December 11th, 2018 at 9:17 AM ^
I was wondering if/hoping that this would happen. Excellent!
December 11th, 2018 at 1:23 PM ^
Why is this excellent. We just gave a scholarship to ANOTHER kid with zero power 5 offers.
Too bad Tyrece Woods daddy didn't play at Michigan, because he's going to end up at either Howard or WMU now. But hey, trust the coaches right?
December 11th, 2018 at 1:30 PM ^
Does it just suck every day to be you?
December 11th, 2018 at 2:00 PM ^
May not be self aware enough to realize it.
December 11th, 2018 at 3:22 PM ^
A grey shirt to a 3 star legacy. the horror. Jon Runyan Jr., 2015 3-star, #124 at his position.
the horror.
December 11th, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^
His All Big Ten 1st-Team selection doesn’t count on account of his recruiting rankings.
December 11th, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
Any grey shirt is a great recruiting pick-up. Go Blue!
December 11th, 2018 at 3:20 PM ^
Why? A Grey Shirt means he's guaranteed a scholarship, just not in his first year. Why would it always be a good thing to guarantee a scholarship to someone? Wouldn't it depend on how talented that player is?
December 11th, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^
As a person who generally does care about stars and recruiting rankings, these are the type of lower recruits that I can accept taking. Son of a former player who obviously grew up loving Michigan. If you’re gonna take a lower guy, I like to see it filled with guys like Caden.
December 11th, 2018 at 9:32 AM ^
So stars matter unless it's nepotism is your position? Weird take.
I don't know anything about Caden but it is cool he'll be on the team.
December 11th, 2018 at 9:47 AM ^
It being a grayshirt is a pretty important point you omitted. I think it's pretty well accepted that sons of players and coaches tend to be knowledgeable about the game even if they're not terrible talented, which is a nice thing to have and better than nepotism. Is it even nepotism? Doesn't seem so.
December 11th, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
Grayshirts still count towards a scholarship, just it doesn’t get counted until 2020.
December 11th, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
The nepotism associated with grey shirting a former player's three-star kid is much much much less than the coach hiring his seemingly pretty good but totally unqualified son for a spot on the staff.
December 11th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
Totally unqualified? He was a quality control guy for three years in the NFL, and he was brought in to coach college tight ends, not coordinate the offense or defense.
Meanwhile, Caden Kolesar has offers from a few MAC programs and that's it.
One guy was on the fringe level of the most elite football league in the country, and another guy was on the FBS/FCS fringes and is moving up.
December 11th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
The opposite is Braylon Edwards pretty much demanding that his kid be given a scholarship. There was not way he would take a grey shirt to work his way onto the team.
December 11th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
Braylon demanded his kid be given a scholarship? When did this happen?
December 11th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
I think he means Berkley, which is his brother IIRC?
December 11th, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
Yes, Berkley is his brother, not his kid. Braylon only graduated 14 years ago. It’d be pretty strange for him to have a kid who is a 5th year senior in college.
December 11th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what a greyshirt means.
They don't work their way onto the team. They are being offered a full scholarship. They will count as one of the 85 scholarship players on the roster. They are just being asked to wait a semester to enroll and won't count until the next season.
They are kind of the inverse of an EE. EEs show up a semester early, can count as a member of the previous recruiting class as a way to work around the 25 per class limit. Greyshirts typically show up a semester late and are counted towards the following class.
December 11th, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
I realize that you like to argue, but you need to be honest.
He was a QC guy on his uncle's NFL team after being a GA at a middling college program. He wasn't anywhere near qualified to be an on-field coach at Michigan, and he absolutely wouldn't have been, had he not been Harbaugh's son.
Even today, including the temp WR coach, Jay is currently the least qualified coach on the staff. Michigan shouldn't be on the job training for anyone, regardless of their last name. He seems to be adequate at his job, and a pretty decent recruiter, which is good.
However, Wheatley Sr >>>>>>>>> Harbaugh's son. Also if he's so great why hasn't anyone attempted to poach him?
December 11th, 2018 at 11:48 AM ^
Out of respect, I chose to respond to this better articulated post than your first one. However, I disagree. You have a point about Jay's qualifications when he was hired in 2015. Since then, he has coached several different position groups, and they have all performed well. In 2015 he coached the TEs, and the depth behind Jake Butt was a revelation. In 2016, he coached STs the season after the ST guru left for USC, and they maintained the high level of play from the prior season. In 2017 he coached the RBs, and three different players showed they were good enough to be the feature back in a run heavy offense. Any one of them would have gained 1000 yards in they each hadn't been injured just as they settled into the role. This season he coaches the RBs again, and we got that 1000 yard rusher.
Has he had opportunities that a similar coach not named Harbaugh would have never received? Absolutely, a similar coach would be learning his craft as a position coach at the FCS level. Is Michigan suffering any consequences from having him here? Absolutely not! Right now Jay Harbaugh is not even on the list of Michigan coaching issues.
December 11th, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
How do you know nobody has attempted to poach him?
And I don't want to be redundant, but there's absolutely zero proof that Jay Harbaugh is a worse coach than Tyrone Wheatley, Sr. In fact, there might be evidence that the opposite is true.
December 11th, 2018 at 8:03 PM ^
Wheatley can recruit better if nothing else.
December 11th, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^
Kolesar was the second fastest receiver I remember behind only AC. Get out of here with that “wasn’t incredibly talented” nonsense.
December 11th, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
I am not sure there is a guy on the team today that would beat John Kolesar in a 40 yard dash. Extraordinary wheels.
Did his son get those wheels? I heard we could use safety help.
December 11th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
It seems like his son is bigger and faster than he was. There's also a decent rivals article on him from 18 months ago. Obviously he has continued to improve. Offers from Wisconsin and smaller schools.
Caden Kolesar, a sophomore, started at free safety for Lakewood St. Edward, an elite program in Ohio. His improvement over the past year has turned him into a Big Ten prospect.
“He’s bigger, stronger, faster and smarter than I ever was,” John Kolesar said. “He’s been raised with the teachings of Bennie Oosterbaan, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes and Lee Tressel, my dad’s high school coach before my dad went to Michigan, every day of his life.”
He’s also blood related on his mother’s side to Ed Franco, one of the ‘seven blocks of granite’ with the legendary Vince Lombardi and Alex Wojciechowicz from the great Fordham teams of the 1930s.
December 11th, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
Wow. Yes, welcome to the team, Caden.
Can’t argue with the DNA and background. This kid is a steal.
December 11th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Here's what I know, 5'9 safeties with no other power 5 offers aren't beating OSU or Bama or UGA or Clemson or OU anytime soon.
That's really what it boils down to every time Michigan takes a commit like this. The sunshine pumpers will defend it, then we go another year without beating OSU or winning the B1G and people bitch. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
He's ranked #2201 for a reason. But hey glad a former players son gets a free ride when he would have walked on.
December 11th, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
2017 Iowa and 2018 Purdue curb stomped Ohio State....
There are 85 players on every team. Not all players see the field. To say every player on Ohio State, Bama, Georgia, Clemson is an NFL-ready 5* talent is very untrue.
December 11th, 2018 at 2:20 PM ^
It not Jims kid, although that's another take. Legacy and nepotism are two different things. As many families we can add to the legacy the better.
December 11th, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^
"Grey shirting is a recruiting term that is not as commonly used as the term redshirting. A grey shirt is an incoming college freshman who postpones his enrollment in classes until the second term of his freshman year. This means they don’t take classes until the winter term. The NCAA allows college athletes five years to complete four years of eligibility after initial enrollment.
When a grayshirt puts off his enrollment, he’s extending his eligibility past his senior year for another term. Grayshirting is most commonly used in football. By delaying enrollment until the winter after his senior year of high school, a football player can play the fall season one year after his graduation date."
https://www.athleticscholarships.net/question/what-is-grey-shirting
December 11th, 2018 at 9:26 AM ^
Which basically means he doesn’t count for our scholarship total until 2020 correct?
December 11th, 2018 at 9:27 AM ^
That's the real value of the grey shirt. It's not like an extra year of college for the kid, it's a way to shift numbers between classes.
I'm glad Michigan/Harbaugh is starting to do this.
December 11th, 2018 at 9:48 AM ^
"I'm glad Michigan/Harbaugh is starting to do this."
To a degree... So long as Harbaugh (staff) had the conversation about grey shirting before the kid committed, thus making it part of (or a condition to) the commitment, I'm good with it. I sincerely hope they did not pull a Saban and spring it on him after committing.
However, seeing that the kid hasn't even signed yet, I suspect it was all discussed before hand. Saban has been known to pull in recruits, and then - after they sign - tell them they get to greyshirt or take a medical redshirt. It leave the kid with no option but to play along. Fuck Saban...
December 11th, 2018 at 10:16 AM ^
I bet it was. Caden posted a Michigan made graphic on Twitter and it says “Grayshirt Commit” right on there
December 11th, 2018 at 11:05 AM ^
But he could take a semester's worth of credits at a community college and transfer those credits into Michigan (obviously working with Michigan to make sure they all transfer in accordingly) so he wouldn't be "behind" and could also get a 5th year grad degree.
I mean, my local community college is $150/ credit (16 credits @ $150) = $2,400.
If I had the choice (and skills and height and motivation...) I'd rather go to a big time program like Michigan as a greyshirt than maybe be a starter for 1 year at a random MAC School.
December 11th, 2018 at 11:44 AM ^
To your point grayshirts have a great opportunity to graduate with two years of eligibility remaining.
Hope this Kolesar is here for a very successful 5 year career but if it doesn't go that way he can effectively do both the big time program thing and the MAC starter thing, AND get a grad degree in the process.
Waiting to enroll probably isn't ideal to a HS kid but there's upside to the choice.
December 11th, 2018 at 1:49 PM ^
He’s enrolling this fall as a PWO, He’ll probably get the first scholarship that will be available this fall when someone inevitably leaves the program and puts them under 85
December 11th, 2018 at 9:27 AM ^
Yeah, it's not a walk-on situation. He counts toward the scholarship limits.
It gets deferred to the 2020 class, right?
December 11th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
Is this the player we are taking to fill the void left from Dax Hill's de-commit?
I will say, the Kolesar family is probably 100 times more ethical than the Hill family is.
December 11th, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
Shitty.
December 11th, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
I hate Alabama as much as the next guy. But neither they nor Hill did anything unethical.
Michigan has done this very thing to other teams many times, we just choose not to focus on that.
That's why they have a signing day. Until then, everything else is just expressions of interest.
December 11th, 2018 at 10:23 AM ^
Yup. When it comes to pilfering another team’s 5* recruit, if you can, you do.
December 11th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^
In fact, we tried to flip Najee Harris from 'Bama.
December 11th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
I think he's implying a bagman. I hope no one is under the impression that flipping a commitment is an ethical breach by either athlete or school.
Still not sure whether I'd question the kid if he was getting paid. The school, yes, they should be punished for subverting the rules. For the kid and his family, not so sure. I realize there's an imbalance there.
December 11th, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
I disagree about the ethics of reneging on a commitment. If you tell a coaching staff that you're committed, you should stay with it unless there is a significant coaching change. I realize Michigan tries to flip kids all the time and I'm happy when they do, but that doesn't make it altogether right. This is obviously just my view -- I'm not trying to be preachy.
December 11th, 2018 at 10:10 AM ^
Delete this douche
December 11th, 2018 at 10:21 AM ^
There's nothing unethical about seeing Michigan's defense looking completely unprepared and lost in the OSU game and thinking "fuck that, I'm going somewhere that the coaches know what they're doing".
Saban is scum and Alabama is a shit hole state, but Alabama the football team NEVER looks clueless. Harbaugh and his staff fucked that game up so badly.