redwhiteandMGOBLUE

November 22nd, 2018 at 10:29 PM ^

I understand your sentiment, but he was not "processed out".  There was no LOI signed and he, like all of our current recruit prospects, are only verbal commits until such time that they have signed an LOI.  The school and recruits both have the opportunity to seek greener pastures until signing day, be it the early signing period in December or the traditional signing day in February.

TheTeamTheTeam…

November 22nd, 2018 at 11:02 PM ^

Greener pastures is kind of a relative term there don’t you think? Greener pastures as in a better overall team...most likely not as Michigan sits at #4 in the country with the #1 defense in the country. However greener for the recruit is definitely possible with several options. Say he comes here and we net either Harrison or Karalaftis and believe me I firmly believe we get both but for arguments sake say we just get one. Currently Woods is listed as a DE, so he most likely sits behind Harrison/Karalaftis, Kwity Paye, Possibly Luigi Villain, and likely one or two other DE commits in his class. Some speculate he is going to grow into a DT which okay but he’s still most likely behind Mazi Smith and Hinton in his class, Dwumfour, Solomon, and probably a few others. He could go to a school like a MAC school and be an immediate major contributor. In that case he found a greener pasture getting more playing time than he’d likely see in his first few years at Michigan. 

seegoblu

November 23rd, 2018 at 8:46 AM ^

Seems like a pretty narrow view of what "greener pastures" means to the student-athlete. UM pitches the opportunity at UM as a 40 year decision and not a 4 year one. While Woods could very well end up with more playing time elsewhere, he won't receive a UM degree and all of the benefits that go with it.

Additionally, by virtue of his commitment you can see what his preference was (i.e., UM over any other university) and now he doesn't have the opportunity to come and spend 3-5 years in AA, being exposed to world-class educators and a diverse student population, and graduate with a degree that resonates world-wide.

Yeah, he can probably find more football time elsewhere, but perhaps that wasn't the main or only reason why he chose UM in the first place. So perhaps dropping down to the MAC level isn't greener pastures after all.

 

TheTeamTheTeam…

November 23rd, 2018 at 9:40 AM ^

MAC schools were only a few of his options, he has interest from the Ivy League and as much as Michigan is a top tier education, so is the Ivy League. So he can get a world class education AND be an immediate major contributor. That’s much greener than he would have seen here. Now his Crystal Balls seem to be going towards Cincinnati for now and while it isn’t Michigan level of school or football, it’s still greener for him to play and get a good education.

ghostofhoke

November 23rd, 2018 at 5:10 PM ^

You do realize he could still choose to go to UofM as a nonschol/walk-on. Or just go as a regular student. He’s choosing to be a college student athlete, as such he will have to find a better fit, maybe even at an academically equivalent or superior school, maybe he goes to Northwestern? Their degrees are every bit as world reknowned as ours, maybe even moreso. 

stephenrjking

November 22nd, 2018 at 10:48 PM ^

This has been the way things have been since Harbaugh has been here. He gets commits with some lower ranked guys; in good recruiting years, not all of them are there at the end. We just picked up a CB who decommited from Georgia in the same way. 

I don’t know exactly what communication occurs between the staff and the recruits,  but some does. This does not come as a shock to them (disappointment? Sure, but it’s something they’re aware of through the process) and they get both the boost of being a Michigan commit and the time to find a place to sign. 

ak47

November 23rd, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^

I agree it happens everywhere. Doesn’t make it not shitty from the point of view of the coaches. College football is sleazy. I understand and accept this is part of the process but I’m not going to pretend I like it or think it’s ok.

its also part of why I support no transfer restrictions for kids and never hold it against them when they transfer. 

Mr Miggle

November 23rd, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^

We'll never know everything that's said between the recruits and the coaches, but that won't stop a lot of us from jumping to conclusions. 

We talk about whether offers are committable. Most clearly are but some are not. Some of those non-committable offers are contingent on the decisions of other recruits. We like you, but we're waiting on player X who's deciding soon, for example. They might schedule a visit after that player's decision.

Another version is we like you, but we're not sure if we'll have room for you. We can wait to offer you until we're sure. Or you can commit now, but if we fill up, we may have to cut you loose. As long as the coaches are honest with the players, most recruits would probably prefer the second option. The first option would be preferred by recruits already committed elsewhere.

Again, we don't know what was said. We do know Harbaugh got some bad press for how he handled some recruits in 2016 and heard reports that he changed his approach. There's really no reason not to be honest with these recruits. That's especially true when he's from a local powerhouse that you want to keep recruiting.

bronxblue

November 22nd, 2018 at 11:24 PM ^

I don't think anyone believes this is truly "mutual", but this isn't the processing we saw even earlier on with Harbaugh. And Woods has some measurables that seem to be keys for Mattison and Brown; he's fast and has the type of body you could probably add some mass to without it robbing him of speed.  But my guess is also that UM didn't think they'd be the presumed leaders for 2 top-50 players this late in the year that play the same spot, and that was likely communicated to him.  If push came to shove, my guess is the coaches would have taken Woods, Harrison, and Karllaftis and just not taken a flyer on some other guy if they had a scholarship spot.  But lower-rated guys aren't naive; they know that a team like UM will always be recruiting guys to replace them (as they do at every spot), and coming in lower on the end of the class is only going to make that clearer.  So you look elsewhere.  It sucks, but Woods still has months to look for another place and seemingly has other offers still on the table.  

Hail to the Vi…

November 22nd, 2018 at 11:46 PM ^

Correct, he was “processed”. This is how recruiting works at major college football programs. What you hope is the coaches remain upfront and transparent with recruits about the circumstances of their commitment. Obviously the staff was not with oline kid from ‘16. That’s unfortunate, but “processing” recruits leads to the results we as fans want on the field.

grumbler

November 23rd, 2018 at 12:19 AM ^

Incorrect, he was not "processed."  He just saw the handwriting on the wall.  So did Swanson - that's why he refused to go to any of Harbaugh's camps or come to campus to be evaluated.  He'd promise to come, and then cancel at the last minute.  Over and over.  He knew what his circumstances were, and he landed in a sweet spot.

I'm not sure what "process" you think leads to the results you ant to see, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a player on Harbaugh's team that doesn't like the "process" that's allowed them to win ten games so far this year.

JPC

November 23rd, 2018 at 8:16 AM ^

Name checks out.

“Committed recruit replaced by someone the staff wants more” is, indeed, called being processed. It’s not “Saban processed”, but it’s still commonly called such. 

Who knows if that’s what happened here, but if so, “processed” is a valid name for it. 

Chalky White

November 23rd, 2018 at 11:46 AM ^

It's strange to watch people tie themselves in knots to explain away how a kid was asked to leave the class or if they stopped communicating with a player. A low rates 3 star is someone you should be able to offer today and get to commit. I'll never understand why they offer so many borderline high/low Div 1 recruits so early in the season. 

grumbler

November 23rd, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^

User name is irrelevant to the topic.

"Committed recruit realizing he won't get playing time and reopens his recruitment" is not, indeed, called being processed.  It’s not called “Saban processed”, and it's still not commonly called such. 

Your assumption that the kid still wanted to come is unwarranted, as is the assertion that Swenson was "processed" when he was not, in fact, replaced by anyone.