Brief Tony Grimes Update
Jay Hopson was given a lot of criticism for last years debacle with Pearlie Graves and DeQuinta Jones decommitting. Hopson was responsible for quite a few recruits this year, including Tony Grimes and his teammate Clarence Murphy. With Hopson taking the defensive coordinator position at Memphis, it was unclear what affect that would have on some of the current commits, and uncommitted prospects. I caught up with Tony Grimes to see how he felt about the move.
TOM: Does Jay Hopson leaving affect your feelings towards Michigan at all?
TONY: I wouldn't say it does, because he wouldn't be my position coach if I go there. I have been talking to coach Hopson this whole time, but I met the other coaches on my visit.
TOM: What other visits have you taken, and what do you plan on taking?
TONY: I've been to Maryland, and I plan on going to Ole Miss. I'm going to try to squeeze in Miami and Georgia, too.
TOM: Are you and Clarence still planning on going to the same school?
TONY: As far as this point, yes that's the plan.
TOM: Is Michigan still on top for you?
TONY: Yes.
I will say that Tony wasn't aware that there was a dead period, and seemed frustrated that his coach was the one that told him coach Hopson was leaving, and not Michigan. (That kind of makes me feel like there might be some schools breaking the rules with contacting him, if he didn't know.) Once I told him it was a dead period he understood. We'll see what happens. I have a bad feeling about Miami for some reason, but that's not based off of anything, so take it FWIW.
TOM: Does Jay Hopson leaving affect your feelings towards Michigan at all?
TONY: I wouldn't say it does, because he wouldn't be my position coach if I go there. I have been talking to coach Hopson this whole time, but I met the other coaches on my visit.
TOM: What other visits have you taken, and what do you plan on taking?
TONY: I've been to Maryland, and I plan on going to Ole Miss. I'm going to try to squeeze in Miami and Georgia, too.
TOM: Are you and Clarence still planning on going to the same school?
TONY: As far as this point, yes that's the plan.
TOM: Is Michigan still on top for you?
TONY: Yes.
I will say that Tony wasn't aware that there was a dead period, and seemed frustrated that his coach was the one that told him coach Hopson was leaving, and not Michigan. (That kind of makes me feel like there might be some schools breaking the rules with contacting him, if he didn't know.) Once I told him it was a dead period he understood. We'll see what happens. I have a bad feeling about Miami for some reason, but that's not based off of anything, so take it FWIW.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:29 AM ^
Coaches can still contact recruits during dead periods but they're just really restricted on how and how many times. Something like only 1 call a week and as much written mail as they want. No visits or face to face contact though
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:12 PM ^
"Definition: A "Dead Period," as the name implies, is a time when nearly all recruiting activity is temporarily shut down.
During a dead period, coaches cannot:
* Make in-person recruiting contacts
* Conduct in-person evaluations -- on or off-campus
* Schedule official campus visits
* Allow unofficial campus visits
* Offer complimentary tickets to games
The only permissible communications during a dead period are phone calls (limited by NCAA regulations to one call per week) and correspondence."
http://basketball.about.com/od/collegebasketballglossary/g/deadperiod.h…
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:12 PM ^
Coaches are not allowed to contact recruits during a dead period thus the name dead period unless the student athlete is a mid year enrollee who has signed a letter of intent. Recruits are permitted to call coaches anytime though.
http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/AMA/recruiting_calendars/DI/Text/Footbal…
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:18 PM ^
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/NCAA/Legislation%20and%20Governa…
Dead Period The college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents at any time in the dead period. The coach may write and telephone you or your parents during this time.Nope it is nothing like its name suggests
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:11 PM ^
They're only allowed one call per week, and Hopson had already made that call, so that's why they haven't contacted him. They're just waiting.
January 3rd, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^
I hope the fact that RR and Michigan following the rules isn't lost here. We may/ may not lose a recruit, but RR and Michigan are following the rules and I appreciate that. Go Blue!
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:54 PM ^
Yeah that is just the way the ball bounces sometimes. I can't think of any reason why the UM coaches would intentionally or unintentionally not contact him as soon as they could. Just some bad luck
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:05 PM ^
Can coaches e-mail or twitter prospects? just curious, and not trying to be funny.
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:53 PM ^
I think the NCAA treats email like postal mail but I am not positive. I know Weis sent out emails to recruits on average every other day during the peaks of recruiting season but there maybe limitations.
The NCAA treats twitter like facebook. Coaches and assistants can post messages through the services but cannot directly respond to or name a recruit. Which is why most tweets from coaches are so vague and boring, except of course for Kiffin who got his 3rd secondary violation through a twitter message.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:28 AM ^
It will be interesting to see how this plays out; despite your concerns about "that Miami" it's always nice to hear that Michigan leads.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:55 AM ^
Hopefully we can hold this lead for these last 2 months.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
I believe that signing day is one of the first few days of February(the third I believe).
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:04 PM ^
How many programs (other than Michigan) have offered to both Grimes and Murphy? There are a lot of kids that have the idea of being a package deal but for some reason or another it just doesn't happen. For these two, it seems that they are sticking to their intention on joining the same team.
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:05 PM ^
I hope we get them both, it would be huge for the secondary and D-line. With Warren leaving we need all the CB we can get. Grimes is a good player who will play early and often at Michigan.
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:21 PM ^
Shouldn't the coaches inform the players of the upcoming dead period..."Hey, we're still looking forward to you donning the maize and blue, but per NCAA restrictions we can't contact you for the next few weeks."
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:17 PM ^
After all, if I forget to tell my girlfriend I won't be in contact for a while, there's definitely hell to pay.
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:22 PM ^
Thanks for the update Tom. The Hopson thing might be why we're going after 6 guys to fill a few holes.... Covering our bases.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:23 PM ^
just makes me realize how old and antiquated these NCAA rules sound. "The coach may write and telephone you..." When was that written, 1945? Does "write" include email, text message, twitter, etc? Do people really still use "telephone" as a verb?
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:31 PM ^
Thank you Tom.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:53 PM ^
anyone else suspect that the staff might be using hopson departure as a chance to put some distance btw uofm and the hollywood duo? we're running out of spots and we have 6 DBs on board already. we're nearly out of spots and the staff seems to be engaged with 1-2 OL, hankins, parker a couple distant LBs... with parker possibly in the fold and the ash commitment (DE/DT), maybe theyre cooling on the hollywood duo?
just a hunch. its felt this way for a while with so much agressive recruiting going on with numbers avail so low. maybe the hopson departure gave the staff the window to put some distance. again, just a hunch.
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:14 PM ^
but trust me Tony is still a top priority
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:07 PM ^
Thanks for the info Tom. Excellent work as usual.
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:22 PM ^
I can say beyond any doubt that there absolutely are schools completely ignoring the rules about contact during a dead period. It has hurt Michigan all year with many recruits.
January 4th, 2010 at 8:19 PM ^
In my humble opinion, I think the NCAA should upgrade a lot of their policies and also better utilize newer technologies to regulate fair play. It wouldn't be too hard to develop software to hold coaches better accountable for phone calls and electronic communication.
January 5th, 2010 at 10:25 AM ^
I remember Sam Webb on WTKA talking last year about someone - I believe it was DaQuinta Jones - who was saying (paraphrased) "I don't get why Michigan isn't talking to me right now! Every other school is, but why not Michigan?" And Same wanted so badly to say "That's because Michigan is the only one honoring the dead period and obeying the rules" but he didn't feel it was his job to do so.
January 5th, 2010 at 10:56 AM ^
Any word on Murphy and Grimes not being a packaged deal anymore?
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