Update on elite JUCO DL Jeffrey M’ba - He ain't comin'
There was some chatter about Michigan being able to take JUCO prospect Jeffrey M'ba.
That now apparently is dead - speculation was grades - but unsure why this died so quickly after it seeming a hot topic.
M’ba was set to officially visit Ann Arbor for the game against Ohio State next Saturday, but that visit is off, M’ba told Maize n Brew Tuesday afternoon.
“Nope, I will not visit Michigan (anymore),” M’ba said.
Instead, he will be visiting Auburn for its game against Alabama.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:06 AM ^
Level playing field ?
November 17th, 2021 at 10:07 AM ^
When given the choice of:
- Do a lot of extra work to get into Michigan
- Do no extra work to get into a similarly strong football school
players rarely select option 1.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:15 AM ^
It's a matter of character. (Edit: general comment about anyone's willingness to be an excellent student *and* athlete - not specifically about this young man, though some are interpreting it as such.)
Best of luck to anyone trying to genuinely improve themselves and aspiring to a career (and I hope this young man finds what he needs), but this is still a competitive academic institution... not a football/basketball/etc. factory.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:26 AM ^
Normally I'd lean towards your line of thinking - but this blew up and then blew OUT super fast.
Was there even an opportunity for him to improve himself to meet the standards of our "...competitive academic institution..."?
November 17th, 2021 at 10:47 AM ^
I don't know the specifics of this young man's situation, so I won't comment as to that.
Yet, in general, I have no problem whatsoever to holding prospective student-athletes to the same academic standards as every other prospective student trying to gain admission.
If that means we aren't as competitive with the football/basketball "factories" that lower standards, lie, cheat, etc... then so be it.
(I would say let's use the angry energy to try and fight the cheating & corruption, but the prevailing sentiment seems to be to just "manage" it via loopholes such as NIL. Such is the world today.)
November 17th, 2021 at 11:23 AM ^
I don't know the specifics of this young man's situation, so I won't comment as to that.
Seems like you already did though....
November 17th, 2021 at 11:25 AM ^
Wasn't intended that way.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:38 AM ^
I respect where you're coming from, but this is a very bad take.
Imagine that you're offered two jobs, each from extremely prestigious employers. One requires a two hour commute each day. The other does not require any such commute. Which offer do you accept?
Michigan needs to get real or lower expectations drastically.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:40 AM ^
Agreed - but with how fast this ramped up and then died off - was he even given that opportunity to decide on the longer "commute"?
November 17th, 2021 at 12:56 PM ^
did it "ramp up," though, beyond us inviting him for an official visit, and some of our less realistic fans losing their collective minds about the possibility of a juco transfer?
michigan will never, not ever, be a major player in the juco market. we just won't - not without a complete 180 in the way we operate the athletic department and compliance office. that ain't happening.
and what does "opportunity to decide" mean? here's what's likely - we told him we'd love to have him, and we told him he'll have to bust his ass to get admitted and stay eligible...and he said, "oh, auburn sounds nice this time of year."
November 17th, 2021 at 1:44 PM ^
here's what's likely - we told him we'd love to have him, and we told him he'll have to bust his ass to get admitted and stay eligible...and he said, "oh, auburn sounds nice this time of year."
That way of thinking is exactly the answer to "what does opportunity to decide" mean. You assume he was given a list of 'demands' and summarily rejected them.
No one is certain that is even the case, including you. He could also conceivably been told we'd love to have him and before he had an opportunity to visit - Admissions could have put the brakes on immediately - r.e. NOT given the opportunity to decide if he wanted to put in the effort.
Not trying to also assume anything, but the demeanor in his stance now compared to earlier comes across as he's pissed at Michigan - which may imply his hopes got raised and then dashed before he even got a chance to visit.
November 17th, 2021 at 2:42 PM ^
i don't know what you're arguing here, but that's okay, i don't think you do, either.
you've got this weird thing for giving some juco recruit an "opportunity to decide," but he, you know, did, either because the coaches told him he'd have to work in the classroom, or the dark, dark arts of the admissions department told him he wouldn't qualify (apparently this is your belief? i guess?), or auburn was where he wanted to go anyway, and when they offered him an official visit he was on it.
i'm not pretending to know item one about this dude. what i do know is that it's easier for a juco to transfer to auburn than it is to transfer to michigan. maybe he's a future med student, for all i know - it would STILL be an easier road to get into auburn than michigan.
i honestly don't understand why this is any different than literally any other recruit that chose another school for literally any other reason.
November 18th, 2021 at 9:46 AM ^
" i'm not pretending to know item one about this dude"
Re-read what you wrote. You made several assumptions and inferences about what you THINK happened. Not sure you're understanding what you, yourself, are writing or responding to.
November 19th, 2021 at 6:23 AM ^
lol. i think i said he might be a med student, and it would still be harder for him to get into michigan than auburn. that’s a fact, and no amount of “we should try harder to get these judo guys” butthurt on your part is going to change that. sorry.
EDIT: just took a gander at the mod sticky. hadn’t realized i was arguing juco recruiting with a freaking lunatic. damn, i fell for it again.
November 18th, 2021 at 8:54 AM ^
He probably did know any hoops/extra work he would have to do as Michigan was originally involved in his recruitment before he went the Juco route. I don't know that for sure, but it's more likely than the 3 paragraphs of rambling you just wrote.
November 17th, 2021 at 11:03 AM ^
As a person that does a 3-3.5 hour round trip commute every day, I can support your logic.
November 17th, 2021 at 12:40 PM ^
That's a minor league commute....let me know when you reach 4-5 hours each day round trip.
November 17th, 2021 at 1:00 PM ^
For me that would require another $20K.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:40 AM ^
Lazy take…. He is working to accomplish his goal of making a living playing football… he may or may not view the education in a similar light, but at the end of the day why put up more barriers that prevents you from accomplishing your primary objective.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:52 AM ^
Your take is quite worse - you assume I was disparaging the young man when, in fact, I was countering the implied argument that academic standards prevent people from coming here & being successful.
Just with any other position, it must be earned - and not just because they "want it" more. If a person's #1 priority is sports and only sports, there are paths for that. If they want sports *and* a world-class education, there are paths for that too. Not all of those paths run through here.
November 17th, 2021 at 11:27 AM ^
You said ‘it’s a matter of character’ with the clear implication being that - if you don’t want to do a bunch of extra work to get into UM, you lack it. I’ve never heard of this kid but I’m willing to bet he’s more worried about fulfilling a dream of playing in the NFL than going to an elite academic institution. You can question the soundness of that decision, but to imply he lacks character because of it is . . . just wrong.
November 17th, 2021 at 11:30 AM ^
First, you open with this
It's a matter of character.
Then, you state the following
you assume I was disparaging the young man when, in fact …
You do realize character has nothing to do with any of this right?
November 17th, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
Character is the overall assessment of a person and their choices - academic work included.
November 17th, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^
the character of a person has absolutely nothing to do with how educated they are. See I could throw some stupid stuff out there like "if that's true then all educated people should of high character. What about Nassar/Anderson who were highly educated."
And you'd say "that's why I said the 'overall assessment' because education is only one of the things."
In reality, its 100% about the person, who they are, and how they treat other people. It is literally 0% education. if education had anything to do with it, then "character" is something that only very recently evolved in the human evolutionary timeline.
November 17th, 2021 at 12:22 PM ^
Again, you missed the point. I said character includes academic work - "work" is not the innate gifts one has, but is the *effort* that was put in to achieve *results*. This is no different in the classroom than it is on the field. A person can be academically successful (especially when speaking about HS) regardless of where they are or what their own gifts/talents are - those only determine how much *work* is required to achieve that success.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:11 PM ^
You missed the point.
Character has nothing to do with academics in any way whatsoever. Period.
November 18th, 2021 at 8:19 AM ^
The effort put forth into the academics reflects upon character. Consider it this way: does "work ethic", whether that is in the classroom, on the practice field, or on the job, reflect upon personal character?
November 17th, 2021 at 10:41 AM ^
I'm so impressed you can tell everything about this man's character from his decision to not attend our favorite school. So wise.
November 17th, 2021 at 11:23 AM ^
this is a bad take and you should feel bad.
Not wanting to come to Michigan has nothing to do with character. Not wanting to work hard at academics has nothing to do with character. Maybe he's using the NCAA as a springboard to the NFL and doesn't care about a college degree because if he doesn't stick in the NFL, his plan is to become a master electrician or journeyman millwright? maybe his uncle wants to leave him his $5 million plumbing business?
so, yea. it is a lazy, elitist, and overall just and bad take.
November 17th, 2021 at 11:34 AM ^
Absolutely not. Lazy would be saying that kids don't get in because they don't work hard. Elitist would be saying kids can't come unless they are from the "right" family/zipcode/etc.
None of that is what I said.
My comment was that a place at this university is *earned*, including a prestigious and coveted spot of a full-ride scholarship student-athlete. *Earning* requires the work & results on the field as well as in the classroom... it is competitive and the academic aspect isn't/shouldn't just be treated as a formality or merely given lip-service.
I stated earlier that there are numerous paths a person can take to reach a goal - but some are more difficult than others. If a this kid had also wanted to get on the team at Harvard, Stanford, or NW (among numerous others), we people still be railing against the academic scrutiny? I'm sorry that some of us feel that players can just be added/subtracted like an NFL roster, but this is still prestigious university that is difficult to enter... simply being able to play ball shouldn't change that.
November 17th, 2021 at 11:49 AM ^
I stated earlier that there are numerous paths a person can take to reach a goal - but some are more difficult than others. If a this kid had also wanted to get on the team at Harvard, Stanford, or NW (among numerous others), we people still be railing against the academic scrutiny? I'm sorry that some of us feel that players can just be added/subtracted like an NFL roster, but this is still prestigious university that is difficult to enter... simply being able to play ball shouldn't change that.
100% agree.
But none of that has to do with character. Character is who you are and how you treat people. Not what you accomplish regarding education/profession.
November 17th, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
Character also includes one's life choices and what that reveals about them. If someone underperformed academically, is it because they chose to underprioritize it or because they had a reason to struggle? If the latter, then what did they do to *overcome* those challenges? Or - did they choose to pursue a challenging academic pathway or just do the bare minimumun to "get by"?
School is what occupies the greater part of the first ~18 years of most people's lives (and for some the first 20-30 years)... how they approach that certainly *does* provide insight into their character.
November 17th, 2021 at 4:27 PM ^
you're moving the goalposts so damned far I can't see them. first you're saying academics (and choices made therein) are directly related to character. now it's some abstract argument about life choices and reasons why those life choices were made and whether under duress or not .... and how all that "provides insight into their character."
In this new scenario you put forth, which is very different from the earlier comments you made, "academics" could be interchanged with virtually anything from career choice to favorite food.
I repeat. Academics has zero to do with character. ZERO. How someone chooses to handle themselves while in a situation (e.g. college) can give an insight into character. But not because of "academics" but because of how they carry themselves in <insert any situation here>
In all, the fact he maybe wants to be lazy in school and focus all his attention on the NFL has nothing to do with character because that's the only road to the NFL and he may have zero interest in a higher education. Again. All that has NOTHING to do with character.
November 18th, 2021 at 8:23 AM ^
You are saying that if a hypothetical kid is lazy in school it has no reflection upon character? I think many people would disagree with that.
No where in my posts do I say that the outcome of person's academic career is the defining aspect of their character. I am claiming that the academics (which includes both the effort/work a person puts in as well as the outcome, which does not need to be spectacular but should be indicative of said effort/work) becomes part (one of many) of a reflection upon a person's character. My other claim is that academic performance is an important aspect that should be considered for any prospective student applying to a prestigious school such as Michigan - regardless of athletic status. Neither of these claims are particularly provocative.
November 17th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
Football, basketball, and hockey are the Big 3 sports at Michigan. What percentage of scholarship athletes in those sports would be admitted if they did not play sports? What percentage would even sniff admission? I live in Bloomfield Hills and I hear parents griping all the time about their kids with ACT scores of 32+ and over 4.0 GPAs with all APs and a bunch of other extra activities not getting admitted. You really think the standards aren't lower when guys with 3.1s and 16 on their ACTs are getting admitted?
Also, please give me a break on the competitive academic institution stuff. I was a liberal arts major at Michigan. That really comes into play at the graduate level and certain majors and fields of study at Michigan at the UG level (Ross, Engineering, Econ, hard sciences, math) and the rankings are largely a function of the research output and grant dollars, etc. I promise you there's hardly anything competitive about 200/300 political science or communications courses at the UG level.
Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with not wanting to be an "excellent student." It is not an indictment of "character" one way or the other. One of the more broken things about the educational systems in this country is the mistaken notion that if traditional, K-through 4 year university doesn't work for you, then there is something wrong. We do a piss-poor job of evaluating students and helping them find alternative paths to good paying and rewarding careers. It's not this young man's fault that the NFL uses the NCAA as a farm system/minor leagues. He's doing what it takes to accomplish his goals. He will likely be fine no matter where he gets a degree from.
November 17th, 2021 at 12:52 PM ^
One of the factors that kind of goes un-talked about in the admissions process is “diversity of students body”. In this case “diversity” = Location + Race, with Location seeming to be the biggest factor. In the case of my daughter, being Black and being from NC, the number was less than 1%. So adding a Black, Female National Honor Society student to the pool from a region were you get less than 1% of your applications, she was a solid yes. I think the numbers for instate was somewhere in the high 60s with California being the next highest. If she had applied to UNC, Wake or Duke she most likely would have been in the same boat as your Bloomfield Hills neighbors just another face in the crowd.
November 17th, 2021 at 3:52 PM ^
Definitely. Sticking to the Michigan-specific example, I have some friends in the UP whose kids have gotten into Michigan despite having lower scores/grades. They were still competitive applicants, like your daughter, an NHS student. My point is that there's already different standards for sports and to pretend otherwise smacks of intellectual dishonesty. A 3.1 and 16 on the ACT aren't getting you into Michigan these days unless you're getting recruited to play football.
November 17th, 2021 at 1:34 PM ^
I'm glad I read this before I replied, you said it a lot better than I would have
November 17th, 2021 at 1:57 PM ^
Thanks.
Had I not made her apply to Michigan, she would have graduated from Campbell University in NC.
November 18th, 2021 at 10:40 AM ^
This is the mindset that will get them left behind.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:21 AM ^
Do you have information that led you to believe that he was even given the opportunity to complete Option 1?
November 17th, 2021 at 11:15 AM ^
Please provide proof of Michigan academic standards requiring extra work for transfers to get in. Because I can provide you lots of examples of athletes that went Juco to Michigan.
Maybe this is just a staff that has just been ok at recruiting losing another recruiting battle.
November 17th, 2021 at 11:18 AM ^
Maybe this is just a staff that has just been ok at recruiting losing another recruiting battle.
Agreed. Shared below the recruiting link for ranking recruiters. Only 1 in top-25 (Clink), and only one more in top-75 recruiters (Moore).
November 17th, 2021 at 11:57 AM ^
It's obvious from your shittakes, you understand very little about recruiting.
Who's "this staff"? Courtney Morgan has only been here since April.
We don't need M'ba, there's a reason he went to JuCo.
November 18th, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
Hahahahahahahahahhahahahah
Look at the entirety of the staff. Turnover? Sure. Alabama and others churn through assistants like butter. Keep up with the excuses man.
November 17th, 2021 at 1:24 PM ^
You never fail. You’re always negatively placed into a forum with a flag in one hand and an AK in the other.
November 17th, 2021 at 1:08 PM ^
It doesn’t have to be grades. Every time they mention transfers I wonder how many credits will UMich allow to transfer in and is the answer acceptable to the student?
If I had worked hard to awaken 30-60 credits while also working hard as a full time athlete, I would look elsewhere if my transfer destination said half or more of my effort is null and void.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:14 AM ^
I wonder what this class would look like if we were 6 - 4. On second thought, no I don't.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:37 AM ^
Minus X Worthy opting out, I can't believe we had the recruiting class we did last year. There's really going to be two recruiting seasons coming about in CFB. One for HS students and one for transfer portal kids. Your life blood may come from HS students coming in but a transfer or two can easily change your program especially at skill positions.
November 17th, 2021 at 10:48 AM ^
Transfers are hard at M, sTate not so much.
I posted about this in the Rolder Commitment thread. I see it one of two ways…Michigan coaches face him the plan academically to get him admitted and it was overly daunting…or Deone Walker who was at the BBall game gave a silent commit, having 4 DTs in one class might be too much numbers wise.