"Paperwork" hurdle BS
What's the deal with Worhy's "paperwork?" There is no way this is an issue of him forgetting to sign a form, or not including a form, or forgetting to fill out a section of a form. It's also not an issue of forms arriving late or some other technical problem.
If a kid is academically eligible, offered a scholarship, accepts the scholarship and signs the LOI, the school gets him into the classroom and gets his career started. The idea that this is a problem of some clerical error that can't be overcome is complete nonsense.
Why does no one explain what really is happening? Were there fake grades reported on the "paperwork?" Was there a discipline or off the field issue that wasn't properly reported on the "paperwork?" This BS euphemisms to try and shoe away scrutiny are ridiculous. No one with a functioning nervous system buys this lame explanation. What gives?
January 19th, 2021 at 11:34 AM ^
You're literally yelling at clouds. You have no idea what the issue is. And neither does anyone on the board.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
Some board insiders may have some insight. Expect an "this was expected" and "more to come" to make an appearance.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:38 AM ^
Michigan's athletic department can pull plenty of strings. I've seen it done. The idea that a stupid clerical mistake is holding up Worthy starting class is idiotic on it's face The fact that no one is saying anything other than the word "paperwork" over and over means that the company line has been distributed, the wagons circled, and anyone who says anything other than "paperwork" is going to get their access cut off.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:47 AM ^
Give one example of the athletic dept pulling strings that you have personally seen, or stfu.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
I personally had my housing changed two weeks before the semester started because I was placed on North Campus and was never going to be able to get to practice, and I know athletes who were academically very suspect who were let in. I also know students have been let into classes that were closed and had all sorts of favoritism shown them in helping them navigate school. All of this is way more complicated than fixing a form or two. This is not a paperwork snafu.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
I find two things very interesting about this thread:
1. Significant disconnect between the voting on our comments in the thread (upvotes) and the votes for the post itself (downvotes). Not sure how to explain that one (usually never happens)
2. I cant help but wonder if this is the sort of "institutional obsticles" referenced by many when discussing why Michigan cant compete with SEC schools & OSU for elite recruits.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:57 PM ^
Dude, most of my comments are getting negged (I don't care). The only comments by me that aren't getting negged is my assertion that the AD can pull strings if it wants to, and my defense of that assertion. Everything else except my Shoop joke are getting mindlessly dinged.
January 19th, 2021 at 1:51 PM ^
It's the Dominion voting machines. It's a conspiracy, I tell ya.
January 19th, 2021 at 1:06 PM ^
I'm not going to argue that you got someone to fix your situation because of your connections to sports, but I what you're citing as favortism or back-office dealings aren't specific to athletes, at least in my experience. I knew at least two people who had their rooming situations changed after a member of their school/program provided formal reasons for the move. I was a regular-ass engineering student who got admitted into a class that was closed because I needed it to graduate and I spoke to the head of my department who got me a waiver. Helping athletes to navigate school is common everywhere, but it's also largely there for general students as well. And all of these examples are after a student-athlete was admitted and enrolled in the school.
The issue here, through all the speculation based on limited factual knowledge, is that Worthy may have been denied early admissions due to academic/paperwork issues. My guess is it probably is just a paperwork issue, that something with transcripts, credits, classes, etc. ran into an issue and they'll have to work through it. It may well be academia needlessly making something difficult, or it could be an actual issue with his application. Nobody knows.
January 19th, 2021 at 1:22 PM ^
Bronx, had to log in to say you may be the most level headed participant on this blog. Also, thanks for the Best/Worst. Always enjoy them!
January 19th, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
It's amazing how often in my college career I got something because I asked. It's like people saying a big school like Michigan offers less access to professors. When I went to office hours I was able to walk right in most of the time and there was generally no one waiting when I came out. Most of my professors were pleased as punch to see me and willing to help me just because I bothered to show up and ask.
January 19th, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
It's amazing how often in my college career I got something because I asked.
But enough about me ... how did you lose YOUR virginity?
January 19th, 2021 at 1:27 PM ^
Practice? For preaching or some other vocation where you get to yell at people?
January 19th, 2021 at 1:38 PM ^
Of course the things you have described occur for athletes including cash handouts and anyone thinking it doesn’t is a naive self righteous dumbass. Tennessee used McDonalds bags and Michigan probably puts it in White Castles bags. It sounds like this kid wants to stay in California
January 19th, 2021 at 2:09 PM ^
I don't think Michigan recruits get bags dropped on them and I also don't think that take makes me a self righteous dumbazz. Is Michigan perfect and pristine? Doubtful. Probably some single mom gets a plane ticket to watch her kid play in a bowl game, who knows? Quite possibly behind Harbaugh's back if at all. But are bags being dropped as a business model? No. Do I wish we did? Ofc I do, it would be so nice to stop losing players to the $EC at the 11th hour. Put more simply, if Michigan is paying players they are doing the worst job of it in history, and it ain't close.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:02 PM ^
So......you gonna hold the L on this one or nah....?
January 19th, 2021 at 12:18 PM ^
Is this actually pulling strings, or correcting a housing mistake? Having said that, should we actually believe a unsubstantiated claim?
January 19th, 2021 at 12:31 PM ^
It was pulling strings because I tried to get reassigned through normal channels and was denied. I didn't make any headway until I appealed to someone in the athletic department.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:46 PM ^
It could also be the case that the athletic department *used* to be able to pull some strings that are no longer available to them. If you haven't noticed, all athletic departments (including our own) are under increased scrutiny every year.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:34 PM ^
I think the issue here is more with your choice of words and perceived tone regarding the "unsubstantiated claims". You could have easily asked "could you offer some clarity here" or something like "a little more substance would be useful". Lots of people on the blog are super quick to assume people are clout chasing or typing out of their asses instead of just asking for more clarification. It's always "I want your sources and stories now or gfy" and not enough, "care to expand on those claims". You just handled it poorly my guy.
January 19th, 2021 at 1:21 PM ^
In other words, stay classy.
January 19th, 2021 at 1:24 PM ^
Your opinion. At the end of the day you have to choose to believe or disbelieve some person on keyboard you have never met, and have no way to vet. It's really not that big a deal to me.
January 19th, 2021 at 1:41 PM ^
I gotta say, ldevon1, you told Preacher Mike to supply facts or stfu. An approach not generally employed by Miss Manners. He then supplied facts. At which point you moved on to hinting that Preacher Mike made up his examples. Which is interesting since why would one ask for facts in the first place if you weren't going to believe them anyway. You then threw a cherry on top of this classy display by saying "It's really not that big a deal to me" after multiple posts proving the opposite.
January 19th, 2021 at 2:18 PM ^
It's the "not really caring either way" for me. When based on his statements in this thread, he does clearly care. Also, as you hinted UM85, we are playing a dangerous game with logic if we ask for things, get the things we ask for, then say those things were made up....sheeeeeesh
January 19th, 2021 at 2:58 PM ^
- This × 1000
January 19th, 2021 at 11:48 AM ^
clerical mistakes happen. maybe that's what's happening. maybe not.
beyond that, if you're waiting for some sort of "we're so sorry, here's exactly what's happening" mea culpa, you're going to be waiting for a long, long time. whatever IS happening is, by definition, between the student and the administration and that's it. they don't owe you or anyone else an explanation, certainly not so you can feel better about spring practice or whatever.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:56 AM ^
I really don't give a rat's ass about spring practice. I just have an issue with institutional dishonesty and spin. It undermines the credibility of the program and the University when they so blatantly throw out nonsense "explanations."
January 19th, 2021 at 12:42 PM ^
okay, delete my line about spring practice, then. my point stands - this is ONLY between the school and xavier worthy. they don't owe you an explanation, nonsense or otherwise. so have a seat.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:53 PM ^
Then they shouldn't give one. See my post below about a better way to announce that he's not enrolling early. Throwing out a bullshit lie isn't the way to go either.
January 19th, 2021 at 1:09 PM ^
Who threw out a bullshit lie? Did the athletic department have some sort of announcement on Worthy that I missed?
January 19th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
I'm sure they've pulled strings at various times but they also, somewhat famously (or infamously depending on your bent), denied Demar Dorsey admittance despite meeting the NCAA clearinghouse standard for admission. I have no idea how the situation compares to Worthy because, like virtually everyone here, I don't have direct access to the school's admissions office. But UM the school is not a turnstile for athletics like it is at other schools, and we've heard over the years that the teams have had to navigate it when trying to get guys into school, and that includes proper paperwork and academic qualifications.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
Athletics hates it because the University doesn't bend for them as much as at other schools. The academia hates it because the University bends at all. You have to decide what you are, and get everyone on the same page because just saying "leaders and best" at everything is meaningless.
January 19th, 2021 at 2:02 PM ^
i know it's not really your point, but "leaders and best" is the exact opposite of meaningless. if the university has decided to participate in intercollegiate athletics (and they have, obviously), if would seem to be appropriate to insist that the athletic department pursue the "leaders and best" in terms of student athletes - not to get chess experts that can run a 4.3 40, but football players that are among the smarter football players out there.
this is not an athletics-only conversation, by the way - the university almost certainly admits "normal" students that are less academically qualified in some way than others in the interest of creating a diverse, multifaceted student body (please note that i am emphatically NOT talking about racial or any other diversity here). they require that the schools admitting these students pursue the leaders and best of the applicants available - they just recognize that defining those capitalized "Leaders and Best" is not necessarily limited to SAT scores or high school GPA.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:40 AM ^
You tell them Abe!
January 19th, 2021 at 11:35 AM ^
It was reported that he accidently filed his paperwork under the name Justin Feagin. Obviously caused quite a stir but seems like they have been able to correct the error.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:35 AM ^
Maybe he forgot to cross his T
That is, if we're talking about Wor(t)hy...
January 19th, 2021 at 11:46 AM ^
So we have reason to Worhy?
January 19th, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
Worlhy
January 19th, 2021 at 12:26 PM ^
He used the word “ain’t”
January 19th, 2021 at 12:32 PM ^
Well as long as he dots his....lower case j's
January 19th, 2021 at 11:37 AM ^
It's quite a leap to go from what should be mild disappointment over a player not enrolling early to baseless speculation about fake grades or disciplinary issues (especially since we're in the middle of a global pandemic that has caused massive disruptions and logistical hassles for schools and students).
Relax.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:37 AM ^
In other mysteries. Was there ever any explanation on this Shoop guy? I checked out for a few weeks after that msu debacle and came back and saw people mentioning he is zoom coaching. What happened there?
January 19th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
Shoop is apparently out and has been replaced by George Helow who coached Maryland last year.
January 19th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
To loosely quote the Goo Goo Dolls:
"I thought I lost Shoop somewhere,
But Shoop was never really ever there at all..."
January 19th, 2021 at 12:00 PM ^
Is Shoop nearing retirement age? His virtual coaching stint here is going to look great on his resume.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:08 PM ^
replied to the wrong person
January 19th, 2021 at 12:09 PM ^
I am not disappointed by Worthy not enrolling early. I'm not even overly concerned about the possibility of him leaving. Worthy is not the magic pill which will heal this program. Having an effective O-line, an accurate QB who can read defenses, and a productive run game are all way more important than having Worthy on the team. He is icing on the cake, not the cake itself.
What I mind is the baldly implausible institutional cover story and dishonesty. I'm not alleging academic fraud or a character issue, I'm only throwing those out as the type of serious issues that would prevent the University from allowing an athlete to enroll when the full weight of the Athletic Department is pushing to get him in, led by the biggest cash cow in that department. It's the type of corporate PR cover up that most people would never abide were it coming from a government official or Fortune 500 company, but here everyone just wants to take the program at its word.
January 19th, 2021 at 12:26 PM ^
Preach away, Mike!