Shaun Crawford tells Helmholdt he remains Michigan Commit
It's unclear to me if Crawford or his father have yet to talk to Hoke as they were intended to, but this came out last night:
Shaun Crawford told @JoshHelmholdt he remains a Michigan commitment: http://t.co/GYwM8uxxVo
— Michael Spath (@Spath_Wolverine) May 22, 2014
Now obviously that still doesn't mean he'll end up in the class, and the tweet alone doesn't indicate if Michigan feels the same way, however, it hopefully gets people to get off of his back for a little while and let him make his decision to hopefully stay with Michigan.
One of the biggest problems I have with decommits is the way fans push them out the door, as if saying rude things about a player either directly or indirectly is going to help Michigan recruit better. It doesn't.
Support the kid's decision one way or another. You don't have to be happy about it if he doesn't pick Michigan, and you should be very happy about it if he does, but for these kids and these coaches, this isn't equivalent to the reality of "Real Housewives" for men. This is actually reality. So support him regardless, and maybe he'll feel more comfortable reaffirming his 100% commitment to Michigan after his visits.
Also, if with a grain of salt, this is good news. Sure, you can still bask in the bad news of the whole situation, or you guys can actually take some good with the bad.
* * * * * * *
I'll also add:
Sprinter Shaun Crawford of @sehsathletics suspended for 3 days, ineligible for 3 track events throughout postseason http://t.co/LZPD3nLyX5
— Joe Noga (@JoeNogaCLE) May 21, 2014
This does not give you a right to bash the kid. This is an additional fact of something that has happened, but you don't know the circumstances around it. I've already seen people on twitter say some stupid things. Don't be one of those people. Likely, this is some sort of minor discipline issue, not a reflection of grades, violent behavior, or things fans for some reason want to say about potential rivals (otherwise he would be suspended for all track events, not just three of them). If anything, I give Crawford's track coach a lot of credit for this, he won't run in the 100m or 200m, events Crawford finished as one of the tops in the state last year.
I really hope he remains in the class though. It seemed like this was his dream school, I understand looking around for the best scenario. However, I hope he realizes its at UM, hopefully this football team starts becoming what we hope they can be soon! This weather though has me aching for some tailgating and football!!!!! Is it September yet!
because it's an MLive comment section, but the first one in says he got in a fight. Sounds like it was written by a student. Again, MLive comment, so it's about as far from a concrete fact as it gets.
And it could be (I don't feel like speculating on it too much), lots of kids do get in "fights" in high school, especially athletes. Trust me when I say it happens all the time on the football field, even when they get to Michigan. It's obviously not the best, but it also wouldn't be something to label him "a thug" or some other tangentially racist term.
Still give props to his coach for handling it the way he has.
I agree. It's not like he body slammed a school hall monitor or anything crazy like that. I've been in several "sports fights." Never been in a fight outside of a sporting event of some sort.
"Body slammed a hall monitor"...I see what you did there.
Choose your own "it's not like he...":
a) "...beat up a bunch of kids while wearing a ski mask"
b) "allegedly urinated off a balcony and got suspended from the Rose Bowl (ahem, I mean, maybe used PED's...or maybe not).
c) "...got into a bar fight with a teammate in Aspen, Colorado."
d) "told recruits that they wouldn't need to attend class while partying with them during an official visit".
The Cleveland Plain Dealer didn't offer much more on this, but here is their piece - LINK
Crawford, a state placer in two individual events last year to help the Eagles claim the team title, was suspended Tuesday for three days due to an "internal school matter," said Eagles coach Bill Menz. The coach refused to elaborate on the suspension.
A similar comment to what MGoChippewa mentioned appears under this article as well, but we may never know what actually happened.
to assume this is the case and run with it: He Austin Powers judo-chopped a lunch lady after she shorted him on tater tots.
Completely agree with your post, and I think that one thing seems to be lost in all this...there was speculation that he'd be decommiting, but a tweet came out that said he's told someone who covers recruiting that he's maintaining his commitment to Michigan. I'd say that's fairly good news, for the moment.
I don't see why a bunch of strangers on the internet can't decide where high schoolers should spend their college years. It should all come down to a vote like the Madden cover.
I'd love to see Crawford end up at Michigan. I'd like to see the coaches continue to recruit him aggressively. I'd love to see them do whatever they can within reason (no red Camaro, no salary, no special companion benefits,) but at the end of the day, Crawford is a kid, and he has friends and family weighing in too. I wish him well as he ponders what to do.
Kids should be allowed to make their own decision. They have to feel comfortable with their choice. I have to believe that many of us had several options on where to go to school. I was considering Northwestern myself. I was offered a full ride at yet another option. But the decision was mine, not my parents or anyone else. I made the right choice for me.
Occasionally, there will be the player who has wanted to go to Michigan forever (Morris, Malzone, Runyon, etc.) But most players have reasons to choose one school and other reasons not choose the same school. Between the coaching staff, the offensive and defensive schemes, the makeup of the team, including friends, and including the depth chart at your position, the facilities, the educational programs offered, the educational support system, the geographic proximity to home and to relatives, there are just a ton of permutations it is difficult to figure out.
I wish Crawford well, regardless of where he ends up.
But how does Mrs. Kass feel?
Mrs. Kass doesn't care. Our current college age daughter is in the Navy training to be an Aegis Computer Network Technician. (None of us, parents or child, wanted to ratchet up debt for her to find herself in college.) We'll go through this again in 5 years when the twins graduate from High School.
Your advice to fans, respecting a recruits decision and keeping it classy, I think needs to be shouted from the mountain tops. I can't agree enough that the negative words to a teenager via social media is the worst thing we can do as a fan base. I think this post of yours needs to be on the front page as a reminder to folks to keep their mouths shut if kids decommit.
No, of course not. I am not saying that. BUT, I will say that this Blog is read by a lot of folks who don't always post and aren't as level-headed as the regulars. Just a reminder to folks. Ace does this type of PSA every once in a while, and some remedial training is never a bad thing. Just my opinion.
I understand your sentiment, but generally it still hasn't taken hold, so it needs to be repeated over and over. It would be great if M was the fanbase where this shit didn't happen, and collectively we policed ourselves and discouraged this behavior.
It's like texting and driving. The campaign to stop it had a little steam and people listened for a while, but now it's stalled. I again see people doing that shit all day. It's going to take a continued campaign (and unfortunately, probably more high profile deaths) before people listen and it takes hold.
The littering campaign of the 70's is a good example of a successful, repeated PSA - people used to launch their garbage out the window of their cars as a matter of course back in the day. Then they had the indian guy on the hill with the tear in his eye and eventually people got the message. SpaceCoyote is the indian guy on the hill.
As Nietzsche said:
Some fans getting mad when a top recruit doesn't commit to their school will always happen. Some of those fans taking to the interwebz to express their anger will always happen. Some fans feeling better about themselves by taking to the interwebz to moralize about it will always happen. All play their part.
And true nihilists don't care enough to comment one way or the other.
Tweeting at kids is not simply poor form...it's uber creepy.
Fellow Michigan fanatics: Official visits seem awesome. Did you go to college? If yes, did you meet, or atleast SEE the sorority girls running around campus? If yes, how did that make you feel?
Dear Recruits, please take your visits. All of them if you feel so inclined. Take your all expense free trips to Tempe, Gainesville, Columbia SC, Austin, and ANN ARBOR before you commit to a school. Not only will you NEVER regret it, but 20-30-40-50somethings on the internet will sleep easier at night.
Can I get a witness?
Amen!
PREEEEAAAAACH!
To clarify, I support the recruits 100%. I understand that they may have visited School X, fell in love and committed on the spot. I understand that they talk to other recruits and then want to visit Ohio State or Florida State after they hear how fun it was, and how the ladies of the blah blah sorority were all over them. We adults shouldn't fault them for this. Women are persuasive. People like Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are stars for a reason. They know how to sell teenagers just as well, if not better than our staff.
/Steps off pedastal.
I agree with you. The only thing I might add is that by doing so (committing early and then decommitting) you are banking on the honor of the coach (for instance, we know Hoke has not yet rescinded an offer to somebody who has committed) to keep that spot open for you. But by decommitting, or by continuing to visit other schools after committing, you are basically going back on your word. The non-binding early commitment is most likely the first time in a lot of these men's lives that they make a public promise backed by nothing else but their word. While some of them eventually prove to be incapable of keeping their word in the face of the inevitable options that open up for them down the road, the coach nonetheless has to keep his word or risk serious repercussions in future recruiting attempts. This is what angers me, and it is primarily a flaw of the system itself, for which I see no easy remedy. I realize it is pointless to get angry with these kids, but there is definitely an abuse of a trust relationship that goes on in these situations, albeit perhaps one into which these young men were ill prepared to enter.
An all expenses paid trip to a college campus where you'll be treated like a king for a weekend? Why the hell wouldn't you take those. I get Hoke's reasoning for "the process" or whatever its called, but I can never blame kids for wanting to take these visits.
#getoffmylawn
But I think taking them all would be a mistake for most recruits. The most important thing is for them to choose the right school and program, not to have some fun along the way. For the vast majority of recruits, some of their options will disappear as they wait. It would be nice if they were allowed to take official visits earlier
Never cease to amaze me of how much hate a teenager can generate by simply *choosing/changing* a school or mind...simply amazing.
Not like my 18 or 20 year old haven't done it their young lifetime...smh.
for some "man-scaping"? That warm fuzzy feeling will go away.
/s
Extremely reasonable perspective. If only the internet allowed for such reasonable perspective.
then why even have a twitter account?
Seems pretty obvious that those would be options 2 and 3 in this case. I'm sure you could think of a few others.
I would say why have a twitter account anyway? Does the world really need to know what individuals are doing every minute of everyday? As if kids weren't egocentric enough prior to this, now they have people hangning on their every post. I can proudly say that I have never in my life tweeted anyone or looked at a persons tweet. It isn't about being uncomfortable with technology either. I have an iphone, ipad etc etc, I just hate things like facebook, twitter that give people the impression they should tell eveyone everywhere what they are doing every minute of the day. What a colossal waste of everyones time.
/rant
Personally, I have a Twitter account because I run a website, which generates traffic through social media. And if individuals don't have Twitter accounts, then I can't reach them through Twitter.
On the flip side, there are probably people who make Twitter accounts so they can follow websites (and people) they like.
I don't need people to know what I'm doing every minute, and I rarely talk about anything non-Michigan related on there. I'm sure I'm not the only one with that philosophy.
Good stuff! And I agree the storm is passing so lets focus on the sun in the distance. He apparently still wants to be blue hopefully Hoke and company can get things worked out so things are good for both parties. This is a victory so hey #GoBlue and #ThisIsMichigan
100 days until the M season commences and 98 until the NCAA season commences.
It is plain and simple, don't be an idiot.
If he decides to decommit, you don't have to support it. Just don't be an idiot about it.
He told the coaches that he is still "committed," but he is still planning on taking visits.
whether it's email, FB or twitter. It's pathetic.
I'm skeptical whether Crawford really is committed to Michigan at this point, but I'll take his statement at face value. Hope he ends up wearing the winged helmet and not a gold one.
I've become accustomed to witnessing grown men behave like children and exhibit poor control of their emotions, but trash-talking a teenager? Really?
I've said this several times before, but these kids don't owe us shit. They're making perhaps the most important decision of their lives. What makes me sad is that on this very blog, I've been told I'm wrong about this.
It's the same mentality as thinking that Hoke (or any head coach) "owes us" championships, as though it's a question of human morality or constitutionally-guaranteed rights. I'd bet that it's mainly the same bunch of people; they measure their self-worth by how successful their chosen sports teams are, and take it as a personal assault on their dignity and manhood if their team loses.
All the time I've spent watching clips of him, driving back and forth to Ohio so I could watch him run, knitting a Crawford jersey, all while listening to The Police "Every Breath You Take"........... He owes me!!