Vlad moving again?
I thought it was odd Vlad wanted to transfer to a school way away from home for a team with a lame duck coach. This report from ESPN says he will be looking around again. I loved this guy from the moment he signed, but it doesn't appear he has ever recoverd from that knee injury. Hopefully he figures it all out.
UPDATE: A day after earning a new commitment (see below), Colorado head coach Jon Embree lost two. But that wasn't because the recruits had changes of heart.
Embree obviously has an idea for how he wants to fill his depth chart, and the new head man pulled two scholarship offers that were given under former coach Dan Hawkins.
Three-star running back Kenneth Farrow (Hurt, Texas) and two-star quarterback Nick Sherry (Petaluma, Calif.) are no longer on the Buffs' board according to the Boulder Daily Camera.
Embree also told potential transfer Vlad Emilien, who last played at Michigan, that he would not be needed at safety next season.
You can't fault the coach for taking control of his program, although it's tough for a recruit to be told he no longer has a scholarship less than two months before signing day.
...
As we predicted, the fact that four-star quarterback Brock Berglund remained committed to new coach Jon Embree has paid off on the recruiting trail.
Three-star in-state offensive tackle Marc Mustoe of Arvada switched his verbal from UCLA to the Buffaloes over the weekend. He becomes the sixth commitment for CU and the third three-star for 2011.
This news comes following the Boulder Daily Camera's report that Embree hired away Cal offensive line coach Steve Marshall to join the Buffs staff in the same capacity.
December 14th, 2010 at 1:57 PM ^
amirite?
December 14th, 2010 at 2:02 PM ^
Is he now Vlad the Wanderer?
December 14th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
Can you imagine the firestorm that would have rained down on RR from the Freep if he had done this (at least this openly) when he took over at UM?
On one hand, I understand a coach wanting to use as many scholarships to get "his guys" into the program as quickly as possible, but on the other hand...this sucks. I'm glad that RR/UM honored the scholarships of the guys recruited by Carr and his staff when RR took over even if they might not have been the best "fit" for what RR wanted.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:04 PM ^
I've actually never heard of rejecting recruits upon taking the job. Have you seen any coaches do this before?
December 14th, 2010 at 2:09 PM ^
The new coach usually has such a hard time getting enough recruits to fill the class he doesn't reject any warm bodies. They just need them for fodder in practice at the least and then after some practices they can determine where they stand in terms of strengths and weaknesses.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:16 PM ^
Well, Christian Wilson was committed to Michigan as a part of the 2008 class. He was supposed to come as an H-back, but Rodriguez told him that he could only play linebacker. Wilson instead chose UNC and plays H-back for them.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:35 PM ^
Magnus you are making up more crap than Lynn Henning. So you are saying RR told a kid he was only allowed to play defense and not offense? Not true.
Everyone knows RR only cares about offense and would not be worried about the depth on defense.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:51 PM ^
Of course the difference is that the position doesn't really exist in the Rich Rod spread (although I guess you could argue we use our TEs like H-Backs). I'm pretty sure Colorado is still going to use safeties.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:14 PM ^
Kiffy-kins ran off Tayj Boyd at Tennessee.
December 14th, 2010 at 9:00 PM ^
Can you imagine the even worse firestorm to rain down on UM by the Freep.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:02 PM ^
off to a classy start.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:12 PM ^
Ummm...are you willing to apply that same reasoning to Rich Rodriguez? He certainly didn't welcome some returning players with open arms, and there have been recruits that Michigan rescinded offers from during his watch (Dewayne Peace, Jordan Barnes, etc.).
Embree never offered the kid a scholarship. He shouldn't have to give him a scholarship just because Hawkins would have.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:26 PM ^
I agree with you to an extent. But giving a kid an unattractive ultimatum is a tiny bit better then saying no dice completely.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:32 PM ^
Dewayne Peace was given an unattractive ultimatum.
Jordan Barnes just . . . stopped being contacted by Michigan.
I think Rodriguez's treatment of Barnes was worse than a new coach coming in and saying, "I know you committed to the last coach, but I'm not interested."
December 14th, 2010 at 4:50 PM ^
I don't think on the surface what RR did to those kids is something to be hailed for sure, but I think we need to admit that we don't know shit about what really happens with any of these recruitments.
Since coaches can't comment on kids all you get is the kids side of the story or supposed "insider" info. A million things could have happened. The kid could have failed to live up to his side of the bargain. This verbal commit thing is a joke and I think we need to treat it as such.
It's not the same but just today the Dowling kid ripped Heater down in Florida. From all the reports Dowling was a complete waste...mouthing off in practice, not attending classes, out of shape etc... Now he comes out and blasts Heater, Heater will not respond so that is what the MSM is left with and so the uninformed just think Heater is an ass. The semi informed like me think Dowling is a waste that is looking to cover his ass, when really none of us knows the true story.
I think a good example was the OL that left a couple of years ago and took some jabs at the team for recruiting "those types of guys". The MSM beat RR up for a day or 2 about his thug program and then dropped it. Then later we hear he was flunking out etc....
Maybe Barnes and Peace got the rug pulled out or maybe they didn't. Let's just say it's a tough business and I'm glad I don't have to do it.
On the other side of the coin how much did Sean Parker fuck RR with his last minute 180 of his silent commit? All of a sudden all the internet gurus say..Why didn't RR recruit more DB's? All he cares about is offense.
December 14th, 2010 at 5:50 PM ^
What really screwed over Rodriguez was that he put a lot of time and effort into recruiting Demar Dorsey rather than Rashad Knight and Tony Grimes, to name a couple. I'm more understanding of the Sean Parker thing than the Demar Dorsey thing.
I'm not willing to remove heat from Rodriguez for the DB situation. He's done a poor job of recruiting/retaining defensive backs in the past few years.
December 14th, 2010 at 8:48 PM ^
Well hopefully he's finally learned to stop trying to push the recruitment of academically challenged players and concentrate on safer options. While it may restrict the pool, hopefully it will help him focus his efforts.
December 15th, 2010 at 4:26 PM ^
That seemed very promising and fizzled out in the end as well
December 14th, 2010 at 2:43 PM ^
I have a major problem with the way that Rodriguez handled the Barnes and Peace situations.
December 14th, 2010 at 3:29 PM ^
I agree, why would a coach bring in a player that may not fit what he has in mind? What if said player doesn't fit the scheme, then because of that never sees the field. Who does that benefit? The player is not used correctly or at all, then the coach is getting heat because he isn't doing as well as expected, he isn't being coached right. Then the kid gets upset that he is not playing and transfers, loosing a year. Why must it be sugar coated, be honest with these kids, that is what they need (honesty), better for them to know now than after they arrive on campus.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:04 PM ^
I didn't know CU was in the SEC.
Sent from my desk at CU.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:06 PM ^
Hopefully his next destination will be successful, and his last.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:56 PM ^
curmudgeon
December 14th, 2010 at 3:53 PM ^
Get off my lawn.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^
But I just want my ball back, Mr. Don.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:41 PM ^
December 14th, 2010 at 2:49 PM ^
Damn it, I thought this was about Konstantinov.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:04 PM ^
Will this (having the coach of a program that hasn't had a winning season since 2005 tell the guy he isn't worth giving a scholarship to) finally stop Brian and others from griping about how Vlad could have helped the defense this year if only he hadn't been run out of town?
Yeah, probably not.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:10 PM ^
and play in 2011?
December 14th, 2010 at 4:32 PM ^
He never enrolled at Colorado.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:46 PM ^
Too bad. He was as civil as humanly possible when he left. I, for one, am rooting for him to get a free education somewhere.
December 14th, 2010 at 8:49 PM ^
I am sure he will find somewhere to go, if nothing else there will be some non-FBS schools willing to take a chance on him.
December 14th, 2010 at 9:37 PM ^
I think it's safe to say Vlad's knee never really recovered, which is sad to hear.