Tater

May 1st, 2012 at 9:57 AM ^

Pardon my cyincism, but if I were a recruit, I would game the system for as long as I could.  Let's even assume for a minute that nobody is providing any illegal perks.  You get flown to a campus in a place you haven't seen.  It seems like everyone is there to kiss your butt and tell you how great you are.  I am guessing that, for most kids, it beats the crap out of being home in "the neighborhood" for the weekend.

When illegal perks are factored in, it gets even more attractive.  Recruits aren't stupid; also, they talk with one another, and it becomes common knowledge which trips are "the most fun."  I would want to check out OSU to see if Urban Meyer is still serving up "hostess sandwiches."  

I would also want to see if that is still how things are done in Gainesville.  I would want to see just how golden the golden handshakes are at Bama and Auburn.  If my musical tastes ran toward rap, I would want to visit Miami and USC to see which rappers were going to help with my recruitment.  

Does any of this bode well for an honest program like Michigan?  Not really.  But I won't ever blame a 17 year-old kid for wanting to partake of the cornucopia of perks and benefits offered on recruiting trips, legal or otherwise.

CLord

May 1st, 2012 at 11:29 AM ^

Recruiting is hard to predict, but I'd be very disappointed if we are unable to land another blue chip running back given how stacked the UM environment is going to be for RBs.  Borges' pro set offense that features the RB instead of the QB, world class O line recruits coming in to pave the road, then that little thing about this being, oh, I don't know... MICHIGAN???  The best academic/sporting school combo in the country with the finest college football tradition?

How blue chip RBs aren't clamoring to hop on board immediately is beyond me, rose colored, homer glasses aside.

 

Steve T

May 1st, 2012 at 7:10 AM ^

Isaac and Diamond both favored Michigan early in the process but that doesn't mean their situations are all that similar.  Diamond was pretty consistent from the beginning of the process that he was going to take his time and likely all five of his official visits.  Isaac has consistently stated that he will decide when he feels the time is right.

UofM626

May 1st, 2012 at 1:35 AM ^

Want this kid bad, he has Michigan written all over him, but w that being said I still get the feeling he is waiting to see what happens at SC. I hope he goes BLUE

beeg75

May 1st, 2012 at 1:51 AM ^

I would take my time committing to Michigan after looking at the O-line class this year and last...(almost got all the way through typing that without cracking a big smile)

TheOnlyOne

May 1st, 2012 at 6:26 AM ^

"Sometimes people just tell you want you want to hear. Maybe it works for some. But I want to hear the truth. In general, I'm not a fan of the whole process"



It's quotes like this that make me think he's only waiting to commit to Michigan. Our coaches are constantly being praised for their honesty and up front approach, and he knows he'll have plenty of room to run behind the lineman we've been signing.

tpilews

May 1st, 2012 at 7:32 AM ^

I really don't understand why any player would want to go to USC. Yeah, they will have a solid team this year, but as soon as their scholarship numbers start falling off, so will they. If a player doesn't pan out, that's going to put them even further behind. I would think that that argument alone would be enough to pick UM over USC, and then you take a look at oline recruiting, and it's no contest.

nowicki2005

May 1st, 2012 at 7:42 AM ^

You are still the biggest tv draw on the west coast because you're USC. A lot of celebrities hang around the program. It's still USC. With fewer scholarship players you are practically guaranteed to play whereas you go somewhere like Alabama and are a 4* and you may very likely never see more tha. Special teams. Also the weather and the girls on that campus.

MN Go Blue

May 1st, 2012 at 8:00 AM ^

For us it is tough to wait for him to decide, but who can blame  him taking his time.  I get the feeling that he is communicating with the coaches and teams involved he is just not making his every though available on twitter.  He seems like a well grounded, thoughtful kid.  Put me in the "Do Like" camp.

yzerman19

May 1st, 2012 at 9:18 AM ^

because LA is sweeeet.  the weather, the college babes, it is insane.  i don;t know how we ever win head to heads with SoCal.  and now that they are down scholarships there is no depth meaning Ty would be the only show in town.  very hard to compete with that - except with the finest education available at a public university and the biggest alumni base on the planet.  so i am not counting on Ty - i can't take anymore losing hat ceremonies the emotional let down is too painful.

gopoohgo

May 1st, 2012 at 1:35 PM ^

Not to veer too far off topic, but USNWR rankings are biased towards smaller private schools.  Public institutions get dinged on 'selectivity' (more spots, not as high GPA/test scores with in-state resident advantages in admissions for public universities) in addition to class size (student/teacher ratio), and % of alumni donating.

As for the LA factor...different strokes, different folks.  If USC's campus were magically transported to Westwood or Santa Monica, I agree, location can't be beat.  East of downtown is a decidedly 'bleh' part of the city IMHO.  Will cheerfully admit that I very rarely stray east of the 405 excluding shopping trips for my wife on Rodeo when we visit.

Daniel

May 1st, 2012 at 2:15 PM ^

Exactly. Michigan has been falling in those rankings for the past ten years with no apparent decrease in quality of education.

Whenever someone brings those rankings up, I bring up these as a counterexample. We may be #28 in the US, but because of the magic of different ranking systems, we're still #13 in the world.

kmedved

May 1st, 2012 at 5:30 PM ^

It's ranking different things. UM is 13 on their list overall, with the undergraduate part of the school ranking 28th nationally. The implication (and the correct one) is that UM has especially strong graduate programs, which boost it to 13th overall.

The disparity between the 13th and the 28th rankings is no more surprising than UM ranking 1st in recruiting rankings right now, but finishing outside the top 10 in the polls. They're measuring different things.

HopeInHoke

May 1st, 2012 at 9:49 AM ^

"I took unofficial visits in March, when it worked out for my parents," he said. "Now my visits are out of the way. Nothing else is planned now. To be honest, I don't know if I will visit any more schools. Some have asked me to visit. But if I don't have any interest, I don't want to waste either side's time. If the schools I have visited, I'd be perfectly fine to go to either one of them."

Emphasis mine.

He took multiple visits to ND and UM, and one to USC that would be three schools- but he said either one.  Maybe that's just misspeaking but it seemed interesting to me that he would speak as if there are two options instead of three.

LSAClassOf2000

May 1st, 2012 at 10:10 AM ^

"I want to make an educated decision. If I decide now, it would be a good choice. I want to be sure it is absolutely right. I feel I asked the right questions and got the answers I wanted." - Ty Isaac, from the article

From the sound of things, he is considering every aspect of his future in this process - football and otherwise. He shouldn't hurry really; he sounds like a grounded kid who would be a great addition wherever he decided to go.