J. Shanker piece on Butt
Jared Shanker wrote this little piece on Jake Butt growing up a ND and Ohio fan.
Link: http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/
Anyone on here that has Insider probably noticed the very negative reaction to Shanker posting on Michigan's site. There is a sentiment that he is an Ohio homer, and only reports recruiting on Ohio recruits and what not. There was a little backlash, and all of a sudden he's put out a couple articles on UM recruits. Just found that funny. Tom must've had a talk with him.
February 27th, 2012 at 1:59 PM ^
Haha, he sure shanked him in his rear.
February 27th, 2012 at 2:08 PM ^
Hey, we made it a long way before there were any butt jokes. Good going
February 27th, 2012 at 2:27 PM ^
I agree, we can be proud that it took so long to go to the stupid puns. Definitely longer than RCMB or 11w, butt I still think we could have done better.
February 27th, 2012 at 2:40 PM ^
To think that we could have done any better than we did is just assinine.
February 27th, 2012 at 2:45 PM ^
After careful consideration, I've come to a conclusion: I will not play this game any more.
February 27th, 2012 at 2:02 PM ^
This thread disappointed.
February 27th, 2012 at 2:13 PM ^
Doubt he is an Ohio homer. Not read his work though.
February 27th, 2012 at 2:20 PM ^
While he currently lives in Columbus, if anything, he's a Penn State homer (went to school and wrote there):
February 27th, 2012 at 2:22 PM ^
I'm not the only person who was thrown off by the thread title...
February 27th, 2012 at 3:17 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 2:25 PM ^
I love the comments from all of the OSU fans below this article. "We didn't offer him anyway because he wasn't good enough!!" HAHA!! What a joke!!
February 27th, 2012 at 7:55 PM ^
just can't seem to give a compliment and tip of the hat. To me, this screams of extreme inferiority complex. I believe that ohio fans are really worried deep down inside about Hoke and would never admit it.
But at the same time they think Urban is going to dominate, but they are in for quite a big disappointment I'm sensing.
"Shanker Piece on Butt"? Aah, I get it, I see what you did there. If I was Jakes dad or grand dad, I woulda added an E to the end of the name, like in Montana. Then jokes would be "Butte is a Beaut" and not the other way around.
February 27th, 2012 at 2:30 PM ^
This article seems like a big back-handed compliment. OSU and ND never offered seems to be the big take away.
I expected some analysis of how Meyer and Kelly run "spread" systems without a need for a TE. Or, any other reason than simply "they chose not to offer" -- which makes the reader think they evaluated him as a lower-level recruit.
There is little question that if Tressel or Weis were around, then we would have a harder road in picking up Butt.
February 27th, 2012 at 3:49 PM ^
He probably didn't make absurd generalizations about the "spread" because he didn't want to look foolish.
Kelly was getting a ton of production out of Kyle Rudolph before he got hurt halfway through the 2010 season (eventually becoming a 2nd round pick) and Tyler Eifert was a Mackey Award finalist this past season.
Aaron Hernandez won the Mackey Award at Florida (recruited and coached by Meyer) and he followed Cornelius Ingram who had a 500+ yard, 7 TD season as a junior before suffering a season ending injury as a senior.
Meanwhile, our dramatic shift from a "spread" offense to a "pro" offense last year saw our tight ends catch six more passes (25 vs. 19), two more TD (5 vs. 3), and four fewer yards (262 vs. 266) than they did in 2010.
Both Meyer and Kelly have had a ton of success using the tight end position in their offense. It is quite possible that neither thought Butt was good enough or a good fit for their team.
February 27th, 2012 at 5:13 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 2:53 PM ^
Not a bad article but it doesn't offer much we didn't know (other than he played soccer and wasn't a big football player until late). The ND/OSU connections were long known.
He's a Michigan Man now though- and you better believe he'll have a chip on his shoulder for those two big games- it's a neat story but I can already imagine it getting overplayed on TV every time we play either OSU or ND (particularly ND with his grandpa).
February 27th, 2012 at 5:19 PM ^
if he is really good. At this point, I think Kyle Kalis will get much of the attention for his recruitment "flip" and how it went down.
February 28th, 2012 at 1:03 AM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 3:09 PM ^
Shanker has a chancre.
Med School Burn.
February 27th, 2012 at 5:22 PM ^
Seriously, I didn't know that was the spelling of "chancre". I'd heard it and knew what it was, but never saw the spelling.
BTW, I am still unaware of how a "chancre" feels!
February 27th, 2012 at 3:47 PM ^
Thought the article was actually very pro-Michigan. His fathers quotes are pretty badass.
"But once you got over that and started looking at academics and the coaching staffs, the environment and really the needs in the program for a tight end, it just seemed like the perfect alignment for everything. In nearly every category, Michigan was at the top, so it made for a pretty easy decision."
February 27th, 2012 at 4:19 PM ^
Everyone says that recruiting is a zero-sum game, but I think that us getting Jake Butt and Taco Charlton is a win-win for both Michigan and Ohio St. - we get 2 talented recruits to give us some quality depth at positions of need and they get to make 'Taco Butt' jokes for the next four years.
February 27th, 2012 at 5:21 PM ^
February 27th, 2012 at 6:44 PM ^
Butt, I am sure either of the other schools would have taken him -- if they thought they really had a chance!
February 27th, 2012 at 8:22 PM ^
Gnarly thread title....booger.
February 27th, 2012 at 9:55 PM ^
It's great to have Jake at Michigan and nice to see some information about his family and background. I can't wait to see him in the winged helmet catching touchdowns.