Coaches Answer: Which recruit got away?

Submitted by tlo2485 on

ESPN had a piece this week asking coaches: With which players they regret not closing the deal?

Notable responses include Meyer not landing C.J. Spiller at Florida, Fitzgerald missing Andrew Luck at Northwestern, and Bert losing Larry Fitzgerald while assisting at Iowa.

Here are nine of the best stories about recruits who got away: http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/17210230/dabo-swinney-b…

 

Edit: Also, very fitting for Sparty to end up stealing Le'Veon Bell from Bowling Green at the last minute because of a fight opening up scholarships.

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Brimley

August 6th, 2016 at 12:15 PM ^

Also interesting that Dabo mentions that, as an assistant, he had to turn Tebow away because they told a junior that he wouldn't have anybody recruited the year ahead of him.  Thank God for Harbaugh.  He'd shake hands and leave at the first mention of a recruit fearing competition.  Unlike, well, you know...

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tlo2485

August 6th, 2016 at 12:30 PM ^

So Clemson passed on Tebow because they promised Willy Korn he wouldn't have anyone to compete with in the class ahead of him. Korn ended up transferring to Marshall after an injury, got beat out at QB and moved to safety, and finished his career at D2 North Greenville. Thank god Harbaugh doesn't play these games to limit competition.

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tlo2485

August 6th, 2016 at 12:19 PM ^

I have a feeling Mike Weber will be a disappointing loss for us. It appears he will get a pretty substantial workload early on and they'll have the guys in front of him throughout his career. Whether he becomes a legit star back or not, he'll have the stats. 

With that said, I'm equally confident in our situation in the backfield for the future.

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Mr. Yost

August 6th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^

He's going to start this year...the kid can play.

He didn't get away though, he was flat out lied to and Meyer's staff used negative recruiting in the 11 1/2 hour to lure him away from Michigan. He was literally in tears days later when the RB coach he put his trust in left OSU and he found out the only reason he'd stayed an extra week was to get past signing day.

He's over it now from what I hear, but shady stuff. Franklin called out Meyer for negative recruiting and Meyer went nuts...sure, maybe HE doesn't say it as the head coach - but that doesn't mean his staff isn't shady as fuck.

Screw it though, you made your bed. Lay.

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Alumnus93

August 6th, 2016 at 5:39 PM ^

Is it wrong to think that our coaches misplayed the weber recruitment? I say this because everyone knee that after a national championship that their staff would be raided, which includes flights to NFL. and with all our NFL contacts, one would think that a little legwork may have uncovered Drayton leaving. or not.. but I have thought that...

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Mr Miggle

August 6th, 2016 at 7:37 PM ^

How likely is it that they could find out Drayton was going to the NFL? I don't know, but how do you use that info? It's not like you would have proof you could show a recruit. It's just going to come across as negative recruiting. Even if you were right, we saw the OSU was willing to lie about it. If you're wrong, that's a very bad look. Deals do fall through and coaches do change their minds sometimes. Aside from that, we had our own assistant leaving after signing day. It's just not a battle it pays to fight.

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LSA Superstar

August 6th, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^

You commented about it earlier, but I think it will very likely be Mike Weber.  I agree that Weber was lied to with respect to his coach, but... well... as unfair as the situation is to the athlete, Karan Higdon better be good.

I remember Brian Cook said on a podcast once that he didn't think losing Weber was a big deal.  He reasoned that OSU wouldn't ever hurt for a running back, and - at the time - he and Ace didn't think he was too big of a step down to Higdon.  It's impossible to judge someone for calling their shot like that, but I think both of those premises will be proven really, really wrong this year.

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WeimyWoodson

August 6th, 2016 at 4:44 PM ^

Had the chance to recommit to Harbaugh, but decided he didn't want to multiple backs in his class. I think Harbaugh is okay with losing out on a guy who wanted to be the only running back in a class. He probably wouldn't have liked this class either with three backs committed already, and probably doesn't like OSU's class with several top backs committed too. I hope he has a great career and does good things, but I do hope his record to Michigan is 1-4. I like the players Harbaugh is getting and going after. Michigan will be fine without him.

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Hotroute06

August 6th, 2016 at 2:24 PM ^

I was on the side that always felt Weber was a bit overrated. It just seemed like he went down easily after contact, he did show some flashes at OSU's spring game. Will be very interesting to see how that plays out. Viramontes looks like a true game changer.

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Hbaugh4

August 6th, 2016 at 3:20 PM ^

Meyer not offering Denard a QB scholarship at Florida. I'm pretty sure he would've better than John Brantley.

Carr losing Jai Eugene to LSU.

 

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