Xavier Kelly set to announce Friday

Submitted by Mitchamaniac on
Title says it all as he stated on Twitter. Looks like he's decided. “I just felt like it was a family environment and I love all the coaches and I felt it was the best for me and good football.” However since then, there's been a steady flow of crystal balls for him to Clemson including Steve Wiltfong.

Magnus

July 22nd, 2015 at 8:42 PM ^

Totally different situation. Also, Clemson does a good job of developing wide receivers (much better than Michigan recently) and Michigan was in a weird situation when they were recruiting Watkins and his teammate Dallas Crawford.

jbibiza

July 23rd, 2015 at 3:44 AM ^

Watkins came to visit with Crawford in the winter. Crawford loved UM but Watkins made it very clear that he did not want to live in the cold weather. Crawford was almost surely a Michigan lock if RR stayed, but he kept saying to stop trying to get him to recruit his friend Sammy. Watkins was never going to come to Ann Arbor.

Magnus

July 22nd, 2015 at 8:40 PM ^

Michigan had been trending downward before this. I don't think Michigan would have been his #2 or #3 choice, either. This is just the way it goes sometimes. The kid blew up on the recruiting trail, and we couldn't hold onto the lead we had when we were battling the likes of Kansas State. Oh well.

tragictones

July 22nd, 2015 at 8:38 PM ^

True, Harbaugh is better than Sweeney.  But, Brent Venables is certainly a more established DC than Durkin.  Clemson's DE coach, Marion Hobby, has had recent success with Beasley and Branch being drafted in the first two rounds.  And, Clemson's 2014 D lead the nation in total yards and yards/play allowed.  Right now, Clemson's situation is one of the better defensive situations a recruit could walk into.

tragictones

July 23rd, 2015 at 12:05 PM ^

 

Yes, they did play top ten offenses.  4 of them, in fact.

Sure, stats can be deceiving (especially the one I cited), but that's why people have developed advanced statistics.  Clemson ranked #1 nationally last year in BOTH FEI Defense(opponent adjusted) and S&P Rating Defense (play by play data).  http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feidef

You mentioned that Clemson didn't face any top ten offenses, but that's only if you use "total offense" as the measure, which you yourself said was "deceiving."  It reality, Clemson faced 4 top ten offenses last year in FEI Offensive rating (GT #1,  South Carolina #4, Florida State #8 (albeit FSU without Winston) and Georgia #9)  They also face another top 20 team in Oklahoma (#18.)

I thought we were all on the same page that stats can be deceiving and that Michigan's #7 total defense ranking was a prime example ever since alum96 released this diary.

http://mgoblog.com/diaries/are-big-10-defensive-stats-inflated-bad-offe…

 

B1G_Fan

July 24th, 2015 at 4:38 AM ^

I just look at total offense, plays, yards, offensive TD's, yards per play. The only important that it's missing is possibly 3rd down conversions. By total offense ranking the top offense they face was GT and they where 19th, then Oklahoma 23, Georgia 28, south Carolina 29. Florida state, North Carolina and Miami are the only 3 ACC teams ranked in the top 50 for total offense (ranked 35, 44,45) So i'll stand by my previous comment about them not facing any really good offense all year.

It's deceiving like all sports statistics because you cant adjust a number for an opponent. I'm sure there are formulas obviously but, that's the coolest thing about footbal, it's unpredictable.

Padog

July 22nd, 2015 at 7:46 PM ^

Why is it that whenever some recruit decides to go somewhere besides Michigan a bag man has to be involved. Some recruits favor other schools!!!

Magnus

July 22nd, 2015 at 8:14 PM ^

I have a friend who played ball at a school near Clemson. He has told me multiple times that he saw lots of shady dealings with athletes at Clemson. (Clemson and my friend's school do not play each other or recruit the same athletes, so I don't think it's just sour grapes, either.)

SC Wolverine

July 22nd, 2015 at 8:22 PM ^

Actually, that reputation comes from the Danny Ford days, when it was very true, but that was quite a while ago.  I live a half hour from Clemson and am not aware of any evidence of  systematic cheating under either Bowden or Sweeney.  Dabo is a solid individual.  They certainly should not be classified with Auburn or Ole Miss.  And let's not make that our default answer when we lose a recruit.  Clemson is a beautiful campus and lots of recruits fall in love with it.

Magnus

July 23rd, 2015 at 10:44 AM ^

If I'm weighing my options, I'm still going with Clemson. Going back to 2007, they have Gaines Adams, Phillip Merling, Jarvis Jenkins, Da'Quan Bowers, Andre Branch, and Vic Beasley all going in the first two rounds. In that same time span, Michigan has Alan Branch, LaMarr Woodley, Brandon Graham, and Frank Clark.

gwkrlghl

July 22nd, 2015 at 8:09 PM ^

This is silly conspiracy theory talk. Might as well chalk it up to the illuminati.

Believe it or not, recruits may just like Clemson more than Michigan. They've had a lot more success lately than Michigan has. It's not exactly crazy to think that MAYBE they just wanted to go to Clemson. Every time a recruit doesn't pick Michigan, it isn't because of the mythical bag man.

bluebyyou

July 22nd, 2015 at 8:31 PM ^

In spite of Michigan's academic excellence, you can get a good education at most major universities.  What you get out equals what you put in.

Some people like going to schools where the weather is more moderate than what we get in Michigan,  I'm often amazed that any kid who visits USC or UCLA or Stanford,  top academic schools with Cali weather and women, would ever consider going anywhere else.

jonvalk

July 22nd, 2015 at 9:13 PM ^

Amen to that. My best friend moved with his wife to Florida because she didn't like the winters up here. He's miserable and they're considering moving back up here. It's not like the South is better because of weather. They just have better weather. Most everything else - including summer weather - is worse in the South. I'll concede that they have fantastic BBQ.




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jg2112

July 23rd, 2015 at 1:44 PM ^

There is a flip side to that coin.

While some folks do not like spending time outside in the winter, I certainly wouldn't want to live somewhere where it's 95 degrees with 80 percent humidity for five months a year.

For many folks, having cold weather, snow, ice to skate on, avoiding insane heat, etc., factors favorably into their quality of life equation.