"The coaches know."

you have to wonder how that weakness will translate on the field -- Big Ten competition is not only bigger, faster, and stronger than high school, it's also smarter.

It's hard to guess what he might be referring to. Anyhow, if "the coaches know" what "things happened" then I'd imagine the U-M coaches may feel like they dodged a bullet with Gholston. In my experience, breakdowns like this usually go both ways.

I'd also look to the family. I know he's just a cousin, but for most of his recruiting, the OSU/Jets Gholston (Vernon) still had some lustre. The family probably thought young William should be treated like NFL royalty. But now Vernon's likely to be released by the Jets after two years, one of the bigger draft busts in recent memory. Most top-ten NFL picks, even if they don't become stars, end up with decent careers. Not this guy.

Judgmental much? This kid is 17 years old. Are you trying to tell us that your mentors during your teenage years weren't highly influential over your decision-making?

this comment is just embarrassing. it's like a jilted lover reflecting on all the reasons she didn't want to be in the relationship anyways after being dumped.

he didn't want to go to UM. he went to MSU. deal.

in fact, he showed more maturity by not going into details than you did with your comment.

When Larry Foote signed with the Detroit Lions, he said he was going to play 1-2 years and then become the head coach for Detroit Pershing High.

Within the next couple of years, we will have a second pipeline in Detroit, and players will likely come in with better coaching than recent DPS recruits. I hope RR has already developed a relationship with Foote, because this could become very beneficial in the future.

At the very least, I would like to see Foote on the sidelines for a couple of Michigan games next year.

Ewwww..... I'm having nasty Dantonio visions right now. And I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

comments bother me the most from the entire article... if there is anything that the MSM in this state can run with it those comments... and again we all know its BS from what we have read of this site in past couple of months...

lets not assault Gholston's intelligence. Naivety is a fairer assumption.

Then again, I figure recruits that we offered are in three (or more buckets) when considering a Michigan offer these days:

1) The stud who figures he'll make the NFL, and wants to take the apparent lower risk approach and go somewhere proven (recently) like Fla, Bama, USC, Texas, (ugh) OSU (though they're not getting them this year), etc. (I'm thinking Gholston figured [or was influenced to think] State was the lower risk in state option. I'm hoping he'll be proven to be mistaken during his time at MSU.)

2) The guys just behind the studs, who need playing time, and opportunity to prove themselves in college, and are willing to take a risk to get there. National exposure at a Michigan in transition is an opportunity for them.

3) The guys that want to play pro-set, or (in Mathis' case) in a more pass happy conference.

Given how our seasons have gone since (at least) the loss to USC in the Rose Bowl - I can understand how the guys in group 1 are really hard to land. So I have faith that Rich and crew are working really hard to land the best guys in group 2 (and those in 3 that want to play in his offense) that they can.

You know what - assuming we get past the "house divided" lack of confidence in the coach thing. (Big assumption, and it does effect our players - seemed like they stopped believing - which had impact on the second half of our season ...)

Well anyway, I'd rather have a group of guys (in their 2nd, 3rd and 4th years in system) who want to prove themselves, than a group of guys who want to make it through to the NFL without risk.

So to the 3 and 4 star guys who are coming to Michigan: Go Blue and welcome. To the 4 and 5 star guys who are passing us over: we'll see you on the playing field in a few years.

Go Blue!

You beat me to it, I was thinking the same thing when I read his comment. Maybe where he went to school everyone wants to go to MSU but UM has the bigger presence in state and nationally.

I too loved how every player enrolled at UM is already there and were unavailable.

I was shocked by all the negative comments about UM, especially the one that said everyone who grows up in Michigan wants to play for MSU.

I wonder why the EE were not available for comment. If it was something the coaches decided on, I would bet they are second guessing that choice now that this article is out. It really paints UM in a negative light IME.

WR Tony Jones: "Why not MSU ? Growing up in Michigan, that's where everyone wants to go."

I had no idea Tony Jones grew up on a farm?

What would you rather have, a national recruiting base or an instate recruiting base? I'll take the national.Yes, we did miss on Gholston, but I would rather be a force in ohio, Florida and Texas, if we can crack Mack Brown's force field around the state. We'll be fine without those who just wasn't going to fit in here.

"Who gives a shit about this article?"

Apparently you do, since you've posted about it thrice.

The News is a lot better than the Freep. Not perfect, but better. They didn't interview any U-M commits, because all of the in-state U-M commits were already enrolled (ALL OF THEM, how awesome is that), and the university did not make them available. Actually, the News followed very good journalistic integrity there. Once enrolled, a student becomes a representative of the university, and so it is important to make interview arrangements THROUGH the university.

First of all, this is a very legitimate article, complete with quotes from all players that were allowed to speak. Vlad's article on the Freep or what happened there previously is completely irrelevant to this. Quotes from players to simple questions are news. Secondly, to someone that doesn't follow this closely it does in fact look at minimum strange, that three different top state recruits implicitly criticize our approach to recruiting them. Now, that doesn't mean that we did do anything wrong or make a mistake with them, and these are 17-18 year old kids, so it has to be taken with a grain of salt, but to dismiss it out of hand is pretty short-sighted IMO.

when we win. Equal or better talent can be found elsewhere for those who don't fit or want the wings.

You're looking at the situation from a very Michigan-centric viewpoint.

Hankins WAS pursued vigorously. Michigan really wanted him...but they offered too late. They put on the full-court press once they offered.

Mathis WAS pursued vigorously early in the process. The coaches wanted him, but he delayed and his spot(s) were taken.

Bolden was offered by UM, but the others were not.

"I don't own a ski mask."