Remember Tyrece Woods, defensive end out of Belleville?
December 19th, 2018 at 6:37 AM ^
Cool.
Hook ‘em.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:04 AM ^
December 19th, 2018 at 7:07 AM ^
Ok cool. Hook’em.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:24 AM ^
December 19th, 2018 at 7:25 AM ^
Now THAT'S funny.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:25 AM ^
....is that because "Hook 'Em" means something offensive in the Australian language?
December 19th, 2018 at 7:44 AM ^
no, thats hook-er
December 19th, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
But I didnt even know her.
December 19th, 2018 at 6:39 AM ^
It is better for everyone. Obviously, he is not ready to be on the Big Ten level if the only takers are Cincy, WMU, and Ball State. If he had come to Michigan, It would have likely ended in a transfer and four MGoBlog posts about the program derailing.
Hopefully he finds a home at UC (as they have a nice thing going) and produces for them.
December 19th, 2018 at 6:55 AM ^
Why didn't the staff see that when they offered him? They devote so much money to having a large recruiting department.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:04 AM ^
How do you know they didn't?
December 19th, 2018 at 7:11 AM ^
I assume they wouldn't have offered if they realized he isn't a Big Ten player.
December 19th, 2018 at 8:22 AM ^
Plenty of MAC scholarship level players get PWO offers from Michigan...
Didn't think a kid could be on an academic scholarship though if he's an athlete without it counting against the scholarship cap. Unless maybe the Go Blue Guarantee applies to him? And since that applies to all students it's not a benefit...
December 19th, 2018 at 7:08 AM ^
The staff has consistently and expressly said that early [camp] offers are conditional on senior seasons and continuing a player’s upward trajectory. Every year one of these situations come up and the insiders tell Sam Webb what really happened and it’s obviously not in line with what the angry and upset kid says.
If you do not continue to progress to the liking of Michigan coaches, why should Michigan give you a full scholarship? Tyrece will do fine at Cincinnati. He just wasn’t a fit at Michigan.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:14 AM ^
If that's the understanding that has been publicly stated, I'm fine with that. Every time this happens its always reported as a surprise. I would also think the amount of resources they devote to recruiting high school kids, they would be able to figure this out before Thanksgiving.
December 19th, 2018 at 8:20 AM ^
If people keep misunderstanding you the the problem might be in your communication and not them. Michigan should re think this because it makes the program look bad
December 19th, 2018 at 12:22 PM ^
Offered him as a PWO. That is a big difference.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:13 AM ^
Then why the hell did they offer him in the first place? It was a weird offer at the time and now just looks like a dick move at a school we already had trouble with.
Im sorry but that is just really dumb to offer a kid that was so borderline to begin with that early in the process.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:33 AM ^
Mistakes are made-plain and simple. Michigan clearly believed they made one and decided it was best for them to alter their course...and take the lumps that come with it. I don't like it, you don't like it, Tyrece doesn't like in and Michigan doesn't like it...but, in the end, it is likely best for all parties.
December 19th, 2018 at 8:27 AM ^
This is the same story as a lot of our offers.
An offer from Michigan means "we think you show promise and want you to earn it" rather than "we've got a spot for you."
I'd be surprised if this wasn't the same for half the coaches in America.
December 19th, 2018 at 6:45 AM ^
After all the decommitments and transfers away from the program, this isn't exactly tugging at my heartstrings.
December 19th, 2018 at 6:46 AM ^
This is bad if true.
Another alarming thing I noticed in this article, and another, is that only 3 of the top 10 players in Michigan are staying in-state. One to UM and two to MSU. And in the top 15, 2 or 3 more are headed MSU. So on top of all the other wonderful news we've had lately it looks like msu owns the state Michigan in recruiting, ugh.
December 19th, 2018 at 6:53 AM ^
The state of Michigan doesn't exactly produce the best football recruits.
December 19th, 2018 at 6:56 AM ^
I realize that but aren't you supposed to win your state? I thought that was a recruiting 101 thing. I'm wrong a lot though.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:26 AM ^
If "winning your state" isn't going to get you the help that you need and is, in several cases, below the level at which your program is routinely able to recruit, then do you really need to "win your state"?
December 19th, 2018 at 7:37 AM ^
Yeah, I get that. You need to be selective. But if a kid is good enough to play for LSU or Clemson then he can probably help UM out too. And I know this is a small sample size. Maybe Clemson is his dream school or he's a legacy, isn't there also a political aspect to this? Keeping these pipelines strong even if it's taking a kid who isn't someone you really really want?
December 19th, 2018 at 8:27 AM ^
I’d rather win Ohio, they seem to have better athletes than the state of Michigan does.
December 19th, 2018 at 8:10 AM ^
Michigan is a national name, a national traditional power. They don’t take local kids just to take local kids. What good is it to give a young man a scholarship when he won’t play or will have a hard time seeing field?
Ohio, DC area, NY/NJ, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Washington, and California. Our best players have traditionally come from these areas. Detroit’s best—if they are good enough.
Kurt Taylor was a reach, for instance, but he was a reach from a power high school in a state Harbaugh is establishing a base within.
December 19th, 2018 at 6:58 AM ^
4 of the top 10 are staying in state (Dobbs, Barnett, Smith, and Barnhart). So it's an even split between UM/MSU. In addition, I don't think this is a trend of MSU owning the state. This year started out bad due to poor connections made early on and some key recruits (Brown, Dobbs, and Barnett) deciding early. A full court press was made for Dixon and he ended up going to PSU. Sucks but it happens. Michigan never really recruited Mathis, Grant, or Mangham. And a couple other top 20 players who ended up at MSU were offered, but I'm guessing Michigan had others higher up on their board.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:26 AM ^
Barnhart isn't in the Top 10.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:44 AM ^
Yes he is. In both 247 (#7) and composite (#9). Link
December 19th, 2018 at 8:07 AM ^
My bad, I was going by the Detnews link.
December 19th, 2018 at 6:59 AM ^
Excepting Dobbs, who was never coming to Ann Arbor, it's not a great year in state. Do you propose we take lesser talent just so we can say we "own" the state?
December 19th, 2018 at 7:04 AM ^
^^^ This. ^^^
December 19th, 2018 at 7:06 AM ^
Ok, I guess own was a little too strong of a word choice.
Still these guys are going to psu, lsu, and Clemson. These aren't exactly MAC schools. Gotta try harder to keep these guys in-state. And yes a realize there's a good drop off after the top 10.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:10 AM ^
Ok, I guess own was a little too strong of a word choice.
Still these guys are going to psu, lsu, and Clemson. These aren't exactly MAC schools. Gotta try harder to keep these guys in-state. And yes a realize there's a good drop off after the top 10.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:15 AM ^
Excepting Dobbs? I'd have him as the 4th or 5th best player in the state. I think Barnett, Brown and Smith (at least) are all better.
Anyway, it was a top-heavy class in the state and even if we added a 4th player to the list before Dobbs I'd say UM went 2 for 5 at best. Some say Dobbs wouldn't have been recruited regardless. Let's assume so despite contrary evidence and UM landed 1 or 2 of the top 4 kids. Not great, not bad. JMHO.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:01 AM ^
There was not a huge amount of top end talent in state this year - only nine 4-stars or higher in the state. (State of GA had FORTY 4-stars or higher, by comparison). Dobbs has some red flags and Michigan was going elsewhere for him. Logan Brown only wanted to go to UW. The only guys UM was after and didn’t get was Barnett and Dixon. State has two of the top 10, we have two of the top 10. We have the number one class overall in the B1G, they are 7th. Relax
December 19th, 2018 at 7:14 AM ^
Thanks for the perspective, guess I was overreacting a little. After so many bad things I guess I just automatically read it in a bitter context.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:22 AM ^
Some years it’s important to lock down top recruits in state but not always. We’ve done fine in state the last few years with top kids at positions of need for the most part and we are looking good again in 2020. Lead or are in it for half the top ten. Sparty leads or is in it for zero of the top 10. https://247sports.com/Season/2020-Football/CompositeRecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=highschool&State=MI
edit: also next year we have eight 4-Stars or Higher in the state. state of georgia, again, as 33. Early in the process and stuff can change, plus southern/SEC bias blah blah but I think it a good example that UM needs to own top 10 talent at positions of need in Michigan and then look elsewhere for national top talent.
December 19th, 2018 at 8:20 AM ^
Without getting into specifics, there were red flags with SEVERAL of the top recruits within the state in 2019. It's not a very good year for football players in the Mitten.
December 19th, 2018 at 9:36 AM ^
Red flags are like a beacon to MSU. No wonder they got so many high-level in-state guys.
December 19th, 2018 at 6:53 AM ^
The kid got processed. Was this unclear? Now how it happened and what was the communication? This is certainly one side to the story.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:01 AM ^
Exactly...one side of the story. A kid can say whatever they want and the university can't respond. Heck, my offer to Bama got pulled last week.
December 19th, 2018 at 8:22 AM ^
What did you offer them? Were you going to help them add a branch to the family stump?
December 19th, 2018 at 6:53 AM ^
Seems like an awful long time to go before clearing out with Woods that the offer was for PWO and not for scholarship. He visited Michigan several times during that span as well. I think it was best that he found another place where he's more likely to see the field, but it sucks that this kind of miscommunication took place
December 19th, 2018 at 7:06 AM ^
It doesn't sound like a miscommunication. It sounds like they changed their mind. It's like hiring someone for a paying job then coming back to say "nevermind this is now an unpaid internship".
December 19th, 2018 at 7:15 AM ^
I know a guy that actually happened to. Yeah, it sucks.
December 19th, 2018 at 7:16 AM ^
Actually it's more like saying you will get the job in 4 months and even if we back out, you can get another job with almost the same pay but you don't get a few of the benefits you would have, like casual Fridays.
I think the timing is important. This isn't quite like some of the other cases we've heard about where a guy gets processed really late and is left scrambling for a backup plan when he's closed things down for months and most teams have already filled their rosters with signed recruits.
I mean, it still sucks for the kid. Commit to your dream school and then end up not going there. It seems there's sort of vicious cycle where commitments and offers mean less so recruits and schools get sketchier and sketchier. Isn't this how Beilein got screwed for a few recruiting classes? IIRC he was recruiting only for spots he was sure he had open and not spots he thought would probably be open and Michigan got screwed because of last-minute decisions by recruits.