Sam Webb CB's Zach Harrison to OSU
December 18th, 2018 at 8:43 AM ^
On the bright side, Sam has also been dropping major hints that Dax Hill is going to wind up in the class, and Steve Wiltfong CB'ed Cornelius Johnson to Michigan this morning. It sucks to lose Harrison, but that's how it goes sometimes.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:47 AM ^
I think Sam was saying if we get Harrison that will help our chances with Hill. If we don't get Harrison that could be bad news for Hill.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:51 AM ^
Well that doesn’t sound promising at all. So what’s the real story?
December 18th, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^
Close, but not quite. Sam was saying that Hill could have an affect on Harrison, he never implied that Harrison's decision would have an impact on Hill.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
It could have been the other way around. It was a while ago that Sam posted that.
Where are all these major hints that you said Sam is giving? I just looked again and don't see anything.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:25 AM ^
Dax Hill flipped to Alabama. There is absolutely zero reason to believe that he is flipping back. No credible information has come forth to indicate that he is flipping back.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:25 AM ^
Dax Hill flipped to Alabama. There is absolutely zero reason to believe that he is flipping back. No credible information has come forth to indicate that he is flipping back.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:49 AM ^
I would definitely take this trade-Harrison for Hill and Johnson-all day long.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:49 AM ^
If we got Johnson, it will be a very good class.
If we get Hill back, we are all going to be ecstatic with this class, even without Harrison.
So...what hints is Webb dropping?
December 18th, 2018 at 8:59 AM ^
I haven't seen Webb dropping any major hints that Dax is flipping back. Someone asked him this morning about Dax and he hasn't responded.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:51 AM ^
He has not been dropping "major hints" about Dax flipping at all. He's basically only said that we'll recruit him through the late signing day and implying that there's a chance, but I can't imagine any rational person viewing that as anything but him trying to placate the fanbase with this class completely falling apart.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:52 AM ^
Wrong.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:58 AM ^
If it’s wrong, then what did he say?
December 18th, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^
He's so vague. Sam drops "hints" like this all the time when he may have heard from one of the coaches that things are looking up. But then he clarifies that Saban went in-home this week and that Hill has not told the Bama staff that he's not going to stay with them.
Mike Weber, Najee Harris, Da'shawn Hand, George Karlaftis, Zach Harrison...we've heard these hints before. None of those guys ended up or will end up at Michigan. This is only recent history. Remember Josh Garnett? Michigan lock too, right? Dax will soon just be another addition to the "could have been" list.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
^ this. Sam is borderline embarrassing.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
Largely agree, though the Karlaftis situation was always contingent on Brohm leaving. I 100% believe he's at UM of Brohm left Purdue.
The rest is true. I will say that I never assumed UM would pull a kid out of Columbus. My sense is that Harrison probably likes UM enough but there are a lot of people in his orbit that want him at OSU. I am not sold that he would have gone to UM even if they had won that game, though getting blown out obviously made that decision easier.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
Karflaftis ALWAYS had the if Brohm leaves Purdue asterisk. Not sure why he’s on this list.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
Sam has said he is going to make public the story for why he has stood his ground so hard on Dax Hill. So no, you are wrong.
And seriously, what the heck. Do you guys not know that kids actually DO change their mind at the last freaking minute? You used two examples above of guys that you cannot blame absolutely anyone for thinking they will go to Michigan. Mike Weber changed his mind on signing day after Karan Higdon signed - that is a public statement of fact. And Najee Harris, as has been said 100 times on this board, had his class schedule and room number already picked out among other things. He was fully enrolled. He was coming. Everyone inside the program "knew" he was coming. Then Tua held him hostage at the All American Game (mostly sarcastic), and he never showed up. That was also the reason why Michigan recruits kept on tweeting about denying the thought that Najee was sticking to Alabama during the game, because he had also told all of them that he was going. There is always way more to the story than just "X committed to X." Kids change their mind. Crazy stuff happens. That is recruiting. And that is why Sam and the best of Insiders will never get these things 100% correct.
From everything Sam has said, and this is based off speculation from listening to Sam for a few years now practically every day, Dax Hill is another one of those circumstances. If he doesn't come, I interpret it as because he changed his mind this week. Again, that is mostly speculation, but the hints Sam is dropping comparing him to pre-transfer Aubrey Solomon as well as many other hints since then say that Dax Hill likely re-committed privately sometime soon around the time Jim Harbaugh made the public statement about staying at Michigan.
I am only going this far into a prediction because Sam has stated that he will be very up front after Signing Day (which I believe he expects Dax Hill to sign somewhere tomorrow) as to what happened with Dax Hill and why he was so bold and cryptic about him after the commitment to Alabama. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But I don't believe I am in saying that Dax re-committed. And again, per your examples above, that does not mean that he still can't go to Alabama. I am just saying what I believe has happened so far, and I am sure we will find out all the details soon.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:55 AM ^
Interesting.
Yet it still seems not all that plausible. If Dax wanted back in I don’t see how it benefits him to “privately” re-commit to the staff. Why not just let the world know that Bama deceived him? Doesn’t add up to me. I’d like to believe, and I also believe that Sam really believes there is a chance and isn’t doing this just to get attention. But I’d say it’s still far more likely he signs with Bama. Like 90 pct likely.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:56 AM ^
This man has fully bought into the Sam Webb spin cycle. If he's ever wrong, it's just because the situation changed, not because he doesn't always get accurate information, right? Webb is the de-facto mouthpiece for the football program. He'll get and report the information that the program wants him to get and report, which isn't always accurate.
And look, I actually like Sam most of the time. We benefit from having a trusted channel for the coaches to leak information. I've actually been subscribed to scout/247 for a couple years longer than I've been on MGoBlog. But in reading him you have to be able to sift through the sunshine blowing coming from inside the program, because it's there and sometimes it's heavy. Right now it's heavy.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:07 AM ^
Sam is usually pretty good about admitting when he is wrong. He also has a lot more info than he puts out there for everyone, sometimes because it has been told to him in some level of confidence by players, coaches or parents. In general, he does focus on the positive as he doesn't want to promote anything that will hurt the program.
I understand what you're getting at with "sunshine blowing" but I'd say its more like "accentuating the positive." He does drop negative news, but I'd say he does it in a subtle way and you need to do a little reading between the lines. He's alluded to ZH looking less and less likely to go to Michigan (CB "less strong", the Game "really shook up ZH's world"). I guess you should look at anything Sam puts out as slightly negative as something that is probably a bigger deal than he is making it. With Eric Gray he indicated the staff felt they were still in it, but said multiple times over multiple weeks that if he didn't make it to campus to a game to not expect him in the class.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:07 AM ^
Honest question here.... what is the motivation for the program to be blowing sunshine on the Dax Hill situation? Placate the fan base? Sway other recruits?
December 18th, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
Correct, and well said.
December 18th, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^
Sorry while I like and listen to Sam, I really think he is just doing damage control on the Dax Hill recruitment as he does not want to look bad that he got caught out of the loop or be honest that the beatdown cost us a huge recruit, as he has a recruiting service to sell.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:56 AM ^
Complete falling apart? What are you talking about? The class gained two top-200 guys in the past week.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:08 AM ^
Unfortunately top-200 guys don't put you in the National Championship picture. We only have the third highest average star rating in the conference. Dax flipped and Harrison is going to commit to OSU tomorrow. Our most recent five star commit just transferred. Things are not looking up.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:14 AM ^
All of this is true. It still doesn't mean the class is "completely falling apart." We lost one guy.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:39 AM ^
Hasn’t transferred yet!
December 18th, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
Star average is irrelevant when you have as many quality recruits as the other top schools. Is a class of 15 4* and 10 3* worse than a class that has only 15 4*? I wouldn’t think so. I don’t care about average as long as we have the similar quantity and quality as the other top schools.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:42 AM ^
Clemson's last 5 classes:
- 2014: 16
- 2015: 9
- 2016: 11
- 2017: 16
- 2018: 7
- Avg. : 11.8
Michigan's recruiting under Jim Harbaugh:
- 2016: 8
- 2017: 5
- 2018: 22
- 2019*: 9
- Avg.: 11
As John Beilein would say, just gotta keep grinding, keep working. If these players are coached up, it will crack soon.
December 18th, 2018 at 1:14 PM ^
But Harbaugh’s classes are misleading because it’s more quantity than quality. Good kids, especially the DPJ class, but look at most of Jimmy’s classes and there’s a lot of average.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:59 AM ^
It would be wonderful to get Harrison. However, the fact is that Daxton Hill is much more critical to the Michigan roster than Harrison. I love Harrison but given a choice between the two I take Hill every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Hopefully, at least one of them picks the good guys.
I still think the lack of real action (from Michigan) around the Harrison situation is most curious...as in no "replacement" offers. It could mean one of several things: 1) Harrison is coming, 2)Harrison is not coming but a "replacement" is secured or 3) Harrison is not coming and Michigan is pleased with who they have.
I guess, just as interestingly, my second paragraph applies to Hill as well.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:02 AM ^
On the bright side, we're probably gonna be a solid Top 10 team for years, but wont be in the national championship picture. That wont happen until we regularly win these battles against Bama and OSU. An occasional win on the football field against Ohio State would be a good start.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:09 AM ^
Michigan has enough talent on the field to beat anyone they play. As long as we keep recruiting top ten classes it will be that way.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:03 AM ^
If Dax HIll was going to end up in Michigan's class wouldn't he have, like, committed by now? Sam Webb pisses me off. He once said Zach Harrison was going to end up in the class too. he can say anything it seems. He's wrong a lot.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:07 AM ^
Sam Webb strokes us daily and we slurp it up.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:08 AM ^
How do you know he hasn't, like, committed by now? Sam wasn't the only one saying Zach Harrison was going to end up in the class; Steve Lorenz, Allen Trieu, and Steve Wiltfong also had CB's on Michigan for Harrison until this morning.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
Webb specifically stated that he has not de-committed from Bama and Saban went in home this week. So he hasn't, like, changed anything. It's like people don't want to remember that he actively made the decision in the first place to leave the Michigan class and commit to Bama.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:14 AM ^
Because Dax is still a Bama verbal commit... ...
December 18th, 2018 at 9:21 AM ^
Publicly.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:29 AM ^
Lol. Come on dude. First off, why would a private "commitment" from Dax Hill mean anything? If he were to flip back to Michigan it'd be his second de-commitment in as many weeks. Regardless, Webb said he hasn't de-committed from Bama. More generally, silent commits are worth jack shit. Najee Harris had a West Quad assignment and an MCard.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
You might be right. We'll have to wait and see.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
I can see why you have negative points.
Sam IS wrong a lot. But so is everyone regarding the decisions of 17 year old kids.
Sam is very likely LESS wrong than most and possibly one of the best. But I haven't done the analysis to say that. So I won't.
Of course, you have done any analysis either so you shouldn't be saying shit. It's recruiting.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:47 AM ^
Actually, I know more than sam and Dax ain't comin here. This zach news actually solidifies Dax to bama. Be prepared to see a "zach harrison to osu and Dax to sign with bama" board posts tmrw. Stop w the hope. Sam ain't confuscious
December 18th, 2018 at 10:39 AM ^
Kid from Columbus picking michigan over OSU? That's ambitious to begin with especially in the face of his family being ostracized by those meatheaded shit sacks that populate that region. And when I say ostracized I'm being polite. They are probably making threats so profound and disgusting, that decorum prohibits listing them here.
December 29th, 2018 at 7:20 PM ^
Where are you getting this info from ? You are so off base here .
December 18th, 2018 at 8:43 AM ^
I do not follow recruiting much, but if it’s true that nobody really knows this dudes plans, then maybe this is just a guess based on mood around the fan base/ team? Not sure how he would know since it seems so air tight.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:52 AM ^
Well that "if" is debatable. It's not like he just announces everything he knows. I don't think it means much but I know they get a score on the crystal ball accuracy, so I think it's a little more than a guess I don't follow things closely either though.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^
Sam said he would only change his ball off Michigan If he got solid Intel that Harrison would not be in the class. Since he's deciding in ~24 hours, looks like Harrison let the coaches know today he won't be coming to Michigan.