There's still an outside chance USC commit CB Domani Jackson will flip
Domani Jackson's commitment to USC is not in stone. He has an official visit scheduled to Alabama. And may have one to Michigan. He and Will Johnson still talk every day, and they still want to play together. His dad is a Michigan fan, and he also is. How Michigan looked against Wisconsin did affect his view of playing here. And the chances of him choosing Michigan are small.
EJ Holland talks about it in the first 11 minutes of this video:
EJ and Clayton did nice work there.
I’m also going to take advantage of the life changing stock tips and the ability to keep my package well groomed.
Doctor Berg likes coconuts.
Did that wrong link have sexy bits.
Will Johnson and Tayshawn Trent are working hard on trying to flip Domani
Landing two 5 star corners in the same year? I will be happy if we can just hold onto Will Johnson.
Here's hoping Sark and his $ don't come calling.
I am sure Jackson is WORTHY of the attention. (too soon? nah).
Pipe dream
I wouldn't say it is a pipe dream. Odds are better than a pipe dream with the fact that there is a friendship between Will and Domani. So what ever is a smidge less than a pipe dream is the chance that Michigan has. I think Domani just needs to build a relationship with the new coaches and feel comfortable with them and then the chances of him flipping start to improve. With that, I whip this classic gif out:
‘Scuse me while I whip this out...
*GASP*
If he was worried about how we played against Wisc, what did he think about that win against OSU last year? Huh? Good stuff son
If he was worried about how we played against Wisconsin last year, wait til he sees how we play them this year!
So you say there's a chance
Obligatory dumb and dumber gif goes here
I get the appeal of USC to Domani: sun, girls, etc. But USC's record in the Harbaugh years is 47-25, while Michigan's record under Harbaugh is 49-22. That puts them on an equal footing, more or less. That gives Michigan some leverage, given his historical affection for the program. I'm not getting my hopes up, though.
Saying that we are equally as bad as USC for a 5* DB from SoCal isn't really encouraging.
Yes, he could flip, but the same is true for every player in the country. Heck, with the new free agency rule he could flip after being at USC for a year too. Don't count on it.
You are being a little bit disingenuous comparing Domini Jackson flipping with any other 5 star in the country. I'm not saying it will happen, but his parents are big Michigan fans. He almost committed on his visit after the Wisconsin game, even after that result. He and Will have talked about playing together, and he hasn't really had a chance to get to know the new staff.
Sorry, not only am I disingenuous, I also have a huge amount of BPONE. I have heard way too many recruits list UM as their dream school or have parents, uncles, coaches, grandparents, etc that are lifelong diehard UM fans and yet they still go to OSU or Bama or USC. Until something good happens I guess I just assume the chance to play for a football factory and/or get paid way outweighs any mystical fandom.
Some people call it BPONE...
...others call it objective analysis based upon facts and first hand observations.
Don't forget USC has Snoop and Ferrell and that could be the two things that keep him in SoCal.
USC reached the Pac-12 title-game last season. U-M was a long, long way from that in the B1G. They're not on equal footing right now any more than MSU is on equal footing with top teams because of what Dantonio did 6 or 8 years ago.
Michigan's record six years ago does not matter to a 17-year old. USC went 5-1 last season; Michigan went 2-4. The perception is one program is at least holding steady and maybe trending back upwards. The other is in a rut and trending down. You can guess which is which.
It's like several years ago when we were in on adoree Jackson and juju Smith. They ended up at USC and are now doing well in the league. Why come here and get stomped by Wisconsin and osu every year then deal with the weather when you can see the girls in bikinis year round?
Records-wise, true, they're about the same. But USC doesn't have an unstoppable death machine for a rival in its own conference, let alone its own division, that prevents it from achieving its goals in any given year. There is no one in the Pac-12 USC has to face every single year that is even close to OSU's tier. I'm not excusing Michigan. They still have to find a way to get it done. But facts are facts.
There is far less standing in USC's way to ascend to the mountaintop. USC will have not-so-great years where Oregon or Washington will win the league, but there is still a reasonable expectation for them to be able to win the Pac-12 in any given year, and by extension, contend for the playoffs.
Michigan is not even close to getting into the playoffs. Same could be said for winning their division (no, they did not win their division in 2018, despite being technically declared co-champs, that trophy should be thrown in the trash if it hasn't been already).
As long as Michigan can't get past OSU, and there is very little to suggest they'll be able to anytime soon, they won't be able to ascend to the levels that USC potentially could. That's not saying USC is head and shoulders better than Michigan when you put them toe-to-toe. You put them up against each other ten times and Michigan will have its share of wins. But as the landscape currently stands, USC is in a position to accomplish a lot more than Michigan right now because their path to success is much easier.
This is the sad truth...
UM is in a really tough spot with the OSU machine humming along at its peak. I'm not sure any coach could solve that one...and it takes a toll on everything about the program including recruiting and fan morale.
Think expanding the playoffs is maybe one way to give once great programs like UM or to a lesser extent any other program in the same division as Bama a shot in the arm.
In the Pac-12 USC has as good a chance as anyone to get to the conference title game and has all that fertile recruiting ground in its backyard (along with the girls, weather, snoop, etc) to turn its program back into a potential juggernaut.
I'm not even sure expanding the playoffs really helps Michigan on a year to year basis because it does nothing to solve their OSU problem. Hell, half the time Michigan doesn't have a good enough record to make what would be an expanded CFP anyway.
Minus 2015, when Michigan was still in honeymoon phase with Harbaugh, this team has a really nasty habit of flaming out after the OSU game. Just showing up into the postseason sluggish, sloppy, falling apart in crunch time, etc. I'm not sure that all goes away even in an expanded playoff that Michigan gets into. The loss to OSU has really messed with the team's ability to execute and not make mistakes, and just their overall psyche, in every bowl game post-2015.
To me, showing up into the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed and getting their teeth kicked in by a Bama or a Clemson after already getting pantsed by OSU in the final game of the season doesn't elevate Michigan's status as a football program. I also can't imagine how low the morale amongst the team and fanbase would be if Michigan got matched up with a 1 or 2 seed OSU and they lost again, so they would have to deal with two back to back losses to their most hated rival.
Would I take an expanded playoff? Absolutely. For the record, I don't think Michigan getting into an expanded playoff hurts them per se. I just don't think it necessarily helps if they're not winning the last game in November. Truthfully, I don't think Michigan's fortunes really change or its ceiling goes any higher, regardless of whether or not the playoff is reformatted or expanded, until it beats OSU. OSU has such a physical and psychological stranglehold on what Michigan can accomplish, and beating them is the only way that goes away.
You can trace OSU back to the heart of everything that is plaguing Michigan right now.
You don't think a one loss Michigan is in the playoffs that is expanding to 12 teams? Whose only loss is to the OSU deathstar?
As you noted, half the time Michigan isn't good enough anyways. That's the problem.
In that situation they’d absolutely get in. Especially if the loss was close. I didn’t say they’d never get in.
All I’m saying is that I don’t think the things Michigan can accomplish as a program really change or elevate until it can beat OSU.
In this situation, Michigan hasn’t done anything to get into that expanded playoff that it hasn’t already done in the past five to six years. It feels like they just get in by default, are only in because the field expanded, and are heading for a quick exit after a 2-3 TD loss to Alabama, Clemson, or OSU (again).
Until Michigan gets over this massive, twenty year mental hurdle it has on its back and beats OSU, I don’t think the results for this program change beyond what we’ve seen already. And I’ve got to be honest, there is nothing I’ve seen personally that makes me think that hurdle is going to be passed anytime soon.
yeah, I am in agreement for the most part.
For me, beyond OSU, Michigan has been lacking anyways...if Michigan's problem was only OSU, they'd have 5 twelve win seasons.
The narrative around Michigan would be much different if that were the case....
USC has much greater odds of success within the conference and is USC.
Also, fwiw, USC is expected to be a Top 15 team this year. Nobody expects that of Michigan.
Yup. They likely would not get past Clemson, Alabama or OSU in a playoff game, but their path to at least get into that semifinal game is so much easier than Michigan's. The Pac-12 is far and away the weakest P5 conference in America and is wide open almost every year.
If you can get past a nine or ten win Oregon team, your trip to at least go to the Rose Bowl is pretty much locked up.
How this season plays out will more than likely be a huge impact.
How the corners play, and how the defense plays (as a whole) will show him that he can come in and make a difference, but will still be put into a position to succeed.
How the offense plays will show him that the defense won't be put into bad positions.
The overall record probably won't be the most important thing, but having a respectable win loss record will surely help.
The new coaching staff have a lot to show him (and others like him), this season. Let's hope they show good things.
How the season plays out doesn’t just apply to Michigan. Skelton is just one more 3-4 loss season from getting canned by USC.
I don't disagree, but USC is always going to have an extremely strong pull regardless of who the coach is. Playing ball in sunny LA is a huge draw for many of those West Coast kids to stay out west.
Sometimes it almost doesn't seem to matter who the coach is out there. They still lure most of the top talent in from the LA area.
And it certainly doesn't hurt that UCLA continues to just suck.
Rainy days and Monday's always get me down. Football posts.......don't be rainy day Monday's.
But is it a front flip, or a back flip?
Yeah sounds like 1 in 1,000,000 chance after listening to that.
Great movie, one of my favorites. Cool Hand Luke is another I will watch over and over.
Would be nice if Domani flips to UM. We shall see....
I wanted to show Cool Hand Luke to my 12, 10 and 8 year olds, but people discouraged me. I haven't watched it in 30 years, but still remember the egg eating contest.
That's hilarious! For some reason Zihuatanejo popped into my head earlier today!!
Lard gets a bad name.
I think the only way this legitimately has a chance of happening is if Michigan has a bounce back year and is plausibly in the national conversation in November, and Clay Helton and staff get their walking papers after a bad season.
The latter is what would really grease the skids for something like this to happen. Until something like the above scenario happens, I am considering Domani Jackson firmly off the radar.
There's also a chance that I use a time machine, go back to 1986 when Lori Loughlin was super hot, marry her and keep her out of trouble with the law.
I mean, she's still pretty attractive, and now she's got the added "bad girl" vibe...
I would go back buy amazon, Apple, monster, and bitcoin.