Is Michigan Oversigning? No.
my favorite part of this conversation is people looking at Brad Hawkins and Brad Hawkins in consecutive recruiting classes and identifying them as separate people
Michigan's large recruiting classes the last couple years occasionally see grenades lobbed at Harbaugh and accusations that Michigan has "sold its soul" leveled. These accusations are dumb, whether they come from 'Bama hilljacks in my twitter mentions or Stewart Mandel.
The problem with oversigning is not that any year in particular has a lot of kids in one recruiting class but that certain schools used to go well over 85 on Signing Day and had to cut 8-10 kids by fall. (This was usually just Alabama.) The hue and cry about the practice was at least partially successful in reining it in, as Power 5 conferences initiated restrictions on the practice. The Big Ten allows it, but it allows just three and supposedly you have to explain where the scholarship is coming from. Michigan operates in that environment.
And in any case, the amount of attrition needed for Michigan to get under 85 despite back-to-back large classes is well within the bounds of normal. Michigan's roster is comprised of their last five recruiting classes:
2013. 27 recruits, with those remaining all redshirt seniors. There are 5: Patrick Kugler, Henry Poggi, Mike McCray, Maurice Hurst, and Khalid Hill. They have two fifth-year senior transfers, John O'Korn and Ty Isaac. Michigan also expects to bring back sixth year senior Drake Johnson.
2014. 17 recruits. One, Blake O'Neill, was a grad transfer with one year of eligibility. A second, Jabrill Peppers, was three-and-out to the NFL draft. That leaves 15 kids who could be on this year's team. 12 are.
2015. 14 recruits. All could be on this year's team. 12 are.
2016. 27 recruits who actually signed and/or enrolled. Dytarious Johnson and Brad Hawkins ended up going to prep school, with Hawkins joining the 2017 class. Ahmir Mitchell and Devin Asiasi transferred. The other 25 are on the roster.
2017. 30 recruits. Possible one or two might end up in the same boat as Hawkins.
8 + 15 + 14 + 27 + 30 is 94, meaning that Michigan had to lose nine players naturally over the course of the last four recruiting classes to avoid oversigning. Michigan's lost seven. You can be the judge of how natural they are:
- Brady Pallante took a medical hardship scholarship.
- Michael Ferns transferred to WVU after one year under Brady Hoke.
- Freddy Canteen had injury issues and recently announced a grad transfer to Notre Dame.
- Andrew David transferred to TCU to play baseball.
- Brian Cole ran afoul of team rules, ended up at a JUCO, and will play at Mississippi State this fall.
- Ahmir Mitchell transferred to Rutgers after one semester.
- Devin Asiasi, depressingly, transferred after a highly promising freshman year.
That is far from an unreasonable amount of natural attrition for an 85-man football roster, especially because the latter three were highly ranked guys who lasted at most one year. Highly touted guys don't get run off that quickly.
That leaves two spots left, one of which is known and should be announced in the near future. I'm not sure of the second, but the worst case scenario is that Michigan does not bring back a fifth year senior who has a degree in hand and can use his final year of eligibility elsewhere. More likely is someone lighting out for greener pastures voluntarily.
If that's "selling your soul," we're going to have to invent some new lingo for Baylor. Michigan is only oversigning if you consider the practice of offering redshirted seniors a firm handshake instead of a fifth year to be oversigning. That's something literally every school in the country does annually, and is bad-faith pearl-clutching by anyone who would attempt to use that as a slam against Harbaugh.
...needing to fill column inches in the off season.
The off-season is long when the imagination is short.
Back in the 90s, when I started getting into sports, SportsCenter was essential viewing, because it was the only way to see all the awesome plays from the night before.
Now that highlights are all over Twitter and the rest of the internet pretty much instantly, sports shows don't have a legitimate reason to exist, hence all the manufactured controversy.
Many years ago I couldn't end a day without having watched SportsCenter. Now when I pull up the guide, if I see SportsCenter is on I immediately see what's on other channels. You don't actually learn about what happened that day in sports anymore. Most of the time it's two ESPN people talking to each other.
I turned on ESPN last night to see the 6 p.m. SportsCenter with Jemele Hill and Michael Smith, and jeez...it might as well be called Pardon the First Take.
If that weren't bad enough, every game they broadcast is also a fucking talk show. Can't watch anything without getting the announcers' opinions on who should be the #1 seed or how the matchups stack up in Clemson-Alabama.
ESPN should really take a hard look at the EPL's match of the day show. 2 hours of highlights, not much talking head nonsense. I've watched sports long enough to know what is going on in a sporting event, I don't need some idiot like Chris Carter giving me "the scoop". I haven't watched sportcenter in probably 10 years, and I can't say that I miss it whatsoever.
I feel like I can't watch anything involving any kind of news without getting some slant or someone's take on it. The worst "Fake News" is when someone is reporting their opinion on something rather than just the facts and passing it along as if it is fact.
Sorry, this wasn't meant to be political because it applies to the entire spectrum.
This is actually what's happening with Hollywood as well. It's declining, in reach, and in overall viewership.
People thought "Reality TV" was just a fad, but now "reality" is the tele-visual ability. Like this site, and your mention of Twitter. The controversy that Channels like ESPN are now utilizing is in direct response to the internet and everyone being able to "just see the clips" themselves, sans commentary (unless it's good commentary of course, but good commentary requires thoughtfulness, and thus time, therefore it will never be immediate, like Outside The Lines or 30 For 30).
The News had to do this in the earlier stages of the internet. Because News could be read. So it was read online. But there wasn't enough Bandwidth, or Processing power for High quality images, video and sound, so things like sports couldn't follow suit. But now the technology is there. And now the sports bar is being replaced, to some extent, with the teams forum on the internet.
Times they are a-changin!
needs a "fill of inches" as well after being with that dickless bastard.
(Clearly I am not happy about Mandel right now haha)
Thanks for that euphemism. The imagery that goes along with it is priceless. It has a splash of (very appropriate) southern charm and a dash of emasculation to top it off. +12 motes of appreciation to you.
Wouldn't you have to be able to count to 86 to know if over-signing is taking place? Don't blame the SEC for something they can not control.
I hear MSU's roster limit this year is only 3-9.
I seem to recall MSU's class size being between 23-32.
This is a helpful and informative breakdown of the roster and why "oversigning" in moderation makes a lot of sense. The point about degree + handshake makes a ton of sense too.
One question, what happens to a medical hardship scholarship guy (Pallante was mentioned, but can speak generally)? Does he get 4 years at Michigan with the same scholarship benefits he would have had if he stayed on the team? If so, this all seems very fair to me...
It's fair if the doctors really do think he is injured to the point he can't play. There may have been some hijinks at Bama on how they were moving guys to medicals (they used it a ton more than everyone else during their oversigning era).
Occasionally there are disagreements between the doctors and the player (Ondre Pipkins, for example).
I believe Brian referred to that practice as consigning a player to the St. Saban Memorial Hospital or somesuch.
I have clickbait articles to write and I have NO IMAGINATION WHATSOEVER....so I MUST dog Harbaugh for being a sneaky underhanded person even though he's not doing anything wrong!!!
at how easy that was.
It's like "countable recruits".
Roll for initiative, bitch.
I would still love if the NCAA used the idea you like of a 25 player cap on each recruiting year, and doing away with the 85 total scholarships, having no cap. No oversigning, no reason to force players out. Would only need a limit on how many transfers you can take in a year. Don't know why this doesn't get more run.
It's all in the mind of Mark Emmert:
"Hmmmmm...would Saban abuse this? Probably. Oh well. Could Harbaugh use this? Maybe. Nope, can't do it."
You just make transfers in count as part of your 25.
Transfers are more known entities that you get fewer years out of compared to the HS signer that has 5 years but could be a bust. Your risk/ reward is mitigated either way.
I am usually the first and harshest to call for self reflection on various topics (including the late commit drops last year), but this is all BS. I trust Harbaugh's ethics over practically every coach in NCAA, in any sport. The man clearly cares about his kids and his university's reputation.
The willingness to push NCAA boundaries in the area where they are at there most ridiculous is something I consider a virtue.
It is funny how NCAA is so quick to react to "stop" Harbaugh when it serves SEC, but I doubt very much they will do anything to limit Harbaugh here.
Does Harbaugh really want Drake Johnson on the 2017 roster or is he just helping him get eligibility to seek a grad transfer?
With Evans, Higdon. Isaac, Walker and Davis plus the FBs and the 2 freshmen we seem pretty well set at RB. Brian advised that M isn't pursuing Aaron Cochran, the Cal OT who is looking for a grad transfer. M needs an experienced OT more than it needs a 6th RB.
Johnson, if healthy, is still very much a weapon. His ideal scheme is inside zone but his acceleration works for outside zone as well, and he's not redundant with the other RBs.
I was happy that Blake Countess transferred because his skillset was being wasted, Ross probably should've transferred and I wish success for Canteen and Morris. But Johnson's good enough that I'd hate to see him on another team. If he's healthy and gets a sixth year (never count on the NCAA to do the right thing), he should see the field on merit.
Please clarify. What would Johnson bring to the team that Evans doesn't?
Harbaugh won't let him.
IIRC, last season Evans wasn't trusted on 3rd downs at all. I mean, I don't trust my memory so you shouldn't, but that was my impression.
Johnson doesn't have Smith's pass pro, but he's a plus receiver so he gives Michigan's 3rd down offense an added dimension. On 3rd-and-manageable with Johnson you could play IZ, gap, OZ or a pass with Johnson running a wheel route or leaking into the flat. That's a much better proposition than having a scrambleback try to get you 3-4 yards with the whole defense keying on him.
Evans ultimately has more upside and will probably get more early down carries, but if Johnson's healthy I think we'll see him more on 3rd downs now that Smith's gone.
Yup. Only gonna get worse when we win a national championship in 2 years.
After winning next year, naturally
If this strategy of roster management constitutes as selling your soul to get a coach, Michigan has to be running out of souls to give.
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