An Interview with Tom Strobel
Andrew always does a good job, but this is some of his best work yet. He talked to incoming defensive end Tom Strobel from Mentor, OH. Strobel talks about the way the Buckeyes recruited him, his size and future position, and his starring role in Mentor High's musical.
Funny that he's a singer because I think he looks a bit like Layne Staley:
Strobel:
Staley:
Titanic is not an easy show to sing by any means, Kids got some serious chops. Tom Strobel just became my favorite incoming Freshmen. Our defensive line is going to be absolutely filthy
give a great sense of the quality of the person Hoke is recruiting -- in addition to their athletic prowess. Stroebel has a fantastic attitude and should be fun to watch.
Strobel sounds like a guy who really has his act together. I like his comments about food and gaining weight. Too often, you see kids put on bad weight when they come in. He seems determined not to do that. I can't wait to see him playing.
I don't see how it's a shame. He's 255-260 lbs. as a high school senior. The coaches want Craig Roh (a college senior) at about 280. Strobel can probably add another 5-10 lbs. of good weight between now and August, so he'll be 10-15 lbs. shy of where they want their senior starting 5-tech. That seems pretty good to me.
No, in the interview he said they plan is for him to come in at the 5-tech or SDE spot.
In MGoBlog language, "5 tech" refers to the strongside end and "weakside end" or "WDE" refers to...the weakside end.
Pounds is not that small,plus he'll add 5 pounds before he gets to A2. Then another 5 pounds in fall camp.
With his frame he'll be at 280 lbs. within a year, so I see no worries physically. More importantly his intelligence and maturity level set a good foundation to be a future leader in this football program.
Very solid interview - well done.
Seems like an intelligent, good kid. Good work ethic, strong motor. Do think Northwestern would take issue with his comment about Michigan being the "Ivy school of the Big Ten", though.
Your point about Northwestern is well taken, but it is worth noting that amongst the Big "Ten" only Michigan had the chutzpah to print shirts proclaiming Harvard to be the 'Michigan of the East' - riffing on the historical billing of Michigan as the 'Harvard of the West'
(Also, you know how every college bookstore has T-shirts repping that school's various departments like "Michigan Engineering" or "Ohio State Business" or "Alabama Hostessing", etc? I've always wanted to get one of those shirts that says "Michigan Arrogance" :) )
...during his Peace Corps proposal speech on the steps of the Michigan Union (during the 1960 campaign) who first coined the phrase.
"I want to express my thanks to you, as a graduate of the Michigan of the East, Harvard University."
In this case, Michigan's chutzpah is based on the observations of a Harvard graduate not on some self-developed construction of Michigan as the Harvard of the West.
Please somebody do a gif of the "come see the show" death stare at the end of that clip. Seems like a really well rounded kid. It's great to be able to get more excited about our recruits the more you learn about them instead of wondering what we've gotten ourselves into. And yes, I will have nightmares about that baby doll.
Can't quite post myself yet.
Did OSU want Strobel? His comments about OSU lack of focus wrt his recruitment are surprisingly damning. I'm sure it's a different ship now but it seems like a pretty big disconnect.
I doubt MIchigan is acting so nonchalant with D-1 caliber HS players whether they are recruiting them or not.
He had an OSU offer. But it's possible that after Meyer took over, his offer become noncommitable.
Meyer didn't enter the picture until after the 2011 season. By that point Strobel had been committed to UM for like 6 months and showing no interest in OSU at all. I don't think Meyer had anything to do with this.
Also, I am pretty sure Fickell wanted him (who was the coach at the time) but just couldn't recruit as well as Hoke.Either way, the Meyer bit was not relevant to the Strobel recruitment.
You can bet that OSU expects any kid in the state of Ohio to want to come to OSU from the moment they talk to them and have that as their incoming expectation whenever they meet an instate recruit.
You can bet that OSU expects any kid in the state of Ohio to want to come to OSU from the moment they talk to them and have that as their incoming expectation whenever they meet an instate recruit.
Interesting about the ohio recruting and how Strobel felt about it. I've heard it said that people talking to John Kerry often felt as though he was looking past them for "more important" people in the room. I have no idea whether this is true, but I've seen the dynamic. Sounds like young Mr. Strobel has as well and he doesn't care for it.
What a relief, that Michigan fans in Ohio wished Strobel well and then just walked away. Sure beats the alternative of wishing him well, encouraging him to commit to Ohio State, and handing him the keys to a late-model Corvette.
My mom's side of the family lives in Mentor and are Buckeye fans. Hope he ends up a stud so I can rub it in their faces.
"Aside from being raised in Ohio and identified as one of the top prospects in the nation, Tom graduated with a 3.8 GPA, maintains a focus on academics, and talks about a strong commitment to his team and "doing things the right way."
The only way I could be even happier is if the above statement should begin with the words "Instead of" rather than the words "Aside from"....IMHO