Caleb Stacey Decommits
January 21st, 2012 at 5:06 PM ^
Hope not. I don't know how good his HS program is, but that won't sit well with his coach in the future.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:20 PM ^
It's definitely a fine line, I'll give you that. But if the message is"Well, the coaches did offer those guys and this is just a courtesy call to let you know the situation concerning your position group but your scholarship is in no way in jeopardy" I don't see it as a problem, just the coaches keeping the lines of communication open.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^
I don't think it was even that much of a hint. The coaches have made it very clear to all the recruits and players since day one that they have to compete for playing time regardless of prior experience or rating. They've made it known that they were going to continue recruiting OL because they want depth and competition. If Stacey did decommit because he was afraid of playing time, I'm fairly certain it wasn't because the coaches told him he wasn't going to play.
January 21st, 2012 at 10:41 PM ^
these coaches say every one competes no matter what and the best guys play. no way they called him and said they have better guys or lots of guys so watch out you may not play. That's some saban shit.
Now he may have figured it out on his own.
January 21st, 2012 at 6:02 PM ^
He was the highest-rated ever player out of his school (in the Rivals database, anyway).
But I still hope it was entirely his decision to decommit.
January 22nd, 2012 at 6:06 AM ^
The odd one out? I disagree. I think a lot of people had him pegged as the eventual starting center.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:02 PM ^
January 21st, 2012 at 5:03 PM ^
Cincinatti's putting together a pretty nice class. Hopefully, he does work down there and gets a chance to knock off OSU anyway.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:04 PM ^
Best of luck, Caleb.
If he has a girlfriend at home, I blame this on her.
January 21st, 2012 at 6:07 PM ^
the power of the ........woman. I had a HS teammate that made all state. He was offered by Bo but chose to stay home for his gf. She left him for a married man 1.5 years later. Now he is a janitor.
January 21st, 2012 at 6:43 PM ^
Well that's just great...Caleb, you went from a Michigan degree to scrubbing toilets.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:05 PM ^
We forced him out to make room for bigger recruits right?
January 21st, 2012 at 5:19 PM ^
Nope. This sort of thing is very common in recruiting, actually. It happened under RR, and I'm sure under Carr, too. The coaches keep their recruits up to date on the recruiting situation, so a low ranked early commit like Stacey probably saw his chance at playing time slipping away and made the tough decision to go elsewhere. The coaches didn't force him out, and probably didn't suggest it, but probably made clear where he was going to be on the depth chart. In situations like these it's often best for both parties that the kid decommits, although if he wanted to stay nobody would have stopped him (we didn't recruit with his spot like some coaches would).
January 21st, 2012 at 5:09 PM ^
Best of luck to Caleb.
On another note, is this a good time to bring up our blog-wide and nationwide inability to spell the word Cincinnati?
January 21st, 2012 at 5:16 PM ^
Cincey will do just fine thank you...
January 21st, 2012 at 5:53 PM ^
Unless it's sarcasm it's Cincy lol
January 21st, 2012 at 6:17 PM ^
You're thinking of Cincity, the nick-name for Las Veges, which oddly means "The Vegies" in Spanish, as if you can grow vegies in a desert.
I'm talking about Cincey, OH
January 21st, 2012 at 5:09 PM ^
IIRC, Stacey had been working on snapping and planned to come in at Center. Michigan's depth at center isn't great and in my opinion the players Michigan has coming in don't really fit the center position.
Good luck to him, hopefully this won't be too much of a set back at the center position for Michigan, as we know the other positions should have great depth going forward.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:15 PM ^
I agree. It might be worth another phone call to Evan Boehm to see if he'd consider a school other than Missouri.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^
I agree as well. Even if Jack Miller is great at Center, he won't have anyone behind him after this fall without one in this class. That is why Stacey had value in this class, he played a position no other OL in this class played, and where we needed depth badly.
This is why I'm sure it wasn't the coaches pushing him out.
January 21st, 2012 at 7:54 PM ^
Besides Diamond and Garnett we still have Kozan on the board.. he could easily be a C.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:26 PM ^
I've heard rumblings that Jack Miller could be filling the void that Molk left at Center as soon as next year (over a senior Khoury), but after Khoury's graduation there won't be much depth at all.
It seems like Garnett said in an interview that he'd be willing to shift to Center if needed, so that could potentially be an option as well.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:35 PM ^
The NCAA granted Molk another two years of eligibility.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:11 PM ^
everyone here would say that Urgan cut him free to bring in another recruit.
Seems the same thing is happening here.
Need to make room for some combination of Garnet, Reeves or Diamond.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:17 PM ^
I disagree. We already had four slots open and are in on five guys, but unlikely to sign all five. Also, three of them are O-line and I doubt we get/take all three even now. There's no incentive for us to cut this kid out to "make room."
January 21st, 2012 at 5:22 PM ^
Don't feed him.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:27 PM ^
And I agree to an extent, there probably would be people saying that (also, it seemed Urban had some credibility for making the moves he did, so that stuff as is is overblown).
I think it is in the kid's best interest to tell them something along the lines of "we are getting a lot of people in at your position, it may effect your playing time, etc. Because of that it might be in your best interest to look elsewhere. That being said, we will still honor your commitment and would love to have you at our school."
Doing something and being straight forward to a kid isn't a bad thing and isn't really shady. I don't know what happened in this case. I don't think Hoke would essentially yank his scholarship because of other commits, especially when he has slow played others before. I certainly hope he wouldn't. But the line is very fine when telling a kid the truth and telling him to get lost. Then there is Saban who just says "screw the line I'm going way the F over here."
January 21st, 2012 at 5:26 PM ^
It doesn't look like we're going to fill every available scholarship as it is. Not unless we scoop up someone whose name has not yet been mentioned. Nor are Diamond or Garnett scared of competition against Stacey, in all probability. If he left because of recruiting issues, it's because the staff told him who was coming in and he realized his odds of becoming a starter were sinking.
You don't bump a guy at a position of need. We need depth at O-Line and we could have used him, regardless of who else we get.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:32 PM ^
Except for the fact that there are now a potential four or five spots available with two weeks left.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:52 PM ^
I've never seen -22 points before, congratulations.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:16 PM ^
Wouldn't be surprised if he started feeling like the forgotten man. Admit I was worried when I saw a post here on a thread listing our incoming OL members and omitting him. Someone else immediately made the correction, but I'd hate to see someone who chose Michigan so early and enthusiastically get lost in the shuffle. At least he didn't wait until he got here. This way he can play at home for a full four (or five) years and know he'll be able to contribute. Wish him well.
[And what a well-written and respectful tweet! He's got the makings of a Michigan man even if he won't be playing here.]
January 21st, 2012 at 5:57 PM ^
say they're sad to see him go. WIth Garnett, Diamond and Kozan in the fray (all rated higher than Stacey) why are people sad to see him decommit? Now, if we didn't have three better guys waiting for 1 or 2 more OL spots I could see the rationale. With Garnett and Diamond showing strong interest, I think this is a great thing. More spots for better guys.
Wish him the best, but I'm certainly not "sad to see him go".
January 21st, 2012 at 6:27 PM ^
I'll tell you why.
First, we don't know if any of those guys will commit to UM. Even it one or two of them do, OL is a position of great need, so I'd be OK taking all of them.
Secondly, Stacey was likely slotted for center, and I don't know if any of those guys can play center. By all accounts, Stacey was a smart, hardworking player and could have made a great OC.
Thirdly, we don't know if any of those guys will be better than Stacey. Just because they have a higher recruit rating doesn't mean they'll be better. Rivals doesn't have him rated that low, but even so, OL is the toughest spot to scout accurately. Dann O'Niell was supposed to be a sure-thing at OT, and Huyge was a MAC level player, but the former is struggling at WMU and the latter was a 2-year starter for us. Not to mention that injuries and transfers happen and can be unpredictible.
I'm not saying I think Stacey will be better than Garnett or Kalis, but to say you're happy he left because we might get Kozan is a stretch. A bird in the hand, and all that.
January 21st, 2012 at 7:10 PM ^
4) He was one of the first (if not THE first) 2012 kid to commit. He did so before Michigan was "back." He did so before he knew anything about the rest of the class. He did so on faith in Michigan and the coaches.
5) He's remained classy at every stage of the process, including the decommitment.
Best of luck, kid. May you pancake many.
January 21st, 2012 at 7:20 PM ^
But it's also a possibliity that the guys we'll get to replace him WILL be better. At this point, we can either cry in our beers since he decommited or, look at the bright side that we may have a chance to get another kid thats really special. (Diamond/Garnett/Kozan)
January 21st, 2012 at 7:16 PM ^
who flagged this as "trolling"? lol. Give me a break.
If it was trolling I would have said "Good luck you fat retard, good riddence."
Instead, I clearly defined why I was NOT sad to see him go and gave my reasons why I thought so. The comments in response to my post make sense, and I would reconsider my thoughts if there were good reasons.
Man, there are some serious hard asses on this board. If you don't say "Oh my god, Caleb - I'm SO sad to see you go - and don't wish him "the best of luck" every other sentence - you get flagged for "trolling". Nice.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:16 PM ^
Good luck at Cinci young man.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:20 PM ^
Hometown university, family, friends, perhaps earlier playing time, plus there are likely other reasons. I can't blame the kid at all, and I hope he does well.
Like others have mentioned, I hope that this is a really good sign that we are a lock for Garnett. Man, NSD can't get here fast enough. This is my first year closely following recruiting and it's a real rollercoaster ride. I'm beginning to question my sanity and priorities. lol
January 21st, 2012 at 5:33 PM ^
LT- magnuson
LG- garnett
C- kozan
RG- kalis
RT- diamond
backup-guard- bars
and this is all from one class!
January 21st, 2012 at 5:33 PM ^
LT- magnuson
LG- garnett
C- kozan
RG- kalis
RT- diamond
backup-guard- bars
and this is all from one class!
January 21st, 2012 at 5:39 PM ^
Good to see that Garnett, Diamond & Kozan have committed.
January 21st, 2012 at 6:03 PM ^
That above will not happen.
First off, Braden is far better than you project. A coach in his division said hes the best OL ever to play agains, and that included NFL Joe Staley among others.
I think Garnett is coming, and that is it.
LT Magnusson
LG Kalis
C Garnett
RG Bars
RT Braden
The FAB FIVE of OL.
January 21st, 2012 at 10:01 PM ^
FLAB FIVE 4 LIFE!!!
January 21st, 2012 at 10:49 PM ^
love it, am i late to the party or did you just make tha up? That's a great name for the crew if we get garnett. hopefully it turns out better in the end tho
January 21st, 2012 at 5:35 PM ^
Yeah i think reality hit ,with the Wolverines going after some elite O Line in the class,plus what we already have.Stacey was going to be very low on the depth chart for years
January 21st, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^
I rarely "wish kids the best" who decide to go elsewhere as I'm all about the M. But this is one of those cases that warrants a well-wish. Good luck Caleb.
January 21st, 2012 at 5:40 PM ^
Stacey committed to an interview with me like three or four days ago. Odd that he would decommit all of a sudden.
January 21st, 2012 at 8:23 PM ^
obviously he didn't want to give away the fact that he was heading elsewhere until he was ready to actually announce it.
January 22nd, 2012 at 2:45 AM ^
He could have very easily ignored the request.