Blue since day 1

January 21st, 2016 at 8:28 AM ^

if people wanna cry about it the its not michigans problem. We are doing whats best for our football team and thats that. You cant get a good football team when you are just keeping players because its fair or whatever the problem is. You keep the best players that you want the most as a coach. If anybody has a problem with it then like i said it is their problem.

Joined: 01/18/2016

MGoPoints: -134

Lakeyale13

January 21st, 2016 at 8:30 AM ^

I simply cannot imagine that a kid who has been committed to us for years,,ranked as a 4 Star and top 35 OL in the country, would be discarded for no reason other than "You're not a good football player kid". I just can't see Harbaugh being that cold blooded. There has to be other circumstances. Maybe the kid is lazy. Maybe he has rested in his offer for two years and hasn't hit the weights. There has to be more of a reason.

Joined: 11/16/2014

MGoPoints: 27224

Blue since day 1

January 21st, 2016 at 8:40 AM ^

surprised if it really was that he sucked. Hoke, the one who recruited him, didnt have a good o-line ever and there is such thing as being a bust but hoke doesnt seem to know how to seperate busts because he doesnt even know how to work an offense so..

Joined: 01/18/2016

MGoPoints: -134

grumbler

January 21st, 2016 at 9:38 AM ^

I share those sentiments.  The kid was a four-star.  Even if his development and footwork wasn't as good as the coaches wanted them to be after his senior year, he could be taken as a project(rather than have no one at all, or an even bigger 3-star project).  He was a big land in an area of need.

So there logically must be something more than a vague "you didn't develop enough" for Michigan to pull the offer.

Joined: 08/17/2011

MGoPoints: 14112

alum96

January 21st, 2016 at 11:24 AM ^

I wonder that too.  I know people here say "it doesn't matter, look at Bama and OSU - they treat people bad and they just win" but when you see guys like 2017 guy Ambry Thomas tweet out shock about a guy getting released after 2 years of committment that tells me even the recruits are talking.

You really don't know the ramifications (no one does) - I have to believe it will be difficult for UM to ever get a kid out of that HS again as long as that coach is there if the coach's interpretation is anything like Swenson's.  And that probably might go to a few other HSs in the area where that coach has close relationships with etc.  

I mean the optics on it are just really bad - just due to his "blind loyalty" if you want to call it that, and length of committment and how late in the process this came with it "looking" like out of the blue, including to the player himself.  

This is different than the other cases like SPS or Enis, etc.  It makes me think it would have been worthwhile sacrificing the 1 scholarship and hoping you get a backup out of this kid in place of the potential harm it is doing.  I dont think these other decommitments are doing any harm - not like Swenson's case.

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82515

Btown Wolverine

January 21st, 2016 at 8:21 AM ^

Expected...maybe necessary to get everybody the coaches want. But I still always feel a little disappointed when someone decommits.

After reading the Hello post I go through the process of convincing myself that the player in question is going to be a superstar and bring us a national championship. Now I have to reverse that and convince myself that he wouldn't have panned out.

Joined: 08/23/2013

MGoPoints: 1536

901 P

January 21st, 2016 at 10:16 AM ^

I also did a double-take a few days ago when I saw your new avatar. I will say that the new avatar stands out less--I'm more likely to scan past it when I'm scrolling down a page. Maybe that will change as I get used to it, but I liked the old one because it was easy to spot.

Joined: 01/12/2015

MGoPoints: 9973

Rabbit21

January 21st, 2016 at 9:29 AM ^

Then maybe it's something else.  Regardless, I would rather the staff kept a place for him as I think it's always good to have a couple of under the radar types who kept developing and growing through their senior years.  

I get this is a business and I would rather someone who doesn't look like as good of a fit get encouraged to move on before he signs with the school and has his mobility restricted and quite possibly with much harder feelings, but if a guy really does develop well over his senior year, I'd rather the staff took a chance on him.

Joined: 11/12/2009

MGoPoints: 30303

King Douche Ornery

January 21st, 2016 at 8:29 AM ^

Why is everyone fine when a three star decommits, apparently just to make room for someone they have NO IDEA exists out there to take his place?

Also, isn't Harbaugh some Magical Developer of Talent?

This is a lot of decommits. I bet if this were Alabama, peopole would be going nuts about how rotten Saban is.

It does look like Michigan has its own Saban.

Joined: 01/03/2011

MGoPoints: 106

UMChick77

January 21st, 2016 at 8:46 AM ^

There's couple of old sayings that would fit your point of view. "If you want to run with the big dogs, you can't pee like a puppy". You could also turn it the other way, "if you can't run with the big dogs, then stay on the porch." Anyone who thinks JH is going to pee like a puppy and stay on the porch is just fooling themselves.

Joined: 12/16/2014

MGoPoints: 7699