Demar Dorsey Dramatics: Depressing
OR: O LET NOT DO IT
OR: LET'S ALL BLAME THE SHOTGUN-WIELDING BEAR FOR KILLING OUR SECONDARY.
This story is still rapidly developing, but in a nutshell this is it:
"Demar is an NCAA qualifier with a 2.5 or 2.6 GPA and an 18 score on the ACT," said [Boyd Anderson head coach Mark] James. "But he hasn't yet been granted at Michigan."
In one swoop, ESPN's Corey Long clarifies the bizarre split between optimism and pessimism on the "controversial" recruit who could just save the Michigan secondary. The optimism was about his ability to qualify. The pessimism was about whether it would matter. Sam Webb's assertions on the radio that it would be interesting to see where Dorsey ends up if it's not Michigan suggested that the problem was something other than a test score, but James's coach would like to take the thunder out of that:
"Right now I think the plan would be to re-open his recruitment and see what's out there," James said. "If he can't find something he likes he'll probably go to a juco for a year and try it again."
James says the coaches "continue to work on it," and Dorsey gets to twist in the wind longer. At least he's used to it by now.
There are two ways to be qualified. One is to be qualified. The other is to be Michael Oher or Derrick Rose, in which case you are "qualified" via a string of correspondence classes and/or a sketchy test score. Michigan takes qualified guys, but when scare quotes get involved Michigan tends to go the other way. Ask new Bearcat Adrian Witty. Is Dorsey qualified or "qualified"? We don't know until he enrolls somewhere, whether it's Michigan or Florida State or a JUCO. Available evidence suggests the latter, in which case it's better if Michigan doesn't enroll him. But still…
This situation is the Draper/Labadie/compliance dysfunction all over again, with miscommunication between Rodriguez—who went to bat for Dorsey with a provost before signing day and got a signoff on him—and admissions replacing the lack of communication between the football administration and compliance. It's a different sclerotic artery, but the root cause is the same.
Unfortunately—wait. No. Fortunately, in this case we don't have a meticulously documented report to the NCAA featuring 18 months worth of emails between the main parties, so it's hard to tell who's at fault. The proverbial reliable sources have reported that Rodriguez is recruiting with an eye towards NCAA minimums that most programs claim to be above until push comes to shove, while admissions is looking at a larger-than-usual number of players near the borderline and having a little freakout. We've finally gotten some clarification on exactly how Michigan hamstrings itself in recruiting: they'll take kids who scrape by the NCAA minimums (hello Marques Slocum) but only so many.
So here we are, with a kid who said he'd come to Michigan having held up his end of the bargain only to get stiffarmed by some bureaucrats hell-bent on being a hooker who won't do that. If there was a time to shoot Dorsey down it was before he signed a letter of intent, kicked off a media firestorm, and got everyone all excited about having someone in the secondary approximately as fast as Denard Robinson. Saying "we didn't mean it" and kicking the guy to Florida State or a JUCO or somewhere else validates the firestorm, makes other high-caliber guys worried that they will be cast aside when admissions turns him down, and, most importantly, is totally unfair to Dorsey.
Admissions should feel free to say "not again, except maybe a few kids," but after someone in the university greenlighted an offer you can't take it back because you made a mistake. If Dorsey is qualified sans scare quotes and doesn't end up at Michigan, everyone gets hurt for no benefit whatsoever. If he's legal in an extremely technical sense only, well… I'd prefer it if Michigan avoided another investigation, but I would like it even better if people in Michigan's athletic department had a clue what other people were doing.
I'm agreeing with you. First let me make clear that I really hope that DD gets in. Now, let me restate my point a little better:
What happened:
1) Admissions clears DD in January
2) RR + 5 coaches do an in-home to DD
3) DD signs LOI (Knight and Parker do not)
4) Admissions is having second thoughts about DD
5) Possibly lose DD as commit
Hypothetical:
1) Admissions DOES NOT clear DD in January
2) RR + 5 coaches do an in-home with Knight and/or Parker
3) DD out of picture, maybe Knight and/or Parker sign LOI
4) Admissions is having second thoughts about...nobody...
5) Possibly have 1 or 2 commits instead of 0
My point was just that if admissions stuck to their guns originally back in January, then the coaches could have used their efforts and resources elsewhere. That's it.
Brandon needs to make this right. Recruiting a top player and then not admitting him 4 months later (despite the fact that he's qualified) makes us look terrible. Commitments run both ways. A former CEO should recognize this. We are all "Michigan", and despite the fact that we all want high academic standards, re-negging on a deal hurts all of us.
We are going to need him.
But if Dorsey has indeed qualified, I hope admissions does the right thing.
to say: Rat Fart.
Just throwing this out there...Demar's Facebook profile picture is sill him and a Michigan logo. So it appears he is still under the impression he will be a wolverine. FWIW
this morning, someone mentioned that Dorsey's final grades will not be released until June 26th (not sure if that is true/why it would take that long).
I would hate to see the rug get pulled out from under DD. If that happened, I think it would hurt recruiting even more than the NCAA investigation, and maybe close to as much as the team's record over the past 2 years.
I actually just prayed that Demar Dorsey would be admitted to school. Like a heart felt please God dont break my heart prayer. Thats how desperate I am. Please Win Please Win!
I don't have a problem with Michigan having higher admissions standards than other schools, but not letting a kid in who qualifies after you've told him you would let him in if he qualified is a shitty thing to do. Admissions should set clear guidelines for who is and is not an acceptable recruit (at least academically) to avoid the appearance of bias in media frenzy-ish situations.
This just isn't fair to Dorsey, who seems like he was upfront with UM from the beginning.
Why isn't the Michigan Daily and others pressuring admissions about this? We should be knocking on admissions door letting them how we feel about this.
I think Brian stated this perfectly in his blog...you cannot offer a recruit, have them hold up their end of the deal, and then yank it away. This is a bonehead move by admissions and we need to stand up for Demar here.
Hold on, everyone.
Yes, Scout and Rivals have seen it fit to go ahead and make statements that other media folks have deemed determinative of Dorsey's status.
But, this is still a work in progress. Remember - it took weeks for Devin Gardner to enroll early, it took time for Marvin Robinson to get in. This situation isn't over yet, especially if the football coaches (and the AD) get involved.
Let's wait until we have definitive word before making judgments about Michigan's administrative staff on this one.
I agree to a certain extent, but the point is that this issue should have been hashed out before now and the debate should have occurred before we told the kid he was coming here. It's unlikely his 2nd semester senior year grades altered his academic profile very much, if at all, and if Michigan is going to be in the business of accepting borderline qualifiers, it can't get cold feet this late in the game. There's nothing wrong with refusing to accept individuals who do not meet a transparent and clearly defined academic standard; there is a great deal wrong with accepting some players with questionable credentials and rejecting others even partially because of negative publicity. Either we believe in this kid or we don't, there's no need to jerk him around.
Still, you're probably right that we should wait for this to blow over before we pass judgment, this might be the media stirring this up, not admissions.
Does it not begin to seem as if UM's bureaucracy is slower and more dysfunctional in all meaningful ways than the respective bureaucracies of our peers?
Again and again, internal miscommunication, mishandling of this, that or the other. Complete and utter Charlie Foxtrot.
Keep in mind there are at least two other bureaucracies involved here: Broward County Public Schools, and the NCAA (we'll assume the reported ACT score is officially in hand).
In the meantime though, a "remain calm, all is well" is in order. Some statement like "we have been informed by Demar Dorsey and his coaching staff that Demar has met the academic requirements for the NCAA. We are working with admissions to get everything in place. When we know more, we'll tell you, but we expect to know more in x days (or weeks)."
Obviously we need this kid as an athlete, but this whole saga is more depressing for the athlete. I mean, this is borderline ridiculous. The kid gets signed off on and signs an LOI, thinking he is coming here, and has just gotten dragged through the mud, time and again. I hope this situation rectifies itself with any solution, soon, so this kid can move on, wherever that may be.
IF Coach Rodriguez obtained the Provost's buy in prior to the scholarship offer, provided that Demar qualify, he should be admitted since he has qualified. End of discussion.
Simple, concise, yes.
I hope it all works out for Demar, and second chances and all that. I hope he plays here and kicks ass. But, for now, I can't even focus on that.
Competence. Or the complete and utter lack thereof, has my attention. We appear to be the Keystone Cops of college football. Again. The events from late 2008 forward demonstrate a comlpete lack of competence over at the Atheletic Department and footbal administration. From Bill Martin on his sailboat unable to get his new cell phone to work, to RR (or Michgian or some rich booster) not just paying WVU, to the cluster-fuck of ignored e-mails that landed us in hot water with the NCAA over minutes of practice time ("Practice, we talkin' 'bout practice!"), to seemingly yanking an offer to a kid who may be qualified and letting the story linger for days without an explanation - when there might be a good one. And, oh yeah, 8 and 16.
Maybe there are reasons, explanations etc. But the cumulative impact of all of this is forcing me to conclude that no one over there knows what the hell is going on.
"You're appalled? This kid broke the Chain of Command and he ratted on a man of his unit, to say nothing of the fact that he's a U.S. Marine and it would appear that he can't run from here to there without collapsing from heat exhaustion. What the fuck's going on over at Windward, Matthew?"
One of the biggest reasons I, like everyone else here, wants to see UM do the right thing and admit Dorsey is that it will be one of the most positive things that has happened to this program in three years. Again, assuming there are no sketchy actions that were taken to make Dorsey "qualified" UM needs him to boost the secondary in the worst way, and I couldn't agree more with Brian that they can serve notice to the football coaches to take it easy on recruits with similar grade situations from here on out, if they want. This is disgraceful treatment for a prospective student athlete that RR and company went out on a limb to go after, and who himself went out on a limb in committing to UM (more so than any of us thought, evidently). It does seem to speak to communication issues, once again, and perhaps even the level of support and cooperation that the academic side of UM is willing to show it's most prized athletic program. Whether that has to do with RR being in charge or not is up for debate.
I for one just wish the guy (RR) could catch a break with this one. It has been crushing as a UM graduate/fan to see the string of setbacks and fiascos that we've all endured since '07-'08. I wish I could say an end to it all is in sight, but at this point I don't know...
but for Dorsey, if he is qualified and UM doesn't accept him now, it would be disheartening and a kick in the nuts, it could affect other athletes considering UM knowing they could be denied after a LOI is signed.
Before we all freak out. Just a silly thought.
[Quoting my kids in a whiny voice]: "But that's going to take for-ehhh-verrrr!"
So is the moral of this story that recruits with marginal grades should pray that Drew Sharp doesn't make them a target from his high horse? Did admissions have any problems with Dorsey before that?
Isn't there a chance that Dorsey simply didn't do well enough academically since February to qualify to play at Michigan? The assumption here seems to be that all relevant information was available on signing day, but that seems unlikely to be the case. There was another semester of grades (and perhaps some standardized tests) that still had to be determined. In other words, just because the offer was "greenlighted" in the winter, doesn't mean it was unconditional.
I'm not sure the University has done anything unfair to Dorsey. If we're comfortable with the idea that there is a gray area between a higher level of Michigan-qualified compared to NCAA-qualified, we shouldn't be uncomfortable with some kids falling into it. Even if they're very badly needed on the football field.
I'm not privy to all the scources here, but it seems premature to accuse the administration of the same negligence and incompetance that happened with the practice hour/coaching fiascos.
The issue here (to me) is another building crisis where a star recruit is being left hanging without an answer. If he is NCAA qualified, then they must have his grades. If he isn't UM can just say they are waiting to hear from the clearinghouse. Or if, U of M has questions, they can issue a statement like, "We are currently waiting final grades to come in on a few student atheletes and to resolve a few questions. We anticipate completing the admissions process with all our in-coming athletes in a few days." (You will note that this didn't name Demar or reveal anything from his student record in violation of confidentiality laws.)
It is the whole, "yes he can", "no he can't", "its not resolved yet", thing that looks like a bunch of clowns running around a tiny car.
...but I don't think a press statement saying "we still don't know, we should now by July" really solves anything. They could release such a statement every day between signing day and the day its decided.
There could be a number of rationale explanations for why his coach saying he's NCAA-qualified doesn't mean he's yet UofM-qualified. Maybe the grades aren't final yet, maybe they have to research some coursework/curriculums, maybe the test score isn't certified, etc.
As others have pointed out, its not a done issue yet, so lets not freak out or kill the administration till we know what happened.
All I know is if he isn't admitted, this will look bad on everyone in a time where that is really not needed.
There are far reaching repercussions on this, I imagine this would hurt recruiting. The image of the university would take another hit and just be more ammo against it.
This is pretty depressing, but that bear with the gun is really cool.
Is it me, or is this just like one thing after another? I just hope M isn't headed for Notre Dame status after all this nonsense.
The Domers still have outlandish recruiting numbers despite whatever else.
... Michigan will take a heap of criticism no matter what happens with Dorsey. They admit him, and Rodriguez is running a thug program. They don't admit him, and Rodriguez failed to give the kid a "second chance" like good ol' MD would.
i like to think UM has it. they do and i'm proud of being an alum. i like the idea of being above board and not offering scholarships to "questionable" kids. if at the outset UM said, "sorry RR, we are not going to admit this kid so don't offer him". that's trying to maintain some kind of "standard or maintaining the integrity of the student population". i don't have a problem with that if there is consistency.
however, when the admin says they will admit a kid if he does this, this and that. and the kid does this, this and that. and you don't admit him. it's like moving the line in the sand. and that lacks integrity.
imo, this has now turned into a completely lose lose situation.
btw - i was thinking derek rose, too, when i heard DD made the grades and test scores.
your use. of periods. intrigues me. it puts me in the mind.
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OF THE KNOWLEDGE
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YES
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Also, I'm genuinely curious: how do you choose what to capitalize? You're like the e.e. cummings of posters.
This is an awful lot of diagnosis and blame being laden out, all based on a high school coach asserting that his prospect is 100% qualified academically.
U-M gives leeway on a lot of things, just like most D1 football programs. Obviously. That doesn't mean it just waives every other standard, requirement, or metric for judgment once the minimum NCAA standard for grades and test scores is met. Despite what his coach seems to think.
I don't know why some are so quick to conclude that it's some massive bungling on the part of OUA, the AD, or both.
If Dorsey doesn't get in, I would infer two things:
One, that his application, despite what his coach says, lacked something deemed critical to success, character, fit or some combination of the three. Maybe academic, maybe something else.
Two, that these issues were things that the U-M coaching staff didn't know about (and perhaps couldn't know about) earlier in this process or, things that they reasonably assumed would improve.
Here's hoping this post and the entire topic turns out moot.
in 2004, ND was trying to get Urban Meyer to coach there. Reportedly, he wanted 5 non qualifiers a year. this meant that on a single team including redshirts you could have 20 non qualifiers. Notre Dame would not go for it, he took the job at Florida. Notre Dame went for Weis and his "decided schematic advantage."
I've heard and believed that rumor as well about Meyer, but the more I've thought about it the more I am inclined to believe that it is a story generated by the ND fandom to soothe their egos a bit. ND does have tough admissions standards, but I also doubt that their yearly top-15 classes are filled with gentlemen and scholars anymore so than most big-name college programs. Yes, I suspect that getting a kid into an SEC not named Vandy is easier than at ND, but if Meyer had struggled at ND, it would not have been because of a talent issue vis a vis admissions, but instead shifting demographics and the erosion of the allure surrounding ND.
Can you clarify what you mean by "non-qualifiers"? If the kid doesn't "qualify," do you mean with NCAA minimum standards, or with whatever ND's standards are? And, therefore, does that mean ND has some sort of iron-clad GPA/ACT formula for athletes that's higher than the NCAA's? My point is, if a kid's a "non-qualifier," then he can't actually play Division I football anyway, can he? Was Urban asking them to stash 5 kids a year in prep school for a year or something? If so, I actually side with ND if it is/was all true. I mean, shit, I don't think OSU or any of the Big Ten schools do that, even. And I'm not sure how many schools in the SEC stash 5 kids a year in prep schools-- although if I had a hunch, I'd bet it was a tactic (of many) used by Alabama to offset all of their oversigning. . .
looks like I picked the wrong day to quit smoking...
as a compassionate dude, I feel terrible for Dorsey for getting the run-around with what seems to be a bureaucratic snafu.
as a rabid Michigan fan, I shudder at the current/future prospects of our secondary.
it's all good though. imagine if the University decided to ban smoking at the Big House. now that would be a cold day...
The kid wanted to move away and turn his life around.
Michigan allowed him to sign a LOI based (I'm assuming) on him qualifying.
He qualified. (Assuming it's not "qualified)
Michigan now not letting him in serves no one any good. It looks horrible for Michigan, and really affects Dorsey. The guy decided to spend the next 4 years of his life somewhere, and now that's being pulled from him. Poor form admissions, poor, poor form.
With EA Sports' NCAA Football '11 hitting stores in a month, it's probably too late to remove his likeness from the game. At least we'll enjoy one year of Dorsey tearing up the video football world!
signing day after Sean Parker signed with Washington and it was widely reported that Dorsey was not coming to Michigan.... a lot of drama but I hope we have a similar ending.
"We've finally gotten some clarification on exactly how Michigan hamstrings itself in recruiting: they'll take kids who scrape by the NCAA minimums (hello Marques Slocum) but only so many."
Almost verbatim, from another D-1 revenue sport head coach at a kindergarten birthday party. I believe I may have posted about it a few times even. This is not a surprise.
What WOULD have been a surprise is the left hand not knowing what the right is doing in these situations, but the whole compliance thing has me jaded about that now.
1) a sports radio talking-head, who is known to spout inaccurate info, says he isn't getting in
2) ESPN/various others follow up w/ his coach who says, he is NCAA qualified, but is waiting on UofM admissions
3) DD is labeled 'controversial' b/c of a DFP hatchet job even though hundreds of similar kids are playing D-1 sports all over the country, including UofM
4) everyone panics b/c the admissions dept. isn't addressing his status or non-status.
I'd assume that despite UofM being a public university, there are all kinds of privacy issues involved with the admissions dept addressing what us bored sports fans want to hear. We can only hope the hold up is his old legal/character issues b/c unlike hard numbers, they are issues where DB/RR can work on convincing admissions that their is more than they see written on the paper in front of them.
EDIT: I also disagree with Brian's take that it is miscommunication all over again between departments. Basically, we don't know anything, admissions has no reason to tell anyone except DD anything. He could be held up for a limitless number of reasons. I would hope if there are issues Admissions and DB/RR are discussing them, whichever way it comes out.
Everyone panic over things we don't know, have no control over and possibly won't come to pass until DFP/Webb/Sharp/whoever gets you riled up about something else.
"1) a sports radio talking-head, who is known to spout inaccurate info, says he isn't getting in"
IF you are refering to Valenti I can agree with you. But, personally, I have always found Sam Webb to be rather accurate when addressing matters of Uof M recruiting. Also, I don't believe Sam ever said that the book on Demar is closed, just that things look very bad. And That is clearly the case.
You are probably right about Webb, but its 100% speculation on his part until I see some sources other than his HS coach saying we don't know anything yet..
Why does it look bad? Do we know that the HS coach is correct re: NCAA clearinghouse? Do we know that admissions is holding it up? I haven't seen anything out of DD directly, RR, DB or anyone else. Maybe the HS coach just likes seeing his name on the front page of ESPN.
All I'm really saying is it is all idle speculation until more info is out and everyone appears to be in FULL PANIC MODE.
Personally, I've never heard a Webb podcast or broadcast, so I can't speak to his veracity in the recruting world, but I wonder if his recruiting contacts are the same as his UofM admission contacts.
but do we have all the facts? Remember those? Do we know if his transcript is in? Are the numbers reported by his coach correct? It's June 8, is he actually finished with his last semester of H.S.? My kids have another week of school.
Patience. Sure it sucks, but it seems to me there's too much hand-wringing without information.
when other people express my exact thoughts except in a more competent manner.
My kids have been out of school since before memorial day weekend. It varies widely from state to state and school system to school system.
We seriously need LOI reform.
now i can't re-up!
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