Yuri Wright Rival article about tweets

Submitted by sheepdog on

We all pretty know much know why we are no longer recruiting him, but here is an article from Rivals about his recent expulsion from DB.

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1321024

High points:

-Michigan pulled their offer, others might as well

-he is described as a polite and respectful kid, this was a huge mistake

-he will still garner a lot of attention from big schools from now until signing day

-The article gives props to "a Michigan fan site(a Michigan fan site)" for breaking the news first

EDIT: Via Magnus - Michigan stopped recruiting him weeks before he was expelled. 

ME-But just goes to show that you can't put that trash out there and not expect there to be consequences.  I'm sure they preach accountability on social media at these high schools, what a shame.  Hope he gets a mentor to help him grow up.

Justin@Bursley

January 20th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but wasn't the "Michigan fan site" the one where Ace Williams works? I remember people saying the story was BS because it came from him, understandably.

bluenyc

January 20th, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^

Correct me if I am wrong, Ace didnt break it, he just amplified it to the public.  He is still a kid and made horrible mistakes.  If you believe Ace, he called the school and they decided to expel him.  I am sure Ace carries great clout with the school. 

Ace has great news, cant wait for Peat to commit.  he also thought yuri might commit as well.  /s

Mr. Rager

January 20th, 2012 at 1:17 PM ^

Good fucking lord.

Here is the quote from the article:  "The initial story was first published on Thursday on a Michigan fan site as an explanation for why the Wolverines had stopped recruiting the four-star defensive back."

That is Ace Williams from Chat Sports.  NOT MGoBlog as the OP is implying.  That is my fucking point.  I hate Ace WIlliams, this blog is a real source of info.  I am just stating the facts.

wresler120

January 20th, 2012 at 1:13 PM ^

Chat Sports' Ace Williams who posted the article detailing his twitter posts. I don't know much about Ace Williams other than the board bashing him and I never read Chat Sports. But, when he was bashed on the board everyone he said who was committing to Michigan did commit, albeit not when he said they would. Now he is getting some more credit (sort of) for exposing this story. Maybe the guy actually gets some legit info? I don't know ... And don't really care

Michigasling

January 20th, 2012 at 6:24 PM ^

EDIT:  Now it's run.  The story's approach was as a cautionary tale in the Twitter age, leaving "this promising young athlete's future now in doubt."  The tweets were far from minimized: they blacked out almost all as they ran a graphic [bad choice of words], only quoting one while advising it was bad enough.  Brief interviews with parents and students at the school, the students feeling the dismissal was fair (it's a Catholic school, not public), a parent reporting she's warned her daughter in her on-line job search, a professor making the requisite warning of what you say on a whim is there forever.  The school representative did a "no comment," and there was no interview of Yuri.  The brief clip of him was from a recruiting video where he listed some of the colleges interested, with no mention of Michigan but the inclusion of Michigan State. 

 

Mr. Rager

January 20th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^

Which makes sense because Ace Williams is known for making conclusions from a lot of speculation.  He is a regular magician - what you appear to see is not really happening.

I'd bet the tweets were part of it, though.  Other items I have heard - he's a project with a lot of raw talent, he did not look good going up against the nation's top players, he was covered up a lot at Don Bosco by other phenomenal players (#2 overall HS team in the country), etc. etc.

Magnus

January 20th, 2012 at 1:22 PM ^

He's been tweeting that raunchy stuff for months.  They didn't stop recruiting him months ago.  They stopped in the last couple weeks.  So it very well could have been due to the Twitter stuff; it's just that the expulsion has nothing to do with Michigan having stopped recruiting him.

Erik_in_Dayton

January 20th, 2012 at 1:33 PM ^

Sam said that Michigan slowed down considerably on Wright before Christmas.  He said that Michigan didn't do this just because of the twitter stuff and that some of the twitter statements by Wright hadn't even been made.  He said (I'm adding a few words here) that twitter wasn't the major reason.  I was overly general when describing what Sam said in my first post. 

One Inch Woody…

January 20th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^

Some things should just not be put out there in public. I am very highly doubtful that tweets were indeed the reason why Yuri was told not to visit Michigan/had his offer pulled. It's basically ruining a kid's life to put that nonsense out there on your website (Ace Williams). Sure, some of the tweets were offensive, but to link it to why Michigan pulled its offer is a stretch that nobody close with the program has corroborated.

Poor kid. I hate to see when uncorroborated information from "news sources" like Ace Williams ends up changing a kid's life and ruining the chance for him to attend his dream school. Even if it were the case, the coaches obviously kept in on the DL for a reason... to not harm the guy's other endeavours. 

blueloosh

January 20th, 2012 at 1:40 PM ^

Why is it highly doubtful that the tweets were a reason Wright was dropped?  We know the UM coaches are aware of twitter.  You don't think it's possible one of the dozens of people working for Michigan's athletic department or football program noticed some of the tweets?  It is amazing to me how many people are buying the Tom Beaver explanation that Michigan dropped him because of character but absolutely not because of the tweets (which evidenced questionable character).  No Michigan coach is going to "corroborate" the story and say:  "yes, I can confirm that it was the tweets, specifically the ones about..."  What you ask for is absurd.  They are not going to do that.  They are going to vaguely cite character and move on.

bluenyc

January 20th, 2012 at 2:19 PM ^

This is my opinion but, tweets are a bit harder to explain.  They could mean alot of different things.  I think the coaches would visit him and find a better way to interpret his behavior.  Although his tweets are bad, you can find fault in most people's tweets.  I am sure there are members of the current team that would be kicked off if it was sorely based on tweets.  This is just my opinion. 

hart20

January 20th, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^

Issues about his character were well known on the Rivals' board before Ace Williams wrote his article. He just stole the info from paid boards.

StephenRKass

January 20th, 2012 at 1:40 PM ^

I completely agree that some things just shouldn't be expressed publicly, and that Yuri showed a lack of discretion in his use of Twitter. Honestly, what was he thinking? Was he thinking? Does he understand that anything you write in public like this has a strong likelihood of coming back to haunt you?

I find it a wee bit of hypocrisy, however, for board members to pile on Ace Williams. The nature of the Internet is that all kinds of scurrilous material is put up and bandied about. I personally never had gone to his site until this week (with the link here regarding Yuri Wright.) It seems that many readers want more and more and more information, but when some of it comes out, especially stuff they don't like, well, shoot the messenger. Criticizing Ace Williams is a bit like mainstream journalists criticizing Internet bloggers (who they get information from!)

There is one thing I find curious in the Rivals article. If, in fact, Michigan was Yuri Wright's "dream school" all along, why in the world didn't he give a verbal commitment to Michigan a long time ago? What was he waiting for? I have no idea what Hoke and Mattison would have done, but if Wright had committed to Michigan months ago, this may have been a non-issue. The offensive and inappropriate Twitter use would still reflect poorly on Yuri Wright, but I don't know that it would have caused Michigan to pull a scholarship.

This is a long winded way of saying, recruits are playing with fire when they don't give a verbal commitment to a scholarship offer. With the exception of very few players (Garnett?) you are risking having an offer pulled off the table. This is really a case of "take it or leave it" coming back to bite Yuri in the butt.

Mr Mxyzptlk

January 20th, 2012 at 2:14 PM ^

I don't think the board is being hypocritical.  Yes its true we do seek information and access as fans but people don't like Ace Williams in particular because of things he's done in the past (unverified rumors, phony predictions, taking credit for insider info on paywalled sites, etc...).  In this case, no one was mad at Ace Williams per se, they were just mad that this proven scumbag may have been the one to break the news about Yuri Wright.  The AW hatred was there long before this story, thats why I say there is no hypocrisy.

StephenRKass

January 20th, 2012 at 2:24 PM ^

Thanks for clarification. Because I haven't paid close enough attn to know that AW was putting out unverified rumors, making phone predictions, stealing/publicizing paywalled info, I didn't pick up on this. Sounds like he is an attention whore, and that dislike of AW is justified for reasons other than the Yuri Wright situation.

Regarding Yuri Wright, I do think it is better that this stuff came to light now. I also pick up from Magnus and others that Michigan has cooled on Wright because of his play on the field, rather than his social media missteps alone. All in all, I trust the coaches judgement as to who they want at Michigan (and who they don't.)

nyc_wolverines

January 20th, 2012 at 7:31 PM ^

Agrere re Hypocrisy for a different reason: If the majority of folks here don't think Yuri should be a Wolverine, then why should they care about the source of an article. whether he is expelled or not, or where he goes to school. If you don't want him at your school, then don't act like you care about how the more scurrilous facts came to light? Yes, i don't like what he said but i would give him  a second chance - hey, aren't we told its not what they do in their private lives that matters but we can separate their public role from private life?

96goblue00

January 20th, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^

Given their "high moral standards," they should drop Wright's recruitment (in light of his comments) but then again Atomic Head Kelly may forgive his trespasses. He is a talented kid and obviously I would not like to see him on an opponent's team.

LSA Aught One

January 20th, 2012 at 2:26 PM ^

My thought is that being expelled from a private school doesn't exclude him from attending any of the local public schools in NJ.  I would imagine that he could transfer all of his credits and finish up at the public school.  I assume that his grades must have been good enough to be eligible in high school and that they would transfer, that may not be true.  He'll land somewhere as long as he can make ncaa standards for grades, etc.

MileHighAnnArborite

January 20th, 2012 at 3:15 PM ^

This.  The same guy who posted on the Colorado boards that YW was going to be expelled the other night (the day before it became known by most) said that he's going to attend a public school (Spring Valley, I think was the name) to finish out the year.  I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure qualifying wasn't really ever an issue for YW as his grades are fine. 

Wendyk5

January 20th, 2012 at 3:34 PM ^

How recruits treat the process depends on how they were raised. I'm sure there are parents out there who see their athletic kid as a ticket to a bigger house and cars and more stuff. And then there are parents who want their kids to be grounded and have a healthy perspective. The ones who treat it like it's a game will be very disappointed when things don't pan out for them. 

Summoner10

January 20th, 2012 at 2:20 PM ^

"he is described as a polite and respectful kid, this was a huge mistake"

 

I'm getting tired of hearing this generic statement tossed out about kids who show themselves to be anything but polite or respectful.  And he didn't make a "mistake" he was posting that filth for months on end.  Its what he wanted to post and obviously thought it made him look cool.  Polite and respectful kids don't do what he did.  People need to call it like it is and need to stop tossing out these luke warm filler statements on how supposidly great these kids are when they show themselves to be completely lacking in either character or maturity.

Section 1

January 20th, 2012 at 6:21 PM ^

One reason that this story might get some rather extended play outside of usual CFB recruiting circles is that there was a very big story about Don Bosco Prep's all-metro football program in The New Yorker.  A million or so people who would never think about football at all were exposed to a major prep school's football program just a couple of weeks ago, and it happened to be Don Bosco.

It is a subscriber article:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/02/120102fa_fact_mcgrath 

Ironically, there was not very much mention of Yuri, and nothing about this subsequent controversy.