Michigan out of the running for Lawrence Thomas

Submitted by Magnus on

"The list remains flexible but features, in no particular order, Ohio State, Florida, Alabama, Michigan State, Notre Dame, USC, Penn State, Oklahoma, Miami and Cincinnati. That group offers a rough outline for upcoming unofficial visits."

http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1059097

Magnus

March 4th, 2010 at 2:34 PM ^

I'm guessing I'm not the only one here who's interested in knowing things about our opponents. I don't want to know what Kirk Cousins' favorite breakfast cereal is, but whether they run a 4-3 or a 3-4 is somewhat relevant to their recruiting and how Michigan will have to play against them.

NRK

March 4th, 2010 at 11:52 AM ^

The funny part about all that is that A LOT of people (programs, recruiting services, etc.) have speculated that he may eventually be moved to DE. He simply may outgrow MLB.

And they've even talked about MSU doing it. Openly.

Of course, we probably were honest and said it to his face. Oops.

Magnum P.I.

March 4th, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^

He's sending a clear message when he omits the in-state powerhouse program from his top 10. The omission of U-M from the list is the white elephant in that article. A year before signing day, an unbiased recruit would definitely keep the in-state power at least in the top 10. Kids do this in states with much lower profile in-state programs. Thomas is making it clear that he has a problem with U-M.

It doesn't sound good.

bouje

March 4th, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^

that he decided to come here last weekend. WE SUCK!

Honestly he's already been here he knows what we have to offer he won't take another UN-official here as he will with those other 10 schools. We'll see what happens when he starts talking about OFFICIAL visits.

wile_e8

March 4th, 2010 at 12:34 PM ^

Yes it is the same coach, and you can see here what he thinks about RR at the very end of the video. Anyone remotely familiar with the situations of Butler (couldn't stay out of trouble despite multiple chances from both Carr and Rodriguez) and Criswell (not very good at football, hated Rodriguez so much he stuck around as a grad assistant) knows this is just a guy who bought into all the anti-RR hype from the start and is looking for reasons to justify it. Of course, RichRod hasn't done anything these past two seasons to force him to reconsider, and I suspect a few more wins (especially over MSU) will change things.

dennisblundon

March 4th, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^

It seems to me that with in state recruits you are not trying to recruit them as much as you are reaffirming their already preconceived notions. I would say it would be rare that in state kid who doesnt at least have you in his top 3 would ever be swayed into coming to UM. RR has his work cut out for him with the 2011 class. How do you recruit kids to play for you when you dont know if you will be there to coach them?

GoBlogSparty

March 4th, 2010 at 12:18 PM ^

why I got negged for my post earlier about Thomas playing in the 3-4 at MSU. It's a valid point.

The thing with in-state recruiting is that kids want to see stability in a program. I'm sure the negs will fly after an outsider says this but right now, MSU is a more stable program than UM is. We're not undergoing a massive system change on both sides of the ball, along with a change in atheltic directors + mild backlash from alumni who are unhappy. When 17 and 18 year olds see stuff like that, it can spook them a little bit.

They don't see tradition. It's more of a "what have you done for me lately" mentality.

dennisblundon

March 4th, 2010 at 12:24 PM ^

Yes and lately you have had players thrown off of your team and you went 6-7 last year. Dont pat yourself on the back to hard sparty. We are rebuilding we will be back soon enough so enjoy your time at the top or I mean middle of the pack.

HAIL 2 VICTORS

March 4th, 2010 at 1:12 PM ^

I am usually not one to promote an illegal drug but if ever a thread needed some cannibus it is this one. There are some posts in this thread where one could only conclude you forgot to put the feminin napkin on sticky side down.

Double Nickel BG

March 4th, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^

GERG should have lied to the kid and told him what he wanted to hear? He told him that they saw him as a Mike that could grow into a DE. Would you rather have him come here, be pissed that GERG lied to him about being a Mike all the way, then transfer out and start another pissing/shit flinging match? No thanks.

GOBLUE4EVR

March 4th, 2010 at 6:00 PM ^

because i thought thats what GERG meant when he said "COULD grow into a DE"... could doesn't mean you are... but odds are the kid is going to put some more weight on while he is in college... scout has him listed at 230lbs right now which is about the same as what craig roh weighed when he got to michigan... if you read toms diary you'll see that roh now weighs 255 so, in less then a year roh has already put on 25lbs... so unless thomas decides not work out at all while hes in college his aspirations to stay at MLB aren't looking that good...

xN8x

March 5th, 2010 at 8:38 AM ^

That's why I said fuck him, we all know he is going to MSUck or out of state anyways. Rivals needs to take off the article they have had up for 3 days now, and move on, he will be another Gholston.

charliebauman

March 5th, 2010 at 9:46 AM ^

This is a complex situation. It's really no different than politics in Washington, politics in the office, or relationships that sway one way or another in all parts of life.

Dantonio is dedicated down to his last bone to own the state of Michigan in recruiting. He is an Ohio man who comes from the Tressel regime. He's attempting to do to the state of Michigan what Tressel did to the state of Ohio when he got to OSU. He wants to build a fence around the state and have all the top Michigan guys go to MSU.

Basically I think Dantonio manipulated a lot of these in-state coaches into believing something that's not true. I think the best thing RR can do is prove all this "MSU has great relationship with in-state kids" wrong. First he's got to turn it around this year. After that go to these top in-state kids and show the same passion about wanting the top in-state kids.

GoBlogSparty

March 5th, 2010 at 10:10 AM ^

But not true this year (regarding Dantonio all about recruiting Michigan).

http://michiganstate.scout.com/a.z?s=175&p=9&c=4&yr=2011

There are bout 5-6 guys offered from Michigan. These are the top guys that a lot of schools are going after (Arnett, Thomas, Hayes, etc). After that, most of the offer list is Ohio kids. In the past 2-3 years though, the majority of the commits are from MI.

Captain Obvious

March 5th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^

MSU is not the best program in the state. It works for Tressel because his best in-state competition is what? Cincy? Miami? Toledo?

The best MSU can hope for is to build a fence around a good school in Michigan, which they have. However, this school isn't going to produce top-level talent every year. I'd rather not tie my recruiting fortunes to a school or even a single state.

Think like an investor - diversification is key.

Captain Obvious

March 5th, 2010 at 4:02 PM ^

my point - MSU will never "solidify" Michigan, not as long as we exist. They will always be in competition for the top players in Michigan and mostly lose out to UM.

Also, locking down your home state has absolutely nothing to do with diversification. Florida kids don't care how many Michigan kids we get. You simply need a national brand-something MSU football does not have, and will not have, until they get less obsessed with the (mostly talent deficient) state of Michigan.

They need a recruiter that can look beyond its own borders if they ever want to be a good (not just decent) team.

Magnus

March 5th, 2010 at 4:10 PM ^

Yes, but I think they'll be pretty happy if they continue to recruit as well as they have in the past year or two. If they continue to get 4-stars or 5-stars like Bullough, Norman, Gholston, Thomas, etc., then it doesn't really matter. When I say "solidify," I don't mean win every battle - I mean get solid recruits every year, rather than taking the scraps. They've been doing that recently.

If those guys breed success, THEN they can start to work outward.