MSU coaches deny Funchess/Ojemudia access to game.

Submitted by drewro02 on

Apparently Funchess and Ojemudia wanted to go to the game with Burbidge and Vento on Saturday, but the Sparty coaches said they couldn't come. I'm not gonna knock them for their recruiting style, but it seems to have definitely rubbed Funchess and Ojemudia, and may have an affect on Burbidge if he comes back into play. I don't know how our staff would have reacted to the same scenario, but I can't see them denying a chance to get a couple more kids on campus.

From Funchess: "Mario [Ojemudia, also a Michigan commit] asked Jake if we could go to the game, and one of the Michigan State coaches said we weren't allowed to go with them to the game. I would just say it's disrespectful to our teammates and to us."

http://www.michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1280885

Wolvmarine

October 19th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^

Especially when the come from a traditional Sparty feeder High School.  This also has the potential to influence future FHH kids that come out.  Perhaps Dantonio's line of thinking is that if he addresses kids who by all rights should be Sparties, he hopes prevent future early commitements to the school he hates beyond all others.  I think this is more a positive for Michigan, in that it almost completely shuts the door for MSU on two of the nations finest players.  Especially Mario, who I think Mattison is going to mold into a future NFL 1st round pick. 

rockydude

October 18th, 2011 at 11:48 PM ^

Funchess and Ojemudia both attend Farmington Hills Harrison, a program that has been very good to Sparty over the years. The decision to treat two FHH players this way puzzles me, as it would seem like a likely way to alienate the players and coaches at a feeder program.

mejunglechop

October 18th, 2011 at 11:51 PM ^

It's a little arrogant of Funchess and Ojemudia to expect to be hosted by a team when they're totally committed to that school's biggest rival.

WolvinLA2

October 18th, 2011 at 11:57 PM ^

Not that arrogant.  It's not uncommon for recruits to bring their teammates on visits, and these are guys who were recruited by MSU and are from a major HS program.  We've had committed guys come to our games with teammates who never had much interest. 

The thing is, MSU has almost nothing to lose by letting these guys come with their teammate.  In fact, there's a chance that they even could have swayed one or both of them.  Instead, they did themselves no good and possibly some harm as well if Burbridge, the FHH coach or any younger FHH players were put off by it.

ryebreadboy

October 18th, 2011 at 11:51 PM ^

You'd think they'd have let them come and given them a pro-MSU talk/tour/activities to try to change their minds.  Getting kids on campus is a huge part of recruiting them -- even if they're committed elsewhere.  We still let Dunn visit (I know he's a soft commit we're actively recruiting, but still).  Clearly they've given up hope on getting Funchess and Ojemudia to switch over.  It just seems calculated to piss them off and possibly put Burbridge off too -- if they were worried about our commits talking pro-UM at Burbridge, well, they can do that every day at school.  We'd definitely let him visit us here (and hopefully he elects to accompany them here for OSU or something).  Poor business practice, Sparty.

freernnur5

October 19th, 2011 at 12:02 AM ^

Thing is it isn't like the recruits can only talk to each other when they see each other on campus. Similar to Kalis/Thomas talking to Dunn often about Michigan. With the ease of social networking today recruits can talk to each other all the time, and blocking them to try and prevent pro Michigan talk won't really work. 

I think they just want to go to show support for their teammates. I see this only being a negative really by blocking them in that it now gives the players you blocked another bit of information when say talking to all the other teammates back at school. 

freernnur5

October 19th, 2011 at 12:17 AM ^

That may be true, but why not try and wow our recruits while they are at it? Nothing is set in stone till NSD, and they can show off MSU and all that jazz to our recruits. If then our recruits started being rude and bad mouthing them while on the visit you can ask them to leave and then their teammates would probably understand because they were being rude.

But straight up blocking them without seeing what they would do (who knows, they could be silent angels only there to support their teammates and wouldn't say anything bad) seems like a move with a more negative public outcome.

Don

October 19th, 2011 at 4:09 AM ^

that loudly proclaims its equal status to its instate rival, going into a game in its own stadium, still feels so nervous about a single recruit that it denies entrance to two kids who've committed to the rival? With months yet to go before signing day?

If the MSU coaches think, like you, that keeping the UM commits away from a single three-hour game is meaningfully reducing their contact with Burbridge, then none of you understand things like cell phones and social media. There is literally no upside to their decision. It just makes them look small and petty.

mejunglechop

October 19th, 2011 at 9:01 AM ^

Imagine Brionte Dunn had a couple buddies on his team who were 100% OSU and had no interest in Michigan. Would you want them there when Michigan's coaches are pitching Dunn? This is common sense.

Dantonio doesn't want a couple of tagalongs snickering when he talks about integrity or pointing out how he looks exactly like Sam the Eagle or asking how many ski masks an MSU scholarship would entitle them to. I don't blame him.

WolvinLA2

October 19th, 2011 at 11:44 AM ^

Well, Burbridge is actually an MSU commit, and he comes from a football powerhouse.

A better example would be if Kyle Kalis wanted to visit with two of his St. Ed's teammates who were OSU commits.  These are likely kids we'd welcome if their minds changed, and a school we'd like to keep happy.  I think we'd be psyched if those hypothetical kids came. 

Now, you made another implication.  If you're implying that said recruits are going to be causing trouble, then that's another story, but not exactly a safe assumption.  The same could happen with a kid who's not actually a commit to another school, so it's not enough of a reason to tell a kid he can't visit.