Derrick Green [Open] Thread

Submitted by eth2 on

Today is the day. In about 4 hours from now at 4PM EST, Hermitage RB Derrick Green will announce his decision. Finalists include Michigan, Tennessee, and Auburn.

Story from newspaper that will cover the announcement live: http://bit.ly/VoJlH6

Mod edit: Changed the name of the thread to discourage the otherwise inevitable onslaught of board posts. Unless Green or someone close to the situation confirms his choice before the announcement, there doesn't need to be another thread posted. If someone wants to start an announcement open thread sometime close to 4:00, go for it. JGB.

 

MaizenBlue93

January 26th, 2013 at 12:27 PM ^

"I live just south of Richmond, VA and have a buddy who is a coach at Hermitage High. According to him (and he has been in constant contact with Derrick) Derrick really likes Michigan and Tennessee, but he is not a fan of Ann Arbor. Knoxville won him over when it comes to where he would want to live for 4 years. Also, he connected better with Jay Graham than any of the other RB coaches. So, as of right now, it’s Tennessee. However, we all know how these things can change." -Some commenter on SBNation 

Don

January 26th, 2013 at 12:49 PM ^

It's no secret that persuading an elite RB from the south to come to a northern school is a difficult task, but a look at Scout's rankings from 2002-2012 illustrate just how daunting it is.



Going by Scout's RB rankings from 2002 through 2012 (11 total years), the #1 rated back in the country has signed with a Big 10 or northern school exactly once—in 2006, when Beanie Wells from Akron signed with OSU.



In seven of the years from 2002-2012, the #1 back has hailed from a southern state, and not a single one signed with a Big 10 or northern school. In the 3 remaining years, the #1 back was from California (twice) or Kansas, and those players went to FSU, Colorado (go figure), and Tennessee.



What's especially notable is how few of the top RBs from 2002-2012 have signed with northern schools.



Of the 69 total 5-star RBs, 9 signed with northern or Big 10 schools, and eight of those recruits were from northern states. The only outlier was Marlon Lucky (CA) in 2005, who signed with then-Big 12 member Nebraska. Not a single 5-star RB from a southern state signed with a Big 10 or northern school from 2002-2012.



If you expand the list to the top ten backs in each class (comprised of 5- and 4-stars) from 2002-2012 (a total of 110), 16 recruits signed with Big 10 or northern schools, and 13 of them were from northern states. Just three of the top ten backs from 2002-2012 who were from the South signed with northern schools: McGuffie (TX) to UM in 2008; Jamall Berry (FL) to OSU in 2009; Cierre Wood (GA) to ND in 2009.



Scout's rankings are here, starting in 2002:  http://cfn.scout.com/a.z?s=451&p=9&c=4&pid=11&yr=2002



(Yes, this is a CFN link, but their recruiting data is from Scout)



* I am not making the assertion that the only good RBs are 5- and 4-stars, or that RBs outside the top 10 are not worthy; I am only looking at the available recruiting data on Scout relative to the chances of getting the #1 RB in the country from Virginia to come north to Michigan.

* I know that some may question the designation of Virginia as a southern state, but IMHO the preponderance of Virginia's history (including but not limited to the whole seat of the Confederacy thing) makes it much more southern than northern.

If Green chooses Michigan, it will be a tremendous achievement by Hoke and his staff. If Green chooses Auburn or Tennessee or some other southern school, it will simply be a continuation of the recent record. The conventional wisdom from most Michigan recruiting analysts (Webb, TomVH, et al) has had Green coming to Michigan for quite a while now, but given the historical record I'm still a bit skeptical.

If Green does stay in the south, I'd like to have a dollar for every "Hoke can't close" comment on MGoBlog.

Maizenblueball

January 26th, 2013 at 12:38 PM ^

but I was excited to share my New and Improved Derrick Green Announcement Thread with the board.  Apparently it wasn't "Improved" enough.  That's it, I'm firing my entire Marketing department!! 

justingoblue

January 26th, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^

awesome/bad for moderating as that day in 2011 where the whole sideboard was filled up with new and improved _ For Denard posts.

For anyone who wasn't around, it was hilarious (though now I can see why it maybe wasn't hilarious to everyone). One guy made a post titled "Scared For Denard" about Hoke/Borges not taking advantage of his talents and, direct quote, "ruining him", and the board predictably responded by making like a dozen "Excited for Denard", "Gay for Denard" threads. It got all the way to "Tacos for Denard" before Seth pulled the plug and made an "Adjective for Denard" thread, which then resulted in someone pointing out in the mod sticky that a taco isn't an adjective. Good times were had.

Geneticblue

January 26th, 2013 at 12:44 PM ^

New board post is ok with me.  We could really use him, so I will occupy my time with random crap today until 4 hits.  Then I will watch ESPN's lack of coverage on the announcement sans he chosses Auburn...then they will go apeshit over it.

chatster

January 26th, 2013 at 12:46 PM ^

My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Derrick Green tweeting and texting the word Michiburnsee at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious. 

BlueMarrow

January 26th, 2013 at 12:48 PM ^

I don't want to see anything other than a "Hello" thread on this kid again. They are taliking about text harassment? This kid could make a suit out of his threads on this site. And a fedora.

JimLahey

January 26th, 2013 at 12:59 PM ^

My girlfriend wanted to come over and do dirty things this afternoon and I told her I was swamped with case studies and other non-existent tasks. Obviously, I wanted to be here at 4:00 to either celebrate wildly or emotionally implode with my internet friends upon hearing the decision of an 18 year old.

Sometimes I hate myself.