The Decision II: Open Thread

Fuck fuck fuck, please make this horrid streak end

I knew it.  Good luck to the future Rhodes Scholar.

does this change if Saban goes to Texas?

Smart, classy kid.  Best chance at success is Alabama ---> NFL.  Not Michigan ---> NASA.  He'll get coached by the best in the business and if he indeed has the drive, he will become the a first round pick with guaranteed millions.  Hoke and Co. have to start winning before we can make such claims.

This sucks!  I blame this on 2 things:

1.  Our team playing so shitty this season

2.  Essentially forcing Hand to choose between sports management here, or engineering at Bama.  Even though Bama's engineering program is a JOKE compared to Michigan's, Da'Shawn apparently cares a lot about studying engineering.  We shouldn't be telling top recruits that they aren't smart enough/have enough time, to study engineering at Michigan.

but even before gushing about their 80th something ranked engineering dept I just felt like he'd follow other top DEs of late and go South. At one point I felt he was coming here but when his final 3 was told and I saw bama/UF on the list I just felt something would push him South. Wanted to be wrong but gushing about a simulator just kind of cemented it for me. As one poster said, when they have a kid at the top of their list even the most supposed lock elsewhere is not safe. I just don't get the academic thing as I assume we have that major as well (do we?). It's his life. Best to him. Would have been a huge get but it's what I felt since his top 3 was announced. Actually shocked we were largely considered not only the his pick but we finished 2nd, apparently. I think uf's season and visit (which couldn't have been known at the time) made them just a school on the list. The reaction to his bama visit compared to his UM visit speaks volumes, in hindsight. Best to him and will be interesting to see where we go from here as I also don't think we get MM. No one kid makes our breaks a program but that was a huge loss and potential gain momentum wise.

To what degree does this impact Malik McDowell's decision?

On one hand, I could see it being a big boost--one less D-lineman in the class to compete with for playing time.  On the other hand, he's that less likely to belong to a totally dominant D-line a few years hence without the addition of Hand.

Also, how does Mattison play this final recruitment of McDowell now?  It seems like for the longest time, McDowell was seen as the second fiddle to Hand, at least in terms of buzz & gossip.  Of course Mattison's would never try to telegraph that to McDowell, lest they insult him.  McDowell is a fantastic athlete and we would obviously LOVE to have him.  But McDowell isn't stupid--he's gotta see his relative scores in the rating systems compared to Hand.  Now that Hand is an impossibility, Michigan now turns it's sights exclusively on McDowell as a remaining D-line prospect and perhaps intesnsifies it's wooing of him.  On one hand, that's a flattering--to suddenly be "THE GUY" that Michigan is after.  On the other hand, if he perceives a sudden uptick in interest from Michigan, simply because Hand is no longer available, does that come across as insulting to him?  In a sense, "Oh, NOW you're all about me, now that Hand isn't an option....."?  Kind of like the girl who gets asked out by the popular guy in town, but deep down knows it's because his top other options didn't pan out?

Meanwhile, this entire time, MSU has been into McDowell and was not in the hunt for Hand. Hand's selection of Alabama makes zero impact on MSU's footing regarding McDowell, at least in isolation. MSU is the Steady Eddie--interested before, and interested after all the dramatics regarding Hand at Michigan.  Is there a perception out there that this is the case?  If so, does McDowell see any of this and decide that the edge should go the school that wanted him the same for the entire ride, rather than a Michigan who *might* have allowed their interest to flag a big when they thought that Hand was an option?