Can someone explain how in the fall when I'm listening to the podcast with Brian, Ace and Steve  they are talking about certain recruits probably not ending up in the class, but somehow the recruits did not know?  I just don't understand how this goes down.

So the logic would be: Wheatley feeding info to Sam that this kid won't be part of the class, tells Sam you can report on it as rumor but don't report it as fact because we want to hide it from the kid.  Everyone starts talking about it and reporting it on message boards, but Michigan just hides from all his calls and texts for 4 months, because they don't want to be blunt.  Durkin, Mattison, Partridge and Harbaugh all seem like shy guys that would be afraid to address recruits directly and would choose to hide instead.  Seems perfectly logical.

It's hard to offer an opinion on any of this, because we really don't know what Harbaugh did or didn't do. I know this will be the first question asked at the NSD press conference, so I'm wondering if he'll answer it or if he'll give us, "I'm only here to talk about the recruits we've signed."

I also don't think this will hurt us with recruits, elite or otherwise. Cutthroat recruiting doesn't seem to have taken a toll on Alabama, LSU, Auburn, etc.

If you're a Michigan "commit" and are taking visits elsewhere I'm not concerned how you end up elsewhere.

It's not the arrow, its the indian.  In this case for me, its not the University but the Athlete.  If he's good, he will succeed at any college.  Its not like he is being told he can't attend any college anywhere.  It's not like he won't be able to get a full ride somewhere, afaict.  There are great universities to choose from. 

Lots of kids don't get their first choice, or second or third for that matter.  Life is tough sometimes.  If this is the worst thing he has to overcome in life, I think when he is an old man, he will say that he lived a good life. 

That said, I do want to hear from Coach on this.  There's a big difference between leading a kid along (which I don't see any evidence of yet, but we'll see) and letting him know he won't get any PT at Mich and he should move along, but he stays (no evidence of that either, yetedit...actually there does seem to be some evidence according to some reports). 

Regardless there seems to be a way of not having this happen again.  Clearer message to the recruit sooner?  I do think Harbaugh was hired late and didn't know what kind of success the program would have and last year he took some early commits for this year trying to be safe.  Trying to make sure he would fill the class up.  Things changed.  We had some pretty good success.  I want Harbaugh to take advantage of it.  I want him to get the best players.  I also want him to know that Michigan will be in play for top level talent again next year, so don't take a bunch of 3s early. 

Prolly shouldn't post when I'm fighting a hecka hangover. 

Brian, are you sure that this is because of disorganization, or is there a chance that the staff wanted to keep Swenson and Weaver available until they were pretty sure they had a line on someone they liked better?   

I don't follow recruiting well enough to line up those two guys with the competition, but I'd love to hear people's thoughts.   Thanks!

VERY well articulated, Brian. 

Fair is fair - we live in a media bubble with Harbaugh.  This is the flip side of the media circus that is Jim Harbaugh.  It would be foolish to believe that the omnipresent media that pays close attention to Harbaugh climbing trees is going to just ignore Harbaugh "cutting" recruits.

We have to mind out Ps and Qs a lot more now.

I love the non-stop entertainemnt and attention that follows Harbaugh.  It's a net plus for Michigan.  But we can't have it both ways.  That kind of attention cuts both ways.

This ain't Stanford.  There are rules, man.

 

Most of the fans have felt like they can stick their nose up at the "dirty SEC" and feel high and mighty because they feel like Michigan is "above that".  Now with all this coming out, which frankly is just plain 'ol crootin' and has been plain 'ol crootin' for 100 years, the fans are afraid that the might block M will be lumped in with the rest of the "dirty SEC" and dirty Ohio State.  They're not feeling for the kid or so much defending Harbaugh.  They are afraid that their way of thinking for decades is now naught.  That's all it is.

How much influence with the new AD hire have going forward in this? 

Because that's what this is mainly about.  Each year there is a limit each team can sign. Be it 15 or 30 or more.  But All D-I teams I would guess put out somewhere between 50-75 offers. 

At some point the bubble has to burst.  Do you offer a kid and but don't accept his commitment in hopes of getting the better player? Said kid I would assume would immediately drop the team because he felt he was second choice.

Do you accept all commitments and let them go after the season if you don't think they'll be able to play for your team? That's happening now and not going so well.  Which leads to the question, why offer in the first place?

I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle with every player being its his unique situation. Right now it sucks because UM looks bad.

I would think the staff needs to re-prioritize itself.  Starting with the recruiting coordinator. Have the new person be all over academics and talking to kids about pulling up the grades or they can't even get in to UM.  Have the RC talk to the players coaches and get tape on the players and interact with the coaches and players throughout the football season.  Tell them what UM is seeing.  Good or bad.  

If this is done, UM would turn this perception issue into a 180 and everyone would say that UM is the most honest evaluators out there.

And not every recruit would need this treatment.  Just those who are identified by the staff as needing some additional scouting.  I think this could be something easily done. Or something close to it.  I hope it happens.

Harbaugh and Staff have obviously fallen short in communication. That's about all anyone really knows right now. That's it. There has been one side of the story.

God forbid the guy makes a mistake, its ridiculous that the people that are a part and run this blog come at him being overly critical. He has broken NO rules and it trying the best to put together a winning football team.

But then.....

They scream "we'll certainly you can be 100% correct in every recruiting move and have a successful team at the same time" ah, yes wouldn't the world be great if all was utopia and everyone acted the way we thought they should? Really?

Be grateful for the coach we have, sure we can state when we think something's wrong but don't run his ass out of town like the last two and leave us as bottom dwellers untill God knows when

We could take one of our "gotta get" recruits and hire one or both of their parents as the manager of our Maintaining Contact With Early Committed and Lesser Valued Recruits Department.

Well stated, Ace. Coaching staff needs to get the message on this and correct.

Honest question, are the practices employed by the SEC (Alabama in specific) that are so villified here on this blog really so much worse than what Harbaugh is doing?

In the worst case Saban situation, he basically:

     -  Allows kids to commit

     -  Gets them on campus 

      -  Sees that they can't play up to his standards

      -  Forces them to take a medical scholarship,
          thus kicking them off the team

It seems brutal, but in this situation, at least the kid being forced to take a medical will continue to recieve a full ride scholarship to the school he committed to.  So if he made his committment with consideration for his future around the academic curriculum, those plans would not be interrupted.  However, if he wants to play football and finds a better situation, he has the option of transferring as well, even though that will cost him a year of eligibility.  

The argument could also be made that the kid was at least given a chance here, and showed that he can't perform, so his academic future is likely more important anyway.  If you can't even crack the rotation on a team, you're probably not playing in the NFL. 

In the Harbaugh situation, the entire scholly is getting pulled, so if the kid made his committment based on his academic future as well, that is also turned on its head.  Sure, he may find a better place to land, but the recruit is left with only a couple weeks to figure everything out, and it seems like a recruit is left more hung out to dry by this approach.   

Gold jacket, green jacket - Who gives a shit?

I agree 100%.

It certainly doesn't need to be Harbaugh throughout the process. I think everyone agrees in the aftermath that more upfront clarity is needed (if in fact it wasn't given according to these decommits). With multiple recruiting coordinators, it should be easy to keep these kids abreast of the situation: "we're waiting for grades to improve", "we're waiting for your film to show improved play", "you're not at the top of our board, if this other kid commits, we may not have a spot for you, you should continue to explore other options".

Kids can become part of a class after NSD. NSD is just an invented hoopla day. It is by no means a hard deadline that kids have to sign by. Thus, recruits dumped by programs late still have ample time to find a program.