Unverified Voracity Thinks Of The Children Comment Count

Brian

Crootin'. Here's a 35-minute video breakdown of the recruiting class from Scout.

Helen Lovejoy, commissioner. Obviously the SEC was going to get fusty about Michigan's plan to practice at IMG over spring break. They did not do so in a way that came off at all plausibly. Shot:

“Our primary reaction [is] that, in the face of the time-demand conversations, we've got one program taking what has been 'free time' away,” Sankey said. “Let's draw a line and say, ‘That's not appropriate.'"

Chaser:

“The net of that is to say the Southeastern Conference is not going to be outpaced in recruiting,” Sankey said. “If the national approach is that we want to have more aggressive summer camps and coaches touring around all summer, then we will not only engage in that behavior, we will certainly engage in that behavior more actively -- probably more effectively than others.”

Shorter Greg Sakey: we are concerned about the kids, but if we don't get our way screw the kids. Par for the course amongst lizard people. This is of course a conference that's completely fine with a baseball schedule that sees Northern teams literally spend a month straight in the South, but don't screw with a man's right to go to South Padre, brah.

Meanwhile, try not to burst out laughing at this one:

Sankey is also concerned Michigan would be at a “site full of prospects run by a business enterprise that has a lot of interests -- but one of those is sports agents. It seems like very much the wrong tone.”

The "wrong tone," says the comissioner of the League of Extraordinary Bagmen. I'm all for people getting whatever money they can out of college athletics but to turn around and wave the rulebook at Michigan's face while crapping on it daily is hypocrisy worthy of… well… a high-ranking NCAA official. I cannot top reality there.

Hello: Bush the Elder? Buzz has been building that Michigan would fill one of its open recruiting/analyst spots with Devin Bush Sr, who built the Flanagan program from nothing into a state champion. That had been constrained to subscription sites until this article:

Multiple sources have told the Miami Herald on Tuesday that Flanagan coach Devin Bush is on the verge of joining the staff at Michigan where three of his Falcons -- son and linebacker Devin Bush Jr. and safeties Devin Gil and Josh Metellus -- have signed.

An announcement is expected next week. Bush is obviously a natural for the spot Chris Partridge vacated when he got bumped up to linebackers coach. The two guys have very similar backgrounds. Both were/are HS head coaches who made previously lagging programs into powers by getting gents to transfer. Partridge was interviewed by the WSJ a few days ago, providing some insight into why his hire was so successful for Michigan's New Jersey recruiting efforts:

How much does your New Jersey background help you land recruits from there?

Shoot, some of these kids I’ve seen play football since the fifth and sixth grade. I know them, I know the guys that have coached them their whole lives, I know similarities in the styles that they play, you know people that know their families. Of course, it gives you an advantage because you’re just so familiar and because they feel comfortable. And ultimately, they know that I’m watching out for them.

Hopefully Bush can have a similar impact in a bigger pond.

Meanwhile Flanagan is set to replace Bush with Pretty Much Devin Bush. DC Stanford Samuels, another Florida State legacy whose son is a major recruit, is expected to get a promotion.

Oversigning, the coda. The oversigning thing doesn't get brought up anymore because people mad about it more or less won. Get The Picture has a list of SEC signees per team before and after the Houston Nutt cap was implemented that shows a big dropoff for the worst offenders:

SEC Average Signing Class Numbers
Team Average Class 2007-11 Average Class 2012-16 Difference
Auburn 30.2 24.2 -6.0
Ole Miss 28.0 24.0 -4.0
Mississippi State 28.0 23.6 -4.4
Alabama 27.2 25.8 -1.4
LSU 26.8 24.4 -2.4
Arkansas 26.6 23.8 -2.8
Kentucky 26.0 25.6 -0.4
South Carolina 25.6 24.4 -1.2
Florida 24.2 24.4 +0.2
Tennessee 24.2 25.4 +1.2
Missouri* 24.2 22.4 -1.8
Texas A&M* 23.8 24.2 +0.4
Georgia 20.8 24.6 +3.8
Vanderbilt 20.2 22.0 +1.8

(He's using that to show that Georgia is now fighting with both arms instead of one.) Even if the LOIs foregone were mostly sign-and-place type deals where a guy who's going to JUCO signs a letter of intent for funsies that's still an improvement since no longer is that guy restricted if he does get eligible—and he isn't signed with a team that doesn't even want him to qualify.

The NCAA should still move to a yearly cap with no limit on overall scholarships to remove the incentive to get rid of a guy entirely.

I thought this was the entire point of dodgeball. If this was the standard for psychologizing folks in my time, whole dang middle school would have been in a line going out the door of the psychologist's office:

Dude didn't dodge the ball. That's the name of the game, man. Can't hold Harbaugh accountable for that unless you're the SEC commissioner.

I want to see his review of Infinite Jest. Harbaugh went on a media tour at the Super Bowl, the highlight of which was this:

"You look like a writer!" Harbaugh says with enthusiasm as we shake hands.

Harbaugh saw a movie about a writer recently, on a flight a couple months back. It was calledThe End of the Tour. He loved it, loved the dialogue. And now he has just one question.

"Was that a real person, David Foster Wallace?"

I don't expect or even want my football coach to know the answer to that question because I expect that people who know the answer to that question are bad coaches. But I do think he should start with a Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again because it is the most accessible writing DFW did and that he'll probably think "oh, the NFL" after seeing the title.

Etc.: Shoe not effective when used as gun. Michigan is 6th in the post Signing Day S&P rankings. Austin Davis is tall. Children are not. Harbaugh has no unfinished business in the NFL. Wheatley in the Players' Tribune.

Comments

Dolphonkey

February 10th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^

"Was that a real person, David Foster Wallace?"

Don't kid yourself, Brian, it's Harbaugh. He knows all about MGoBlog and your literary proclivities. He's clearly trolling you. 

Nice NFL burn, too.

Amaizing Blue

February 10th, 2016 at 12:40 PM ^

Give my friend a high-five with one minute to go in the Michigan-MSU football game because "We've got this!"

I know it's too soon.  It will always be too soon for that play.

 

ScruffyTheJanitor

February 10th, 2016 at 12:41 PM ^

Could you imagine being Harbaugh's Psycologist? Every session would begin with an arm wrestling match, end with full-on Greco-Roman wrestling, and be filled  in the middle with delayed, thoughtful responses to simple questions. 

 

"How are you Jim"

"Ok."

"How was you-"

"You know, I am really doing well. I am finally at peace with my self. You know, I have always loved the word peace. Just rolls of the tonge, and also sounds like a homophone for your member. I respect that word."

Erik_in_Dayton

February 10th, 2016 at 12:50 PM ^

I relate to that story. I was dubbed problematically competitive at about that age too. But what's the point of being a kid if you can't play tackle basketball or throw balls at each other's heads? My friends and I were having a great time.

Eck Sentrik

February 10th, 2016 at 1:34 PM ^

Tackle Basketball, now there's a sport. We used to play in the snow wearing football helmets, moon boots, and snowmobile suits. Getting body checked into the house (driveway court) always sucked/was glorious.

We also had a hybrid Tennis - Dodge ball game. There was a woodpile on the property boundary with our neighbors that served as a net. Each yard had monster walnut trees that would drop these incredible green projectiles all over the yards in early fall. One hand would hold a steel trash can lid used as a shield while the other held a tennis racket used to zing green walnuts at your opponent in the next yard. Man would those leave a welt when you failed to block or dodge.

sj

February 10th, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^

Of all the Harbaugh recruiting controversies, I find hiring recruits' mentors the sketchiest.

Did Metellus and Gil get fair advice to come here? How would you react if a mentor said "UMich is great, you'll be really happy there, and I'm in the process of trying to impress them so I can get a job there?" What about if the mentor didn't? 

Calipari used to do this and it always seemed like a pretty clear way of paying the players. 

Not illegal, others do it, don't neg me too hard (I just reached 500!), just sayin'.

Bando Calrissian

February 10th, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^

Those with a long memory know this is part of what sunk Steve Fisher. He left a spot on the bench open simply to hire Perry Watson, who just happened to be Jalen's coach and Ed Martin's best friend. He also paid Juwan's high school coach to work Michigan's basketball camp and gave him a token interview for a job he wasn't qualified for simply to get a leg up in the recruitment.

You mess with this stuff, red flags go up. I'm sorry, I just find it to be playing with fire.

wesq

February 10th, 2016 at 1:56 PM ^

I've got a long memory and Fisher sunk his damn self. Like Perry Watson's name being forged when Ed Martin was given tickets. How about the fact Perry Watson kept Rose from taking anything significant from Ed Martin. Also Watson was the only Fisher hire that did anything with their careers. Hiring Perry Watson was about the best thing Fisher ever did.

SAMgO

February 10th, 2016 at 1:11 PM ^

-1

This is so ridiculous. Chris Partridge is now a high major P5 position coach, a year and a half removed from developing high schoolers. He's a top-10 composite recruitier in the country according to 247 and #1 in the nation on scout. He helped bring in 5 of the 8 NJ 4-stars this year, not just the ones he mentored in high school.

Partridge is one of the most valuable members of our staff, and Bush may well be another very important piece soon. They're both more than qualified to be on staff at UM.

MC5-95

February 10th, 2016 at 1:21 PM ^

The problem with your theory though is that these two guys seem eminently qualified to do the jobs for which they're hired. Recruiting coordinators by their definition have to have some connection to high school football programs. If you say, as a program, we are not going to hire high school football coaches to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, then you're probably not hiring the best person for the job.

Bando Calrissian

February 10th, 2016 at 1:54 PM ^

Well, you could say hiring high school coaches is OK, but coaches with clear connections to Michigan recruits or players could perhaps be avoided to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

But, whatever. It's 'crootin, which is always going to have some element of creepiness or impropriety, no matter how clean the program.

wahooverine

February 10th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^

This is a bad take and you deserve all the negs.  There is nothing sketchy about hiring top young coaching talent. HS coaches are the minor leagues/breeding grounds for college level assistants and recruiting analysts, the latter being an obvious logical jump. In this case one of the candidates happens to have a son from his program. This also elevates these guy careers. They are young probably don't want to be HS coaches forever. Pretty much everyone wins.  

Also, please define fair advice in this (or any context). Do you think anytime someone achieves a competitve advantage in anything it's to be called "unfair"?  Should Harbaugh tone down his charisma, competitive fire and coaching chops?...I mean, it's clearly unfair to other coaches trying to recruit the same players.

MC5-95

February 10th, 2016 at 1:16 PM ^

Though I am a David Foster Wallace fan, I have not seen The End of the Tour so I'm just spitballing here. Since that movie seems to be primarily about an interview and the relative desire / unwillingness to be the subject of an interview, I wonder if it had any effect on Harbaugh vis a vis his relationship with the media. 

Anyhow, now I'll have to see the movie regardless because it clearly made some impression on Harbaugh. 

ND Sux

February 10th, 2016 at 2:06 PM ^

"Dude didn't dodge the ball.  That's the name of the game, man."  This reminds me of Ms. ND Sux's response to coaches running up the score: "if they didn't want to get beat so badly, they should have fought harder."  Seems reasonable. 

Dorothy_ Mantooth

February 10th, 2016 at 2:52 PM ^

Harbaugh needs to out-flank this SEC nonsense by offering UM stadium to any SEC team that would like to conduct their spring-break practice in Ann Arbor...just the outdoor facilities though.

tlhwg

February 10th, 2016 at 4:09 PM ^

IMG spring break practice?  

Per the NCAA recruiting calendar, the practice will be during the Quiet Period, when off-campus contact (or viewing) is prevented.  Hmmm.  I wonder if there's a loophole, e.g,. kids/parents initiate contact, etc.  Not sure.

Also wonder if non staff/players can participate (think: Rick Flair and Tom Brady).

Oscar

February 10th, 2016 at 3:12 PM ^

"The NCAA should still move to a yearly cap with no limit on overall scholarships to remove the incentive to get rid of a guy entirely."

Is this just Brian's brainstorm, or are there any indications that the NCAA is seriously considering this? Because it is a great idea.

Alton

February 10th, 2016 at 10:30 PM ^

That's how the NCAA used to limit scholarships:  they had a limit of 35 "initial tenders" a year in football, back in the early 1970s--back when you could only play 3 years and there was no such thing as redshirting.

I don't think there is any indication they want to go back to the "initial tender" system, although I agree it would be a great idea and would fix a lot of what is wrong with how players are treated.

When the NCAA made Freshmen eligible, they went to a 25 initial tenders AND 95 total scholarship limit.  That's where we get the 25 Freshmen per class "cap" (that has so many loopholes that it's meaningless) that we still have today.  Of course the total scholarship limit has been reduced to 85, but otherwise it's pretty much the same rule as it was 40 years ago.

matty blue

February 10th, 2016 at 3:47 PM ^

i thought i had misread the LEB guy's comments, but i had to moved on to a scalding hot shower to scrub my skin to the bone immediately after my first read...glad i wasn't hallucinating.

"we don't like it, but man we can't wait to try it."

m1jjb00

February 10th, 2016 at 4:05 PM ^

Me: a trembling fifth grader.

Him: some 8th grader staring down at me, palming the dodge ball.

Me: I can still feel the dodge ball ridges in my face to this day.