Sam Webb on Swenson Decommitment

Submitted by DCGrad on

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.

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Doctor What

January 21st, 2016 at 1:02 PM ^

So, Sam is saying in this particular story there are actually two sides. Huh. Now, can i have my points back from the neg happy character who down votes me for wanting to reserve judgement until more than less than half of the information is out?  That'd be great, thanks.

Joined: 11/09/2015

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PaperWolverine

January 21st, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^

Heard/seen anything about Swenson being a participant at any camps/events/etc during the season? I don't recall hearing about him on the recruiting front post-commitment.

Joined: 08/18/2015

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ontarioblue

January 21st, 2016 at 1:18 PM ^

If he wasn't going to be a member of the class I really hope they didn't wait until now to tell him two weeks before signing day. They should have cut ties when he wasn't improving in the fall. I am sure this won't happen again.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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Willis

January 21st, 2016 at 1:39 PM ^

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I don't have a problem with this situation. Commitments are non binding for the school and the player. How many times have we seen committed players change their mind on signing day, and the school they were previously committed to had no idea and was counting on that player being in their class? Like Roy Roundtree, for example. At least this player has some time to find another spot, and he will.



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GoBlueNorth

January 21st, 2016 at 1:39 PM ^

More often than not, there are three sides to every story so skeptics like myself on either side of the story will continue to have doubts.  Believers will look at reports from Sam, the Chicago Tribune or (yikes) the Freep and assume that one or the other is more in line with the truth.  Truth is none of us will ever know what really happened and we have to live with it.  I for one do not want dirty or shady recruiting tactics and I hope that they didn't happen this time.  After 30 years of investigating and interviewing, I've come to learn that more often than not, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Joined: 06/03/2011

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UMmFan1

January 21st, 2016 at 2:02 PM ^

Does anybody remember any player who committed to Michigan very early in the process, let's say over his junior year, who has been the best player of the class? Off the top of my head I can think of Ricardo Miller, Shane Morris, George Campbell, Marvin Robinson, this Ward kid who ended up going to Purdue las year, Vlad Emilien, Dymonte Thomas, Shaun Crawford, and now Erik Swenson. It sucks for a kid like Swenson or Miller, because you can tell they love Michigan from the very beginning. But I wonder if talent evaluation has been a problem with predicting how a player will develop over such a long span of time. We have seen a lot of these player's stock fall like a rock over their senior year and we have been watching them go from 5 to 3 stars. And deservedly so. The thing with a guy like Hoke is that he was truly honorable and was willing to stick to his word, even against the best interests of the team. Don't you think he knew Shane was not as good as he expected him to be by the time he signed? I'm not saying he should have pulled his offer, but by then he hadn't added any Qb in the previous class nor kept any other option for 2013. I love Harbaugh and even though I don't really like how some kids are been pushed out of the class, I don't think you can win when you choose to drag dead weight that is impossible to avoid with projecting kids so far before they have to actually play for you. I think recruits are doing themselves a disservice by starting their recruitment so far before they sign. Coaches cannot wait, because if you don't start recruiting a kid at least during their junior year you have no chance of getting him, but it's risky business, because is really hard to project how good anyone is going to be 2 or 3 years in the future, so there are two possible scenarios in the end if they don't develop as expected, you either commit to a coach that sticks to his word and the team is not that good (Ricardo Miller, Marvin Robinson, Jerald Robinson, Shane Morris, Denzel Ward) or you commit to someone who wants to win and end up out of the class.

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Coldwater

January 21st, 2016 at 2:07 PM ^

This is why the idea of coaches offering eighth graders, ninth graders, even sophomores is truly idiotic. You never know how somebody is going to turn out by their senior year! Maybe they just matured way earlier than all their peers and looked dominant at an early age. But once everybody caught up to them physically they were just another guy.

Joined: 12/14/2008

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Yeoman

January 21st, 2016 at 2:34 PM ^

I'm watching this up close this year--a kid at my old high school looks to be a D1-level basketball talent. He's 15, and he's already got offers--but the offers have come from schools that know that in the end they're probably not going to have a shot at him. Everybody else is watching and waiting.

And that makes sense. It's already obvious that if he doesn't hit some academic shoals or get hurt, he'll be good enough three years from now to play low-level D1 ball. That's already his baseline, and there's nothing idiotic about a MAC school making an offer now. What have they got to lose? But nobody knows what his ceiling is yet, so the schools that can afford to wait will wait.

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GoBlueNorth

January 21st, 2016 at 3:23 PM ^

Right now, 247 is showing that we have 8 offers out there for the 2019 class.  I also remember reading something on here last year about us going after an 8th grade kid.  Now these offers or not binding or committable but I would hope that the progress of these recruits is better evaluated.

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BlueMk1690

January 21st, 2016 at 2:55 PM ^

All the people ripping Harbaugh about this should re-examine their Michigan fandom because it doesn't speak very well of them that their first instinct was to attack their own coaching staff.

Joined: 02/04/2011

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Reader71

January 21st, 2016 at 3:23 PM ^

Why? I was really angry about this story at first blush because it looked like Michigan was doing wrong. As the facts change, my mind changes. So what? What's the advantage of staying silent or defending the staff when there is nothing to base the defense on? Now here's a story defending the staff. Go nuts! Defend! Before this, there was nothing but blind loyalty. If that works for you, fine. But don't ever criticize American foreign policy. I don't want Michigan to do wrong. If I think they are, I will take to the internet like a wild man. But this is important: I don't matter and the internet doesn't matter.

Joined: 08/30/2009

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Reader71

January 21st, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^

I'll do you one better. I'm a lawyer. But for the record, juries don't deliver a verdict until both sides of the case are heard. But if you think they aren't making up their mind as the facts come out, and if you think they don't change their minds as the whole story comes into play, you are wrong. Like a model juror, I heard the plaintiff. It made me react. I am now hearing the defendant. It is also making me react. I will deliberate, and come to a reasonable conclusion.

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Hail Harbo

January 21st, 2016 at 3:49 PM ^

But I've sat on about a dozen or so juries during my time.  Everything from a civil fraud suit to a murder trial.  What never happened during breaks and lunches were jurors discussing the cases and drawing conclusions.  Sure, everyone probably was reaching a private premature conclusion, but my experience was that none of us was so emotional as to spout out a conclusion before officially deliberating.

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Reader71

January 21st, 2016 at 8:51 PM ^

The other guy injected the courtroom into the discussion when he hoped I wouldn't be on a jury. Further, my analogy is just much better than yours. Because nothing is barring me from speaking during this "trial," I am free to blather on the internet. A juror isn't, no matter how much you try to make it so. But even you had to admit that jurors go on drawing conclusions as the facts are being presented, which is the point. I have come to a jaded conclusion, but it is supported by the evidence. Do you think this is something I want? For Michigan to act in a way that makes me doubt its integrity? That's crazy. The front page article about this when Harbaugh was signed was exhibit A. This is exhibit B. Another recruit had mentioned that Harbaugh had stopped contacting him; Exhibit C. If this doesn't bother you, fine. But you can't insist that there's no story here. People will not agree on this.

Joined: 08/30/2009

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BlueMk1690

January 21st, 2016 at 6:57 PM ^

it's that you didn't give the benefit of the doubt to our staff when the details were far from black and white.

Even yesterday the stories hinted at the fact that this was not a sudden development. There was enough out there to suspect there's more to the story and there certainly was no information out there that justified lashing out at Michigan as a Michigan fan.

I know all about criticism, I was banned from one Michigan site for calling for RR to get fired a few weeks before he was in fact fired, I was called a MSU troll on another Michigan site for predicting us to go 6-6 in 2012.

I am certainly no blind loyalist but at this point I have considerable faith in Jim Harbaugh trying to navigate the murky waters of recruiting and will not take any story attacking our staff at face value and rush to judgment.

 

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GoBlueNorth

January 21st, 2016 at 3:35 PM ^

Between a highly rated local radio station, local and national print media, we are taking a shit kicking.  We would be naive to think that the spin doctors and other schools are going to use this to hurt us moving forward.

Our recruiting competitors are already doing so:  In an article from USA Today High School Sports

"Though it doesn’t explicitly reference the incident, it seems as if Michael Bertsch, Notre Dame’s Director of Football Media Relations, has some thoughts on Michigan’s handling of the situation.

I'm glad the wasn't able to call me two weeks before our wedding & say, we found another couple we like more for your time slot."
 
Whether we're on the right side of this argument or not, they way it was handled is damaging.  I know that this fan base hates any media outlet that criticizes our program but you can't silence the masses on this one.  Spin Doctors everywhere are working overtime.

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MoJo Rising

January 21st, 2016 at 6:48 PM ^

When did you start taking a beating? When did you become part of JH inner coaching circle? Are people lined up outside your home with pitchforks and black spiked butt plugs ready to not only kick your butt but plug it because of what YOU did to Swenson? Of course not! We didn't do ANYTHING. JH and his staff told the kid what he needed to do and he obviously didn't. Recruiting is tough business. JH gave the kid fair warning. his timing probably sucked but this wasn't out of left field for the kid to hear. 

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Jimmyisgod

January 21st, 2016 at 4:02 PM ^

So he was supposed to come work out for the coaches here?  That's an NCAA violation I thought.  You can't work out players on campus, especially in the Fall.

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Wolfman

January 21st, 2016 at 8:34 PM ^

Swenson, and it is as far as attempt at persuasion. Sam Webb  has handled that well. But I just want to point out this request for a workout could have been handled easily by the young man by doing nothing more than atttending the camp he was instructed to attend. Further, has lack of OVs to any school suggest to me an amount of comfort with Brady's offer completely at odds with what most P5 recruits take by this simple act. The large majority understand offer is based on accomplishments up until that time.

I do wish Swenson good luck though and I hope this motivates him to take the steps necessary to, at minimum, accept his shortcoming, and to work as hard as possible to perform at the level Drevno and Harbaugh wanted to see. In so doing, he will be placed outside his comfort zone, but if successful, he should have a long career. Hoping the best for you, young man.

Joined: 07/23/2008

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sidthekid

January 21st, 2016 at 6:17 PM ^

Admittedly I'm old but it seems like a lot of people on here are a tad critical. People log on for different reasons. When I read comments it seems like most regulars abuse the person posting over content or grammar or repition. LIGHTEN UP FRANCIS comes to mind whilst reading the peanut gallery. Or I'm too old to understand the purpose for this website. I am on it because I love you Michigan and am an alumni. Thoughts??

Joined: 06/24/2011

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bronxblue

January 21st, 2016 at 7:45 PM ^

This gives some more context we all sorta expected, but it still sounds like this wasn't handled great by the staff. It sucks but it looks like everything will ultimately work out for all sides.

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