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 26th, 2016 at 10:19 AM ^
In Bo's day scholarships weren't limited like they are today, So, Bo and Woody would sign every kid in the midwest so that the other Big 10 schools couldn't. If Bo were coaching today, he may very well be doing the same thing Harbaugh is.
January 26th, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^
Not only did they have the advantage of unlimited scholarships, but they also didn't have to deal with 24/7 social media. As far as dirty recruiting goes, it has been going on since the early days of college football. If you read the book Stagg vs Yost you'll find out how obsessed they were with winning at all costs.
January 26th, 2016 at 10:09 AM ^
I'm tired of being squeaky clean and going 8-4 year after year (exluding the Rodrihoke era where 8 wins would have been a god send). I'm also sick of the "most wins ever" response to any slight by other fan bases. Living outside of Michigan, I can say that no one gives a shit about the most wins ever. We are considered a fraud for insisting we are elite when the product on the field clearly says otherwise. Harbaugh isn't breaking rules, he's just doing the same thing Saban & Urban have done. Competitors push the boundaries of the rules and look for any advantage. Oh, and we don't really know when these kids were told to keep their options open. I don't think Harbaugh is dicking these kids over. Harbaugh is going to win big and make no friends along the way. Isn't that exactly what we all wanted?
January 26th, 2016 at 10:38 AM ^
Saban and Meyer as role models.
January 26th, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^
You may not like them, but they are the measuring stick when it comes to successful modern era college football coaches. It's hard to argue with 8 national titles and consistently winning at different schools. I would argue what Saban has done is even more impressive than Bear Bryant (who had unlimited scholarships and was also known to bend the rules).
January 26th, 2016 at 11:46 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 26th, 2016 at 10:31 AM ^
... since I didn't skim through 9+ pages, but it wasn't in the first 2 or the last...
Per ESPN, Harbaugh offered him a preferred walk on spot. He didn't cut the kid. I get it, not a free ride, but you still get to play, earn that scholarship etc. Perhaps the family can't afford it making it an impossibility, but still, this is hardly the type of Swenson situation people were mounting high horses over. AND there is still a chance he gets the free ride anyway.
January 26th, 2016 at 10:39 AM ^
It had been known for months that there was a very good chance Weaver wouldn't be part of the class. Was Weaver the last to know? I doubt it. There is two sides to this story...even Weaver came to the defense of Harbaugh on Twitter after people attacked him. I agree the communication needs to improve, but I don't buy that Weaver didn't know this was coming. Going forward, Michigan will know what it can land all these highly rated guys and won't need "contingency plan" players. The optics of this don't look good, but this kid will be fine and he has had the benefit of having been a Michigan commit for the last seven months. The staff has probably learned their lesson to not offer these lower rated kids and that they must communicate better. I really don't see this being a problem in the future.
January 26th, 2016 at 10:40 AM ^
"Harbaugh treatin his recruits like THOTs. Sleeps with them and ignores em after."
I think JH's recruiting techniques are getting noticed more than some want to believe.
January 26th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
Not that my opinion counts for anything but...
I think it's shady. My dad taught me back in high school you don't ask a girl out three months before a dance and then ditch her if a cuter girl says yes a week before. It's juvenile and for a guy who talks about toughness and being a man as much as Harbaugh does, he and his staff should be straight with these kids rather than losing their number like some teenager would. I keep seeing people who say that they assume Harbaugh is a straight-shooter, and we don't know all the facts but there's a hell of a lot of smoke dating all the way back to Stanford indicating he's going to keep doing this ghosting thing of disappearing on recruits when he finds someone better. He's a great football coach, but he's kind of a dick to some people. We knew this going in.
My bigger worry is that when the coach sets a shady example it rubs off on everyone around the program. Michigan has boosters happy to buy recruits just as any dirty SEC program does, but our leadership has shown that's not the way Michigan does things. If leadership now shows that we want to win at all costs, our bagmen will see that and start coming out of the shadows.
January 26th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^
must be replying to all the trash talkers about Harbaug on his twitter.
"Harbaugh is not garbage or trash like u guys are calling him. It his team and he knows what he is doing."
Classy kid. Good luck to him. Nobody knows what really goes on in these situations. Everyone needs to relax.
January 26th, 2016 at 11:54 AM ^
about not knowing both sides of the story when it comes to Michigan recruiting, but have no trouble jumping to conclusions when the recruiting involves Ohio State, Alabama, and other traditional powers. Do we ever get both sides of the story?
Newflash: It's the hypocrisy of U-M fans that is getting a lot of attention among other fan bases.
January 26th, 2016 at 12:01 PM ^
Signing Day is not a deadline. I belive players have until April 1st to sign with a school. NSD has become more of a media event than anything. So if these players are really not "plan b" guys, they will have no problem finding a fantastic landing spot. So while I may disagrre with the way the staff has been going about certain things, "dragging kids along until near the deadline" is really a non issue.
January 26th, 2016 at 12:40 PM ^
"dragging kids along until near the deadline" is the one. Those haters/journalists pick up whatever straw man they think easy to attack, but as a wise man/woman, you have to be very careful, not to be trapped by the logical fallacies without solid evidence (two sides information).
Morality or ethic is another easy straw man, political correctness of strategy. You just know part of the information, then appeal to emotion to use part as a whole (another fallacy) to mislead the readers.
I really enjoy critically reading any kind of these logical flaws, not just focusing on football issues.
Have fun!
January 26th, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 26th, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^
This article tells who JH really is. He cares of the players more than anyone else, much better than Hoke.
Don't just blame his work when he knows what's best interest for the recruits, team, university and himself.
Do Your Job!
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/201…
January 26th, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^
This article tells who JH really is. He cares of the players more than anyone else, much better than Hoke.
Don't just blame his work when he knows what's best interest for the recruits, team, university and himself.
Do Your Job!
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/201…
January 26th, 2016 at 12:38 PM ^
I'm glad many of us here are expressing our discomfort with the staff's recruiting methods. One of the things that separates Michigan is that there are no Fab Five bannners (yet) and we don't lift Steve Fisher up on our shoulders like they do for Tressel. I'm not comparing Harbaugh to Tressel, but I'd like to think Michigan is above "win at all costs."
January 26th, 2016 at 12:46 PM ^
The optics of this aren't good. Full stop.
Even without hennypennyesque comparisions to the JoePa cult (I mean, really?) or, to a much lesser extent, the Tressel cult, this isn't a good look.
Yes, being unclassy isn't the worst thing in the worLd and Michigan has its hands tied because it can't comment on the recruitment process. But even if we have all the mitigating factors in the world on "our" side, here's the thing:
Michigan is also an institution with unlimited resources that got a thorough course in 2014 on how *not* to conduct itself in the public eye. To the extent that it's now let this 'ghosting recruits' narrative become a thing in 2016 - that failure to control the narrative is 100% on Harbaugh and Michigan.
If we're all going to be adults here and concede that recruiting is a morally gray business - let's all be adults when we say that at least we should be *smart* about navigating these waters.
January 26th, 2016 at 8:35 PM ^
I don't really care how it looks, I do however care how it feels personally. I've come to the conclusion that this is clearly a bi-product of Harbaugh and his staff being behind in recruiting and throwing out a ton of offers. Offering at the satelite camps to kids who maybe were not M-ready because he had a class to fill. Then having a season that drew a ton of recruits' attention in this direction, causing the staff to have buyers remorse. I don't like the no contact, it's a weak move. Then I flip the coin. Does the kid want to go to M? Who wouldn't? That same kid that we 'feel' for has had more exposure than he would have had he not signed with Harbaugh and Michigan. Weaver and the others will all land on their feet on a football field somewhere. In some of these cases it won't be a DII school like it might have been. So do I like the way it feels to turn a kid away after he's already in the class? No, I think it sucks, but I don't see this as a problem we will see down the road. Harbaugh will win games, the recruits will knock on his door and he won't find himself in the position of doing three years worth of recruiting in 1 year.
January 26th, 2016 at 8:36 PM ^
I don't really care how it looks, I do however care how it feels personally. I've come to the conclusion that this is clearly a bi-product of Harbaugh and his staff being behind in recruiting and throwing out a ton of offers. Offering at the satelite camps to kids who maybe were not M-ready because he had a class to fill. Then having a season that drew a ton of recruits' attention in this direction, causing the staff to have buyers remorse. I don't like the no contact, it's a weak move. Then I flip the coin. Does the kid want to go to M? Who wouldn't? That same kid that we 'feel' for has had more exposure than he would have had he not signed with Harbaugh and Michigan. Weaver and the others will all land on their feet on a football field somewhere. In some of these cases it won't be a DII school like it might have been. So do I like the way it feels to turn a kid away after he's already in the class? No, I think it sucks, but I don't see this as a problem we will see down the road. Harbaugh will win games, the recruits will knock on his door and he won't find himself in the position of doing three years worth of recruiting in 1 year.
Comments