Dax Hill nugget from Jeremy Birmingham
The biggest news on Friday was the unraveling of Jordan Battle’s commitmentand the eventual flip away from the Buckeyes.
If things go as Battle — and Alabama — want them to, it seems he’ll sign with the Crimson Tide on signing day, eschewing a formal announcement of his decommitment before then.
Here’s the curious part about that, though: there’s some who believe that Alabama is asking Battle to not make a public decision prior to signing day because they fear him doing that will lead to issues with the Crimson Tide’s ability to hang on to 5-star safety Daxton Hill.
Unlike Ohio State, which has recruited Battle as a cornerback, Alabama seems him as a safety and though Hill, who is the country’s best safety prospect, isn’t concerned about competition, he’d prefer that the Tide not bring in a third safety alongside him and Maryland 4-star Demarcco Hellams.
Now, I am not suggesting at all that Battle is going to stick with Ohio State, but I will say if the Hill thing becomes a real issue, I don’t think Nick Saban and Alabama would risk losing him by bringing Battle on board. In fact, I will say that ifBattle were to end up on the outside looking in with Alabama because of this, there’s as good a chance he’d sign with Oklahoma as Ohio State, because simply put, the uncertainty around the Buckeyes coaching staff is heading into January is just hard for Ryan Day to sell, no matter how well he connected with Battle and his family.
December 17th, 2018 at 12:11 AM ^
So what does all that mean? We still don’t get Dax Hill?
December 17th, 2018 at 12:14 AM ^
Basically. Saban will not lose this battle to us. We need to just move on. If Dax was gonna re-flip, he'd already done it. There seems to be no more traction to that whole re-flip biz since a few days ago.
December 17th, 2018 at 12:17 AM ^
I think the whole thing was just denial in the first place.
December 17th, 2018 at 1:07 AM ^
I mean it was started by real reports, articles, and predictions (one made by an OSU insider).
Probably all based on a single false rumor, or baseless attempts to get clicks.
December 17th, 2018 at 1:40 AM ^
I don’t think so. The Michigan insiders spoke with him about his ball and believe it was a legit source and report
December 17th, 2018 at 4:35 AM ^
That OSU insider was the same Jeremy Birmingham that is the source for the quotes here.
I don't see any chance that he's making up such a detailed account just to get clicks. He's not writing for Chat Sports.
December 17th, 2018 at 9:49 AM ^
December 17th, 2018 at 12:03 PM ^
now we know you're really James Yoder and are trying to get clicks from the blog.
December 17th, 2018 at 1:57 PM ^
Lol. If I was James Yoder, why would I call my own YouTube page click bait stuff????? My name is Derek and I was asking the question because I saw that clown James Yoder on YouTube and was like, who the f is this guy, claiming he is the #1 guy when it comes to Michigan. Lol. The 1 episode I watched 5 minutes of, was blasting blogs like this. I figured since I had never heard of him and I read mgoblog religiously, that he needed calling out. I don’t want to be lumped with that dude so please don’t assume I am him. Lol
December 17th, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
Everything you need to know about Chat Sports can be found in the Yahoo Finance article from last year (Link).
TL;DR: ignore chat sports.
December 17th, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^
THanks for the heads up. Didn’t know anything about chat sports before, so glad to know they are what I thought they were. A waste of time.
December 17th, 2018 at 8:55 AM ^
Which is pretty obvious since the beginning
December 17th, 2018 at 12:13 AM ^
He’s going to Bama and worried about competition. Doesn’t add up.
December 17th, 2018 at 6:41 AM ^
It’s the engineering school, silly.
December 17th, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^
Earthquake simulators
December 17th, 2018 at 10:15 AM ^
Also said he was going to Bama due to distance, which also doesn't really add up
December 17th, 2018 at 12:16 AM ^
This nugget smells like OG Kush
December 17th, 2018 at 12:17 AM ^
This "nugget" is fool's gold!
Back to worrying about ZH and all the cloudy balls
December 17th, 2018 at 12:28 AM ^
Isn't Dax Hill waiting until regular signing day anyway? I don't see how Battle waiting until early signing day to decommit would affect Hill at all.
December 17th, 2018 at 1:25 AM ^
Word is Hill is considering signing early now.
December 17th, 2018 at 1:34 AM ^
He wouldn't be at all worried about Battle if he's signing early. If he was worried about Battle, he'd wait to see what he does.
December 17th, 2018 at 2:49 AM ^
1) I said he’s considering it, not that he will.
2) It’s possible one of the factors determining whether Dax signs early is whether Battle signs early and if so, to what school.
3) Even if both sign early, it’s possible this is partly a bizarre game of chicken where if Battle signs with OSU or Oklahoma, Dax goes to Alabama. Alternatively, if Battle remains uncommitted (either signs late in the day on Wednesday or signs later) it forces Dax to either take a leap of faith by signing in early signing day hoping Alabama doesn’t just process some poor sap & sign Battle after Dax is locked in, or forces him to wait as you suggested.
December 17th, 2018 at 9:19 AM ^
Good. I hope Hill signs early so we can move on with him or without him.
Go Blue!
December 17th, 2018 at 12:29 AM ^
Sounds like all of this has nothing to do with Michigan. The two teams i currently despise the most, playing cat and mouse for elite talent.
December 17th, 2018 at 7:17 AM ^
Exactly. I clicked thinking it would have anything to do with UM. I'm now squarely in the who gives a shit camp on this issue.
December 17th, 2018 at 12:42 AM ^
Alabama and Ohio State are colluding.
At least, that's what I got out of this.
December 17th, 2018 at 1:48 AM ^
Well, you should be an expert
December 17th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
NO COLLUSION!
December 17th, 2018 at 12:57 AM ^
He gone
December 17th, 2018 at 1:21 AM ^
From a poster on 247sports, maybe mom is on our side!
December 17th, 2018 at 2:07 AM ^
Her profile says Dax is a Michigan committ.
Is that a recent change, or did she just never flip to Alabama once he decommitted from us?
December 17th, 2018 at 7:24 AM ^
Twitter bio updates tend to be haphazard with some users, so it would be difficult to know, I would think. Some people are all over it, and some probably don't even realize you can edit the bio.
December 17th, 2018 at 8:42 AM ^
She’s making a point that michigan flips kids just like Alabama did with her son, how is this not obvious?
December 17th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
She has been liking other pro Michigan stuff for over a week now. That was just the latest.
If memory serves, I think she was liking Matt D Tweets.
December 17th, 2018 at 1:39 AM ^
Personally I do think we end up with Dax, and I have no idea on Zach harrison.
Just in my opinion, there’s too much smoke around Dax Hill, and I think we’d know if it wasn’t going to be an option by now. The suddeness of his flip mixed with Harbaugh’s strong statement and the optimism around insiders makes me think that Hill has already given strong indicators of his return to the class.
December 17th, 2018 at 6:47 AM ^
Personally, I think page views need to happen and subscriptions need to be sold.
I'm not counting on either 5-star winding up here. I'll admit to some curiosity about how much public wanking Maizen/Bluey will do when we know for sure where those guys are going.
December 17th, 2018 at 7:17 AM ^
I like the way you think, even if it's not how most others on this blog seem to regarding Hill. I'm also an eternal optimist when it comes to recruiting.
December 17th, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^
I tend to lean in this direction as well-regarding Hill and Harrison. I believe Michigan's best ambassadors here are Cade, Chris and Giles...I can't imagine that they are not all over Daxton regarding this matter-hopefully in thoughtful ways. Here, with Dax seeming to be a thoughtful person of high integrity, I think the chances are greater than 50/50 that he re-flips. (And yes, admitting an error and returning to one's original position demonstrates good character :) )
December 17th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
I'm confused as to what smoke there is? All I've seen are some rumors around what Bama is telling Jordan Battle to convince him to flip to Bama. Nothing from Hill's camp indicates there is any smoke and non of the Michigan insider guys have talked to Hill.
They are hoping and praying based on rumors, that isn't smoke.
December 17th, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^
Sam indicated he had made contact with Dax Hill's father I believe. It was after that conversation when Sam made the statements that this wasn't over yet.
December 17th, 2018 at 11:11 AM ^
I hope you're right. Daxton Hill is a very, very good player, the type of player I like to see what they do. Him being at Michigan, I could watch him every week.
December 17th, 2018 at 3:07 PM ^
I have also called many people recently, and yes things in general are not over.
December 17th, 2018 at 1:44 AM ^
Can’t say I have any idea where Hill goes. Although I do think it’s interesting his mom keeps “liking” pro Michigan stuff. Is she doing that with Alabama stuff too? It’s also possible it’s a split household and mom is the Michigan partisan while Dax/dad/brother are for Alabama.
As for the OSU article on Battle & Dax, there is another more positive way to view it:
1) We are pretty sure now that JH did an in home or in school with Dax on Friday in Tulsa.
2) Similarly, Sam Webb stated that last week Nick Saban isn’t the kind of coach who goes on personal visits if he doesn’t think he’ll be successful. It does not look like Saban visited Dax at all last week.
3) Combine 1 & 2 with the positive Michigan vibes mom is giving off on social media & I think there is a chance Dax has flipped back to Michigan as a silent. Perhaps gone radio silent with Alabama at this point.
4) At this point, perhaps Alabama doesn’t realize that necessarily, but is nonetheless nervous about the slow or no communication from Dax. Ergo, they are in “don’t rock the boat” mode and have asked Battle to hold off for now.
Items #3 & #4 are purely speculative on my part. But assuming the OSU Battle Article is true, I think it at least let’s us know the following:
A) Alabama certainly doesn’t feel solid with Dax, despite his recent flip to them, and
B) IF we see Battle sign with Alabama publicly here at some point, it’s a lagging indicator that privately Alabama already knows they lost Dax to us for sure.
BTW, I don’t see this as an either/or for Alabama. I wouldn’t put it past Alabama at all if this was just timing Battle’s committment just to dupe Dax into locking his LOI to Alabama. Then once Dax can’t get out of the class, process some other kid & take Battle’s committment too.
December 17th, 2018 at 5:46 AM ^
Momma knows best.
Anyway, let's move on from Hill and Harrison; they're gone yet we can still have a great class leading into the 2019 campaign.
December 17th, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
It is fine for fans to back off but not for the coaches and members of Michigan's 2019 class. Hill, especially, is a unique, irreplaceable, bell-cow player who would be a real difference-maker for Michigan. I cannot imagine the Michigan coaching staff not holding this reality in front of Daxton for his serious consideration-of how this benefits him.
Clearly, here, Alabama can make a strong case for themselves...no denying this.
December 17th, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
Re: B, Sam has made it very clear that Bama isn't looking at Battle as a backup plan for Dax. They want him, Dax and Hellams.
December 17th, 2018 at 2:02 AM ^
Y'all kill me, just move on. When was the last time you ever heard of a kid flip 'from' AL? They might lose a player here and there, but who is the last flip (that AL still wanted in their class)?
December 17th, 2018 at 2:20 AM ^
Probably Bobby Brown and Quay Walker in Feb, the more you know ;)
December 17th, 2018 at 2:03 AM ^
Would be excellent to get Dax back with the goons, especially if that ensures OSU loses "the Battle".
Of course, sounds like Battle might need a spot if Dax doesn't return and I think a top100 recruit from St Aquinas in Fla would definitely help soothe the loss.