Sam Webb on Swenson Decommitment
I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet. Sam said this morning that Swenson was told during the season that he needed to pick up his play. While Sam thinks (and I agree) that the timing could have been better, this wasn't a blindside type of decision. I wonder how much of this timing issue had to do with Partridge coaching linebackers and bowl prep/dead period stuff. I think Swenson will land on his feet somewhere in the B1G West. Whether or not he is successful, only time will tell.
January 21st, 2016 at 2:19 PM ^
really tied the room together.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:42 PM ^
That scene alone in the Big Lebowski was Oscar worthy!
January 21st, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^
You're gonna make me blush.
January 21st, 2016 at 2:11 PM ^
January 21st, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^
January 21st, 2016 at 12:25 PM ^
I missed that in all the other posts. All I can think of is that his football season ended in late November at the latest and it sounds like his OV was postponed by us this month. Why the delay in letting him know we're moving on?
I'm sure that when it's all over, it will look less like Harbaugh was being a dick and more like Harbaugh doing the smart thing and not immediately revoking the scholarship offer last year, letting him prove to the new coaching staff that he was still worth the scholarship.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:28 PM ^
JUB tweeted that there was more to the story and he'd have more info coming
January 21st, 2016 at 12:35 PM ^
UM wanted to evaluate him further and he chose not to attend. That's when things started to cool.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:43 PM ^
That was back in the fall. So, basically, it seems Swenson was aware that he wasn't getting a ton better and didn't want to compete at camps because that would confirm it.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:48 PM ^
He knew what was going on the entire time. He held out thinking we would still take him. JH wants competitiors. Not much else to say about it.
January 21st, 2016 at 2:48 PM ^
Ive been saying often that the smoking gun was him never OVing in two whole years... I mean, Illinios isn't far... if it were his dream school, surely he'd want to go to one of the games, too..... so its finally being revealed... well done Bacon.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
See these are details that paint the whole situation in a totally different light.
I am amazed at how quickly people are ready to get on their high horse and oil up the torches.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^
...but not fully aware, apparently.
January 21st, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^
That seems to be a stretch. Even if Swenson literally thought "Oh man, I suck now. I better not let the coaches know it", how would anyone but Swenson know that?
January 21st, 2016 at 2:16 PM ^
January 21st, 2016 at 12:32 PM ^
and reading the paywalled Rivals story. I haven't seen him add anything other than a vague comment that it was more smoke than fire.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^
and speaking for myself, it mitigates things quite a bit. It's behind the paywall so I don't want to quote too liberally, but here's a particularly relevant snippet:
When Jim Harbaugh took over at Michigan, Swenson's commitment was still in place. Then, over the course of the next several months, Swenson was asked to come to Ann Arbor and compete in camps, and also to work out in front of coaches, and Swenson refused. Harbaugh and company saw this as a red flag and decided to do some digging. They learned that Swenson had not developed like many thought he would and had become complacent with his work ethic and desire to compete. Some time in the fall, the coaches informed Swenson that they'd like him to look elsewhere and that he no longer held a committable offer from U-M. A source very close to the situation said that Swenson refused to go public with the information, convinced that he'd still end up in Ann Arbor.
(Mods, help me out if you think I've posted more than is reasonable.)
January 21st, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^
Alas, the other side of the story! I don't make determinations about what can stay, but I hope this can!
January 21st, 2016 at 12:28 PM ^
I find some of their information good, some is to put positive spin out there. I don't doubt this kid has slipped a bit and that communication can get messy if the coaches have different plans. I feel bad for him in his situation, but you have to listen to the guys who hold the offer.
Same as an employer who wants you back in for extra interviews with the new VP that was just hired while you were in consideration for a job. You got to do all that extra work to impress everyone that controls the decision up until that point you are able to sign the paperwork for an offer.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:33 PM ^
Steve Wiltfong of 247 also reported the story and he's a Notre Dame guy.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:50 PM ^
The reason I am a little skeptical about this is there has been NO sign of trouble on Swenson's end, the way that we have heard about Kiante Enis and Rashad Weaver taking visits to other schools, or Sir Patrick Scott and Dytarious Johnson taking no official visits whatsoever. There was also no insider info about the staff deciding to no longer pursue him the way there was with that linebacker out of Maryland. It's hard to reconcile this long pattern of not following the coaches requests with not hearing a peep about it. That said his senior film is not particularly impressive and I have a feeling he'd be almost instantly on the "Shane Morris" route had he chosen to come here.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:58 PM ^
Also Rick Neuheisel said this am that asking a recruit to tryout is illegal. Don't know what the rule is on that.
January 21st, 2016 at 1:54 PM ^
January 21st, 2016 at 2:21 PM ^
http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/initial-eligibility-rules-i…
Football tryouts are only permitted in D2, not D1 or D3. The only D1 sport permitted to hold tryouts with recruits is mens basketball.
The interesting question here is what case law has evolved to define "tryout".
January 21st, 2016 at 2:53 PM ^
I think I finally figured out who Michael Rosenberg is on MGoBlog.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:58 PM ^
Why would we make any judgments until all the facts are available? I will give Harbaugh the benefit of the doubt until he gives me reason not to and we aren't there yet. I get some people don't like the way it looks but it's all been one sided so far. If we find out he acted unethically then we can light a bag of poo on his doorstep and run away.
January 21st, 2016 at 1:08 PM ^
Per Swenson and his coach, they had a scheduled official.
January 21st, 2016 at 1:16 PM ^
They said they were trying to schedule an official visit.
January 21st, 2016 at 1:24 PM ^
Swenson said he was scheduled for his official visit Jan.15 and that Michigan postponed it a week. When he hadn’t heard the details about this coming weekend, he called the U-M staff to find out what was happening.
“They said, ‘You’re not going to come up anymore,’” Swenson said. “That’s pretty much all that happened in that phone call. We didn’t talk that much longer.”
January 21st, 2016 at 2:00 PM ^
Of course we cannot independently verify that was the case. But he, you keep believing uncritically what Eric Swenson says.
January 21st, 2016 at 1:18 PM ^
I am unsure why you are having such a hard time with this. It fits snugly into Harbaugh's M.O. It also doesn't make send for a kid to come out in the fall and say they told ne to come to camps but I refused. Not a good look. He very well may have been clinging and relying upon outside pressures (i.e. fear of bakclash) to simply end up in the class.
Too bad for him we have a relentless, fearless leader who demands competition.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^
Spath had an interesting post about this yesterday. He said that rivals now has the least amount of access as they've ever had. So basically they have no reason slant any of their stories in Michigan's favor and they won't.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:21 PM ^
Interesting. It's almost as if "Harbaugh Yanks Scholarship From Loyal Recruit" is a more attractive story than "Entitled High School Player Doesn't Put Forth Effort."
January 21st, 2016 at 12:23 PM ^
It certainly seems the attractiveness is in the eye of the beholder, because you seem to really like the anonymous story from the Michigan side.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^
HAS TO BE anonymous man. Do tell, why do you want to assume that there is no Michigan side of the story when there obviously is? Why are you so anxious to conclude Harbaugh is the evil and is currently doing an exaggerated evil laugh?
January 21st, 2016 at 12:41 PM ^
Swenson's telling matches very well with what Weaver, Scott, Enis and Coulter have all said before. That the coaching staff just tends to let silence do the talking. They just go ahead and fix the glitch and let things work themselves out. This time they ran into a kid that wasn't budging.
January 21st, 2016 at 1:12 PM ^
January 21st, 2016 at 2:23 PM ^
"Swenson's telling matches very well with what Weaver, Scott, Enis and Coulter have all said before."
Colter had this to say:
" That's what happened with Stanford. I blew out my throwing shoulder and didn't really know if I was going to be able to throw the ball again as well as I wanted to or even play quarterback again."
And from MGoBlog...
"An MRI revealed a torn labrum and biceps, but he kept playing as a running back and receiver while rehabbing a shoulder that eventually needed surgery."
Dude wasn't even sure if he would ever be able to play football again. We don't know if Stanford offered him a medical or not, which is what Harbaugh has been doing while here, at least.
Weaver and Scott haven't said anything at all and Enis said this:
"My offer was not pulled and I had a spot in the class," Enis wrote. "It was just (my) decision."
So I have no clue where you are getting all of this false information.
January 21st, 2016 at 4:15 PM ^
BradP, 1st, your avatar is a super cute picture. That kid looks like he's got a lotta spit n vinegar!
2nd I think you kinda shoot your own point in the foot - you don't have to like, approve of or agree with the way this staff appears to (and supposedly also did at Stanford) cool on kids and break off communication in the hopes they "take the hint."
But to say "they ran into a kid that wasn't budging" - as if accepting a scholarship offer is the end-all of the process and the player no longer has any responsibilities - is Damning.
I have to say - have said in numerous of these threads debating the ethics of what appears to be happening or may have happened at Stanford - that going forward I believe Harbaugh & staff will be far more circumspect in offering early schollies. This won't be an annual debate on this blog I don't think. The game is changing and we have to change with it.
Michigan has rarely been a big player for late deciding kids. I think I suggested the other day the last time I recall such highly rated kids committing to M so late was Woodley & Burgess 13 years ago! That's not gonna be the case anymore, as more & more kids decommit and wait to decide until they can get thier hat ceremony on TV. And then STILL change their minds!!!
Some on here - many, many really - have said that once a kid accepts the offer that only failing to meet the academic standards or getting into serious trouble can void that offer.
Others, far fewer in number and certainly less vocal, have said "screw that!" This Johnson kid says he's "110% Blue and, Oh yeah, I'll be making my announcement on NSD." The schools have simply got to recognize that this street goes both ways nowadays, and even fans as pedantic as ours appear to be have got to get with it too!
Somewhere between those two views is a fair path, and the path I feel we'll be taking in future classes. Don't toss out so many offers so early to kids that aren't absolute must-get 5* or high 4* players. Make sure the players know that accepting an offer doesn't mean you've made it, you gotta keep working. And the schools recognize that until the LOI arrives or the player begins EE classes NOTHING is set!
January 21st, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^
Unfortunately, the anonymous story from the Michigan side is probably the best we're going to do at hearing both perspectives.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^
Not really sure what you're driving at. I was just making a point that those individuals writing news stories about this would probably get more clicks if they're selling the story that a poor kid got the rug pulled out from under him than anything else (including something closer to the truth).
January 21st, 2016 at 12:43 PM ^
You're driving at the fact that people outside the Michigan fanbase would be more likely to believe the kid got screwed over.
I'm driving at the fact that people inside the fanbase are gobbling up the growing mudslinging directed at Swenson.
Eye of the beholder.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:50 PM ^
fan base has engaged in more mudslinging directed at its own coaches in the last three days than I have ever seen. I think understanding that there is more than one side to this story is completely appropriate and somewhat necessary at this point.
January 21st, 2016 at 1:02 PM ^
Hear, Hear.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
Thanks for clarifying. I was really more focused on the writers trying to put out the most sensational story than the masses "gobbling it up" but I suppose that's implied. I'm not interested in mudslinging directed at a high school player, just a more balanced idea of what happened. I assume that's why the OP found it relevant to post this information here.
January 21st, 2016 at 1:23 PM ^
Is that you in the adorable avatar? Your reasoning skills are developmentally appropriate if it is.
January 21st, 2016 at 7:25 PM ^
Thanks for another example of the ad hominem argument. I use these in my classes, and yours is a doozy.
January 21st, 2016 at 12:42 PM ^
is the story is somewhere in the middle, no?
Not every time two sides have different takes on what went down, one of them is A LYING LIAR WHO LIES!!
Seems to me that the staff communicated to ES that his spot wasn't necessarily safe and he should do X, Y, and Z to firm it up or look around. Perhaps because, um, this happens all the time in recruiting; a staff nudges a kid out but lets him preserve the perception that HE chose to decommit. Seems to me that ES though, "nah, no thanks, I'll just stick with coming to UM," not thinking the consquence was actually getting left out.
In any scenario, the staff deserves some criticism for the message not getting through. But because ES's feelings are hurt doesn't necessarily mean I buy all of the nefarious implications; or that Jim Harbaugh -- known, for better or for worse, as being one of the most awkwardly blunt humans around -- just couldn't sack up to tell ES what the deal was until a few days ago...
January 21st, 2016 at 12:47 PM ^
"Blunt" doesn't necessarily mean actually communicating with a kid:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-09-09/site/ct-spt-0909-northwes…
"I got good feelings from Coach (Jim) Harbaugh," Colter said of the former Michigan and Bears quarterback, who since has left Stanford for the 49ers.
He committed less than a month later.
During his first game that fall, Colter heard a "pop" after throwing a post route. An MRI revealed a torn labrum and biceps, but he kept playing as a running back and receiver while rehabbing a shoulder that eventually needed surgery
.
Stanford originally stuck by him, but then their correspondences dwindled. They wanted his MRI results and claimed he would have to wait for clearance from the admissions office. Interesting for a kid who carried a 4.2 grade-point average.
