Rashad Weaver Decommits
![sdsds[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/sdsds[1].jpg "sdsds[1]")
FL DE Rashad Weaver has decommitted. He's upset after Harbaugh told him there was only a 50/50 shot they'd have a slot for him on Signing Day and will take one of the other D-I offers he received. Weaver visited Temple recently and will be at USF and Illinois in the near future.
Weaver was one of the players we were assuming would not be in the class. Setting a visit to a non power-5 school is almost always a sign that a player committed to Michigan isn't going to get to Signing Day as a commit, and Weaver set that visit way back in November. He clearly had an idea of his status and moved to do something about it.
Still, you'd hope the past couple weeks inform the staff that in the twitter era you'd better do something a little more explicit than not calling for months if you don't want unpleasant public relations flare-ups on the regular.
January 25th, 2016 at 11:50 PM ^
Offensive line woes, Quarterback woes, wide receivers woes, running backs has been all but a complete bust, Jake Ryan leaves (RR recruit) and the linebacker play tanks. DBs are okay, and the D line has been serviceable.
Putting aside their stars, Harbaugh and his staff worked a minor miracle with the players he had.
January 26th, 2016 at 12:09 AM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 10:14 PM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 10:20 PM ^
Yes please--this would be very helpful. Can someone explain this?
January 25th, 2016 at 10:54 PM ^
I imagine in many ways it is similar to the airline and hotel industries. They overbook by a historic percentage because A) They know there will be no shows and B)There quite likely will be stand-bys waiting to snap up spaces from the no shows.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:15 PM ^
But , Jim Harbaughs JOB is to get the BEST Possible recruits to come to Michigan..Thats his job...not the top kinda best, not the almost best..not the close but no cigar best but ....THE BEST...If hes not breaking any rules and Im pretty sure hes NOT then all the more power to him...I Love every minute of whats going on because we are turning around recruiting and we are dong it FAST...Im tired of all the petty insinuations towards him and recruiting methods,,The opposition is getting very NERVOUS and you can see it in the stories coming from oh say EL? Lincoln Ne,, State College and Columbus....I sense fear and jealousy rearing its ugly head...Jim Harbaugh you are doing everything AND THEN SOME and have far exceeded all expectatations..Its been a LONG time since Ive seen this much excitement surrounfing Michigan football and we are JUST GETTING STARTED
January 25th, 2016 at 10:49 PM ^
that is correct.
January 26th, 2016 at 1:45 AM ^
None of what you said applies to the situation. Accepting Weaver's commitment didn't get a single elite player to commit to Michigan. Harbaugh could this exact same class without misleading a single recruit. He just didn't, and that's something he needs to work on.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:16 PM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 10:51 PM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 11:10 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 1:16 AM ^
I tend to agree with this, which is why you'll never find me bitching about Saban or Meyer. They're great coaches. They know what it takes to win. And we are so used to losing that we have abandoned the will to do what it takes and start tossing around phrases like, "the right way" etc. We've put Bo up on a pedastal without the microscope of social media that Harbaugh has to endure. These are different times fellas.
The mgostaff has been saying things like crootin' and such because they know it too. In fact, to some degree their livelihood depends on it. This website we all love so much is driven by pageviews, and when Michigan is winning, the page views go up.
Remember how much spleen there was to be had around here over the last 7 years? These kids want to win and the staff owes it to the kids on the team much more than they do the kids who aren't yet on the team. It stinks to the extent that highschool kids aren't exactly masters of subtlety and reading between the lines. But at some point it becomes about the team, and they aren't on the team until they're on campus and enrolled.
I really wish we could get along and wait it out. No amount of limited access indignation is going to change anything for this cycle, but we're already eating our own, again. When the season is over, make your judgements then.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:16 PM ^
Sure you'd like to be straight up with the kids as far as where they stand in the class, especially where you're still recruiting the position. And you'd like to be able to tell the kid that the offer remains on the table but you are going to have to compete for playing time.
But then, suppose you start telling kids in November that nothing is guaranteed, you run the risk that kids are going to decommit then.
January 26th, 2016 at 1:48 AM ^
Having marginal recruits uncommitted in November costs Michigan nothing. There was no good reason that I can see to accepting Weaver's commitment. No gain, just loss. All avoidable.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:16 PM ^
dont think even Jim Harbaugh was expecting such a turn around year that would accompany a boom in recruiting. Did anyone else think back in the summer we would have ANY chance at a guy like Kareem Walker, who'd been committed to the defending National Champion for 5 months? I don't think we'll see much of this recruiting moving forward, mostly due to the high expectations the program will have after year 1.
January 26th, 2016 at 1:11 AM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 10:18 PM ^
I don't think most of us have problems with being selective and choosing the best athletes for our program. The primary problems here are (1) optics, (2) communication or lack thereof and (3) getting used to the stark change from the past coaching staff.
1 - Optics - Doesn't look great at first, but substantively not very different than most big programs. We'll get over it and Michigan fans need to ban together, but this type of stuff could easily be avoided and should be avoided going forward by being more selective initially.
2 - Communication - It would have been better to give a hard "no" during the summer or fall to get this out of the way and not have it linger on. Once senior tape rolls in, review it, and make a quick decision. Trying to be nice and letting the kid consider himself a "commit" is not the way to go or, at the very least, ask the borderline kid up front, "are you ok with being a Plan B?" If the answer is no, then move on.
3 - Change in Coaching Staff - Gut check in terms of the change from the nice guy (but ineffective) Hoke routine. Hoke had a policy of (monogamous) loyalty no matter what. I.e., we took the no visit policy seriously and believed in hard firm "commitments". Clearly, the current staff is more open-minded about commitments - they see it as somewhat open-ended on both ends. This is a big change; not necessarily a "bad" change, but every change takes some getting used to.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:22 PM ^
I feel bad for Weaver, but I don't think what the staff did was unethical or reprehensible.
It's a PR and optics problem.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 25th, 2016 at 11:05 PM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 11:46 PM ^
You're missing the most important player: Jake Rudock. Last time I checked, Hoke didn't recruit a QB who completed more than 50% of his passes or more than two in a row without getting intercepted.
January 25th, 2016 at 11:53 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 1:17 AM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 10:05 AM ^
Agree in theory, except we don't know what communication happened or didn't happen. We know what a 17 year old said on Twitter and that's it.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:21 PM ^
I've been recruited, and I've recruited.
How do you go that long without hearing from the coach and not reach out yourself and find out what the situation is?
January 25th, 2016 at 11:19 PM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 10:23 PM ^
I think we all agree that substantively this is isn't very different than what most of the big programs are doing. CFB recruiting is confusing to begin with - commitable offers vs. non-commitable offers; redshirts, greyshirts, prep years, etc. Bottom line is this coaching staff is doing what they have to do to make our program a contender. Honestly, I think they did not even expect that the first year would have gone so well and, unfortunately, they were flat-footed in gauging the class size and how many top tier recruits would be interested in Michigan. Think about it, last year, Harbaugh had trouble getting 14. I don't think he predicted that he would be double that and telling guys "I'm sorry, there's no more room".
January 25th, 2016 at 11:16 PM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 11:20 PM ^
The terminology should change.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^
Another one bites the dust..................how many is that.......I can't keep count.
Jimmy does what Jimmy wants.....so don't get in his way......and get out of his way
This is Michigan for gosh sakes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 25th, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^
This is how elite programs recruit in 2016. No one likes Saban, Urban or any of these other jackasses who do it but they all have a common denominator; they win. Gotta choose - holier than thou morals & topping out at 8 wins or high end national talent & top 10 finishes...
With HARBAUGH comes HARBAUGH
January 25th, 2016 at 10:26 PM ^
If you don't like this get used to the medical hardship waiver. That's the way Saban skirts this challenge.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:28 PM ^
There's a better way to go about this. My issue with the current situation is that it seems easier to call a recruit like Weaver and be forthright about their offer status prior to or during their fall season. At that point, you have a clearer picture of their personal development and your standing with several of the nation's other top recruits. It's difficult for a kid to push out negative PR if you told them about their status in Oct/Nov.
Seems like an easy fix, and I'm sure Michigan and the coaching staff will push through this. Given Harbaugh's astute social media presence, I doubt he continues to make the same mistake.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:30 PM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 10:30 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 25th, 2016 at 11:18 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 12:06 AM ^
While I understand your overall point, I don't know if the staff wouldn't be somewhat concerned about the opinion of arguably the top player in their own state for 2017. Especially one in whom they've invested quite a bit of time and effort to recruit.
I'm sure there will be some damage control done but, with MSU having more success with in-state kids and their recent win streak vs UM, this is needless drama that could have been avoided and not provide further ammunition to Sparty.
January 26th, 2016 at 9:59 AM ^
He's not happy, yet our main competition for him is OSU. Go figure.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:35 PM ^
to be honest, Weaver played with fire and got burned.
If the guy's visiting Temple, isn't he as much as saying "Well, Michigan, there's a 50/50 chance that I'll sign with you?" And with additional visits - Syracuse, etc. - the percentages go down from there.
If Weaver visiting elsewhere is saying to Michigan "There's a chance I won't sign with you" why are we destroying Harbaugh for saying to Weaver "there's a chance we won't give you a college scholarship"?
January 25th, 2016 at 10:36 PM ^
Roll Tahd.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:40 PM ^
I'm sure OSU / MSU will come in and sweep him up. If not they can STFU.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:41 PM ^
January 25th, 2016 at 11:52 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 26th, 2016 at 9:04 AM ^
There are some cases where the coaches have been up front, or the kid doesnt make grades, or has a devastating injury.
But one or two of these are plain and simple. Kid was offered a scholarship, committed, stayed committed, then we found somebody that we wanted more. Handling things that way is not right, and I don't like it.
Just my opinion.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:42 PM ^
Weaver defending Harbaugh
January 25th, 2016 at 10:45 PM ^
Thank you for posting this.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:43 PM ^
We have a great coaching staff. They give our young football players the opportuinity to do their best and have the experience of being winners in a competitive sport.
Having said that: Our coaches need to take the time and make damn sure that there is good, clear communication with the athletes who may not qualify for this level of competition.
January 25th, 2016 at 10:59 PM ^
They don't seem as great to me as they did two weeks ago.
January 25th, 2016 at 11:22 PM ^
Comments