Things I was told last night re: Ole Miss trio

Submitted by GhostofJermain… on

I was told last night that Shea and Anderson will announce their commitments before they leave today, and that both are going to enroll in January.  John Falk was at the hoops game and was giving all the recruits a tour of the locker room.  One of the parents (not sure who) said they have never seen anything like the red carpet Michigan rolls out.  

I asked about VJ as well.  Was told that they did not have a great read on VJ like they did the other two.  Also VJ had some friends and family visiting him from his Saint Mary's days, he was yucking it up with Bigs 2.0, and I thought he was having a great time and would be coming as well. I did talk directly to him and wished him well, I have not seen him since 2015 and he has grown and bulked up, he told me that his dad had Megatron visit the dolphins practice a few times this year, and that his father still keeps in touch with CJ as well as many other lions players and coaches. He also said he misses being in the D, and he was not sure if he was going to go on any more visits, but did admit many schools reaching out.  One other thing that did happen during the game: Nico, DPJ, and Black rolled in late all together and I must admit they looked like 3 NFL players, also looked like great friends.  

Lastly, in regards to Barrett and Patterson (OL).  I did not see much of them, I think Barrett arrived late and was doing pictures and some catching up.  Patterson I never saw, but I think he was with the coaches and at Schem Hall.  All the attention was on Casear and the group of guys he was running around with that included Shea and others. 

The vibe at Crisler and around lunch and dinner was awesome.  They may all commit (5), but the coaches have been told for a fact that Anderson and Shea are in and enrolling early.  

One last thing.  The coaches, on JH orders are being very careful with the Ole Miss kids.  When in doubt refer to compliance, and this may have something to do with why Shea and Anderson have not made it offical yet.  Not saying that for sure, but they are all being extra careful.  Yesterday, I saw 3x the coaches and staff huddle up to talk about something in regards to the recruits etc.  

 

 

 

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JonnyHintz

December 10th, 2017 at 10:41 AM ^

Yes, actually we can criticize. Michigan’s hires with ties to recruits are actually competent and know football. Mama Gwen is highly qualified and has been a wonder for this team. Devin Bush Sr is a former 1st round pick, longtime NFL Safety, and was one of the top high school coaches in Florida. Poggi was one of the top coaches on the eastern seaboard. Wheatley was not only a longtime NFL player with coaching experience at both the NFL and college levels, he was a Michigan alum. But sure. That’s totally the same as offering a job to a recruits big brother with no qualifications.

Joined: 01/11/2015

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JonnyHintz

December 10th, 2017 at 1:25 PM ^

I’m sorry I didn’t look at the second page of this blog thread in between shoveling my driveway and salting my sidewalk and porch. I guess that’s disappearing. My bad on Patterson’s brother. I didn’t delve in too deep on the guy’a background (again, busy morning) and simply assumed a guy who had to have a stud QB for a brother to get a second tier SEC school’s analyst job probably wasn’t the most qualified candidate out there. You’d think if he had decent qualifications, he would’ve been able to get an analyst job pretty much anywhere and wouldn’t need his brother to be the #1 QB to get one.

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Maynard

December 10th, 2017 at 2:14 PM ^

"simply assumed a guy who had to have a stud QB for a brother to get a second tier SEC school’s analyst job probably wasn’t the most qualified candidate out there. You’d think if he had decent qualifications, he would’ve been able to get an analyst job pretty much anywhere and wouldn’t need his brother to be the #1 QB to get one."

He was qualified. You didn't know what you were talking about and now you still want to take shots at the guy?

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kehnonymous

December 10th, 2017 at 11:58 AM ^

If Patterson (or any of these guys) gets in trouble at a later date for payments they took from Ole Miss boosters or something, then it's going to look bad for Ole Miss for a long time, and only perhaps briefly for Michigan. I don't think the world is going to turn on Michigan for something like that.

I hope you're right and I admit to being... less than impartial here, but although ultimately there would be little fallout to this scenario, Michigan is held to a different standard because it's a big name school with a polarizing head coach who attracts a lot of lazy headline-writing.  Which is why us stretching for twenty minutes past NCAA regulations gets about as much ink as they seriously heinous shit that Baylor pulled with both Art Briles and Dave Bliss.

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umchicago

December 10th, 2017 at 12:40 PM ^

if any of these guys took illegal inducements to attend Miss, wouldn't that make them ineligible to play in the ncaa.  i believe there is a level of risk here for potential forfeiture of games at UM should info come out on these guys later.  they did all attend Miss afterall.  ask yourselves if it was for the historical program, outstanding coaching...or some other reason.

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Blue in Paradise

December 10th, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^

Can anyone say for sure that any of our players are clean and didn’t take money from another school’s bagman? Ole Miss got busted, in part, for payments to kids who ended up at other schools. We know that Rashan turned down money from other schools. How do we know the other guys didn’t take accept? How do you know somebody didn’t take money at the high school level? I don’t think we should start a witch hunt, Michigan Compliance will review whatever needs to be reviewed. We do not need to assume that players are guilty without any evidence.

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BlowGoo

December 10th, 2017 at 9:37 AM ^

I'm interpreting the department's caution when dealing with the (ex)Ole Miss kids as correctly recognizing that they're bringing their talent and a big old NCAA magnifying glass with them.

 

Nothing more. Nothing less.

The "huddle" I'm sure was just a reminder that if they multiply commit, there will be outside pressure to scrutinize by our many, many, SEC and B1G "friends," so we need to do this strictly by the book and even avoid appearances of impropriety.

Perfectly warranted.

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WorldwideTJRob

December 10th, 2017 at 9:57 AM ^

Nah I read it as the coaches being careful because these aren’t the normal type of “recruits”! They probably have to abide by stiffer guidelines because these are already NCAA players. So the normal visit for a high school senior and the things the coaches can do with them are potentially different for the Ole Miss trio.

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M-Dog

December 10th, 2017 at 12:17 PM ^

Beyond "how it looks", our compliance department needs to be careful there are no entanglements that could carry over.

As we saw ourselves during the Fab Five era, a lot of these bagmen types are not doing it for the glory of the school, they are doing it for themselves.  They want to get their hooks in kids for a payout later in the future when they go pro.  

They are not boosters for a school, they are boosters for themselves.

Even if the NCAA is done with Ole Miss, our compliance has no choice but to do its own due diligence.

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Blue in Paradise

December 10th, 2017 at 12:26 PM ^

Once the NCAA approves the transfer the slate is clean. The approval means that there are no known or suspected infractions relating to that player. If that was not the case, NCAA would not approve. There is no expectation that Michigan Compliance should do a higher level of due diligence than what was done by the NCAA during their investigation. If you have an example or know if language on the regulations that state otherwise, then please provide and I will happily cede the point.

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M-Dog

December 10th, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^

Nothing is stopping "boosters" from keeping their hooks in kids after they transfer for their own benefit for a later payout when they turn pro. 

Michigan will want to have a confidence level that there are no entanglements that could still carry over when they come here.

They are clean of infractions . . . and they stay that way.

 

 

Joined: 07/06/2008

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M-Dog

December 10th, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^

Nothing is stopping "boosters" from keeping their hooks in kids after they transfer for their own benefit for a later payout when they turn pro. 

Michigan will want to have a confidence level that there are no entanglements that could still carry over when they come here.

They are clean of infractions . . . and they stay that way.

 

 

Joined: 07/06/2008

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bringthewood

December 10th, 2017 at 9:54 AM ^

You know that Ed Martin was giving loans to players at Illinois and Iowa among other schools. The only reason Michigan was punished was because he was considered a Michigan booster. It was not like he was directing players to Michigan, he was giving money to many Detroit players. That is why I always thought the punishment was too harsh given that none of the other programs with players getting money were punished.

Joined: 09/07/2009

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Blue in Paradise

December 10th, 2017 at 10:44 AM ^

I am just pointing out that stretch-gate wasn’t the worst thing to happen to Michigan. I was in the same class at Michigan as the Fab 5 and I remember those guys driving SUVs and living in relatively expensive housing off-campus. I didn’t have a problem with it then and I don’t have a problem with it now.

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Honk if Ufer M…

December 10th, 2017 at 6:30 PM ^

I remember seeing Tarp, The Judge and ET at the "Hop n Mad" (Hop In @ Main & Madison back in the day) getting into some sort of fancy SUV and all wearing full length fur coats as if they were Clyde Cool & Earl The Pearl rolling into Cobo in the early 70's! (Where the whole crowd dressed like Superfly when the Knicks came in!)

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big john lives on 67

December 10th, 2017 at 2:50 PM ^

Did not play football. Just sayin’. Football team has been squeaky clean. Even appearances of impropriety have been avoided. Brian has pointed out the Marquess of Quensberry rules followed under Carr. What I love about Harbaugh is that he will leave no legal stone unturned to make the team better. We need this approach with many key rivals functioning on the wrong side of the law.

Joined: 02/15/2009

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WorldwideTJRob

December 10th, 2017 at 9:52 AM ^

I think the easiest situation to relate this to, is that of Charles Matthews. If Coach Cal did something to illegally acquire the commitment of Matthews, that has 0 effect on the reputation of John Beilein. As long as the Michigan basketball staff did their due diligence and did nothing wrong in his recruitment, they can sleep easy at night. The NCAA may hit Kentucky with sanctions but Michigan and possibly even Matthews would be in the clear.

Joined: 07/05/2010

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BroadneckBlue21

December 10th, 2017 at 10:59 AM ^

1. They are transfers, and all eyes are on them. 2. The Ole Miss program has already been investigated, and penalties handed down. 3. Players are transferring out of a penalized program, and the coaches know that. It would be awfully dumb of any school to offer illegal benefits to these particular students; moreover, it would be very careless of Harbaugh to not at least make sure he’s in compliance ahead of time, so it is likely that he super duper schmuper cleared it with Compliance. 4. No, past discretions of these players would not besmirch their new program. Stop acting like people who follow college football are that dumb. Fox has a Big Ten contract, as does ESPN. They are not going to engage in slandering UM over athletes. They’ll further take down a nobody in Ole Miss, first. 5. One could say that OSU and PSU and USC scandals showed old coaches the door, but those coaches were the original coaches of said players. Those Achools survived worse media than we would get for accepting later known bad eggs. 6. Baker Mayfield, whom I love as a player, did some crazy college shit. He won the Heisman, and Oklahoma is no worse for his antics. Nor did A and M falter bc of Johnny Football’s indiscretions. The paranoia is not naive, but neither is our irritation with the paranoia.

Joined: 01/12/2015

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NOLABlue

December 10th, 2017 at 8:26 AM ^

Good reply. I understand where you're coming from but I tend to put a lot of faith into the staff at Michigan and have no doubt they would've pumped the brakes hard before this point if that was the case. Can't just assume that all players at Ole Miss/SEC schools take cash and gifts to play ball...that's most definitely not the case. Seems these kids love the Michigan experience and if the staff signs off on them, I couldn't be happier. Just took our 2018 recruit class (technically not, I know but still) into the stratosphere

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MGoGrendel

December 10th, 2017 at 8:26 AM ^

If they “did bad things” at Ole Miss, that wouldn’t bring NCAA violations to Michigan if they transferred. I’m thinking the “being careful” part refers to the tampering warning that Ole Miss threatened. I may not be fully up to date on the situation, but I thought the players needed permission to transfer. If I’m wrong, please get me up to date with the rulings.

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Aero01

December 10th, 2017 at 11:19 AM ^

People keep saying that, but I don't think it's true. My understanding is that if a player received impermissible benefits then they are no longer eligible to play. If they then suit up in a game at Michigan, then we are guilty of playing an ineligible player, and the game can be forfeited. Think Jamal Crawford. A relationship he had in high school was deemed to be impermissible so he was no longer eligible to play for M.

Joined: 09/10/2010

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Don

December 10th, 2017 at 8:22 AM ^

So you're saying you doubt Michigan hasn't recruited a player who's taken SEC money.

That might be the case, but there's a big difference between recruiting a kid who's quietly taken money from an SEC school on one hand, and recruiting a kid from a program that's just been busted in a high-profile sort of way by the NCAA on the other.

 

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ldevon1

December 10th, 2017 at 9:05 AM ^

I understand your concern, but all Michigan can do is ask the players if they received illegal benefits, and that's it. If nothing was uncovered during the NCAA investigation about these current players, there isn't a whole lot Michigan can do. I'm not sure what is or isn't covered under FOI, but I don't Ole Miss will be offering any info.

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