James Ross visiting Michigan Today.
According to 247 sports James Ross is visiting Michigan today. See the tweet below. Its great to get this kid on campus again. Hopefully we can get him to pull the trigger.
Talked with James Ross's father. The touted LB is off to visit #Michigan this afternoon. http://t.co/OgaZOOq via @247sportsdotcom
February 18th, 2011 at 3:15 PM ^
can we call him Jim Ross please
think of the MEMES
February 18th, 2011 at 3:15 PM ^
Hopefully Mattison is on campus today.
February 18th, 2011 at 3:25 PM ^
maybe some bad news?...... according to 247 sports tOSU has offered Ross earlier today...his dad said it was the offer he has been wanting/waiting for.... doesn't sound to good...tOSU rarely goes after a Michigan player so this kid must be the real deal
February 18th, 2011 at 3:28 PM ^
According to the "sources" on Buckeye Planet, they seem to think they pretty much have him locked up.
February 18th, 2011 at 3:36 PM ^
I wouldn't say that, but it did cite a Scout article that says his OSU offer was one he really wanted.
If we still had GERG as our DC, I'd say this means he's an OSU lock. But with Mattison, I'm not sure it's such a done deal. Especially because he's meeting the staff for the first time today.
February 18th, 2011 at 3:39 PM ^
Yeah hopefully you are right. I would hate to see a great prospect like this go to tOSU. I hope Mattison and Hoke get him to come to Michigan because he would be a great addition.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:12 PM ^
I would just hate to see us lose out on a big time prospect from our own backyard.
February 18th, 2011 at 3:39 PM ^
I feel like there are alot of reasons kids say thats an offer they really wanted besides the school being their number one choice. Getting an OSU offer could likely mean that he feels hes worked hard enough to go anywhere or that he can't wait to play against them knowing that they wanted him.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:14 PM ^
I agree. As a junior in high school, he's got to be lacking in the knows-what-to-look-for category. Could be either because of immaturity -- which is likely in a 17 yr old -- or because it's so early in the process (NT"The Process") and he doesn't know much about the programs that are out there... yet.
Get him on campus and talking to Mattison and see if his eyes don't get a little bigger (especially if his dad is talking up M).
February 18th, 2011 at 5:58 PM ^
everything. We just don't see it yet. Starting in 2012 we are going to see some huge names looking our direction. People say this DC is one of the best men/recruiters they have ever met.
There will be a "matty effect" and we will reap the benefits. MattisonofGod will bring back our Defense to new heights. Can't wait!
February 19th, 2011 at 11:32 AM ^
will the "matty effect" replace "snake oil"?
February 18th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^
that has his dad saying that?
February 18th, 2011 at 4:19 PM ^
Looks like I'm gonna have to send an email to the guys at GBW to get your subscription revoked. Tisk Tisk.
February 18th, 2011 at 5:10 PM ^
You've stumped me.
I can't tell if you're purely a troll, or just someone who badly needs an MRI.
I'm leaning toward the latter.
February 18th, 2011 at 6:02 PM ^
All of these negs are killing my point total. Please stop. Nice to see I've gotten to you. : )
February 18th, 2011 at 9:13 PM ^
Is it me who has gotten to you?!?
February 19th, 2011 at 7:24 PM ^
Nice Jedi mind trick! Did you wave your hand as you clicked save?
February 18th, 2011 at 6:03 PM ^
Could it be both?
February 18th, 2011 at 7:10 PM ^
Remember, you can only kill a troll with fire or acid.
/ nerdy D&D flashback
February 19th, 2011 at 1:18 PM ^
I find the troll spray most efficient.
February 18th, 2011 at 3:45 PM ^
I believe he's an OSU fan, and his dad is a big Michigan fan.
Seems like it's 50-50. He might like OSU more, but Michigan can offer him early playing time.
February 18th, 2011 at 3:53 PM ^
a bit of an OSU pipeline. It seems they've bagged several good players from that school in recent years. Hopefully, Coach Hoke can shut that pipeline off!
February 18th, 2011 at 6:43 PM ^
What highly rated recruits have they pulled out of OLSM aside from Taurian Washington?
February 18th, 2011 at 8:01 PM ^
Do you think its only a coincidence that Tressel offers Ross the same day as Ross' visit to Ann Arbor?
February 18th, 2011 at 3:45 PM ^
Another OLSM's kid who transferred to OSU from Florida State. Also they had Taurian Washington and Aaron Gant from OLSM as seniors this past season. Still, hearing shit like this makes me sick. I can't believe a kid from that close to Ann Arbor would be so excited about an OSU offer especially considering that Gant and Washington played so sparingly. The trend of high end Michigan talent looking to go out of state has got to right itself, I can't take it anymore.
February 18th, 2011 at 3:49 PM ^
Dionte Allen is 5 years older than Ross. I'd doubt it.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:20 PM ^
Knows Lamarr Woodley and some other MSU Saginaw guys (can't remember who he said, maybe Charles Rogers) from his time living there and cited that as a reason for his familiarity/excitement regarding UM and MSU. I was wondering if maybe Ross knows Allen, Gant, or Washington from around the way and they are in his ear.
February 18th, 2011 at 8:07 PM ^
It really is becoming true what a former Bo player and friend told me.... that the last few years of Carr, the recruiting including back-channels and hidden recruiting competition vs OSU, really has suffered. He told me this in 2008 when I asked how did we get to this point.
Then, coupled with the word that in 2005 or so, Les Miles told Jai Eugene that Carr had the onset of Parkinsons....and something like that can spread like wildfire in the elite recruiting world. Bo supposedly was so pissed at Miles that he said he was no longer welcome in Ann Arbor. I wonder if these two things are related.
Now look at things... guys like Ross in our home state, used to be ours, along with many of the top Ohio players. Now, its OSU who gets nearly ALL of the top Ohio players, and many of the top Michigan players.
The only way to combat this is Hoke and Mattison really bring the wood in Michigan and Ohio, over anywhere else.
February 18th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^
February 18th, 2011 at 3:59 PM ^
I'm with you. Trust me, I live in Ohio, and it's not that great. Actually, it sucks.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^
All these poor Ohio Wolverines, we got plenty of room. Come on over and enjoy the Great Lakes State.
February 18th, 2011 at 7:17 PM ^
Michigan's economy and weather are even sh*ttier than Ohio's.
Much as I would like to be surrounded by fellow UM fans (I thought Dantonio had converted the whole state to Spartan green by now, though), I can't see myself ever moving to the GLS.
Now if I lived in Cleveland, that would be a different story.
February 18th, 2011 at 9:01 PM ^
Weather? There's nothing better than Spring, Summer, and Fall in Michigan. We have water everywhere, great (and very smart) people, and places like Traverse City and Petoskey are national gems.
<br>Winter sucks. Make it better by skiing, skating, shoveling your own snow w/out a snowblower, and napping. Allow it to make you tougher, and appreciate the other seasons (and metaphorically, the better times) more. C'mon home
February 18th, 2011 at 4:11 PM ^
Well, balls. I thought Michigan was considered his likely destination.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:20 PM ^
I think it's a good thing that he received an OSU offer. It shows that he is an elite prospect because they don't have too many schollies to hand out this next year. It will make it much sweeter when he signs with Michigan.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:28 PM ^
MUST win head to head recruiting match-ups with Ohio State as much as possible, especially with kids from Michigan. That's a huge part of turning the momentum of the rivalry back around. The kid's pumped about an Ohio State offer because all he's seen is Ohio State kicking Michigan's ass.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:29 PM ^
Why does this seem to happen to Michigan all the time? Sam has said for basically a year that Ross, RJS and TRichardson were all buddies that loved Michigan were being mentored by Michigan guys and had been to Michigan countless times. These 3 sounded like a slam dunk.
I think people get too freaked out by what is said by these guys, but it's just getting frustrating that we can't get the lock guys to just commit with no stress and say they love Michigan and that's the end of it.
If a 5 star kid is fast tracked to Michigan as a Sophmore or Junior 1 of 3 things seem to happen.
1. Gets dropped to a low 4 star/3 star type on all the sites and everybody wonders what happened to his stars.(Ricardo Miller, Marvin Robinson etc..)
2. Somehow his love for Michigan is diminished and the internets run wild with coaches screwing up the commitment or payoffs from rival schools or other wild rumors and boom that guy bolts. (ROJO, Dionte Allen, D Hart etc...)
3. They end up at Michigan but they string the fans along for fun(W. Campbell)
When is it going to get easy. We have 3 Michigan locks, we hire the 2 best recruiters ever for the side of the ball they play and now we're on the wrong side of all 3 recruits according to the "insiders".
February 18th, 2011 at 4:40 PM ^
The hard reality, I think, is that things will be like this until Michigan is back to beating OSU and frequenting big bowls.
Question: Why do you think Michigan doesn't lead for Richardson? With RJS I assume you're referring to the Oklahoma comment and with Biggs I assume you're referring to the OSU stuff on this thread.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:58 PM ^
Sam Webb is part of the recruiting hype machine. He can get away with making claims about prospects, and then saying "things changed" if it doesn't end up the way he said it would.
A year ago, Webb seemed to imply that Dee Hart, Hasean Clinton-Dix, and LaQuentin Smith were all going to attend Michigan. Fast forward a year, and none were in our 2011 class.
The bottom line is, we will battle for every elite prospect because there's no buzz surrounding the program. Although the recruiting sites act still like we can still have any prospect we want, the coaches must create some buzz before things become any easier.
February 18th, 2011 at 5:09 PM ^
NSFMF. I've listened to Sam Webb virtually every morning ever since he arrived at WTKA and follow his recruiting info pretty closely, and he was in fact saying for many months that Dix was a very, very long shot to come here at best. All he said was that it was not impossible, but that's as far as I ever heard him talk about Dix. He did have his "gut feeling" that Hart would commit, and he was right. It's not Sam's fault that RR was fired and Hart changed his mind.
I agree that too many people simply assume that because we're Michigan that we can snag anybody we want, when it's just not that way. Beating OSU only one damn time since 2001 and struggling mightily the last three years to beat teams like Indiana and Purdue has made sure of that. Somehow, some way Hoke & Co. have to figure out very quickly how to beat OSU again. Countdown clocks in the locker room won't make a particle's worth of difference in that.
February 18th, 2011 at 5:22 PM ^
Yeah, I guess I misspoke about Sam Webb. It's not so much that he hypes up guys we have no chance with, but moreso that he doesn't do enough to bring the "sunshine blowers" back to reality.
I remember some guy calling in every day to ask about the "Dr. Phillips trio". Instead of telling him outright that we had little chance with Clinton-Dix and didn't want LaQuentin Smith, he kind of strung the guy along. At some point, I think he should be a bit more realistic with his listeners.
February 18th, 2011 at 7:44 PM ^
You have a severe case of ganser syndrome. I prescribe taking a bath with ten candiru' fish.
February 18th, 2011 at 9:16 PM ^
That could apply to more than half of the people on this board.
February 18th, 2011 at 8:10 PM ^
Well if Ross were to go anywhere than Ann Arbor, then I will fully agree with you, because this entire time I have felt that Webb has been yapping about Ross because he is a near lock to being Blue... and this thread is the first I am hearing otherwise.
February 19th, 2011 at 12:34 PM ^
I thought that the consensus early on was that RJS and Richardson were Michigan leans, but Ross might require more work to get since he might be a more heavily recruited prospect.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:32 PM ^
If we loose out on both of these lbs to Oklahoma and tosu I would be shocked, I could see us loosing 1 but deff not both.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:35 PM ^
I agree, we cannot looose these guys. We must tighten up instate recruiting pronto.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:51 PM ^
I see what you did there.
But yes I agree. At least I hope we don't lose out on both. I hope we can get both to commit to this class, as that would be awesome.