Who was the "Worst Decommitment Ever"?
I realize this is a morose topic a few weeks out from signing day; however, as I prepare for This Month in MGoBlog History for January 2007, I came across the news of Indiana Safey Jerimy Finch decommiting. He was a 4 star and 37th nationally to Rivals and was set to join a young, untested Michigan secondary. On January 15 he decommitted and promptly committed to Indiana, though he would sign with Florida. Brian declared this the "worst decommitment ever". In hindsight, this wasn't that big a deal. Finch was later named the biggest recruiting bust for IU in the last ten years.
This has made me wonder if Brian's statement is still true. Finch was a highly rated player at a position of need. Given what was to come in the next few years, it probably didn't matter much one way or another. Three others come to mind since then that are probably bigger: Dee Hart, Damien Harris, and George Campbell. Hart and Campbell for what they would have meant to to the coach who recruited them. Hart was supposed to finally be the super athlete to thrive in Rodriguez's backfield. Didn't Campbell refer to himself as the "mayor" and was going to put together a magnificent recruiting class. Harris might be the biggest talent of any of these for Michigan to lose. Interestly but probably not coincidentally, all four of these guys decommitted from a coach who was out the door.
Are there any I am forgetting? Any who could have had a bigger impact on the program or had a lot of success at another program?
EDIT: I should have checked out Touch the Banner right away, but here's a great list of decommits and transfers.
January 15th, 2017 at 11:47 PM ^
January 15th, 2017 at 11:49 PM ^
January 16th, 2017 at 12:31 AM ^
January 15th, 2017 at 11:50 PM ^
January 15th, 2017 at 11:52 PM ^
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January 16th, 2017 at 12:11 AM ^
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January 16th, 2017 at 12:20 AM ^
January 16th, 2017 at 12:34 AM ^
Please tell me one of those numbers is off.
January 16th, 2017 at 12:38 AM ^
January 16th, 2017 at 12:55 AM ^
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic back to my sacrasm or you actually took me seriously? I'm sorry that I jokingly want the numbers to be worse when a running back who was once committed to us got over 1000 yards his sophomore year at 7.2 ypc?
January 16th, 2017 at 1:04 AM ^
January 16th, 2017 at 9:01 AM ^
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January 16th, 2017 at 10:33 AM ^
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January 16th, 2017 at 1:40 PM ^
...Harris ran behind a much better OL.
January 16th, 2017 at 2:08 AM ^
Huge and darn good offensive line. No one ever expected him to get the ball when Scarborough was out of the game. I mean yeah he's a good runningback but for being the #1 at that position that recruiting year, I'd say he is kind of a bust. See what he does next year though because he is young. There really aren't that good of runningbacks out there anymore. The kids are a bunch of wimps and don't want that position or something.
January 16th, 2017 at 7:46 AM ^
Hasn't Campbell's career been: true freshman season followed by a redshirt year due to injury?
January 16th, 2017 at 8:26 AM ^
George Campbell ran a 4.3 as a sophomore or junior at the opening. Everyone who saw him failed to mention that he couldn't catch. Sam Webb failed to mention that until after he decomitted. Funny how that works. That's why he dropped from a top 10 player regardless of position to a random 4*. Maybe he ends up being a better player of he played defense.
I always thought it was interesting that his profiles listed him as a possible safety, WR or DE. Seemed strange for a WR who ran a legit 4.3. It should have been obvious. Fans rarely use common sense during recruiting.
January 16th, 2017 at 9:49 AM ^
January 16th, 2017 at 10:22 AM ^
I thought Campbell was going to be really good, too, so his lack of productivity at FSU has been surprising.
His high school teammates Mason Cole and Clemson's Artavis Scott on the otherhand, have been great.
January 16th, 2017 at 11:31 AM ^
January 16th, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^
A 1000 yard rusher is nothing? Man, we must have awesome RB's over here getting that every year.
January 15th, 2017 at 11:51 PM ^
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January 15th, 2017 at 11:55 PM ^
January 16th, 2017 at 12:44 AM ^
You're think of the wrong Harris.
Damien Harris is the 5* RB that commited to Alabama in 2015, not Najee Harris, the 5* RB that comitted to Alabama in 2017.
January 15th, 2017 at 11:48 PM ^
January 15th, 2017 at 11:56 PM ^
Yeah that's a good one. I'd forgotten him. He certainly had a pretty decent college career.
January 16th, 2017 at 9:02 AM ^
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January 15th, 2017 at 11:48 PM ^
January 15th, 2017 at 11:53 PM ^
Fair point. Done.
January 15th, 2017 at 11:49 PM ^
You should probably phrase your title as a question
January 15th, 2017 at 11:52 PM ^
January 15th, 2017 at 11:55 PM ^
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January 16th, 2017 at 5:40 AM ^
That one still pisses me off, we really could use him this year, dude changed him mind every week it seemed like
January 16th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^
Along that line, there was a 2015 DT commit that I can't recall the name right now but would also be very helpful. He was pretty highly ranked and was part of Hoke's last class that kind of fell apart after we went 5-7. I think he ended up at NC State?
EDIT: This was mentioned below. Roseboro was the name.
January 16th, 2017 at 12:14 AM ^
Think one was Johnson and he ended up in the SEC, either Arkansas or LSU. I think the other was Graves and he ended up at Texas Tech. I think both got PT for their schools so looking back at our DL with RR, yes they were pretty big losses.
This is all off the top of my head so I could be wrong.
Edit: Dequinta Jones and he ended up at Arkansas. We had 7 decommits that year according to 24/7, though i'm not sure that's accurate as I think Shavodrick Beaver was also a decommit from that class though he isn't listed.
January 16th, 2017 at 12:11 AM ^
he was a transfer, not a decommit.
January 16th, 2017 at 12:15 AM ^
January 16th, 2017 at 12:23 AM ^
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January 16th, 2017 at 1:00 AM ^
Felt like these two played us...and they were badly needed. Could have flipped the defense from poor to good with the right coaching.
Otherwise, it's got to be Weber.
January 16th, 2017 at 7:47 AM ^
"...with the right coaching."
Oh, good. So it didn't matter, in that case.
January 16th, 2017 at 8:04 AM ^
Pearly Graves and...
January 16th, 2017 at 9:49 AM ^
January 15th, 2017 at 11:53 PM ^
January 15th, 2017 at 11:53 PM ^
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January 16th, 2017 at 12:11 AM ^
January 15th, 2017 at 11:56 PM ^
none were a big loss for me.