Interviews with several of our incoming freshmen (Gentry, Higdon. Perry, Washington)

Submitted by wolverine1987 on

If you still hold a grudge against the Freep, don't click, but they have interviews with several of the incoming freshman class. Of interest, Karan Higdon sounds like he has a beast workout ethic, and Keith Washington offered to run a 40 for Harbaugh in the parking lot. 

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/2015/06/2…

 

Dawkins

June 21st, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^

Someone needs to warn these recruits and players that Freep (and Snyder especially) are snakes that should not be trusted. Spread the word.

Dawkins

June 21st, 2015 at 11:35 AM ^

Correct. Freep should not have access to our athletes. At a minimum they should be warned about the paper's anti-UM agenda and advised not to give any interviews to their reporters.

bluepow

June 21st, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^

The Freep lost me forever despite it previously being my go-to news source.  There are consequences when you behave so poorly while representing the public trust.

It was much more than a chestnut.  It was betrayal of everything a newspaper should represent and my favorite football program.

Consequences.

GratefulBlue

June 21st, 2015 at 2:07 PM ^

As a journalist and a guy who wrote for a newspaper (in DC) when Stretchgate went down, the entire incident was so ethically and professionally disgusting that it's sickening to think people will just shrug their shoulders and forget about it. I wish I could come up with an appropriate analogy . . . maybe something along the lines of bankers who knowingly mislead clients and sell them junk investments to make a profit for themselves. 

If these guys were gone from the Freep, I could understand giving the new reporters/editors a chance. But until that happens, no one should let these assholes off the hook for what they did. They never apologized or issued a retraction, even when it came to light that they'd eggregiously overstated things. And as another commenter brought up, they showed they were still willing to jump on UM with both feet when we announced a few minor violations a month or two ago. Seriously, fuck them.

 

wolverine1987

June 21st, 2015 at 2:39 PM ^

And that they think that? I am of the opinion that they still think their story was generally acuurate. Meaning that they might admit that they got the rule wrong, or that there was less to the story than initially seemed, but that 1- rules were broken, 2- the NCAA punished us for breaking rules, and 3- their story brought that fact to light. There is a big difference between not being as good a reporter as they should have been and rushing to judgment to make a story, vs. lying on purpose. To me they did the former, not the latter. Still worthy of strong condemnation, but to me after four years I'm willing to let it go. I do understand the other POV however. 

Tater

June 21st, 2015 at 2:28 PM ^

The freep has unethical people working for it.  I think it is appropriate that they be judged for their lack of ethics.  I also think every recruit should be warned about them.  There is a big difference between a "stale chestnut" or a "grudge" and knowing, for example, that if you put your hand on a burner while it is red, you will get burned.

The Freep's "burner" is always red.  Caveat emptor.

Ronnie Kaye

June 21st, 2015 at 12:35 PM ^

Name one thing Mark Snyder has done in the past four years that is dubious or not in line with the paint-by-numbers coverage newspapers give all local teams. For the millionth time, stretchgate wasn't about Michigan. It wasn't about using gotcha journalism just 'cause. It was about Rich Rodriguez and two reporters with ties to the dark factions at UM trying to get him removed. I am struggling to fathom how dim one has to be to not see this.

Magnum P.I.

June 21st, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

Doesn't matter. He unethically and maliciously ran through the mud one of the few things that Michiganders had to feel good about in 2009. It was bad enough that everyone in Southeast Michigan lost their job and home equity. Let's shit on one of the last bastions of happiness.
Don't care if it was targeted at RR. RR was Michigan's coach then, so it was about Michigan and Michiganders.

Ronnie Kaye

June 21st, 2015 at 1:23 PM ^

Look, the guy sucks. No one is telling you to not like him. What bothers me is when people act like he's prepping for another sneak attack or that Michigan should't allow him in the building, which shows rank ignorance as no program would cut off someone from an organization that has the Freep's readership or create an unnecessary war with someone who has a platform. The whole thing was Rosenberg's brainchild anyway. Snyder was along for the ride.

wildbackdunesman

June 21st, 2015 at 1:59 PM ^

"The whole thing was Rosenberg's brainchild anyway. Snyder was along for the ride."

Snyder assisted the lies and signed off on the lies.  He did not do journalism.  He did not even check the NCAA rule that he was accusing RichRod of breaking.  He is not trustworthy at his job.  He is more than just a bad journalist, as he willing broke ethics with that story.  I am not saying brun the Freep down, but Snyder deserves harsh criticism.

You say that no other program would cut off the Freep for what happened.  I am not advocating the program do so, but can you name another program that has local media wilfully distorting the truth?  Typically, programs are use to positive coverage not false and exaggerated stories.  I do personally support any individuals who choose to give up the freep themselves to show a consequence for unethical journalism.

wildbackdunesman

June 21st, 2015 at 1:06 PM ^

So what you are saying is that since he hasn't recently maliciously lied and distorted about our program in a manner that caused damage to the program we should be all lovey dovey with him?

Screw him.  He sought to boost his own career with lies that did hurt our program.  If the Freep had integrity he would never cover UofM again and they would apologize for the distortions.

wildbackdunesman

June 21st, 2015 at 1:44 PM ^

Educate myself?

How can you claim that it wasn't about Michigan, it was about gotcha journalism.  You can't logically separate his lies from Michigan football in the equation.  

He didn't like RichRod from Day One.  They were literally mumbling about RichRod being a country bumpkin when he was announced as Michigan's coach - my brother is in the media.  So they did a hit job primarily based on distortions, which got them lots of publicity and in the process their lies hurt the Michigan football program.  You can't separate his lies about RichRod, the UofM head football coach and the damage done to the UofM football program at the time.

True journalism needs to have a level of trust.  I am not naive enough as you are to say that it has been "4 years" since he terribly distorted reality to just go back to trusting him again.

Ronnie Kaye

June 21st, 2015 at 2:23 PM ^

You can't even read straight. I said it was NOT about gotcha journalism as a practice. It was entirely targeted at Rich Rod. The "not about Michigan" comment - how hard is this to comprehend? Of COURSE it was happening to the Michigan program. But you still always see commenters here refer to this anti-Michigan agenda at the Freep, something that vanished the minute RR was fired. Rosenberg and Snyder loved Hoke because he was Carr's guy.

wildbackdunesman

June 21st, 2015 at 4:11 PM ^

"For the millionth time, stretchgate wasn't about Michigan."

You say they were trying to remove RichRod, UofM's head coach.  That is not journalism and that is about Michigan as you can't spearate attacking the head coach in a manner that harmed the program from the program itself.

 

"It wasn't about using gotcha journalism just 'cause."  

This seems to imply that it was gotcha journalism, as (1) you state that it was not gotcha journalism just because and (2) if they were trying to remove RichRod then it would be gotcha journalism.

 

"I said it was NOT about gotcha journalism as a practice. It was entirely targeted at Rich Rod."

They practiced gotcha journalism with lies and distortions, in a manner that harmed the football program to attack the head coach of the said program.

Journalism requires ethics.  Ethics that he lacked.

 

"It was about Rich Rodriguez and two reporters with ties to the dark factions at UM trying to get him removed. I am struggling to fathom how dim one has to be to not see this."

No one is disputing this, you have an active imagination.  You seem to be diassociating the results and consequences of Snyder's lies with the Michigan program in a round about way.

His lies about the program's head coach had poor consequences about the program.

A journalist requires the trust of his readers.  One cannot trust Snyder or Rosenberg as they are willing to lie to their readers to promote an agenda to harm a man's career in a way that they can't do with the truth.  Furthermore, their lies harmed the program, the fans love of the program is the reason why their readers read their tripe to begin with, which shows a callousness on Snyder's part...

ckersh74

June 21st, 2015 at 1:23 PM ^

And just what the hell were the reporters' supervisiors doing? The sports editors? They blessed that crap. They sat there idly while this stuff went into print. It wasn't just two reporters with a hard-on towards Rodriguez. 

No. This newspaper set out to tear down Michigan football because they didn't like the coach. That's horseshit. 

GratefulBlue

June 21st, 2015 at 2:17 PM ^

Editors write headlines, not reporters. And the editors wrote the headline, "Michigan football program broke rules, players say," which is factually false. So the editors are as complicit and involved as the reporters. A story that big with those implications does not go to press without many, many people signing off on it. I would bet no fewer than 15 people, including every sports reporter, plus the sports desk editors, managing editor, and executive editor, had a look and OK'd everything. If you know the newspaper business, you know a report like that implicates many more people than Rosenberg and Snyder.  

1974

June 21st, 2015 at 10:34 AM ^

Gentry:

Why do you think you can play immediately?

"I have the physical tools to do it. I've gained a lot of weight, kept my speed up, still running fast and I have a big frame. The big thing for me or any quarterback coming in is just the mental aspect of the game, getting the plays down, the coverages, the checks, everything like that. The one thing I really need to hone in on is the mental part."

What sold you on Michigan?

"It was quick (committing to U-M on his visit, just days after decommitting from Texas). It was weird because it had taken me so long to commit to Texas long ago and I didn't visit a lot of places. The Michigan commitment was just using my head and heart. When I was visiting, my honest plan was to visit, come back to Albuquerque, sit down with my family, maybe take another visit or two to places and talk about it. There was something about the atmosphere and the coaching staff."

Why is Harbaugh so good with QBs?

"That excites me because he can take big-bodied, strong-armed quarterbacks and turn them into what he wants them to be, regardless if they're raw or not. He's got a plan for everybody."

Who are you like in his history?

"Everyone likes Andrew Luck, but I personally think that I compare mostly to Colin Kaepernick. He's tall; he has a solid frame. He's mobile; he can throw the ball. Hopefully, I can kind of simulate that a little bit. I know something I got from college coaches is Ryan Mallett's arm, but can run, so hopefully somewhere in there is what I want to do."

Have any Michigan memories?

"Chad Henne, I grew up watching him in the mornings here. One thing that's cool, my earliest college football memories watching were Michigan games, because Michigan Stadium didn't have the lights so they always played at 12 o'clock and here it was 10 o'clock so I'd wake up early, watch "GameDay" and those would be the first games on."

Double-D

June 21st, 2015 at 12:05 PM ^

integrity. They use sensationalized headlines to incite clicks. They don't play fair in regards to reporting with MSU. Just one small example....We recently self reported minor violations in recruiting and it was splashed all over. MSU also recently reported minor violations without a word from the Freep. They are just a BS organization and Drew Sharp is just an incompetent prick.

wildbackdunesman

June 21st, 2015 at 10:41 PM ^

Journalism requires a set of ethics and a trust from the readers that the journalist will follow those ethics.

Snyder and Rosenberg of the Freep did not follow ethics or the definition of journalism and therefore they broke the trust of their readership.

Their positions literally depend on fans paying them to hear their journalistic coverage of the UofM program that they love.  To harm that program with blatant lies, distortions, and half truths to attack the programs coach at the time is a pathetic move that resulted in the loss of customers.

Ronnie Kaye

June 21st, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^

I find it strange that Brian doesn't see Higdon as a threat this season. It's a position where a freshman can play and where guru evaluations are often questionable. None of the other backs on the roster have shown much at all.