ESPN Article "Michigan recruiting has a perception problem"
Title says it all. I'm in this camp about perception. I have no idea what is said to these kids, but the perception is turning very negative towards Michigan's recruiting practices and have the potential to be damanging in the future. Also, while everything Jim is doing is legal the lack of communication with recruits doesn't sit well with me, especially Weaver because Weaver showed much improvement over his senior year.
January 26th, 2016 at 1:54 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^
Anything on this issue, because it's played out. But let me know when one recruit doesn't want to come here because of this. Lose one, ten more will line up for the opportunity to play for Michigan and Harbaugh. Seems to have zero effect on the 10ish guys who want to commit between now and next week, and it will have no impact on the 2017 and beyond kids.
January 26th, 2016 at 2:01 PM ^
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January 26th, 2016 at 2:04 PM ^
Dear ESPN,
This is not newsworthy. This is recruiting. If you want a real story, go over to East Lansing and start investigating on Izzo and his rape cover up or Dantonio and his steroid players. Otherwise, This is lazy journalism at its finest.
January 26th, 2016 at 2:04 PM ^
Dear ESPN,
This is not newsworthy. This is recruiting. If you want a real story, go over to East Lansing and start investigating on Izzo and his rape cover up or Dantonio and his steroid players. Otherwise, This is lazy journalism at its finest.
January 26th, 2016 at 2:08 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 2:08 PM ^
This is a part of the game and is not uncommon in big time recruiting. That doesn’t make casting kids aside the right or ethical thing to do, but to win games you have to bring in the best players. Harbaugh is changing the perception by going out and showing kids that Michigan is a big time program again. The days of RR and Hoke are gone and we finally have a coach who is going to get the best players available. No more leftovers for this program. We can all agree that we want to win the BIG and the National Championship. Harbaugh is buiding something big here.... I for one am ready to embrace it.
Go Blue!
January 26th, 2016 at 2:11 PM ^
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January 26th, 2016 at 2:12 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 2:21 PM ^
In other news, despite opting out of the Senior Bowl (non-injury related) MSU's wonderboy Cook continues to catch heat for his lack of leadership:
Word here at the Senior Bowl; MSU teammates have been less than effusive in their praise of quaterback Connor Cook.
— Tony Pauline (@TonyPauline) January 26, 2016
Not a good look for the kid that recently ripped his trophy away from Archie Griffin faster than a fat kid stealing dunakroos in the lunch room.
January 26th, 2016 at 2:37 PM ^
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January 26th, 2016 at 3:05 PM ^
But how will this affect DPJ and other recruits?
January 26th, 2016 at 2:27 PM ^
but this is the dumbest thing I have read in a long time. A school who has a top 5 ranked recruiting class has a recruiting perception problem. I am all for desiring my school to do things the right way, but until top recruits that we are going after start backing off because of our "recruiting perception", I will continue to find this logic ludricrous. Also, people these days need to learn how to deal with life and not whine and cry about every situation as if it is the worst just because you don't agree with the way someone handled a situation or it didn't go the exact way you wanted it to go. Thank goodness Weaver realizes this as a young man and has handled it with class, because he is going to face way more adversity in life than this.
January 26th, 2016 at 2:31 PM ^
If ESPN says it then it must be true. Isn't that how it works?
January 26th, 2016 at 2:35 PM ^
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January 26th, 2016 at 2:40 PM ^
I think this is an issue that will mostly self-correct. The staff must know the perception looks less than ideal, and must make some changes. However, once JH gets a couple of his classes under his belt, there will be less of a need to take early commits from potentially fringe players.
January 26th, 2016 at 2:42 PM ^
Who gives a shit about ESPN?
January 26th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^
Yeah, okay.
Tune in on February 3rd to find out why this is complete horseshit.
January 26th, 2016 at 2:47 PM ^
if they only offered Big Ten Network on the Sling Box, oh well
January 26th, 2016 at 2:49 PM ^
the perception from a bunch of sour grapes jealous schools thats what this is. Please spare me the ethics lectures.
January 26th, 2016 at 3:36 PM ^
I remember when Bielema and Dantonio were trying to lecture Meyer/OSU on B1G recruiting and how you are not supposed to recruit commited players. How did that work out? Bielema left for the SEC and Dantonio is now trying to swipe Onwenu lol
January 26th, 2016 at 2:51 PM ^
writers itchy and looking for a rabbit to run across the yard so they can write a story on it....
Anything related to "Harbaugh" is going to be 100,000x the interest on the rabbit.
In everything, there is some room for improvement. I think our Coach strives for that as a daily thing.
So, I do not worry.
January 26th, 2016 at 2:52 PM ^
CLICK BAIT. the Media is running wild with a non-story because they know our fanbase will react. What a joke.
January 26th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 2:56 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 3:13 PM ^
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January 26th, 2016 at 3:12 PM ^
Fleck at Western Michigan dropped every single recruit which he inherited when he got the job.
No on in the media cared, because it is Western Michigan and articles about Western Michigan football generate 0 clicks.
Wake up Original Poster, you are being manipulated and deceived...not the recruits.
January 26th, 2016 at 3:16 PM ^
when he did it. It's part of the reason I don't understand all the love he get's from this blog. He seems like an asshole.
/agree with what you're saying though.
January 26th, 2016 at 3:46 PM ^
Because he wins and last year had the highest ranked recruting class in MAC history. This year he's doing even better. WMU's class is ranked #42 by Scout (ahead of Utah, Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech) and #60 by Rivals (ahead of Illinois, Colorado and Georgia Tech).
January 26th, 2016 at 3:16 PM ^
This is a result of the 15 second news cycle process that the entire world follows. This too shall pass but it won't cost UM an athletic director or a head coach. Just a few 3 stars that probably shouldn't have had offers to begin with.
January 26th, 2016 at 3:16 PM ^
Recruiting is a business now, stop taking it so personally, people.
With Harbaugh, we will either be the hero or the villain. No more Hoke 'oh that's nice" status. Hero or villain. That's all we have room for now. I'm ok with that if it means we start winning again.
January 26th, 2016 at 3:17 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 3:16 PM ^
One additional "thing" that no one seems to be noticing or commenting on:
Michigan has a new Defensive Coordinator in Don Brown.
Is it surprising that Brown has a different emphasis on the recruits that he wants in his scheme? Perhaps Weaver et. all simply do not fit what Brown wants to do.
January 26th, 2016 at 3:29 PM ^
That will be resolved on NSD.
GoBLUE!
January 26th, 2016 at 3:33 PM ^
these stories get published about the schools that cut kids after NSD? that seems like a much bigger story. In Michigan's situation, at least the kids have another place to land before anything is offical
January 26th, 2016 at 3:50 PM ^
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January 26th, 2016 at 3:42 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 4:02 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 4:02 PM ^
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January 26th, 2016 at 4:13 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 4:25 PM ^
"Weaver showed much improvement over his senior year."
Really? But not enough improvement to move from a two-star to a three-star? Am I missing something?
January 26th, 2016 at 4:28 PM ^
Quick question. How many recruits that were offered and committed during the summer satellite camp swing are actually going to be part of the class? I understand the chances of finding a diamond in the rough and that the exsposure was a good thing but did it produce much for this year coming?
January 26th, 2016 at 4:54 PM ^
The SECPN network is just butthurt along with a lot of other college coaches. He's not being creative or doing illegal things - he's being HARBAUGH. Kids eat that shit up because its not fake, its not insincere, etc.... ITS FUN - ITS EXCITING TO BE AROUND - ITS WORKING. Harbaugh is a good recruiter because he's genuine, fun to be around, and "one of the guys" types that people like. The only thing he's done wrong in recruiting is not get more 4/5 stars - JUST KIDDING. He's on a roll and it ain't slowing anytime soon.
January 26th, 2016 at 5:09 PM ^
What doesn't sit well with me is you espousing to know there is a lack of communication. You simply don't know because you are not a coach or insider. You shold keep these accusations to yourself and not put them out there as fact.
January 26th, 2016 at 5:24 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 5:25 PM ^
January 26th, 2016 at 6:27 PM ^
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January 26th, 2016 at 5:35 PM ^
common practice at the elite level. If you want to compete vs the elite, you can't do this with one hand tied behind the back.
If you need to drop a dude who isn't as good as you'd like then doing that is called being shrewd, nothing else. If a dude commits to Idaho early on but then shoots up the rankings and gets interest from Florida, Bama, USC etc., there's a 90+% chance he will drop Idaho. That's a player being shrewd. You can't hold yourself to the standard of a 17 year old, but you probably shouldn't be less shrewd than a 17 year old.
January 26th, 2016 at 5:46 PM ^
This is overblown. Lot's of people are gonna hate on Harbaugh and Michigan, hasn't this always been the case? It's just a little magnified now, but it's the same principle that applies to Saban/Bama and Urban/OSU. If you have a crazy good, eccentric head couch at a blue blood program you're gonna get hatred spewed from all directions regardless of whether it's justified. At least nothing going on here is shady or potentially against the rules. It's just insensitive.
Anything written about Harbaugh is done to generate clicks. This we know. This is the downside to having a celebrity head coach. Will this affect our top 5 class? No. Will elite recruits still want to play at Michigan next year (especially after a potentially epically good year?) Of course. The staff will handle this better in it's second full cycle. This will blow over chicken littles. The program isn't imploding because a few recruits got their feewings hurt.