And we stopped recruiting him...
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2014/10/michigan_state_true_freshman_m.html
Nicholson has been tearing it up in East Lansing thus far as a true freshman. He plays on all special teams, and is now the starting safety.
We had this kid 'locked up' until we told him we no longer had space in our class for him. Yet another coaching blunder over the past year.
I am telling you - this kid will be a first round pick after his junior year. With all the great defenses MSU has had lately, the coaches are saying he is likely the best safety they have seen. I predict he will start to get some snaps on offense next year as well.
October 5th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 5th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 2:17 PM ^
Um, have you looked at Hoke's 1st class?
"Jarrod Wilson, Willie Henry, Chris Wormley, Mario Ojemudia, Dennis Norfleet, Joe Bolden, Devin Funchess, James Ross, etc"
Most of those guys are looking like pretty good football players...
Plugging 1 true freshman with elite speed into a junior-senior laden roster is not amazing coaching skill at developing talent. You can't compare it to inheriting a bare cupboard and developing guys from scratch -- that takes more time.
October 5th, 2014 at 3:38 PM ^
Thanks Mrs. Hoke.
October 5th, 2014 at 4:48 PM ^
Outside of Funchess, whose been hurt most of the season, I don't think any of them have looked particularly good. Most of the time I see Wilson its chasing someone down the field. Norfleet has yet to make any significant impact. Does he even have a touchdown yet? Bolden is ok. James Ross looks like he's regressed. Ondre Pipkins is a complete bomb. Ojemudia is ok.
Some members of every recruiting class will play, otherwise you wouldn't even field a team. There is a difference in playing and really being good.
I don't think it would have mattered if we got NIcholson. I expect we would have squandered his talent also.
October 5th, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
go over to the RCMB and you and the rest of the Spartan fans can talk about and praise all of the Spartans.
This is a Michigan Message Board
We will only talk about Michigan Men.
October 5th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
FIFY.
October 5th, 2014 at 1:02 PM ^
i can't even spell elleven
October 5th, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
Ferrigno: I don't think we have eleven men on the field.
Hoke: WHAT
Ferrigno: There aren't eleven men on the field!
Hoke: ELVEN MEN?
Ferrigno: Yeah, we'd better call time out.
HOKE: WELLL, WE DON'T WANT EM.
Ferrigno: We don't want time outs?
Hoke: ELVES. SLIGHT BUILDS. QUICK, I GRANT YOU THAT, BUT TOO QUIET. I NEED TO HEAR FOOTBALL. I CAN'T HEAR FOOTBALL WITH YOUR ELVES, DAN.
Ferrigno:
Hoke: MAYBE THAT SORT OF THING IS OK AT OREGON OR NEVERLAND, BUT THIS IS MICHIGAN FERGODSSAKES. MANBALL! MY MEN - M E N - ARE ON THE FIELD!
October 5th, 2014 at 1:30 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
Chill out. if you search his name on this board it comes up a lot in multiple articles. "We will only talk about Michigan Men." THIS IS HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE CURENTLY.
October 5th, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
yeah it was snark, sorry.
October 5th, 2014 at 1:04 PM ^
snark meter off due to high volume of depression and sadness.
October 5th, 2014 at 1:28 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 2:42 PM ^
It may be overused, but I think the principle is that it refers to people of high character and standards, which is admirable. It just shouldn't be a reference to only people who went to school here.
October 5th, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
I mentioned this to some friends last night when I saw that he was starting. Of course we just stopped recruiting him...ugh. We can't even get a couple guys who can take proper angles.
October 5th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 9:42 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^
My senses feel a strong aura of "pick-six" around this young man sometime about late October...
October 5th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 5th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^
Aha, this is the problem—the guy responsible for knowing how many spaces we had available in the recruiting class is the same guy keeping track of how many men are out there on punt team.
October 5th, 2014 at 6:56 PM ^
ZANG!
October 5th, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^
He would not have developed here but yes this was one I never understood. I looked it up like 3 weeks ago and basically TomVH or someone said on Twitter back at the time we called him and told him we were not pursuing him anymore
He and McDowell are both viewed very highly and Montae got the start yesterday as a true freshmen which is very rare for MSU defense.
But again doesn't matter - he would not be that level of player at UM. He'd be lost, missing tackles, confused, unable to diagnose etc. He went to a place where he will be developed and be a beast.
October 5th, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^
Malik McDowell
October 5th, 2014 at 1:07 PM ^
for every case we stop recruiting someone and they blossum for someone else, there are at least just as many that go on and suck/fail/whatever.
It is so stupid discussing recruiting in hindsight as the whole idea is to try to project players futures, which are next to impossible on every kid
October 5th, 2014 at 2:19 PM ^
Perhaps OP can post a Sparty nut hugging thread each week also.
October 5th, 2014 at 10:17 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 1:09 PM ^
if he want's to go to the NFL then it's for the best he doesn't come here. I wouldn't wish this coaching staff on anybody that had aspirations of playing at the next level. Everyone NFL guy to come from Hoke's team's has been in spite of his lack of development. Now I think Hoke has made them better people than a Saban or Meyer would have, but as far as developing talent Hoke has to be worst in the entire country.
October 5th, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 5th, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 3:01 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 1:22 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 1:33 PM ^
We're scheming around a philosophy of the game - avoiding mistake and physically dominating other teams - that is not the state of the art for today's game of Football. We stubbornly refuse to utilize RPS advantages to trick and confuse the defense, a staple of Football at all levels. We have Jerry Jones who thinks he's God's gift to film review insisting on watching film with individual coordinators. We're benching 5th year Senior QBs to teach the team a lesson for reasons unknown outside of the locker room.
"FUBAR" does not adequately describe the state of this "team".
October 5th, 2014 at 2:38 PM ^
Add to that not developing players so they are MAKING mistakes (tons of them) and BEING physically dominated (most of the time). Scheme sucks, development sucks, coaching sucks. That's why we are where we are.
October 5th, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^
MSU's coaching staff in football is like our coaching staff in basketball. They know how to coach kids, develop them, and put them in the right position and best position to win games. Both are among the best in the country in that regard.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 5th, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 1:55 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 2:08 PM ^
Well, in his defense, if his grand plan was to play him at MLB, maybe his evaluation wasn't that far off.
October 5th, 2014 at 2:08 PM ^
Well, in his defense, if his grand plan was to play him at MLB, maybe his evaluation wasn't that far off.
October 5th, 2014 at 2:08 PM ^
Well, in his defense, if his grand plan was to play him at MLB, maybe his evaluation wasn't that far off.
October 5th, 2014 at 9:23 PM ^
Hoke is a great guy but he can't evaluate or develop talent.
October 5th, 2014 at 1:58 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 2:10 PM ^
October 5th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^
October 6th, 2014 at 10:41 AM ^
Really you can't question the recruiting? When a bunch of highly touted guys come in and look this bad, I think it's fair to question if they were really as good as they were purported to be. Maybe our staff isn't very good at scouting and identifying talent.
October 5th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^