Turning Guys Away
I think the interestiong thing to watch in this years recruiting is the fact that we look very good for so many athlete type guys that we have to watch RR work this delicate situation. If people start committing RR will have to play this game perfectly, you can't trust the verbals, but you don't want sign 15 db/wr types, but you want to have a back up plan. Should be interesting to watch I think we have the market cornered on guys 5'10 to 6'1" 180 to 210lbs.
Should be exciting, I don't think we have lead for so many guys this early before.
M. Rob
Lo Wood
Dior Mathis
Cullen Christian
Brandon Iffil??
Corvin Lamb
Latwan Anderson
Ricardo Miller
DJ Williamson
Jeremy Jackson
etc...
have the lead for Mathis or Anderson. You could maybe say we have momentum with Mathis, but the news on Anderson seems worse every day.
"We don't have the lead for Mathis"
O rly?
March 19th, 2009 at 12:29 AM ^
that we do? Sure we've got one encouraging Facebook status update, and some assumptions based on the enrollment of former teammates.
But I haven't seen anything that suggests we are in the lead for Mathis anymore than we are for someone like William Gholston (whose had just as many "appearances" around the program).
Now, that being said I don't doubt that there is plenty of reason to be optimistic that the Cass Tech/Gardner/Mathis connections will pay off given enough time. I just wouldn't say that we're in the lead.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:54 AM ^
Evidence without providing premium stuff? No. But the Miami chatter has basically died off.
But other than that, it's obvious that will be no convincing you, since you dismissed the factor of William Campbell, Thomas Gordon, Teric Jones, Devin Gardner, Ricardo Miller and Jeremy Jackson all being in his ear.
Even bringing up Gholston when talking about Mathis is irresponsible. Completely, and I mean COMPLETELY different situations.
dismiss those guys? I pretty pointedly said there is reason to be optimistic because of those guys.
I just have not seen a quote from him or anyone close to him that says anything but vague "I'm wide open" "I don't really have a leader" and "I'm going to take my time and decide in January" statements.
obviously he has interest and we're going to be a huge factor in his decision, but I don't know that lead is the most accurate way to describe the situation.
how about inside track?
March 19th, 2009 at 11:31 AM ^
we lead for him. period.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:37 AM ^
To be fair, you guys didn't really try to "convince him." You just said things like "O rly?" and that other Michigan commits are in his ear.
You just set it up as "I'm right and you're wrong" instead of saying "His coach said ___________" or "He said ___________."
Anyway, when you try to convince someone of something, it usually helps to provide evidence rather than basically say "You're wrong."
Reading between the lines helps, too.
Everybody expected Mathis to commit to Miami in September. Why didn't he? Because Michigan offered him and pulled even. Since then, he's become friends with Jeremy Jackson, Devin Gardner, and Ricardo Miller. He's been at several more Michigan functions, including every football game except one last season. Three of his former teammates are going to be in Ann Arbor. He's going to be at every football game once again this season, with all of those former teammates actually in Michigan uniforms this time. These guys aren't just robots out there. The Cass Tech guys are very close friends. If Campbell had picked Miami, Mathis would be leaning there too. He picked Michigan, soooo...
It's like people still expect recruiting to be cut and dried. They expect these recruits to come out and say everything up front...except when they do, people doubt them anyway, which is understandable. Am I saying Mathis is going to end up at Michigan? No. But at this point in time, it doesn't take a serious investigation to see who his favorite is right now, and who "leads" for him (like that makes a difference in March).
And like I said, bringing up Gholston was random and irrelevant, because the two situations are completely different. Gholston has teammates going to State, he has MSU people around him at his school, he LIVES with his coach, who is a Dantonio slappy. Hence, MSU people are very confident about their chances with him, and they lead for him. Short of Dior Mathis living with Thomas Wilcher and saying he wakes up to The Victors on his alarm clock everyday, what more convincing is needed?
I understand where you're coming from. But not everyone knows that he came to almost every Michigan game. And early in Mathis's recruitment, he said that Miami would be up front regardless of the Michigan offer.
There are/were plenty of indicators that he would go elsewhere, and having friends at Michigan doesn't automatically mean that the kid will come here. If that were the case, then every FBS recruit from any high school would go to one college year after year. And even though that seems to be happening with Cass Tech, there are plenty of other schools where that doesn't necessarily happen. So if Mathis or Easterly or both go elsewhere, then that puts a chink in that kind of follow-the-flock argument.
Your reasons stated above are convincing. "O rly" isn't. That's all I meant.
was lumping 8 guys who have literally said "Michigan is my leader right now" (at one point or another) or committed in with 2-3 guys that haven't.
I don't need every recruit to spell it out, I'm just not about to call it a "lead" when he hasn't visited anywhere else but insists that he plans on doing so. or rather the combination of that situation and a recruit not using the words "______ is in the lead"
everything you read sir
I was under the impression we are a Mathis lean. Or at least tilt?
March 18th, 2009 at 10:32 PM ^
We don't really lead for Lamb, either.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:18 AM ^
I personally would be surprised if we didn't Mathis. Now Anderson, I do not know. However, I think the OP makes a good point. I think this class is going to shape up nicely and who's to say that Lo Woods and M Rob don't commit then I wonder how we would look at Mathis? But if I were making my wish list I know Lavey and Gholston would be on it. oO(I would have said Luc if I thought we had a legit chance at getting the guy)
March 19th, 2009 at 11:08 AM ^
I don't think we have to worry about turning too many guys away. There might be a few receivers who can't play defense that will get turned away, but other than that, we need RB's and CB's and safeties and LB's and DL's. Things will settle out. The good guys will commit - and stick - and the less confident guys will go elsewhere to get away from such stiff competition.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:30 AM ^
and by turn away i mean potentially put off, would be WRs. but the thing people don't seem to understand, WRs are a dime a dozen when you're a school like Michigan.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:31 AM ^
As usual everyone loses the message in the details, I was just pointing out some names I heard. Thanks Magnus for addressing the actual question message 10 replies in.
March 19th, 2009 at 11:34 AM ^
No problem.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:30 PM ^
This topic gets brought up every year. It basically never ends up being an issue.
Dewayne Peace was turned away because a) he didn't want to play defense and b) we had enough receivers to live through his defection. If we had been desperate for receivers and didn't already have commits from a couple slots and a shot at a couple other guys, then we probably would have let him come in as a receiver.
Hypothetically (and I'm just making an assumption here), we would take a commit from Brandon Ifill if he agreed to play safety for us. But if he insisted on playing wide receiver, we could very well say "No, thanks."