More Najee Harris news from Bama reporters John Garcia and Chris Kirschner

Submitted by Borges_so_Beautiful on

https://twitter.com/JohnGarcia_Jr/status/817839415309598725

"No. 1 overall prospect Najee Harris says he doesnt know where he is going."

https://twitter.com/JohnGarcia_Jr/status/817841822135439361

"Harris' mother, Tianna Hicks,says she would like him to fly home to reassess. Final decision here in Texas possible"

https://twitter.com/ChrisKirschner/status/817843083962413056

"Najee Harris to @Birm: I still don't know where I'm going. I'm going home and I'll decide."

MGoBoard

NashvilleBLUE

January 7th, 2017 at 4:23 PM ^

I clicked anyway...just like I shouldn't have watched his highlight tape.

 

I'm at the point now that the NH saga has actually made me reconsider following recruiting as close as I do.

Joined: 10/08/2016

MGoPoints: 7201

LSAClassOf2000

January 7th, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^

I'll be honest, and I don't know how many other people have had this issue, but when I have multiple tabs going, the Harris threads load the slowest, sometimes not at all. I have had little to know issue with the rest of the site, but sometimes Najee Harris threads will even Flash on Chrome to crash, so I end up reloading the site. That probably means Najee Harris is off to Cal Berkeley to become the person who finally writes code which fixes the "Najee Harris Thread Issue". 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130560

bamf16

January 7th, 2017 at 4:32 PM ^

It's an absolute crapshoot.  Guys like Mel Kiper got fans hooked into draft analysis each spring, and some were smart enough to realize that there's no way to know on the Monday after the draft who the "winners" and "losers" are.  It's even worse with 17 year olds.  No one knows for sure.

 

A couple days ago someone remarked how it may have been better in years past, when you didn't know who was coming on to campus until the first game.  And it'd have to be easier on the kids.  No one knew who was a "5 star" and no fans got their panties in a bunch if the best LG on the team was a 3* instead of one of the 4 or 5 stars on the roster.

 

Development of these kids year round and coaching on Saturdays is so incredibly important, and regardless of who comes to Ann Arbor, I'm happy UM has a staff with a track record of developing kids to play the way the coaches want them to.

 

(And with all due respect to Sam Webb and the work he does, I can't believe people pay for subscriptions to scouting services for this stuff.)

Joined: 01/05/2014

MGoPoints: -100000

AAB

January 7th, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^

The reason Alabama is going to win its 17th national championship in 9 years is because they have the number 1 recruiting class every single year.  Same for USC in the mid-2000s.  And it's one of the reasons OSU keeps beating Michigan too.  Recruiting rankings are highly correlated with college success.  

There are really good reasons not to follow recruiting, and they get stronger every year.  But the argument for following it is pretty simple: it's a pretty good indicator of how strong your team is going to be.  

Joined: 01/14/2009

MGoPoints: 8284

AAB

January 7th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^

People like Chris Brown (Smart Football) basically say that  Saban's pattern matching defensive schemes are far more sophisticated than anything anyone else in college is running.  Recruiting is probably the biggest factor in his success, but the guy's a genuinely brilliant defensive coach.  

Joined: 01/14/2009

MGoPoints: 8284

BassDude138

January 7th, 2017 at 5:11 PM ^

I'm not going to try to disparage his ability as a defensive coach, but it does go hand in hand with recruiting. To your point with schemes, almost every team in the country is trying to design their defense in a way that hides weaknesses, and emphasizes strengths. A team like Bama that has no weaknesses on defense can scheme like an NFL team, and take away whatever their opponent is best at.

Joined: 03/01/2016

MGoPoints: 3977

ijohnb

January 7th, 2017 at 7:10 PM ^

probably had the best defensive line we have had since 06 this year, and when I watched Bama against UW, it was clear we were not in their league. That was somewhat disheartening.

Joined: 09/21/2009

MGoPoints: 69986

FatGuyTouchdown

January 7th, 2017 at 6:01 PM ^

recruiting is one of the most important thing a coach can do. I'll admit, Saban probably isn't the greatest in-game coach in terms of clock management, but he recruits at the highest level, hires successful coordinators, manages the morale of his team well and has his teams ready to play every game. That should make him the greatest coach of all time in my opinion. No other coach has been as successful with as much parity as Saban has.

Joined: 09/07/2014

MGoPoints: 14102

ElBictors

January 7th, 2017 at 5:05 PM ^

Completely agree bamf16 and knowing your background, put much more stock in your opinion of coaching and player development than I would others.

I find the obsessive nature of 'recruiting' to be annoying.  I have been off the grid for about 10days and today is really the first I have been reading anything on Harris

it was Pryor and his drama that ruined recruiting for me and I agree about these pay sites

Joined: 03/27/2015

MGoPoints: 8446

schreibee

January 7th, 2017 at 5:13 PM ^

Well there was no Rivals, etc but I knew who Anthony Carter, Ty Wheatley, Charles Woodson, Drew Henson, guys of that stature were before they "arrived on campus"... Agreed the Samuel & Filiaga type guys would certainly be a pleasant surprise if they turned into stars, or at least not so disappointing if they didn't. I don't have anything pressing keeping me from gobbling up every Crootin tidbit I can find. But I still don't pay for any services.

Joined: 11/02/2009

MGoPoints: 21102

ElBictors

January 7th, 2017 at 5:22 PM ^

The first real "recruiting drama" I can really recall was Chris Webber and basketball ...

With football, I recall Wheatley and in part becuase we were incoming freshman the same year and he was a well-known player in Michigan.

Drew Henson might be the best example of the "process" ...what with his Dad (allegedly) asking Carr to promise to start him, etc.  Sort of where the tail began wagging the dog.

 

Joined: 03/27/2015

MGoPoints: 8446

SeattleWolverine

January 7th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^

Actually Rivals started in 1997 and included the 1998 recruiting cycle (Henson, Walker, Terrell, Foote, Fargas etc great class). The first iteration lasted through about December of 2000. At that point, they went bankrupt in the aftermath of the dot com bust. Then it was all kind of hit or miss through 2001 and then in 2002 they started up again, presumably recapitalized or something. The old The Wolverine online website was independent of Rivals for about a year there which tracked 2001, more or less. Scout came along in 2002 and ESPN recruiting coverage was eventually formalized and then came 247. 

 

Sadly, a lot (all?) of the old rankings from that Rivals only period were lost during the corporate shuffle.

 

But even going further back, Tom Lemming and Allen Wallace and a few other dudes (Greg Biggins?) have been doing this stuff going back to even the 80s but obviously in paper form in those days. So it was just a lot more obscure. No one really paid attention back then except when the recruiting info was published around signing day in the Ann Arbor News. We used to whine so much about how Lemming was a Notre Dame homer, (which he was because their fans bought his services).

 

Anyway, Anthony Carter is from a little before my time as an M fan. But Woodson was player of the year as a RB in Ohio and everyone knew he was a baller. LIkewise for Henson. I don't remember Wheatley from the recruiting side. Hmmm, ancient memories. I've been following this shit for way too long. 

Joined: 11/07/2012

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elhead

January 7th, 2017 at 4:39 PM ^

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Joined: 11/07/2009

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