EJ Levenberry Jr. possible de-commitment

Submitted by robbyt003 on

Per Tremendous - 

Add another name into the bag. Per a couple tweets by Mike Farrell at Rivals, it sounds like LB EJ Levenberry Jr. wants to re-open his recruitment. I don't think he's officially de-committed from FSU, but it sounds like he is having second thoughts for sure and plans to visit Michigan. We had a good rapport with EJ during his recruitment, so I may be able to get to the bottom of what's going on.

Well this should be interesting....

edit - Here's the link to Rivals regarding the situation.

http://michigan.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=338&tid=156707047&mid=156707047&sid=883&style=2

Right now I have to say my son made the right decision in choosing Jimbo
and FSU but that Michigan degree and Greg Mattison's relationship with 
my son are hard to resist.

edit 2 - 

 Mike Farrell ‏@rivalsmike

And just like that #Michigan pulls out of the Levenberry race unless they lose a commit per levenberry's father

93Grad

August 2nd, 2012 at 12:57 PM ^

it is no guarantee that he will perform any better than a walk on.  In addition, there is no gaurantee that a LS you offer in June will be any better or even any different than a LS you offer in January. 

 

So the real question should be which has more value:

 

a) a LS scholarship in June vs

b) leaving a scholly open in case a 5 star LB or any other elite athlete has interest in your program and if they don't then still having that scholly available to offer that same LS or a similarly skilled LS. 

 

I would choose option B every time. 

shanghaiwolverine

August 1st, 2012 at 5:58 PM ^

there's no more room for him! We have plenty of quaility LBs in the 2013 class and a few in the 2012 class. Plus LB Michael Ferns is our best bet for a first 2014 commit. I say coaches turn him down and save the last two spots for LT and either close it after that or add Green.

panthers5

August 1st, 2012 at 6:00 PM ^

My qeustion is what if we strike out on both LT and Green? What if we lose a recruit or two (did last year, 2 to be exact), what if say Furman or T. Carter leave (just off my head), that opens up spots.

 

Seems silly they wouldn't even consider it.

FrankMurphy

August 1st, 2012 at 6:04 PM ^

Farrell's latest tweet:

 

And just like that  pulls out of the Levenberry race unless they lose a commit per levenberry's father

 

Doesn't look like it will happen. But I suppose the more positive way to spin it is that the coaches must feel pretty confident in their chances at landing both Treadwell and Green.

CLord

August 1st, 2012 at 6:13 PM ^

Regardless where he ends up, it's refreshing to see more kids "getting it" about UM.  Top notch degree, awesome tradition, awesome facilities, awesome coaching staff, plethora of rivalries, etc. 

If I was a top high school football prospect, my top choices would be schools like USC, UM, ND and Texas strictly on combined academics, tradition and football excellence alone.  It's fun to play ball for four years, but any kid with a half decent support network and family should understand the high probability he'll never earn a paycheck playing ball, and should thus go for a very good degree that opens doors after school.  Levenberry appears to get that.  FSU > community college, but it's no Florida, and certainly not a Michigan academically.  Whether he ends up with us or not, this is good to see.

 

WolvinLA2

August 1st, 2012 at 7:00 PM ^

It couldn't have been made purely on academics or his relationship with his coach wouldn't be this big of a deal.  I'm not saying academics didn't play a role, but if he committed because of academics, why would he decommit because of football?

CasBMW

August 2nd, 2012 at 10:24 AM ^

Academics was solely the reason. UM did NOT have the program that EJ wanted. However, once committed, FSU staff pretty much neglected (his position coach) him. IMO he felt left out. He MISSED that bond that UM staff was showing.

Secondly, it was a while back but a mogoblogger posted the steps EJ can take at UM for his field of interest.

Just saying Academics was a significant factor at the time for EJ.

Webber's Pimp

August 1st, 2012 at 6:16 PM ^

This is great and all but at this point I really would like to see us add playmakers on offense. Our defense appears poised to be loaded based on the Hoke's first two recruiting classes. But we still lack the athletes at the offensive skill position that we became accustomed top throughout the '90's and earlu 00's.

STW P. Brabbs

August 1st, 2012 at 6:55 PM ^

Stribling is a non-dwarf CB whom the coaches saw in person at camp. That's a reasonable case in which to say 'I'll trust the coaches on that one.'

It doesn't take D1 coaching acumen to question the value of a scholarship long snapper, however.

WolvinLA2

August 1st, 2012 at 7:06 PM ^

Hey Joshisablowhard - if you're gonna bitch about a recruit, at least make the effort to spell his first name correctly.  It's not all that hard. 

But as to your point - do you know better than the coaches how good Stribbling is?  The kid impressed in person in front of the coaches. 

MGoVoldemort

August 1st, 2012 at 6:30 PM ^

I wish we were the sec. "hey, 5th year senior who never plays. How would you like to enter the grad assistant program a year early?". Come on, you all were thinking it.

MichFan1997

August 1st, 2012 at 6:39 PM ^

wait until Friday for a drink. I'm trying to avoid the whole week night drinking so that I can get in better shape lol. But yes, the SEC does have lots of practices to get rid of kids. I'm just saying, I'm not going to rag on them for the 5th year thing when it's something we've done. Not to mention, I don't really think it's all that un-ethical. A 5th year kid has already had 4 years in which to go to school and earn a free degree. That's not like getting rid of a 1st or 2nd year guy who has had virtually no shot to complete a degree.

Young John Beilein

August 1st, 2012 at 10:38 PM ^

Eh, I wouldn't worry about those two.  Both come from coaching families with brothers at big time programs already, so I think they know what they're doing.  Poggi knew for a while where he was going, but held out to get more coaches to come out to his practices to check out his teammates.  Hopefully he likes it so much he brings Troy Vincent Jr along and whatever other talent comes out of the Gilman school.

Caesar

August 2nd, 2012 at 1:31 AM ^

Pointing the finger in a particular direction is difficult, which is why I can't sign on about Kugler and Poggi, but the numbers and time until National Signing Day makes this seem more likely. 

If Levenberry is still a possibility, that's good enough. Though the Michigan recruiting strategy these days seems to minimize kids bailing, Levenberry would be a wonderful card to play if the need arises. 

True Blue Grit

August 1st, 2012 at 7:13 PM ^

so much they come off looking really indecisive.  I may be wrong, but it seems like Brandon and Hoke much prefer athletes who really want to come here and won't fool around too much with guys who want to "play the field". That's what worries me about Treadwell's recruitment.  I don't blame kids for wanting to check out ALL their options.  The stakes are high on all accounts.