January 21st, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^
but is there a link somewhere in our future?
January 21st, 2014 at 11:59 AM ^
So how can people say he's decommitted because we aren't winning enough, then he's considering Kentucky?
January 21st, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
One could derive his utility curve for football, factoring in success (wins) and proximity to his home. Perfectly possible he constructed his utlity curve in such a way that Kentucky gives him more utility since he is close to home, even with sacrficing a few wins on the field
January 21st, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^
Its in the $ article
But also 24/7 guy tweeting it:
January 21st, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
Gonna have to fight OSU and Kentucky, as well as other schools that he might want to visit.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:33 AM ^
January 21st, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
Did you not see, that other teams running attack? We eventually have to do it on the field!
January 21st, 2014 at 11:41 AM ^
He's probably approaching the situation as a football recruit and not a fan. Plus he grew up in Kentucky and probably does not have a lot of personal experience with the rivalry.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^
Never let your heart alone make a business decision.
January 21st, 2014 at 2:37 PM ^
I thought the same thing. After thinking about it though, I'm more inline with his thinking. I mean, it's not like it's just a choice between UM and OSU. If that were the case and OSU was clearly the only better alternative I would agree with you completely.
The fact is though, Harris could likely go where ever he wants. When you factor that into the equation it does seem hard to believe that someone who is a lifelong fan of something would pick their archrival.
I agree that you wouldn't let your heart be the sole influence on a decision such as this, but it should always play some role in any decision, you just factor other things into it as well with varying degrees of weight, depending on the decision at hand. In this case Harris could choose another school (any other school in the country probably) that would give him a good chance at making the pro's and offer him a good "fit" that isn't his favorite teams rival.
Anyway, I guess everyone has a differnet degree of fandom and maybe his just isn't like mine (and many others on this site). That doesn't make him a bad person or even a bad fan for that matter. It does imply that he isn't quite as fanatical in his love for UM as many on here, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
Because fandom shouldnt affect your personal success. Good thing there are no current UM players who grew up as OSU fans....
January 21st, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
I'd think that growing up a Michigan fan would inflate your sense of the importance of OSU and other rivals on the national scene, no?
January 22nd, 2014 at 5:24 AM ^
And that is all it took for him to fall in love with OSU!
January 21st, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^
and how the glass appears to taper, it's more empty than not.
January 21st, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^
I like my vodka with ice and a mixer. The drink is not finished yet. Let the staff finish my Damien Harris.
January 21st, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^
January 21st, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^
are wondering what you put in the drink, what your motive is, and checking for cracks in the glass.
January 21st, 2014 at 3:41 PM ^
And the internet posters are all posting animated GIFs of the glass,then getting on some stupid tangeant about subs and the year 2014.
And Al Borges is theorizing ways he can best utilize it for run blocking.
January 21st, 2014 at 6:18 PM ^
Yes, the internet is both the greatest invention and worst invention.
Al Borges is saying the glass didn't execute to it's full potential.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
Shit.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
I'd rather have him look now. The staff still has time to talk him into coming back along with Campbell. I have a feeling Harris will be back. Can't blame him for wanting to be sure. Seeing progress on the field will help.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
January 21st, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
January 21st, 2014 at 11:12 AM ^
January 21st, 2014 at 12:32 PM ^
Will Campbell
January 21st, 2014 at 10:27 PM ^
January 21st, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
This isn't true. Kids end up at the original school a lot. Blackmon, Dawson, etc...
January 21st, 2014 at 2:50 PM ^
That kid from Cal or UCLA we offered at RB, can't remember his name at the moment.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:12 AM ^
#Michigan is still "very much #1" right now for Damien Harris per his mother: http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Damien-Harris-Decommits-172629 …
January 21st, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
I'd say he's looking for greener grass with another team, with all due respect to his mom.
Of course, Erma Bombeck titled one of her books, "The grass is always greener over the septic tank."
January 21st, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
Actually, just never tweet at recruits
January 21st, 2014 at 11:43 AM ^
Now don't be a fucking idiot and tweet.
Fixed.
January 21st, 2014 at 8:01 PM ^
while I agree that 'tweeting' to a recruit is stupid, this whole twitter thing is basically garbage.
As Magnus pointed out in another thread, if it wasn't for the recruiting guys retweeting userid's all over the place, most average Internet idiot wouldn't take the time to google it. But when the link is embedded in a retweet, it's just too easy for the idiots out there to take a gander and want to be a part of these kids' lives - for good and bad.
As Sam Webb pointed out as well, these recruits can't have it both ways either...you want the followers, you want people to react to what you post, etc, then don't get butthurt when these same masses turn against you...It's called the Internet. Its been around awhile, and anonymous posting is basically a 'troll free' card. Putting out a statement that says 'Mom says stop!'....geez, what do you think that'll do?
If anything, this just reinforces I need to stop following recruiting. Stop coming to boards like this, unless its the season. I graduated from U of M nearly 10 years ago now, it's hard to turn the fandom off, but geez...it's getting easier.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
most decommits say that the school they just decommitted from is still #1 and they just want to look around. and that typically ends up being false.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^
But remember that we have a strict policy about our commitments not visiting other schools, so it could be true in his case. He could think we're #1 but wants to take a look around just in case.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
Whether or not a recruit is on our commit list, our coaches most definitely have to re-recruit all of the current commits due to the new offensive coordinator and last year's record.
I'm hoping the de-commits of Harris and Campbell are along the lines of them committing to a program in which they thought was better than what showed on the field thus giving us a realistic chance at getting them back with a strong season.
This next season is probably one of the most important seasons in a long time with regards to long term recruiting success.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
Kentucky is trying to run an Air Raid type of offense from the Hal Mumme era. It wouldn't make sense for Harris to go there.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
He and his family have handled the situation with class. They obviously were very comfortable with Borges, and his departure has given them reason for pause. They didn't react suddenly when Borges was let go, they discussed it inside the family and felt this was best for them to re-open his recruitment. Damien is a Michigan fan, and more than anything else, needs to reassess his options, while getting to know Coach Nussmeier better. I think it's logical to think he'll be back, especially when considering the way the family is handling the situation.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^
January 21st, 2014 at 11:34 AM ^
January 21st, 2014 at 12:00 PM ^
Before he committed, his coach asked Damien that if Michigan lost every game, would he still go to Michigan. Damien's response was yes, because Michigan had everything he wanted.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
I'm not surprised by this news at all. All his communication post-Borges firing seemed to indicate this was coming. And as disapointing as his decommittment is I would still trade it 100 times over to get Nuss.
A great OC's impact on the team trumps a great running back each and every time.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:27 AM ^
To add to this, I would also say that Damien clearly wasn't as big a Michigan fan as he led on to be if Borges (a man who spent less than 5 years in the program) being let go gave him reason to question his commitment.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:54 AM ^
That's unfair to say. You don't know how big of a UM fan he is . Personal and coaching relationships are important and impactful. He has every right to take the time to build another relationship and see if UM is still a fit without it being inferred that he is or isn't a UM fan.
January 21st, 2014 at 11:57 AM ^
Maybe a bit crass, but not unfair. If I were a life long fan of a school, the offensive coordinator with little to no ties to the school leaving, would not affect me at all.
January 21st, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^
You can say that, but unless you are in that position you can't be certain. If you didnt think you could play for the coach of your lifelong favorite school, you probably would think twice about going there.
January 21st, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^
It's easy to say that when you don't actually have 50 schools offering you a free ride.
He is saying that - in spite of the fact that we just fired the guy instrumental in his recruitment - Michigan is his #1 school out of however many are offering him. We should not read any more into it than that.
January 21st, 2014 at 2:55 PM ^
If you let your personal biases affect your business decisions, you aren't going to be in business very long without lots of luck. I both expected, and respect this decision from Harris. I don't pretend to understand it, as I'm not him, or in his circle (don't see how so many internet geniuses seem to have it all figured out).
Respect his right to choose what's best for his future, even if we think he's making a mistake. It is not the job of the fanbase to play the role of advisor to random high school kids. I don't know what else to say.