First #crootin of 2024. Top UM target 4* LB shockingly commits to Florida
Recruiting giveth and taketh away this weekend. As Michigan welcomed I’Marion Stewart and Micah Ka’apana, last night came with a massive shock to the 2024 class as Top 100 LB Aaron Chiles committed to downward spiral and flaming hot seat Billy Napier last night out of seemingly nowhere.
If you have been following closely this year, Chiles was one of the top targets in this class. Had 100% CB’s to Michigan and wanted to commit to Michigan in the spring until his Dad told him to wait until his summer visits, were Michigan was going to receive the last one (supposed to be next weekend). For all purposes it seemed like Michigan was far and away the leader. I’d guess he is no longer visiting next weekend at the moment.
Sounds like the ‘OL NIL played a big factor, as his family went bag chasing, but also guess who just so happened to be his host in Gainesville? RJ Moten. From reports by Florida personnel, it was Moten who seemed to trash his former program and played a big presence in Chiles commitment as well. Sour grapes at the highest level.
[Ed: RJ Moten refutes this.
]
Michigan still maintains the #2 overall class, and is the pre-season #2 team in the country. If Sun Belt Billy goes 4-8 and gets canned while Michigan continues to thrive, we might we see Chiles back on the market. Until then, a decent blow and the first big #crootin story of the 2024 cycle.
Edit again: boo this.
I dunno. I'm leery of recruiting someone named A.Chiles. Especially since we just added Trojans to the conference.
P.S. Come to think of it, maybe that's what spooked him?
This is a brilliant comment! Too bad it was a "next day" comment and almost no one will see it....
RJ just tweeted this though..
"I want to come out and address the issue that I did not and would never belittle the University of Michigan. They gave me a chance of a life time, I created bonds and friendships that will last forever with Coach Harbaughs staff and the players on the team."
There's no way that he would do one thing in public and do another in private right? This, like the original post means little to me in thinking if this did/didn't happen.
Agree completely. I'm sure he told him, "Really dude, don't come to Florida, Michigan is so much better. I only transferred because I suck!"
Get real people, he can do negative recruiting by saying a lot or even little.
I only transferred because I suck!
This one got me laughing more than usual
RJ might have told him he transferred because playing time was hard to come by and that he stood a better chance finding playing time at Florida. He might have said something about the NIL at UF being better than what they offered him at Michigan. Any of that does not besmirch Michigan.
Or he “might” have told him, M is terrible, coaches are terrible, NIL is terrible, girls are ugly, etc etc. all we know is UF put a fresh grad transfer from M on this kid, which resulted in him committing without even taking his schedules visit. I think we can all assume something more than PT and NIL caused a drastic change. If this kid and his family take the word of moten enough to cancel his M visit a week later, it probably wouldn’t have worked out here anyway.
I think he has earned the benefit of the doubt
He earned a lot of easy chances at INTs too tho.
Consider me shocked if he spoke more highly of the place he was at over the place he left. I don't think that's doing anything wrong. He left to play at the school his dad played at for 1 season, it doesn't mean he hated Michigan. Really not a big deal.
Sounds like he’s setting the stage for a possible one-and-done at Florida (like pops). If he goes into the Portal, there’s no ill will and opens himself up to come possible come here.
OK, but I'm not going to trash a former player because of total hearsay and guesses. Plenty of other recruits have committed to other schools besides Michigan at the drop of a hat without any hint of trashing from a former player.
He didn't deny being Chiles' host. If he still was Chiles host, then I call bullshit on this. Napier just happened to make a new grad transfer from Michigan the host for a player who Michigan leads for? Unless Napier made Moten Chile's host with the soul purpose of negative recruiting us, I don't know why he would make a brand new transfer, who has only been there a few months, an ambassador for their program
Agree, but it was smart and it worked.
Comparing Michigan and Florida doesn’t mean trashing Michigan. The weight room here is more impressive can both be a true statement and mean more coming from a guy at both places
Sorry but Moten should have refused being the host. Obviously he was picked because he went here and to make sure he goes there over Michigan. They don't play same position nor from same area, nor has he even played there.
i doubt that Moten was in the position to refuse the request. He was put into an awkward situation by the coaching staff.
Refused???? This isn't a federal judge recusing themselves from a case. It makes perfect sense for him to be the host. He went to M, can compare the programs to Chiles and his family, and is a guy who probably hasn't had many bad experiences at UF. He's the perfect guy to host a recruit who's close to committing to UM.
Also, recruits don't get hosted just by guys from their area or who play their position. It's more about who the recruit will mesh with, and who is a good ambassador for the program.
Reading this closely it's clear he trashed Coach Harbaugh. He specifically says positive stuff about everyone except for him.
Nothing wrong with any of this. Michigan lost a recruiting battle -- it happens. Boo Carter committed to Tennessee as well. Onward.
Exactly. We cannot win them all. Hoping we can at least get Beasley, and I'd imagine that finalizes our LB commits for the year. Already have a great one committed for the following season too
That great one is currently taking visits in SEC country.
Hopefully we win a couple battles we aren't expected to win:
Aaron Scott
Justin Scott
Bryce West
One or two of these would make up for the loss of Chiles
OP is concern trolling. Signing the 2024 class is a looooong way off. And actually getting them enrolled is longer still. Then there's actually keeping them until they are starters/major contributors. He'll still end up here or he won't.
OP must have been listening to the Maize MadMan Youtube channel.
A recruit changing his mind? Imagine that!
I typically don’t like to blame NIL for most recruiting outcomes, but when a struggling program suddenly grabs a bunch of highly rated guys (who were leaning elsewhere) in one weekend…..sure seems like the $$$ was a deciding factor for these prospects.
You mean.. like Ole Miss in the hey day of brown bagging and A&M last year?
Yes....
There's a difference between NIL and what Hugh Freeze was doing though. If Florida ponied up enough NIL money for it to swing Chiles, good on them. Freeze was breaking rules (and probably laws).
Here’s the issue: Pay for play is still against the rules. “Ponying up enough to swing Chiles” sounds a lot more like it’s pay for play than it does a player being able to make money on the side from his NIL usage. There IS a difference between NIL and what Freeze was doing. But many programs are just doing what Freeze did and calling it NIL.
But that’s the problem with unregulated NIL implementation, programs will still break the rules and use those grey areas to avoid NCAA sanctions.
I wonder.. if I offer a prospect’s parents a job.. let’s say it’s $150K / year for both mom and dad. And, my company’s policy - for certain employees. - is to provide housing and transportation - a car for each licensed driver in a household.
So, a four bedroom house, an SUV and sedan for mom & dad, along with an exotic for any athlete in the family.
Have I broken any rules?
By the rules, it depends on if you qualify as a “booster” in the eyes of the NCAA and if that job offer was contingent upon their son playing football at Michigan.
But in general, yeah that’s the kind of trick that has been commonplace as schools try to circumvent the rules in place.
As long as you are being consistent with all your other employees, you will be OK. Otherwise, you could get sued by other employees for discrimination.
The job I would offer the parents of the prospect is that of a specialized consultant - since I am sure they have unique skills and abilities - which are different from anyone else I have hired. It would probably be a four year need my company has.
The shock is still sending Chiles up my spine.
"From reports by Florida personnel, it was Moten who seemed to trash his former program and played a big presence in Chiles commitment as well."
OP, you're full of shit until proven otherwise. If you're going to include something inflammatory, at least source it. (I'm open to believing what you wrote.)
I like to follow the rules here and not provide premium content from 247/On3 reporters that are reporting Moten's actions. But yeah buddy, I'll make sure to stop being such "full of shit"
So we're buddies, then? Awesome. :)
Buddy, I appreciate that you're following the rules, but next time at least do us the favor of hinting where you got that information. If you're going to smear a former player, it almost seems like an obligation.
I don't think he's your buddy, guy
Either you actually spill the beans or you don’t mention at all. Sharing the key takeaway is still sharing premium content.
Also college insider reporting is all a scam and there’s like a 20 percent chance it’s accurate anyway
I get that many of these sites earn money by providing "premium content" for fans who want to delve deeper into certain topics. Sounds like a legit way to earn a little extra $$$ but the truth is, we are in the information age and it's very hard to keep anything a secret if more than one person knows about it. My point is, if you release "premium content" to anyone who subscribes, assuming that's 100's of people, how do you expect it to remain premium content and for how long? The site diminished it's value the moment they gave it to someone else. It's only a matter of time before it gets leaked or other news sources begin to report it to more people.
I understand they expect the content user to abide by an ethical code not to disclose what they learned from the site. It seems to me there's no way of knowing if the info. was leaked by someone else or what the original source was. If a person paid for the info. they can and will tell others. It's not different than TMZ paying for a story. They didn't buy it to keep it secret, they bought it to tell others. Subscribers inherently want to tell others because they know things others don't and it just feels good to know what others don't. Besides, who wants to keep a big fat juicy secret anyway?
Not my intent to weaken the efficacy of sites that provide premium content. We all have to earn a living. I only wanted to point out that if the business model is based on something like non disclosure, it's hard to sustain because of the multitude of ways people learn information today. Many subscribers believe that if they paid for it, they can tell whomever they like. Sorry to be the one who points out the obvious. It's the business you've chose. If OP want's to share info. with his friends, he can. It will come out anyway if it's newsworthy, That's the nature of the beast. You can't expect people to not talk about what they saw on the news last night, to friends tomorrow. IJS
Moten got burned by freshman in the spring game, he should probably chill out if true…
Believe he may even have been a silent. Dunno man - play the long game. Florida gonna look like shit again this year. We won’t.
Florida is possibly starting Graham Mertz at QB.😬
I'd have more confidence in Fred or Ethel Mertz.
or a Mertz donut
Is that anything like a Hertz Donut?
(My uncle asked me if I wanted a Hertz Donut. When I said yes, he punched me in the thigh and said, “that hurts, don’t it?”)