Jai Eugene, Jr. is a thing
If you want to feel old, there's a Jai Eugene, Jr. who is a 2023 dual-threat quarterback from Destrehan (LA) Destrehan. He recently got an offer from Virginia, which is how he ended up on my radar.
Anyway, if you don't know who Jai Eugene, Sr. is, he was committed to Michigan as a top-100 defensive back in the class of 2006. Then out of nowhere, the LSU bagman cometh (like, for real). They gave his parents "jobs" and since Jai Eugene, Sr. had a kid at that point, they said they would help take care of his kid, too. So he flipped to LSU.
Fast forward to the year 2021 and . . . well, I assume Jai Eugene, Jr. is the same kid that sort of prevented Sr. from leaving Louisiana for Michigan.
You're welcome for the blast from the past.
January 20th, 2021 at 9:54 AM ^
I would have figured him as more of a jai alai kind of guy
January 20th, 2021 at 10:46 AM ^
Jai Alai is a good IPA
January 20th, 2021 at 11:23 AM ^
White Oak Jai Alai Mmmmmm
January 20th, 2021 at 1:18 PM ^
I have lost small fortunes on Jai Alai and beer but never on Jai Alai beer.
January 20th, 2021 at 5:09 PM ^
Jai Alai is trash. I guess if you think Sculpin is a a good beer.
January 20th, 2021 at 9:54 PM ^
There's always "that guy."
Thanks for showing yourself so we didn't have to scroll too far.
January 25th, 2021 at 11:25 AM ^
It's a good IPA -- not too high on the IBU chart and very drinkable. And it's nothing like Sculpin at all.
January 20th, 2021 at 1:32 PM ^
I can't read jai alai without thinking of this
January 20th, 2021 at 9:57 AM ^
Is this the kid Sam Webb and Ron English spoke about on WTKA a year ago or so?
January 20th, 2021 at 9:59 AM ^
I thought it was. The timing was around then.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:11 AM ^
Didn't Ron say they bought his family a house?
January 20th, 2021 at 12:39 PM ^
That can't be. I've been told that the bagman is just an excuse made up by arrogant Michigan fans as an excuse for the state of the program.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:10 AM ^
Yes, and that is one of the funniest stories I've ever heard.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:10 AM ^
Yes this is that story.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:11 AM ^
That was my first thought as well. I found a link to the interview:
https://omny.fm/shows/michigan-insider/008-ron-english-pt2-122118
The Jai Eugene story starts around 23:00.
January 20th, 2021 at 11:26 AM ^
at the end of that segment Ron says that Bo called down to Baton Rouge after he found out what was going on and lit up Les about it... the other thing that Ron said about Bo's phone call was that Bo "said some things to Les" that remain true to this day... you can take that how ever you want to...
January 20th, 2021 at 12:13 PM ^
Why is someone with no official position within the University or Athletic Department involved in recruiting granulars?
The AD, and in particular the football program, needs to rid itself of anyone with ties to the Bo/Carr eras. The wield too much undeserved influence if you ask me.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
what in the hell are you talking about???
January 20th, 2021 at 12:46 PM ^
During that official timeframe, he had no official position within the AD to my understanding. Maybe some office and some honorary/emertius title? Why is he getting involved in this? If their grudges prevented us from getting Miles . . . .
January 20th, 2021 at 1:05 PM ^
Les was a former player and coach under Bo, and if you know anything about Bo, he and his players had lifetime relationships in most cases. The Coach, also as everyone knows, had no problem telling people what he thought. He especially didn't like dishonesty. It's highly likely this incident and others involving Miles were the reasons he never coached here, like it or not.
January 20th, 2021 at 5:07 PM ^
That's why we ended up with Rich Rodriguez.
January 21st, 2021 at 1:51 AM ^
I like how you capitalized “the Coach,” as if it was a proper noun of a god.
January 20th, 2021 at 9:58 AM ^
Thanks Magnus, I do feel older than normal now
January 20th, 2021 at 10:01 AM ^
Yikes. The math definitely works on this being the same kid. I believe the story they told was that Jai was so emotional after Jr's birthday party that he had to stay close to home.
Speaking of 2023 QBs, Magnus any thoughts on Dante Moore? Is he the real deal?
January 20th, 2021 at 10:20 AM ^
I coached against him this past year. Yes he is the real deal. While he threw some nice deep balls, moved in the pocket to make some plays; the most impressed I was with him was in a slant he threw from the 10 for a touchdown. The way he took the snap, looked, and fired it into a window was a throw a lot of D-I QBs can't make now. Willing runner and a smart runner (utilizes sliding and getting out of bounds).
January 20th, 2021 at 10:54 AM ^
Real deal? I guess that depends on what you mean by that.
Is he a good high school QB? Yes. Is he the best QB I've seen from MLK in a while? Yes. Is he a 5-star? I probably wouldn't put him in that category. I'm not sold on his arm strength and throwing mechanics to go that far. But he's better than some of the other in-state QBs that have been hyped up early over the past years, like Sam Johnson.
January 20th, 2021 at 11:03 AM ^
Thank you. Yes legit 5 star is what I was getting at.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:26 PM ^
Do you think that he's ranked too high?
January 20th, 2021 at 1:10 PM ^
This is kind of a two-parter:
1. I'm not so far into the 2023 class that I really know who should be ranked where. Since it's all relative, I really don't know if there are 11 players better than him or 100.
2. Based on past classes, I do think he's ranked too high and should drop. I haven't seen too many classes where I would rank him as the #3 pro-style QB or the #12 overall player in the class.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:29 PM ^
Also, is Arch Manning really that good? Or is he just getting a name bump?
January 20th, 2021 at 1:23 PM ^
Arch Manning is pretty dang good. I want to see more of him, because I'm just not sure how well he processes pre-snap stuff. There are some parts of his game that remind me a little bit of Trevor Lawrence, but Lawrence was the most Manning-like QB recruit I've seen as far as understanding his offense and making pre-snap decisions. Manning isn't as good of a runner as Lawrence, either.
Like I said, Manning is pretty dang good. I would gladly take him at Michigan if he wanted to come. But I don't think he's a once-in-a-generation talent like Lawrence or his uncle Peyton.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:02 AM ^
Holy fuck, still remember this like it was yesterday, reading about it in our dorm room in MoJo. It was also the first year I started to follow recruiting.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:14 AM ^
This also killed any relationship between Carr and Les Miles. Maybe one of the biggest reasons he never became the head coach at Michigan.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:27 AM ^
Les had to have known that Lloyd was going to retire soon. Why burn the bridge then? Talk about winning the battle but losing the war.
January 20th, 2021 at 11:31 AM ^
It's a good thing. Les is not a good coach. Look at what he's doing at KU. A lot of the KU fans want him fired. But I think eventually he could get that program back to .500.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:03 PM ^
We wouldn't have hired the 2021 version of Les but the 2007 version, when he was in his prime as a coach. Coaches aren't robots that never change. They have career arcs like everyone else.
Les in his prime had some game-management issues but still was a big winner overall (114-34 at LSU), while competing in a brutal division. I think it's safe to say that he'd have fared better than RR or Hoke at Michigan.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
Jinx!!
January 20th, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
I mean, it's Kansas. They were good for a minute with Mark Mangino and he's on the back-end of his career. Les was a good coach who made a lot of boneheaded decisions. On balance, I think he would have been better than the clusterfuck that was RR/Hoke, but probably would have fallen short of expectations. But to say he's not a good coach is way out there.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:23 PM ^
Overall, I agree. Miles would have been a better fit at the time than RR. RR had to go to a spread without spread players and he had horrible D coaches. Miles would have been on line with old Carr and Harbaugh, the 8-10 win seasons. Carr left the cupboard quite bare but I think Miles would have had at least 6 or 7 wins in '08 and may be back to 8 - 10 wins in '09-'11.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:10 PM ^
At 67, he'd better hurry up. He does have the 33rd ranked recruiting class this year, right behind psu and msu and ahead of cincy, fsu and washington. So, either he brought that bag man with him to ku or he figured out an innovative way to get football players to come to Lawrence, KS.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:19 PM ^
At KU the football and basketball players get to have stay at home classes. Most do not attend classes. And this was before COVID.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:24 PM ^
Yea, I mean most college towns aren't all that great and appealing. Lawrence is okay - I've been there twice. It's not Ann Arbor or Chapel Hill or Knoxville, but it's not bad. Most college towns aren't really anything to write home about. I don't really count Columbus/Austin/LA as college towns as they are big/good cities in their own right independent of the university. Tuscaloosa isn't anything special, but they'll pull in a guy like Najee Harris from the Bay area because they win. If KU has that level of success in football, recruits will come.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:45 PM ^
Yeah, that and whole Gary Moeller’s wife thing, which I would guess soured some people on Miles.
January 20th, 2021 at 3:53 PM ^
Probably not, since it's a completely unsubstantiated internet rumor.
January 20th, 2021 at 5:25 PM ^
Rumors lasting a decade are often factual
January 20th, 2021 at 10:16 AM ^
I loved the fact that Jai was never hiding what happened and can prove it, but the NCAA gave zero f***s.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:18 AM ^
He was the best example of money screwing with recruiting. Could have used him at the time too. Hopefully NIL levels the field a bit.
January 20th, 2021 at 10:19 AM ^
If I were Jai I would have taken the same deal
January 20th, 2021 at 11:22 AM ^
If my math is correct and his son is in high school right now, that would make Jai Eugene Sr a very young parent in 2006. I probably would've taken a cash infusion at that point in my life if I were faced with similar circumstances.
EDIT: My math is correct, but I feel dumb since Magnus explicitly mentioned the fact that Jai Eugene was a young parent in the OP. And that apparently played a factor in his LSU recruitment.
January 20th, 2021 at 12:20 PM ^
Didn’t the governor also help secure a parole from prison for Sr’s Dad also?