"The coaches know."

The thing I kind of took from Mathis and Olaniyan's comments was that they weren't comfortable with the atmosphere or environment at UM. I think that's legit and a personal preference, but it's not something that should be ignored. It seems like our coaches are tough and yellers and, god forbid, happen to swear from time to time.

People respond differently to different types of instruction / criticism. There are people out there who do well in a high pressure, high intensity environment, and people who respond more to a calmer, more logical approach. I don't think one is necessarily right or wrong, but we have to realize that maybe this staff's style just isn't for everyone. If you're a guy who likes a calmer environment, I don't see why you'd sign up for four or five years of yelling and craziness. Just like those guys probably wouldn't ever sign up to play basketball for Bob Knight or Tom Izzo.

Yeah, the news outlets suck. In today's journalistic climate the best you can strive for is to be OK. Inaccurate, but OK.

Did we even read the same article? Geez guys, I read these comments and then read the article and have to wonder what everyone else on here read. You all read everything with such a bias to see bias that, guess what - you see bias. There is nothing any more negative in that article about Michigan than about any other program. Gholston's comment is that Michigan's coaches know why he didn't pick Michigan - that is it. He is being level headed and not saying any more. Tony Jones? He clearly prefers MSU to UM. Perhaps he grew up around MSU fans. He is giving us "the world according to Tony". Nothing else. Then he clearly states that UM wanted him to play safety, not WR (we have plenty of WR depth in the class). Big surprise he didnt favor UM. And Kater says that his worst recruiting experience was to MSU.

Get a fucking grip guys. Step outside of your own biased interpretative frameworks once in a while. You are creating something out of nothing. The only thing related to this article that paints UM in a bad light is this thread.

Sounds like the Michigan coaches didn't want to meet his demands($$$$) to play at Michigan?

It would be nice to hear the thoughts of the Michigan EEs, especially someone like Austin White, who all but seemed destined for MSU early on. With him seemingly "in the bag" because of his brothers being at State, I wonder if the MSU coaches *gasp* took him for granted?

I personally like how none of our recruits were "made available" for the story. I think that's RR giving the media around here the big middle finger.

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

haha where does this guy get his information??

"_______ has enrolled at Michigan and the university has not made him available to participate as part of this story."

After reading this line multiple times, I stopped taking the piece credibly. It's only one side of the story. You don't have any of UM's guys responding to "Why not MSU?". So it's a non-event in my eyes. Also, it made a clear statement that the access has been tightened up considerably in Ann Arbor after the Freep Jhiad following Media Day last summer, which I am glad to see.

The News should have waited to run this article after NSD. There are still 48 hours and any one of these kids could POSSIBLY change their commitment. Not probable, but possible.

GO BLUE!

I always wanted to go to MSU. But when I was valedictorian of my high school graduating class and finished high school without a criminal record, MSU was off the table; I had to settle for UM.

I hope it comes out, though I don't see any real reason for RR or Dantonio to go there publically. I would like to hear what exactly happened. As with Grimes, I think there is a lot of negative recruiting (by HS coaches and college coaches) not to mention the myriad of other influences on these guys.

The bottom line is relationships need to be preserved to keep opportunities open. RR understands that I think. Michigan can ill afford losing athletes who have no other reason than "things" happening. It's a better school in most all cases, a better football program overall than most all others and a big step toward a better life for these kids.

Hankins was not a priority early for supposed good reason. It looks like he turned that around. Good luck to him. Winning is going to favor this wait and see tactic. Bring on the wins.

That is all.

First of all, when did I say that my instincts are better than Rodriguez's? And what do instincts even have to do with the conversation? I said that Hankins felt like he was low on Michigan's priority list. That has nothing to do with my "coaching" instincts; it has to do with factual knowledge that a) Hankins' offer came late in the process and b) he was quoted in the newspaper saying that had an effect on his college choice.

You're right about Bullough - I forgot about that comment.

"Try to listen, others are." What does this even mean?

Not everyone who reads the Detroit News is as well versed in recruiting as many of us on this board are. If Hankins says what he says and uninformed people read it, they might think that we're treating Detroit kids poorly. If people who are already anti-Rodriguez or on the fence read Olaniyan's comment about "I didn't like the way the coaches run things," then that could have a negative impact on the perception of Michigan/Rodriguez.

I'm not troubled by anything in this article. I'm going to sleep fine tonight. I'm not throwing a fit. I'm not saying Rodriguez needs to be fired. I'm not saying people at the Detroit News need to be fired.

I'm simply saying that some of these comments do not reflect Michigan in the best light.

Mathis was offered early and pursued heavily. The interest from the coaches dissipated when he insisted on extending his recruitment and/or his position started filling up.

I'm just glad The Detroit News isn't the Freep. The Freep is dead to me after all of the shit they've pulled.

I guess my point is that he could have chosen UM. He was given the opportunity, and he chose to pass that up. Whether the coaches cooled on him or not is kind of irrelevant, because he thought there might be better options out there. Whatever the reasons, it's a kid who said "No, thanks" to a Michigan offer.

from the comments of hankins and hill is that both of them feel like that they were entilted to a michigan offer no matter what... we all know the story about hankins as its been told many times... as for hill IIRC he under performed at michigans camp and jumped on state as soon as they offered. and when tim saw him play against pioneer he said that his back up was better...

I think the most interesting comment in that article is the one at the very end by Tony Jones about State:

"Growing up in Michigan, that's where everyone wants to go."

Uhh.... what?

Very unfortunate that UM didn't allow their early enrollees to speak to the paper. I understand the reasoning I guess, because of the way the Freep shitheads took Stokes and Hawthorne's quotes and turned them into an NCAA investigation...but the DetNews article just looks horribly slanted without any UM commits chiming in. Just me, but I would've let the players talk.

As for what some of the other kids said (Gholston, Hankins, Mathis, Hill, etc)...well, lol. That's all I can really say at this point. Lo-freaking-l.

My problem with Gholston's answer is the lack of truth in it. We all know the real reason he didn't come to Michigan is that RichRod doesn't recruit 5 stars. (sarcasm)

Reading the article, I was a bit concerned. The overall impression is that kids don't like UofM so much. If our recruits had contributed, however, the impression may have been different. We would have seen more responses to a "Why not MSU" question.

As an admitted non-fan of RR, I didn't see anything here that makes me think the negatives are his fault. Some kids don't like UofM - such if life. The State kids probably got pitched the idea of playing both sides of the ball...it's not like they have too many kids probation-free up there.

11. QB Cody Kater

"Why not U-M ? I was never a Michigan fan. Michigan really didn't make my list of six or seven schools."

Dude, were you even offered by six or seven schools? MSU didn't even offer you.

15. WR Tony Jones

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

To be fair, Flint and Sagnasty are major Sparty towns. The majority of people I know in the Flint area that are Michigan fans primary migrated from a pro Michigan city.

That's all that caught my eye. To each their own. If Michigan wasn't a right fit for you, then so be it. Michigan isn't for everyone. Just don't make some BS excuse (I'm looking at you Cody Kater) on why you aren't going to Michigan.