bluebyyou

July 21st, 2014 at 6:21 PM ^

I really like Sam Webb's candor and reasoning about most things Michigan football related.  It's really hard to predict what 17 year old kids will do on occasion when there are many external forces that can't always be anticipated.

gwkrlghl

July 21st, 2014 at 6:23 PM ^

Michigan is generally top 5-10. I believe MSU, Western, and Tech are all in the top 50. Alabama is #110 per USN&WR.

Alabama can direct football players to engineering because you actually can do football and engineering at Alabama. Its gotta be damn near impossible at Michigan. (And much much respct to Jordan Morgan....but IOE isn't quite the same as most other engineering majors)

Don

July 21st, 2014 at 7:55 PM ^

"Well, let's go back to two three facts:

  1. Hand was planning on majoring in engineering until he visited Michigan, whereupon he told Rivals radio that he'd "recently decided" he wanted to do sports management instead.
  2. He hasn't talked to the Alabama guy in that field yet—he talked to an engineering professor—but has called Professor Needs A Raise at Michigan "amazing" and oh yeah "amazing."
  3. Alabama fans don't think Alabama actually offers undergrad sports management. Also their engineering school is not amazing.

"[Hand] said the reason Virginia Tech is out is because of academics … at Michigan, when he came on the visit, he said he was blown away by his interaction with the sports marketing [ed: think that's actually supposed to be management] professor. He raved about it, went on and on about it… and he said it again in an interview I just did with him. He said it was the best academic presentation he's been around, said it made a profound impact on him. … Now, at Alabama he's looking at potentially engineering. … He said the thing that sticks out to him about Alabama is the engineering professor is a football guy. …"

http://mgoblog.com/category/tags/explosions

I strongly disagree that Alabama treated Hand like a kid, but it seems clear that engineering at Michigan was not part of the presentation to Hand, since all he mentioned was sports management and this Professor Rosentraub.

It's naive to think that football-specific concerns weren't key to Hand's decision, but if his original goal was to major in engineering, and Alabama was going to make that possible, then it's an advantage to Alabama.

As far as the academic quality of their engine program goes, nobody's saying that it's a top-shelf program, but that doesn't mean that Alabama engine grads cannot become competent, qualified professional engineers.

Who knows whether how much of this stuff, if any, applies to McMillon. He might be just thinking that if he attends Alabama, he'll be in the NFL soon enough making McMillions.

 

GoBLUinTX

July 21st, 2014 at 8:17 PM ^

I know nothing at all about him however, there is the distinct possiblity that the Engineering College at Michigan has admission standards and requisits that Hand simply can't meet as an incoming freshman.  It is equally possible that it was explained to him that he probably wouldn't meet those standards though the possiblity of applying after his freshman year remained.  

He then goes to Alabama and they tell him he would be accepted into their school of engineering as a freshman.  Hand hears what he need to hear and signs with Alabama.

I don't know if that's what transpired but it listens and is every bit as plausible as your implication that the AD purposely moves athletes away from engineering because it's inconvenient.  With the same limited information we've come to two entirely different conclusions, one is about sincerety the other is about cynicsim.  I know how I like to think about my school.

Wolfman

July 22nd, 2014 at 12:42 AM ^

Michigan will not hesitate to tell a kid he simply isn't qualified to be accepted into certain areas of study. Because they are interested in the young man they will try to steer him into a field of study that he would be accepted in.  This just happened a few years ago when we went head-to-head with ND over a young man that wanted to pursue a degree in business.  Because MI has one of the top business schools in the world, it's not just the elite athletes that get turned away.  The young man made a big stink about it saying, "ND told me I could major in business where MI was trying to push me in another direction."  He didn't add that ND failed to mention the huge descrepancy that existed in both the admissions standards and where each school was rated.

This is true in a number of fields of study.  When you are attempting to field football players that want entrance into a school where even the best students have difficulty not spending so many hours working on extra-curriculars, you are going to have a difficult time with a student that might spend 20-30 hours on football in addition to his studies.  Dhani Jones and Devin Gardner are the exception, not the rule.  We will lose kids, just like Stanford does and ND among others.  If we ae pursuing a kid and at the same time waiting on the results of his ACT and SAT scores, it's only logical we are going to steer him away from a degree requiring many hours of non-classroom study. To do otherwise would be dishonest, so I don't know what Harbaugh was bitching about when he said Michigan does try to steer kids in certain areas. I think the truth is they try to steer kids away from certain areas of study, but it is certainly my hope they tell them why. It is easy to see why the ND student was confused. Some h.s. students thinks all colleges offer the same caliber of education,especially when you see the letters ND on the return address. 

And it's obvious why the SEC, excluding possibly Vanderbilt, is going to win in these type of wars.  Hear we have two Michigan fans disagreeing on the presentation. What must the recruits think?

Don

July 22nd, 2014 at 7:48 AM ^

I made no such implication in my comments, nor do I think that's what happened. All I said was that apparently Michigan's presentation to Hand was for sports management, not engineering.

I think what happened was as you suggest, that Hand didn't have the academic qualifications to get into Michigan's engineering program as an incoming freshman. That's nothing to be ashamed about, since there are plenty of kids with great academic records who don't get into UM Engine either.

Quailman

July 21st, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^

Come on guys. Like ThadMattasgoblin said, the guy could just not make it for some reason. Family emergency, family outing, who knows. Going straight to "Bag Men!" or insinuating that this kid may be unscrupulous or uniterested in education is absurd and unfair. Things happen.

Who knows, maybe there is something in play. However, when your only "evidence" is that he's not coming to the BBQ anymore...come on. 

dennisblundon

July 21st, 2014 at 3:04 PM ^

We have beat Bama head to head quite a few times despite our recent lack of success. Missing at LB doesn't hurt and the kid may grow into a SDE as he is 250. Give me Roseboro and KLS in this class and the rest is just icing on the cake.

trueblueintexas

July 21st, 2014 at 3:31 PM ^

I was going to respond with, "that's because you have never had my Mom's cake", but then I remembered the make up of this blog and realized that probably wouldn't come across the way I intended. 

But still, there can be good cake that doesn't need icing. 

Just sayin'.