of being launched. You can keep up the campaigns if you want but know that they won't have an effect:

"He signed a letter of intent but basically what happened, I guess he didn't qualify to their standards," Jackson said. "Admissions sent him a letter that they weren't going to admit him to the school and said to disregard the other letter (of intent) and was free again to start looking at other options." …

Now, Dorsey will reopen his recruiting.

"I would like to see him stay closer to home," Jackson said. "But it's wherever he feels comfortable."

This is depressing on multiple levels. GBW's Gene Hankerson says Arkansas, WVU, Tennessee, USC, Louisville, LSU, and Miami will look at Dorsey now.

Comments

UM4ME

June 9th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^

Damn it! This sure went down in the shittiest of ways. Good luck to him wherever he lands. I'll be watching and pulling for him from afar.

Wonder how Denard feels about all this?

Don

June 9th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^

That would sure set RR's teeth to grinding.

The frustrating thing is that we'll probably never know the inside nittty-gritty on what exactly happened, unless somebody inside Admissions or the Athletic Department bypasses the regs on student privacy.

His Dudeness

June 9th, 2010 at 12:32 PM ^

So... Arkansas, WVU, Tennessee, USC, Louisville, LSU, and Miami can all possibly get this kid, but we can't. Sounds like a competitive disadvantage. How do we expect to win games again?

alabluema

June 9th, 2010 at 12:33 PM ^

This is sad news for obvious reasons. At the same time, though, I don't necessarily agree that the appropriate response is to flood the admissions office with angry denunciations. Unless the admissions people are just evil, they must have had at least defensible reasons for not admitting Dorsey, otherwise they wouldn't have dinged him -- particularly since this is a high profile case having to do with weighty people and issues.

MCalibur

June 9th, 2010 at 12:46 PM ^

For me, this isn't about standards. I'm pissed because the University of Michigan, self-proclaimed leaders and best, has revealed itself to be just another bureaucracy that can't have a simply policy in place that says: "Hey, head coach, only recruit kids that match this profile." 

Stanford knows what the fuck it's doing, I'm supposed to believe that Michigan can't? Bullshit.

MCalibur

June 9th, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^

Sweet, that makes me feel better. Not really.

This exact thing? A kid signs an LOI, meets the presumed requirements, and get rejected anyway? I'll take your word for it. Regardless, my request stands. There's no excuse for this.

Stanford is well known for having admittance standards for athletes that are higher than the NCAA minimum and it pays a price. Michigan is trying to have it both ways, and I think that's bullshit.

MCalibur

June 9th, 2010 at 2:44 PM ^

Thanks for filling in the complete picture.

This is exactly what I meant. Stanford Admissions gets involved early enough so that at least the University can same some face and is not forced into pulling a kid's offer WAY after the fact. The only way this should happen is if a kid actually doesn't qualify for pre-stated standards or breaks the law.

I still think the optimal thing to do is to have alignment between Admission and the Athletic Department so that every iota of recruiting resource is spent on guys that won't get rejected Admissions unless they don't find a way to qualify.

Witty and Dorsey are but two examples.

Blue in Yarmouth

June 10th, 2010 at 7:46 AM ^

In this case though, the things his acceptance were said to be contingent on he achieved, and he was still rejected. That is complete bullshit and UM is going to suffer in the future because of it.

Any future football players who have borderline grades (which is not a small number) are going to look at the cases of Dorsey and Witty and say "Why the fuck would I take a chance committing to them and then have my admittance rejected in June?"

I don't think admissions appreciates the damage they have done to the football program in these two decisions. The two qualified and were subsequently rejected by admissions. I sure as hell wouldn't give UM a chance if I was a football player in a similar situation to Witty and Dorsey.

Six Zero

June 9th, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^

... and yet it still wasn't enough.

Good luck, Dorsey.  I looked forward to having you, and making sweet-ass T-shirts about you and your crazy antics.  Fare thee well.

BleedingBlue

June 9th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^

As usual, a good article from Angelique.  I'm happy to hear that McGee gave them a personal phone call to tell them it could happen and that they were fighting for him.  As Demar's Dad said, hopefully everything will work out for the best with this situation.  Best of luck to Demar and I hope he succeeds academically and on the football field wherever he ends up!

Quail2theVict0r

June 9th, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^

Good thing the Freep wrote a 5 page article trashing the kid that would never be accepted into Michigan. Shame we couldn't help the kid turn his life around, no thanks to the Freep.

And I'm kind curious to find out why he didn't get in.

trueblue262

June 9th, 2010 at 2:02 PM ^

Blaming the Freep for everything negative that happens to the University........Ever thought that it was RR? Or the admissions? or both? I will get negged for this, but hey its the last time I iwll probably sign in because I am so disgusted with these recent events, so here I go..........I am not worried that much about Demar Dorsey, he will recover........Its the future of Michigan recruiting that worries me. A GPA of 2.5 with no atheletic ability has no chance at Michigan, but for a footbal player......c'mon! This is a major screw up, and I can only hope that some type of comment from the AD or University in the near future can explain why it took4 months to figure this one out. I never thought I'd say this but I am starting to see that RR and the U of M marriage is over. If he can't get a 2.5 GPA student athlete in that is a top recruit, thenm he will be better off at another school and we will be better off with another coach.

cadmus2166

June 9th, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^

I wish there were some transparency to the whole admissions process so we could see how many kids of alumni were admitted with the same credentials.

Anyway, good luck Demar.  I wish you well, wherever you end up.

Keith

June 9th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^

that was used before the Supreme Court overturned the undergraduate admissions process, you would receive an additional 4 points (out of a possible total 150 points) for "legacy" status (your parents or step-parents attended U-M), which was roughly the equivalent of writing a set of outstanding essays or earning national recognition for a personal achievement.

No, it's not going to allow someone with no qualifications to get into the school, but I also think it's erroneous to suggest that being a "legacy" is completely insignificant.  It could certainly (at least under the old system) be the difference between getting in or not getting in with a significant number of borderline candidates.

Additionally, there was the 20 points allowed for "provost's discretion", which I imagine could be used to benefit the child of a well-connected, wealthy alumnus/alumna.

bronxblue

June 9th, 2010 at 12:42 PM ^

Well, at least we can feel good about our admissions standards while Dorsey is returning a Pick-6 against us in the 2011 Citrus Bowl as a member of Tennessee or LSU.

/sarcasm

This is crap.  I know people will argue that the only reason people care is because Dorsey is a good football player, but nobody deserves to be dragged along like this because of some administrative miscommunications.  If Dorsey really failed to meet the standards imposed when he was sent the LOI, then so be it.  But if he had the answers and then the admissions office changed the questions, he deserves answers and UM deserves all the vitriol they are receiving..

HeismanPose

June 9th, 2010 at 12:44 PM ^

Does this mean we're now Stanford/Northwestern/Notre Dame?  We'll make one bowl game a decade, but hey - our academic standards are, sometimes, when we want them to be, slightly better than those of USC, Florida and UNC!

This is just so stupid.  Doresy was recruited by UofM to play football, which is the path he has chosen in life.  What's the difference if he had a 2.6 or 2.8 GPA in high school? He is an exceptional person because of his athletic ability - that should be enough to get him into a public university that puts and emphasis on athletics.

Another blackeye for the school. 

jg2112

June 9th, 2010 at 12:47 PM ^

Are you claiming that it's an insult to be compared to Northwestern, either academically, or football-wise?

You can't be that dense, can you, or did you miss Northwestern playing football on New Years' Day last year? Yeah, heaven forbid Michigan gets that kind of production out of its non-guru-approved talent.

jg2112

June 9th, 2010 at 1:05 PM ^

Under their current coach, who took over after their former head coach died, the past two years Northwestern has gone 9-4 and 8-5. Northwestern red-shirts all of its freshmen, graduates 98% of its football players, and has over twice as many wins as Michigan the past two years with about 1/2 the acclaim re: recruiting.

Not good enough, heh?

My name ... is Tim

June 9th, 2010 at 1:08 PM ^

No. It's not good enough. Frankly I couldn't give a flying crap about how many freshman we redshirt. If you're happy with our ceiling being 4 or 5 losses a year then more power to you, you must not be suffering nearly as much right now. I, however, would like some Big Ten Championships and top 10 finishes. I think that's what we're shooting for here. I mean, am I completely stoned or am I just missing something here?

jg2112

June 9th, 2010 at 1:28 PM ^

You do realize that, for Michigan, 4 losses or more a year has happened at least half the time since 1994, right?

You're not suffering. Give me a break. No one here is suffering. The football team you root for is losing. Don't act like it's more than it is.

My name ... is Tim

June 9th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^

You made a bad point. Just admit it. Saying that Michigan lost four or more a year half of the time since 1994 doesn"t erase the fact that Michigan won a national title and countless Big Ten titles during that period. Northwestern had what? One Big Ten championship? Zero BCS bowl wins? That is not what we"re hoping to achieve.

And yes, I"m not suffering like the Gulf Coast is suffering, but if you"re really going to bemoan that statement I suggest you stop reading college football message boards.

COB

June 9th, 2010 at 6:04 PM ^

"Saying that Michigan lost four or more a year half of the time since 1994 doesn"t erase the fact that Michigan won a national title and countless Big Ten titles during that period. Northwestern had what? One Big Ten championship? Zero BCS bowl wins? That is not what we"re hoping to achieve."

To be fair, by "countless" (b11 championships), you mean 6 and by "one" (for NU) you mean 3.  Also, zero BCS bowl wins is only 1 less than UM has (technically).  I'm not trying to flame here but don't bash the Wildcats who have clearly done more with less than probably anyone in CFB.    Not to mention they keep the highest student athlete standards in the B11 (it's not even close).  NU just ripped off a perfect, yes, perfect 1000 for the 08-09 APR.  This 1000 score accompanied a 8-5 NYD bowl game team that easily could have won the game vs Auburn and been 9-4.  So get off your high horse and accept that what Northwestern achieved last year is in fact EXACTLY what you are hoping to achieve this year. 

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/12396/northwestern-football-recognized-for-apr

 

 

 

03 Blue 07

June 9th, 2010 at 1:44 PM ^

JG: How about you don't impute your definition of "suffering" on people? In the context it was used by MNI...T, you knew what he was saying. Come on. And as far as the argument about 4 and 5 loss seasons...wasn't a big part of why folks wanted LC gone at the end of his tenure/wanted a guy like RR was so we could break through that ceiling? More risk, but more potential reward?  I'd always thought that was the goal. And no, 5-loss seasons are not what any of us wants. Do you not remember the Year of Infinite Pain, which was, what, an 8-5 season? Were we somewhat spoiled? Sure. Does that change the fact that many of us are willing to support RR and what the program has been going through the last few years because we feel the mold had to be broken to get to the level of having a higher ceiling? Yes.