CC: Mullen pulls 2015 QB's scholly
Per 247Sports, Mississippi State has pulled the scholarship of 3* QB Chason Virgil, who had been committed to the Bulldogs since May and planned to early enroll.
"They called my coach today and (Mississippi State) is wanting me to grayshirt," said Virgil. "Just knowing that I am graduating early in a month, it is hard to just sit out a whole year without playing and being in a program. So I have to start over now. I haven't talked to any other schools in awhile so I just have to see what happens."
http://michigan.247sports.com/Bolt/2015-QB-Chason-Virgil-no-longer-committed-to-MSU-33120946
The kid's coach is hopping mad an not afraid to tell twitter about it:
Miss St. pulls scholarship from our QB Chason Virgil w/16 days til graduation. Classless move by "coach" Dan Mullen
— Jeff Neill (@neill_jeff) November 21, 2014
Chason Virgil -35 tds/6int passing -8td rushing. One of the best young people I've ever coached -only flaw was trusting "coach" Mullen.
— Jeff Neill (@neill_jeff) November 21, 2014
Obviously we've only seen one side of this story, and will only see one side of this story, but this situation makes Mullen look real scummy, imo. Mullen had been my #2 CC behind Jim Harbaugh, but this is making me really reevaluate that. It would kill me if Michigan ever did something like this to a kid.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:28 AM ^
i been telling you guys mullen is a cheater. not a guy you want here
November 21st, 2014 at 10:52 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 4:57 PM ^
November 24th, 2014 at 8:57 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 9:29 AM ^
SEC! SEC! SEC!
November 21st, 2014 at 1:30 PM ^
So this means everyone that's up in arms about this will also object to us hiring Les Miles, right? Because he's done this multiples times.
Right?
Right????
November 21st, 2014 at 2:44 PM ^
Haven't been a huge fan of his during the last search based on these mishandlings. Specifically sending the kid home who had moved into the dorms. Same thing goes for the coaching search this time around.
I hope it's Jim
November 21st, 2014 at 9:29 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 9:30 AM ^
Well, fear not, because we will have Jim next year.
November 21st, 2014 at 10:17 AM ^
You all speak of me as if I'm God.
November 21st, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
I'm thoroughly surprised that we went that long without a user named Jim Harbaugh. You just missed it man, that's pretty impressive!
November 24th, 2014 at 8:21 AM ^
I've been reading this blog for probably around 5 years and never created an account... Guess I just figured it was destiny for me to become JH
November 21st, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^
If you would like to be treated like one (for at least 6 months) then come on over to Ann Arbor! You can probably even pick your own boss!
November 21st, 2014 at 12:35 PM ^
I know God. God is a personal friend of mine. And Mr. Harbaugh, you are no God.
You are a pretty darn good football coach, though, and God has told me he wants you to be at Michigan next year.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:30 AM ^
Looks like it's Harbaugh or bust.
What could possibly go wrong?
November 21st, 2014 at 9:40 AM ^
I can't think of anything that could possibly go wrong with missing out on a Harbaugh.
November 21st, 2014 at 10:19 AM ^
Wasn't the bag man article supposedly about Mississippi State recruiting (or was it Ole' Miss), and haven't some of their recruits posted the cash flash pictures? Les Miles is just as guity of oversigning and last minute greyshirting.
The thing is, the SEC operates on a different lens - oversigning is ok and above board - an accepted practice. These kids know if they sign with an SEC school, that is the risk they take (or they should). They still sign with SEC schools knowing the risk because they think it is their best change to get to the NFL. As a 3 star QB, you probably should have a backup plan - even if the bag man pays you not to.
As for the bag man part of it - not sure how connected it is to the coaching staff, or if it happens organically.
Anwway, any coach or assistant you pull from the SEC will have been a part of this different lens - they had to, to compete.
So I guess the question I would have, is can that coach accept the Big Ten / Michigan lens, and operate competitively within in?
November 21st, 2014 at 11:10 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
I know this has been mentioned many times by many others on this board, but it bares repeating again -- the idea that Mullen is a "southern lifer" is absurd. He was raised in New England, wen to college in Pennsylvania and has spent the majority of his coaching career outside of the south (primarily in the midwest and northeast).
It would be more accurate to say that he's a guy who found a niche with Urban Meyer and then followed him around until he was offered a job by a Southern school. He is not a personal favorite of mine and I'm not pining to see him as the next coach at Michigan, but it has nothing to do with him being a "southern lifer"
November 21st, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 12:43 PM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
Ole Miss has a very nice record of flipping recruits on one visit. I don't know if it's money, hostesses or both, but someone there is very persuasive. Dan Mullen is more of a guy who develops "lesser" talent. I think he would have no problem staying within regulations at Michigan.
As for this situation, he is letting the kid know more than two months before NSD. It's not like the kid is showing up at, for example, Alabama in August and finding out he doesn't have a scholly.
November 21st, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
The kid is an early enrolee. He's finding out in late November that he does not have a scholly for January. It's very much like showing up at Alabama in August and finding out he doesn't have a scholly.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:29 AM ^
That seems pretty shitty at this point in the year.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:31 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 9:35 AM ^
Saying a kid needs a backup plan sounds all well and good in theory, but he just had the rug pulled out from under him a couple weeks to HS graduation and 7 weeks until classes start at miss st. I would've been feeling pretty comfortable about my future college plans at that point, also.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:50 AM ^
Imagine for a second:
16 days prior to my college graduation I had been 'committed' to Michigan for nearly 8 months. I wasn't going to apply elsewhere until I heard back from them. When I got accepted, I stopped looking around completely and enjoyed the rest of my senior year.
If my admission had been pulled just prior to graduation, I would have either had to feverishly search for a backup school or do the CC route for a semester/year and hope to get in somewhere else. The day both parties agreed, it became real and there shouldn't have been any reason for me to feel otherwise.
I can only hope this kid ends up somewhere else and gets a chance to torch Miss. St. for 500 combined yards and 6 TDs.
November 21st, 2014 at 10:15 AM ^
The difference is - you had a legal contracrt with the university.
This kid (especially being in SEC country) has to KNOW that until a “scholarship/financial aid agreement” is signed by the university - they have in now way legally committed to him.
It's more like this -
16 days prior to my college graduation I had been 'committed' to Michigan for nearly 8 months. I wasn't going to apply elsewhere until I heard back from them. When I got waitlisted , I stopped looking around completely and enjoyed the rest of my senior year.
A letter of intent ONLY commits the player to the school - it puts no committment on the part of school at all.
November 21st, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 2:42 PM ^
We should offer him . . . Mullen isnt coming here anyway.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:55 AM ^
Oh hey kid, go ahead and plan your entire life around the fact that you'll be coming here to play football. Graduate early so that you can get a headstart here even though that means you will be missing out on what is truly the only fun semester of your high school years with so many milestones and events that you could've been a part of. Go ahead and have your school and local media make a big deal about this, also tell your family and friends where you're going as they'll celebrate this andspend tons of money on Miss state gear and brag to all their friends about it. Heck, it my even cause your closest friends to possibly make plans to join you at Miss. St for their college education. Do all these things and more planning around you coming here to play football.
Oh, and by the way, after you do all these things, make sure you and everyone around you still has a back up option because at the very end, we might just change our mind and tell you to fuck off.
November 21st, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^
Srsly?
Did you even look at the kid's offer sheet? "In the bst interests of Miss St."
I suppose they wouldn't want a quarterback with offers from Arizona State, Auburn, Boise State, Clemson, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, SMU and Texas?
/smh
Mullen is a tool.
November 21st, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
Clearly Mullen and the QB coach and/or OC of Miss St. doesn't think the kid is good enough or that now Miss. St. has some natuonal recognition, they have better options.
Who cares what other schools offered the kid, what matters is what other prospects does Miss. St. think they can get.
November 21st, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^
"what matters is what other prospects does Miss St. think they can get"
This is a sort of zero sum approach to recruiting and you're not wrong in that sense in terms of how Miss St. is approaching it. I point out the other offers of this student because he is clearly elite (except in the eyes of the 3 star mafia) so his not being "good enough" is certainly debateable.
What matters, perhaps, is the ethics of oversigning. If you're comfortable with seeing it as a one way street, where 16 days before graduation a coach can pull a kid's scholarship then we might as well move on to a system of early signing and binding agreements.
I'd say this thing is broken; the SEC and Mullen's approach...more than unethical, borders on cruel.
November 21st, 2014 at 3:40 PM ^
I guess you weren't able to make the jump from "kid is committed" to "Dan Mullen offered this kid", but just so you know, Mullen did scout him and ask him to play football at MSU.
You will be hard pressed to make any sort of "he isn't good enough for MSU" argument when MSU offered him a scholarship and didn't think to rescind their offer for 6 months.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:31 AM ^
Mullen thinks he can get better players
its not the cleanest or classiest move, but thats the name of the game
he gave the kid the option of still going the university, just didn't give him the scholly right away
and if he did take it and enroll who knows what could have happened. Didn't one of our greyshirts wind up getting his scholly right away? Jarod Wilson?
November 21st, 2014 at 9:38 AM ^
Jeremy Clark.
And Brady Pallante.
Both of them agreed to grayshirt and ended up starting off with scholarships.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:44 AM ^
So the kid was asked to 'greyshirt and refused'
I am not sure I see where the outrage is coming from?
November 21st, 2014 at 9:48 AM ^
normally players are offered grey shirts from the start. They normally are not offered a scholarship then told weeks before graduating that they won't get it.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:55 AM ^
but Dan Mullen cares more about his program than the kids
Brady Hoke cares more about his kids than his program
do you think we should keep Brady Hoke?
November 21st, 2014 at 9:59 AM ^
Correction, Brady cares about the program, but not at the expense of the young men who he asks to be a part of said program. His problem is he's just not a very good coach, not that his priorities are misaligned.
November 21st, 2014 at 10:04 AM ^
brady cares about the program
but he would never screw a kid for the sake of the program (caring more about the kids) -
dan mullen just screwed a kid and is 9-1
pick one of the schollys who are btw 75-85 on the depth chart at random. Ask a random fan if screwing that kid would give us 9-1 record would they do it?
SEC is in a totally different place than the B1G right now and we are comparing ourselves to that Standard
November 21st, 2014 at 10:35 AM ^
And grayshirting, or at least the general willingness to screw over a kid or two a year is the reason why the Big Ten and everyone else can't compete? Do you understand how absolutely ludicrous that sounds? How about the reason the SEC is at the top of the NCAA football world is because there is a lot more talent in those states, which also happens to attract the top talent in the coaching world as well? When you have 25 guys you can bring in a year, suddenly deciding one or two may be better than a couple of the kids who you've already offered (and who are still top tier talents) isn't suddenly going to make you a perenially top 10 team.
Grayshirting and general player disregard is not the cause of the SEC's rise to power. It is merely an appalling symptom of it.
November 21st, 2014 at 11:15 AM ^
getting thinner and thinner is sybolic of how Drew_Silver is screwing himself further into the ground with each reply.
November 21st, 2014 at 5:56 PM ^
Is Drew Silver just a trolling Drew Sharp? Otherwise, his posts don't make any sense.
November 21st, 2014 at 11:40 AM ^
You don't have to pick one
- Win
- Not be a dick to 17 year olds
You can do both. Mullen is winning and being a dick. Hoke is not winning and is not being a dick. You can win games without telling kids 3 weeks before graduation that they've lost their scholarship
November 21st, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^
Because it's just one or the other, right?
There's no way a coach could ever do both.