Harbaugh Pressures Pipkins to Retire
Should be interesting going forward. It is one side of the story, but we have seen these instances (OSU had a similar situation a few months ago I believe).
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/13154115/ondre-pipkins-s…
"I don't want to sign the form. I wanted to play for my seniors and for the team. Coach Harbaugh said, 'I recommend you take the medical.'"
"College football is a business. New coaches have to win games. They want to go with guys they think can win. If I'm a victim of making room, so be it. But if there is no concrete reason to disqualify a player. He should have the right to keep playing."
"I feel bad I wasn't able to complete this journey with my classmates," Pipkins told ESPN. "I feel I am healthy and without pain. I believe Michigan wanted to free up the scholarship. I felt I was practicing well and could compete at a high level at the nose tackle and tackle positions."
"All I want to do is play football," Pipkins said. "I tried to finish my career at Michigan but I wasn't given the chance."
"Schmidt told me, 'Call it quits. Hang it up.' He said, 'You've had a good run'," Pipkins said of the Wolverines' head athletic trainer.
"I need you to sign this," Pipkins said Harbaugh told him of the medical form. "It's not fair to your teammates. Let's get it done."
I may be reading the article wrong, but it looks like Michigan granted Pipkins permission to speak to those schools after Pipkins specifically requested permission to speak to those schools. If Michigan had restricted who he could transfer to, the article would have said, "Michigan didn't give him permission to go to such and such a school." If he's already calling Michigan out about pressuring him into retire, why would he stop short by not saying they told me I couldn't go to certain schools? Saying flat out that Michigan restricted me from going to certain schools would have made him look even better and Michigan even worse.
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Pipkins still has his scholarship and can still attend school. UM won't have his scholarship available for this year so no advantage gained.
What exactly is wrong about this situation?
Hopefully, he ends up in a good place. Just proves to me that you have to go to a school where you are getting a good education out of it. Because football only lasts for so long.
No wait, I was confused with Shane Morris' concussion and the former AD.
Truth probably somewhere in between the two sides. When the kid is 50 and still walking he may reconsider his response. But let's be honest, Jim is responsible for his staff's actions. That being said, not a great headline for the day with Gary's mom coming to town.
Everyone breathe and hug someone!
EDIT: Taking this down until I have all the information.
2016 recruiting. His scholarship will be available next year regardless. I cannot see the incentive for JH to ask him to go on medical scholarship other than to protect him. Whether he goes on medical scholarship or not will have no impact on recruiting.
Wrong, if we want to backdate early enrollees scholarships, we have to free them up now. We can do this for 3 players I think.
That is incorrect. The players who early enroll don't count for next year's 25-new-player cap, but they don't effect the 85-scholarship limit.
The article title is definitely a red flag, and to the casual fan/troll, they will probably glean the worst from it.
However, for Michigan fans (and few others) who actually read the article, it really is not that bad. Ondre Pipikins was a senior, meaning there was no advantage to booting him. Further, his injuries were well-documented, and many who followed him knew there was a possibility he would not return to form. The coaches/trainers seemed to be straightforward with him, and although their approach of pressuring him seems shady, the overall premise of advising a young man who suffered two concussions and ACL tear to step away is not an abhorrent crime.
As a former college athlete, I can tell you I would not have taken too kindly to doctors and coaches telling me to hang them up. Sometimes the drive and desire to compete blind us from what is better for us 5, 10, 20 years down the road, especially when we feel healthy on a daily basis and have put in so much work to play a sport at such a high level. I'm not saying that Pipkins is lying or purposefully blowing things out of proportion. I just think that it is entirely possible that he does not really want to hear what the professionals want to say, which is understandable given how much work he's put in to get to this level and work his way back from not one, but three pretty serious injuries. It just makes for an ugly story for UM because the university cannot legally respond, leaving things pretty one sided.
Agree. My only thing is what was the motivation for Pipkins to go to Joe Shad to write this article ? Has to be a reason.
I'm thinking it's so other teams and/or NFL teams won't look at him as used goods.
A recruiting move on his part? As he said in the article, he'll probably have to play at a lower division because an FBS school won't take a guy for two years to play one year. This gets his name out there (it's not like he can go to camps to show off), lets schools know he's available, and may get him some sympathy votes from some FBS schools. Just a guess.
Obviously Harbaugh is making roster space, but he's not pushing out healthy dudes or even guys with one or two minor injuries (in the football world in 2015 ACL tears are minor). Pipkins may never want to play again with the condition he's in and I'd like to believe that plays a role here. Harbaugh has to make a call on putting a guy on the field who's long term health is in jeopardy every snap.
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Read the text of the statement. His scholarship will NOT be available. This has zero implication for the roster.
His scholarship would be available if Pipkins signed the Medical DQ like was asked of him. That scholarship could have been used on a transfer, or more likely, on an early enrollee, freeing up more room for the 2016 class.
We can all see the writing on the wall. We already have 20 committs for 14 spots and we're projected to take 22-25. We have to free up room and this is a step in that direction by using Pipkin's scholly on an early enrollee.
We're playing big boy football now and this is the cost.
The article title is definitely a red flag, and to the casual fan/troll, they will probably glean the worst from it.
However, for Michigan fans (and few others) who actually read the article, it really is not that bad. Ondre Pipikins was a senior, meaning there was no advantage to booting him. Further, his injuries were well-documented, and many who followed him knew there was a possibility he would not return to form. The coaches/trainers seemed to be straightforward with him, and although their approach of pressuring him seems shady, the overall premise of advising a young man who suffered two concussions and ACL tear to step away is not an abhorrent crime.
to see this. Pipkins was one of the first guys I really got excited about in recruiting - watched him run down a speedy guy in the Army game and was so juiced to have a 5* on the d-line that we really needed. From that to the Hoke impression, he was my fav. inbound player by far of 2012.
Hope he finds some good fortune elsewhere. Too bad this is making big headlines and I still don't really "get" this, but alas.
As Lo Pan would say, you were not brought upon this world to get it!
...if this is true, Michigan football is about to lose a life long fan. I will NOT root for cheating.
I don't want the team I love to become another semi-pro team like Alabama or Ohio State.
What's a good team to root for? I may have to go MAC level to avoid this. I'm thinking Central Michigan. Thoughts?
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Leave.
Dave Brandon is that you?
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[REDACTED]
*Too mean a comment, anyone who considers themselves a life long Michigan fan is OK in my book*
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find another team to root for. This hardly constitutes anything remotley worthy of your over reaction.
No one cares about the MAC, or you staying here or leaving.
Enjoy the Popeyes Bowl.
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ACL's aren't a big deal anymore. Here's the all ACL team...
QB-Brady
RB-Jamal Charles, Adrian Peterson
WR-Jeremy Maclin, Reggie Wayne
TE-Gronk
OL-Joe Thomas, Bulaga, Carpenter, Yanda, Pouncey
LB-Von Miller, Melvin Ingram, Thomas Davis
DL-Chris Clemons, Easley, Atkins, McDonald
DB-Eric Berry, Revis, Mathieu
Manning had a neck injury.
Pretty much every player has concussions.
Enough with the "this is best for him in the long run". He's probably out of shape and would be dead weight.
Show me the multiple concussions and back injuries and torn ACLs team, please.
That's a fine list and all but the list of guys who's careers have been ended because of them is far longer and you don't know thier names because... duh.
I assure you, tearing your ACL is, in fact, a very big deal.
I would agree that an ACL injury is not as "serious" for an athlete as it once was, but I wonder how many of the players on that list were diagnosed with arthritis in the knee that they injured.
That is the best point anyone has made. If the surgeon is telling him to take 6 months off he would miss the season anyhow. If he isn't going to be able to play anyhow why not give up the scholarship?
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