Wilcher, Jackson on WTKA Right Now with Jaime Morris

Submitted by elhead on

This is one hell of a conversation between Thomas Wilcher, Fred Jackson and Jamie Morris. Jaimo hits a home run today.

LSAClassOf2000

February 8th, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^

Here's how the NCAA puts this:

The NLI is a contract between a prospective student-athlete and a school, not an agreement between individuals. A student-athlete is obligated to attend the school he or she signed with unless the school agrees to release the student-athlete.

If he never enrolls and they release him soon, perhaps he can argue this at some sort of appeal or he can apply for a waiver of some sort given the circumstances, but I think he risks losing a year now that the letter is in. This underscores the generally one-way nature of the LOI sadly. 

M-Dog

February 8th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^

Yes.  They are stupid, but not that stupid.  If they let him out of it, they will just flat out let him out.

Letting him out, but still dictating where he can and can not go will just have the appearance of them continuing to fuck with him for their own benefit . . . which is what caused all this uproar in the first place.

 

charblue.

February 8th, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^

A very good commentary and recommendation.

What surprised me was learning that Meyer was on the phone after midnight on Tuesday as well as Drayton seeking to reassure Weber about signing with the Buckeyes. Now Meyer has claimed that he had no knowledge that Drayton was on his way to the Bears before the announcement of his hire by John Fox. This disclosure of Meyer's contact with Weber would bend that belief to absurdity unless you believe Drayton was interviewed over the phone and subsequently hired the same day and Meyer and Drayton never said he was considering leaving the staff.

Buckeye fans have bought this delusional story without question. This commentator ubderstands the lie that it is, the firestorm it has provoked and the longterm damage it can do if not immediately remedied. And Michigan fans, this is Karma, with two Ohio columnists now suggesting Meyer ought to let Mikey go for the sake of the program's PR image.

I hope Weber finds his way after this distracting start to his college career. I wish him well in Columbus or somewhere else.

 

Mauresi

February 8th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^

Anyone care to do some briefing with bullet point with this segment? I missed it and would love to hear anything of significance... Thanks in advance! Go blue!




Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Boner Stabone

February 8th, 2015 at 12:26 PM ^

never steps foot in that school again.  He will send one of his personal slaves to do the dirty work.  Plus Urbz is due for another "health issue" soon anyways.  Give him a couple more years and he will head for "retirement" again.

ohiobuckeye21

February 8th, 2015 at 12:33 PM ^

Forgive me for not being in tune with this situation as much as most of you, but doesn't this seem like this Cass Tech coach is going a little far with this? I mean at the very least what ohio state did was a little questionable but it seems like he is doing his best to help sway michigan kids to his ol buddy jim. Possibly setting himself up for a future job? I've read many times on this vey site about how kids should commit to a school not a coach and read thank you quotes to some of Hoke's commits for doing so. IMO, this coach is doing his school a disservice by acting like this. Cass Tech / Michigan HS athletes need OSU far more than OSU needs them. Again, I don't condone what it appears happened but it seems like this guy has other motives for his reaction.

ohiobuckeye21

February 8th, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^

Maybe so at prominent high schools and or in prominent hs football states. But in states like Michigan where the high school football is viewed as mediocre at best, they need universities to help try to establish a reputation. Specifically major universities. Things happen from time to time in recruiting, so if i am a college coach and I'm watching what this cass coach is doing it would make me think twice before going to that school for a kid. Like i said before, i think what happened with Weber is unfortunate, however things like this happen and hs coaches typically don't go on radio stations and tv shows to cry about it. The only point I am trying to make is that this coach seems to be going over the top for some reason and it seems to be more than "my player got screwed because his position coach left for the nfl".

kehnonymous

February 8th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

And it also must be said that if a bridge was burned between the Weber family and us, the idiot element in our own fanbase had no small hand in that.

Still, there is no way in hell that Urban honestly didn't know that Drayton was going to leave.  If he said that, he's absolutely lying.  And this isn't the same as Harbaugh recruiting another RB (Higdon) - I doubt Harbaugh made a point of saying "we're looking at other RBs", but he certainly didn't promise Weber that he was the only one we're taking.  

Bottom line - it's not realistic for Weber to expect that he's the only RB Michigan would've taken in this class, nor is is realistic for Weber to expect that the coaches will stick around for the 4 years he's at a school.  However, it's inordinately fifty shades of scarlet and gray more shady when the coach who's recruiting you UP AND LEAVES THE NEXT DAY

Don

February 8th, 2015 at 1:03 PM ^

My brother has been in academia as a tenured prof at two Big Ten institutions for over 35 years, so I asked him this morning if there's an analogy to academia. He said that it's very common for graduate students to apply to grad programs specifically because of individual profs or researchers at those programs.



He then said it would definitely be a huge disappointment if a grad student turned down offers from grad schools W, X, and Y in order to study under somebody at grad school Z only to have that prof leave for another institution shortly thereafter.



However, there is a different wrinkle: he said it's not uncommon for faculty members who are leaving for other institutions to bring their top grad students with them to the new institution; that's an obvious difference from what college athletes can do.



This doesn't address the fact that college athletics isn't an academic pursuit, but that's a different issue.

AHM16

February 8th, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^

The BS excuse that Weber didn't commit bc of Higdon is garbage, the #1 rated RB in the country committed to OSU and that didn't seem to phase Weber

alum96

February 8th, 2015 at 1:17 PM ^

He apparently thinks only kids in his own class are competition.  He was favorited to MSu earlier but they got a top RB in Larry Scott and he cooled.  Then he committed here when we had no RB.  Then he went to OSU after our wander into the jungle as they had no RB in the 2015 class.  Not sure if young Mike realizes competition comes from every class.

UM is actually the place with the least competition - OSU has the #1 RB in 2016, we have nothing although of course we will have something eventually.  State's 2015 RB is supposedly a beast and they have a whole host of 2014/2013 RBs with onl 1 being upperclassmen.  Meanwhile all our RBs are gone after 2016 save for Isaac and Higdon.  Which could have been Issac and Weber if he didnt wait til the closing seconds.

andrewgr

February 8th, 2015 at 2:22 PM ^

The competition had very little to do with it, just as Drayton leaving had very little to do with it-- although listed on websites as the main recruiter for Weber,in order of actual contact time, it was Coombs, Meyer, Drayton.

The issue is trust.  Weber feels misled and used that OSU didn't tell him that Drayton was in the process of interviewing for the Bears job.  He also feels lied to because, regardless of what actually happened, his understanding is that he was told he was the only RB in the class being recruited, but then they signed someone else.

In both cases, it's the perceived lying that's the much bigger issue than the thing that was maybe lied about. 

Of course, given the level of discourse on mgoblog recently, the chances that anyone would concede that they actually have no way of knowing what Harbaugh or the other recruiters said to Weber, and that Weber might actually be correct in his perception, are zero.  If it was possible for a probability to be negative, it would be negative.

Badkitty

February 9th, 2015 at 3:47 AM ^

Harbaugh's recruitment of Higdon wasn't a secret, unlike what Drayton's status was vis a vis Weber.  

What was Harbaugh supposed to do?  You had one guy who was flip flopping back and forth on whether or not he wanted to play for Michigan and then you had another guy (from the South, of all places) who went through a snowstorm to get his official visit.  Do you shut the door on the guy who actually wanted to be here just because some other guy might show up?

I have a hard time believing Weber to be that naive regarding his recruitment.  He's a 4 star, highly sought-after recruit getting national attention and his coach is an ex-teammate of Jim Harbaugh.  Plus he's not like a guy who's living out in the isolated boonies and has no idea of what happens in the bigger outside world.   Recruits like this don't live in a hermetic bubble.  

Was Urban and Drayton slimy and unethical?  Yes.  Did they mislead him?  Yes.  I just have a hard time believe that Harbaugh and our staff were dishonest with him.  

OccaM

February 8th, 2015 at 1:20 PM ^

Wilcher is a UM alum and former teammate of Harbaugh... even without this Weber fiasco, hiring Harbaugh probably closed Cass Tech to OSU. 

Franz Schubert

February 8th, 2015 at 3:07 PM ^

That OSU fans and even some Michigan fans are accusing Harbaugh of breaking an agreement by signing Higdon. It's laughable. Weber was commited to OSU! The Higdon recruitment was very public, reported on extensively, and Michigan got a great running back commit.