OT - Stay Classy Urban Meyer
Per ESPN west coast recruiting analyst, Florida cut loose RB commitment Jordan James this weekend after highly ranked RB Mack Brown committed.
He committed a while back and got the call that Brown had committed and they only wanted one back in this class.
Stay Classy Urban.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4359375&name=West_Rec…
This happens all the time.
And yet, if Chris Dunkley committed to Michigan tomorrow and we had to say bye to Tony Drake, I doubt many on here would have a problem with it. Glass houses...
To be honest, I would have a problem with that situation.
Some scholarships are handed out with conditions ranging from keeping grades up to committing before X amount of players commit at your position. However, once a school offers and accepts a commitment from a kid, the school should honor it unless the kid did not live up to the standards of the offer.
Yeah, haven't we essentially done this with a couple kids already? I remember someone wanting to commit but being told we wanted him at a different position than originally stated. Less underhanded maybe, but similar.
The difference is that the Florida player was already committed, whereas Michigan reached their limit at a position, preventing another player from accepting the offer.
However, Michigan blatantly stopped contacting certain players last year (Barnes) or suddenly asked already committed players to switch positions (Peace), effectively asking them to de-commit. I think those situations are more similar to what just happened at Florida. It sucks, but hey, it's reality.
Had this kid committed? To be honest, I don't follow Florida recruiting very closely, and it didn't say in the article that he was already committed.
If he was, then yes, this is a little bit more concerning. Luckily it's early enough in the process that he can still find somewhere else to go, instead of getting the rug pulled out from under him at the last minute.
I think there is a difference with the Dewayne Peace situation.
Peace still had his scholarship offer and could have been a Wolverine, shown up to practice and tried to cut it at either position. If Peace wanted a better chance at his favorite position he could look elsewhere and he did.
If its true that Urban Meyer (which I don't see proof of) just pulled a kids offer straight up, because a better kid came along, I think that is different and less noble.
Right, but don't coaches pull offers all the time? If he hadn't committed yet, what's the problem with pulling an offer? If a coach knows he won't use a kid, I'd rather have them pull the offer as soon as possible.
I believe Rich Rod & the coaching staff kinda did the same thing to Jordan Barnes. They just stopped contacting the kid at some point even after he had verbally committed to us.
i dont think the kid had committed
I don't see where he had actually committed either.
I do wonder how you deliver that call, though.
"Hi! Listen, you remember how I said we really really like you, and we want you to come play for us?
Yeah... ummm.... See, that was opposite day. It meant we think you suck and you should go play for somebody else."
I disagree. People on this site would have a big problem with that. They're pretty sensitive toward the kids. If RR told Tony Drake his services were no longer required because a "better" back committed, he would be villified here. And I would agree.
taking a kid you don't want and just throwing him way down on the depth chart with no chance of PT. I think this works out best for all parties...the kid gets 7 months to find a school that really wants him around, and Florida gets the kid they really want.
This does not bother me one bit. It actually seems like a better, more 'classy' way of handling the situation than what we did with Jordan Barnes (i.e., stop calling him and just hope he goes away) and Dwayne Peace (uhhh, I know you are like 6'0, 180, and that you are a wideout currently...but we think you fit best here as a DT, so that is what we are now recruiting you as) last year.
Now...if it happened in late January or early February, that is a different story.
I didn't know that they stopped calling Jordan Barnes. That wasn't a good thing of the coaches to do, unless Barnes was getting into trouble. That isn't alright in my book.
However, I don't mind the Dwayne Peace, telling a kid that they would prefer to play him as a CB instead of a WR. It is honest and fair, the kid still has his offer and could show up and still try out at WR.
Dewayne Peace at DT...lol
I just looked at the article. The kid hadn't committed and hadn't even made an official visit, so I don't see what the problem is.
I don't get too upset with coaches about this stuff, because it's the system that's broken. What if the same kid who verballed to Florida ended up with an offer from USC (and he was a big USC fan)? He has the right to decommit, and these kids often do.
Until there is an early signing period or some other method of legally locking in commitments sooner, this will always be a dynamic of football recruiting.
just don't understand how kids commit without ever stepping foot on campus. I mean your going there for 4 years I would think you would want to check it out at least once.
As much as i'd like to bash Urban, we sorta did this to a kid earlier this year (i'm blanking on his name). but he wanted to commit and RR basically said "no thanks".
EDIT: Never mind.
Cornerback Travis Williams.
At least it happened now with plenty of time for this kid to catch on at another school.
I really don't care so much how school and kids part ways this time of year. There is still plenty of time for everyone to find a chair before the music stops.
And yes, glass houses. This is the game every coach has to play.
but as lomg as recruits can renig on their commitments, i think coaches should be able to pull them ... i hate this system thou ... id much prefer no offical signing day and just have it be that a real offer means you can sign right now, a real commit means you did sign now, and that that LOI is binding
Are people not reading the article or is comprehension the problem? He had not made a visit. He had not committed. He was told that Florida was only taking one RB, and the position was now filled. That is not similar to Peace or Barnes. Onwukaife tried to commit after the position was filled. Different situations.
"The coach that was recruiting me talked to my mom and said they got a commitment from Mack Brown at their Friday Night Lights event," James said. "He said they were only going to take one running back in this year's class, so we canceled my unofficial visit for Sunday and the official visit I had set up in September.