How did our rivals do?

Submitted by 1464 on

Michigan State:

The only recruit yet to sign is Monty Madaris.  Speculation abound that he called off of school sick today and that Mr. Meyer may be in his ear.  (RCMB calls Meyer 'Nucky', which if you follow Boardwalk Empire, then - yes.  This may be the only RCMB nickname that I approve)  Their class consists of 17 kids, not counting Madaris.  Notable additions: Burbridge (WR), Cox (DB), and Jamal Lyles (DE).

Ohio State:

Nucky has snake-oiled enough recruits to earn the top recruiting spot in the Big Ten.  Aside from the possibility of Madaris, OSU today confirmed the commitment of 4* Kyle Dodson (OT).  Meyer sleazed his way into the heart of several other previously spoken for recruits including; Pittman (DE, MSU), Reeves (DB, PSU) Taylor Decker (OL, ND), and Camren Williams (LB, PSU).  I'm starting to associate Meyer with Saban in terms of sleaztasticity.  Sleaztasticity may not even be a strong enough invented word.  He has brought SEC oversigning north on his unholy conquest of the midwest, continuing to find ways to pull in recruits.  Thankfully, Hoke had our guys hanging strong and we did not lose any commits, just lost a few recruiting battles.  Meyer's next trick is to find a way, through power of hypnosis, to convince several bench warmers that they should try their hand in ice dancing.

Notre Dame:

Today ND lost a borderline blue chip prospect to Houston, if that gives you a sense of their day.  They also lost out on another solid 4* guy in OL Decker.  Their current class sits at 16, with Gunner Kiel as the only 5*.  Their class never materialized, leaving many Domers pissed about their prolongation of the return to greatness.

bronxblue

February 1st, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^

This is about what I expected.  OSU has always recruited well, and I'm not going to call OSU "SEC North" just because of Meyer possibly over-recruiting (I think they are SEC North because of the payments, lack of institutional control, limited academic profile and poor hygiene).

PeterKlima

February 1st, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^

His problem seems to be lieing to recruits.  That kind of thing is a non-issue before he starts coaching.  Once players, coaches and parents find out if he is honest about PT, position, style of offense, other school's problems, etc.... then he will have a reputation.

Similar to his reputation in the south.

There is a reason he only stays one place for a short time.

He may still pull well in Ohio, but I am not concerned about his recruiting in the future.

In reply to by PeterKlima

One Armed Bandit

February 1st, 2012 at 2:19 PM ^

He will use him like Harvin and the kid ate it up. Whether that's true or not, who knows.

BTW, I told my dad, the UM alumnus, we had a top 5 class coming in this year last night and he perked up. When I said OSU was third, he said, "Who cares?"

BlueVball8

February 1st, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^

Will run the Midwest for years to come.  But yeah Ohio did a great job finishing off their class with supremely talented players.  This is the life of being a top-tier team.

BrownJuggernaut

February 1st, 2012 at 2:01 PM ^

Doubt it:

Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, speaking before the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club in Canton., Ohio, said a gentleman's agreement between Dantonio and former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel not to compete for each other's recruits is no longer in play.

"(The agreement) has been between the coaches," Narduzzi said, according to the Canton Repository. "Jim Tressel and Mark Dantonio would never call or talk to each other's commitments. People coach Dantonio knows well don't come in and take players away. When you do, you lose friendships over that."

Alumnus93

February 1st, 2012 at 2:06 PM ^

The moral of the post????  It takes MSU and OHIO to have to tag-team to hold Michigan down.    I always knew they were doing this but am glad it is now more apparent.  More reason to like RichRod for having to deal with a tag-team.  Am looking forward to Dantonio eating it in a few years.

Tater

February 1st, 2012 at 4:29 PM ^

I detest both schools and coaches as much as anyone, and if you've read any of my posts, you know how much I detest Dantonio in particular, but making fun of Dantonio's or Meyer's heart problems just isn't funny.   You crossed a line between sports fan kayfabe and real life that is something I would expect to see on RCMB.  

How is you making fun of their heart problems any funnier or better than RCMB making fun of Bo Schembechler's grave?  Short answer: it isn't.

Lionsfan

February 1st, 2012 at 1:48 PM ^

You know that there's a running joke here about stealing commits from Purdue? I don't think it's exactly fair to criticize Meyer for

Meyer sleazed his way into the heart of several other previously spoken for recruits including

when we've not only done it before, but were actively trying to do it with Reeves

dahblue

February 1st, 2012 at 1:57 PM ^

You've got a point on the hypocrisy, but I think what bothers people so much about Ohio's class this year is the fact that they've just been sanctioned by the NCAA.  Of course, the NCAA then let Ohio have a separate recruiting staff...

A team under sanctions should not be allowed to exceed the number of available scholarships...period.  I'm sure Urban will "make room", but maybe the NCAA needs to update its penalties to specific that those teams docked scholarships cannot, at any time, receive written commitments for slots not available at the time of the commitment.  For me, my upset is with the NCAA for allowing their "penalties" to be a joke.

1464

February 1st, 2012 at 2:12 PM ^

Very true.  I concede my point on that with one stipulation: Meyer seems to do it in a very sleazy way.  He seems incredibly persistent. 

An analogy - most guys try to get women into bed, its the sleazy ones that REALLY put the pressure on, to the point of making a situation uncomfortable.  We all know 'that guy'.  He seems to fall into the category of 'that guy'.

R Kelly

February 1st, 2012 at 2:34 PM ^

Do you have any anecdotal evidence of this or do you just feel that way because he is the coach at OSU?  Nothing wrong with it being the latter.  I remember an ESPN article on recruiting a month or so ago where one recruit who was commtted elsewhere said that Michigan was the most persistent school he talked to, and after a while he asked to coaches to stop calling him.

EDIT:

here is the article: 

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/story/_/id/7424289/recruiting-no-longer-business-usual

1464

February 1st, 2012 at 2:35 PM ^

Just judging him by the exposure I have had...

His press conferences gave me a bad vibe.  Same one I had with Terrelle Pryor and Lebron James.  He just seems very self serving.  Add that to the rumor that his wife made him leave Florida after finding out he was cheating on her and using his health and family as an excuse to leave Florida, then coming immediately back to a higher stress environment.  Something just doesn't add up.

Honestly, the only thing that you need to know is that his family made him sign a fucking CONTRACT to spend time with them.  That's Urban in a nutshell.  If that ain't sleazy, then I don't know what is.

Profwoot

February 1st, 2012 at 1:53 PM ^

Can someone fill me in on why Meyer is "sleaztastic"? Is this just Sparty-style sour grapes or is there actual evidence that impropriety took place in the recruitment of OSU's recent commits?

NYC Blue

February 1st, 2012 at 2:01 PM ^

Its basically sour grapes.  Witness that part of the "sleaze" was recruiting Armani Reeves.  Of course if we got him it would have been fine.

Otherwise, you will hear a lot of unconfirmed and unsourced stuff about his recruiting. 

Personally, I think the guy is a heck of a recruiter and coach, and I say good.  It is much more satisfying to beat a good OSU team than a bad one.

 

umchicago

February 1st, 2012 at 2:11 PM ^

it's his general persona.  for me, it's the way he left Fla for family reasons.  yet, less than a year letter he's signing on the dotted line with osu.  it couldn't be that he saw a serious downturn with the on-the-field talent at Fla could it?  and he didn't want all those upcoming losses on his record?  so he bailed using "family reasons" as an excuse.

1464

February 1st, 2012 at 2:16 PM ^

Agreed.  The guy just seems to put family second.  He also just seems to not care about being honest.  These are second hand perceptions, but I do not care to try to find ways to overturn them.  I am comfortable completely disliking Meyer.  He is slimier version of Tressel minus the facade.

Sopwith

February 1st, 2012 at 3:07 PM ^

involved Urbs getting busted having an affair with a staffer/grad student/somethin' and being required by his wife, as a requirement of continuing their marriage, to quit the Florida job.  

Which, I suppose, does indeed qualify as "family reasons" but not health reasons, as I thought the story at the time was trying to spin it.  

RBWolverine

February 1st, 2012 at 3:09 PM ^

I think it's also that he seems to be the ultimate "I will say anything to get you to sign" type of recruiter.  Will tell lots of kids they are his number 1 priority, tells kids he feels God wants him to coach them, makes up dreams he's had about coaching guys so it sounds like their destiny.  Just a pure sleazy salesman type.  Not as flat-out evil as Saban, but sleazy seems like a good word for it.

BlueVball8

February 1st, 2012 at 2:01 PM ^

Who are the teams that used to be in the top 25 and aren't anymore?  Penn State, Nebraska, and who else?  I mean we have Stanford doing really well, Houstan, and a couple of other teams.

Wolverine 73

February 1st, 2012 at 2:36 PM ^

I think he carted off the top four recruits PSU had, and got Reeves by virtue to flipping Camren Williams to ohio.  The ohio class wouldn't be nearly so good if PSU hadn't imploded this year.  He also had the luxury of having a bunch of spots available because Fickell had had little success in filling the class early.  We'll see how it all plays out on the field the next few years.  I like our coaches and I like our recruiting class.

CRex

February 1st, 2012 at 4:34 PM ^

ESPN did a poll where they asked the Top 150 if the would consider PSU in the wake of the Sandusky/Paterno Scandal.  75% said "No".  Be interesting to see what PSU does, it is tough to be a good program when 75% of the top recruits won't even talk to you.

Also they're in that Year 1 of being bad phase.  Talking about how they can survive one bad class and when BOB is recruiting next year (with his Super Bowl Ring) they'll pull in top talent.  Kind of like how after 3-9 we were all talking about how RR always struggles his first year, but wins 8 or 9 his second year.

 

CRex

February 1st, 2012 at 4:36 PM ^

I want everyone left on OSU's board to commit to them.  They are already over 82.  The higher over they go, the more obvious their roster pruning gets.  

Dailysportseditor

February 2nd, 2012 at 1:40 AM ^

but additional suggested readings.  These books could easily be resold to fellow students for a cash discount.  Nebraska claims it self reported, but only reported the value representing the difference between the free new books and used books, claiming the students returned the books to the school's book store.  NCAA investigators just failed to examine the whole matter and simply relied upon Nebraska's representation of the facts.  Although the NCAA deemed the violations as "Major" and imposed a 2-year probationary period on the school, they never really chose to get to the bottom of Nebraska's systematic violations.