UCLA blocks potential Clark transfer to UM

Submitted by Bambam on
Title says it all. Jim Mora and UCLA block Chris Clark from potentially transferring to Michigan. Edit: link is paywalled and wont let me post it on my phone, but was on UCLA Rivals board and confirmed by Brandon Brown.
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Blue_sophie

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^

I wonder if this has to do with recruiting. It would look bad if Clark transferred to his "#2" school and suddenly became a stellar player, talking about Michigan's greatness, while not mentioning (or maybe letting a little jab slip) about UCLA. It would definitely give us a leg-up in head to head recruiting battles with them.

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Bambi

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^

Right, but a lot of times schools just block a random school from transfer for a lot of different reasons. And as of now we don't know the reason for that. It could be no reason at all, it could be that Michigan was the runner up for Clark, or it could be something completely unknown.

And I just don't see the point in asking Mora. He'd just say something like "No I won't." And if you ask specifically about Clark, he'll just say "it's personal for Chris so I don't want to go into detail" or "Chris and I talked about it and we agreed on this."

Also if Clark really is homesick, Michigan isn't the greatest place to go. Until Clark comes out and says he wants to transfer to Michigan, which he hasn't, Mora isn't a confirmed dick in this situation. Maybe Clark just doesn't want to go to Michigan at all.

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WolvinLA2

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:33 PM ^

I just diagree with you.  Parents can tell when a coach is being genuine and when he's not.  The "sure I did it to another kid but I never would to your son" wouldn't get past most parents.  

And whether or not Clark wants to come to Michigan has no impact on Mora being a dick. That should be Clark's decision.  

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Wolverine Devotee

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^

We dodged two bullets with Snoop Dog's son and Chris Clark not coming here.

Losing two guys in an already-small class would be very bad. Especially if Michigan took them over guys that eventually wound up signing here.

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WolvinLA2

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:18 PM ^

Quite premature on that.  Maybe not on Boradus since it sounds like he was going to stop playing football wherever he signed, but do you really know the dirty on Clark?  Is it possible that the issues he had at UCLA he wouldn't have had at Michigan?  

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DrMantisToboggan

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^

Is it possible that Jim Harbaugh would be more understanding than Jim Mora of coming to practice late, talking on his cell phone or showing up to practice in street clothes without telling the trainers why he was holding himself out of activities?? I'd bet the house that he would have lasted an even shorter time at Michigan than at UCLA. Remember all of this happened and Clark still played in their first game. Harbaugh would have sent his ass back to prep school in the first week of camp.

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WolvinLA2

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^

Let's not pretend that because you've read a few excerpts from a Scout board that you know what was really going on.  It's possible that Clark has some immaturity issues that Mora did a poor job of handling but Michigan's staff could have dealt with.  Maybe he felt entitled at UCLA because the coaches kept telling him how great he was, and Michigan would have knocked him down a peg, nipping these issues in the bud.  

You don't know the real story here, or certainly the underlying one so there's no reason to speculate how person would act in a different situation.

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Danwillhor

September 23rd, 2015 at 3:40 PM ^

but agree that Harbaugh would so sooner dump a kid than shit on him and try to appease him at the same time. The one thing I know is that Mora is more in the Saban/Kelly mold of anger. Harbaugh is the type that'd have no issue tossing Andrew Luck if Luck was a true disturbance to the team. He'd have gotten a "big boy talk about how life will go for him if he didn't change" but he'd be changing somewhere else if he couldn't gey through to him the first time or two. I guarantee Mora went purple face on Clark more than a dozen times but still tried to keep him. BTW, yelling at a player is no biggie when it's basic practice or other constructive criticism! I'm talking about a HC going apeshit and delivering nothing but insults, etc. I don't condone coddling but I don't condone stepping over dying players or getting purple faced while screaming about a mistake you're not even telling the kid how to correct. JMJ is more that than Harbaugh BY A MILE.

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WolvinLA2

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:28 PM ^

I'd like to see examples of that.  Jordan Payton was the serialist of decommitters and he is currently one of UCLA's stars and has been a contributor every year.  I think this idea that if a 17 year old has a hard time making up his mind that this will impact him as a player down the road.  AT LEAST half of that is the influence he gets from his parents and most of the other half if his own maturity which can certainly change a lot from 17-19 or 20.

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WolvinLA2

September 23rd, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^

Both Kris Frost and Vision Quest Kid (Kozan) are starters for Auburn, and were starters at a young age.  No idea about Chris Barnett, and it's Ross Douglas you're thinking of.  It might be too early to tell on him, but switching a commitment when a school gets sanctions and loses a coach is pretty understandable.  He's also sitting behind 3 really highly rated RBs right now.  

So with those 4 examples, combined with Jordan Payton, it seems that more often than not, guys end up being successful.  At the very least, there's no indication that being a commitment-flipper is an indication you won't be successful as a player.  

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Magnus

September 23rd, 2015 at 4:43 PM ^

I'm not really sure what you're getting at. You have a smattering of random decommits, and then one guy (Alex Kozan) who only ever committed to Auburn.

I consider "serial" decommitters to be guys who were committed to multiple places before choosing their final destination. Clark would count because UNC/Michigan before UCLA; Ross Douglas would not count because it was just PSU.

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Farnn

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:54 PM ^

Logicially there may be some sense to it, a kid who easily changes his mind might be quick to transfer when the going gets tough.  And people like to mention all the kids that switch schools a couple times not working out.  However, they never take into account the fact that many college recruits don't make the NFL or even become starters.

It would be nice to see the statistics though and compare them to the average success rate of equally ranked recruits.  Compare the 5 star flips to average 5 stars, 4 star flips to 4 stars and so on.  It would be tough though because there are mitigating factors, like a 3 star committed to CMU who blows up his senior year and gets a Michigan offer, or a kid who doesn't do so well his senior year and the coaches kind of stop talking to him until he gets the hint and decommits.

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WolvinLA2

September 23rd, 2015 at 10:32 PM ^

It would be tough to compile, but the sample size is so small. Like I said, Jordan Payton committed to both USC and Washington before committing to UCLA and he's been a solid contributor the whole time.  

Sometimes kids commit and decommit strategically, sometimes coaches change (head or assistant) and sometimes kids continue to research more schools and realize they committed too early.  

In most cases, I think kids get poor advice from parents and coaches who play a big role in this flip flopping.  

If was being asked to "verbally commit" to the colleges I was looking at, I would have committed to ND, Grand Valley (to run track), Albion (football), and Purdue before I committed to Michigan.  Luckily, I didn't have reporters asking me throughout high school who I favored or any coaches pressuring me to lock up my spot.

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WolvinLA2

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^

Why would this be a blessing in disguise?  Can't we let Harbaugh make that deicsion instead of Mora?  If it was really a bad thing for Clark to transfer here (which I'm not convinced of yet) then Harbaugh simply wouldn't offer him a spot.  But I think anyone would agree that you want to have the option.  

If Jim Mora really though Clark was a bum who didn't have any value to Michigan, he wouldn't bother blocking us.

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Bambam

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^

Sorry for formatting, posted it from my phone. Originally thought it was because UCLA is on schedule in the future but thats not until Clark would already be gone. Sounds like Mora is just being a dick.

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UM Indy

September 23rd, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^

They probably have a policy that they won't approve a transfer to any team on their current or future schedule. We're on their future schedule. I don't see it as a dick move.



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