JC transfers - not taking / considering these players is a net loss for Michigan
I ran into Myles Wade this morning at a local coffee shop. He is a Junior JC defensive tackle transfer to Texas Tech with 3 years of eligibility left. I talked briefly with him and his dad. What a solid young man. I came away extremely impressed. He has a compelling story. This guy is going to make waves, and I wish him the best.
Michigan is ill served by not reaching out to players like this at and in positions of need. We have gone through hard times that could offer kids like this opportunity. There is more to these men than grades and test scores can document.
I've heard that Michigan does not look at JC players (the exceptions prove the rule) mostly due to transcript problems. It has been a revelation seeing Football interact with Admissions with some pushing and pulling going back and forth recently. This is definitely less an issue as the talent level rises, but JC transfers deserve more of a look than the current policy seems to allow.
I believe we should be open to signing junior college transfers if they are willing to redo their freshman/sophomore years academically, unless this would negatively affect our API..
freshman/ sophomore years academically? That's not the policy for transfers from other Universities who aren't football players.
Being a transfer to Michigan myself I can say the transfer process at Michigan has a lot of problems. I was moving from one ABET Engineering school to another and they only wanted to give me half the credits I had earned. I had to go to the transfer office and basically prove I leanred the same material as the students already in the program EVEN though every engineering student is required to basically take the same classes (especially first year). I would think for the football team they would handle that stuff better but apparently we can't even keep practice logs so who knows.
What school were you transferring from, MSU? Oh nevermind I just saw it was ABET accredited...
Actually, U of M is pretty bad when it comes to counting credits at other colleges that aren't major schools. My GF transered from Spring Arbor, a small christian school in Jackson. By no means is it the most prestegous university out there, but it is leaps and bounds ahead of a JC. She had a 4.0 with 30 some credits at Spring Arbor, but something like 10 of her credits counted at U of M. I could easily see the U only counting a small percentage, or perhaps none of the credits should a player try to transfer from a JC.
You can't redo two years and maintain eligibility. Players need to be progressing towards a degree to meet eligibility requirements. If they suddenly have no credits going into their third year, then they can't be eligible, right?
If they had no credits, they wouldn't be considered Juniors. So, no. Their eligibility requirements would "start over" once they got to UM.
Who are some notable juco transfers that went to michigan?
Austin Panter.
Russell Shaw back in 1997
Ricky Green, back in the late '70s. Great PG.
Brandun Hughes, 1996. PG who flunked out of school after a year.
If they have the academic ability to get in, they get in. If they don't, they don't. I'm pretty sure that UM coaches do their due diligence on Juco guys. If, for example, they are already recruiting someone, and the player doesn't make it but goes to a juco and the college cooperates with the University to provide an academic opportunity to be eligible to transfer to UM, I would imagine that the player will have a better chance.
Since we all know who we're really talking about anyway, I hope it all becomes moot in a week or two.
Tim Brewster stocked his team with JUCO recruits after his legendary 1-11 season. The obvious plus is that you might get some players who do well, like Simoni Lawrence, Tramaine Brock (gone after one year due to grades, BTW), etc.
The obvious downside is that these guys normally take a year to acclimate. Take for example RT Jeff Wills. He showed up last year at 375 pounds and instantly started. He was a revolving door all year long. if you need a reason why Adam Weber regressed in 2009, the offensive line couldn't guard against mosquitos, let alone defensive ends. It's worth mentioning that Wills was signed after Brewster failed to land Taylor Lewan's commitment, despite his father's Gopher alum status.
Now, Wills is supposedly in "better" shape, but guess what? He's gone after 2010.
Brewster's success rate with JUCOs is about 50%, maybe a little lower than that.
And look where it gets you. Brewster brought in all the JUCOs and topped out at 7-6 and 6-7. Now this year, 4 JUCO defensemen starters are gone, 3 more come in, and there are 9 new defensive starters. What if Brew had brought in a bunch of 2-3 star guys in 2008 and they were entering their redshirt sophomore seasons right now, and he had them for two more years of development? Probably better than only getting one year out of most of these guys.
FWIW, Brew only has 3-4 non-JUCO D-backs that should be playing FBS football. So, he needs them, still, in year four. I doubt we say the same about RR.
if Michigan signed a differnt LB instead of Austin Painter he would be a Senior this year and possible starting given our LB play
AFAIK, most top-tier schools aren't in the business of recruiting JUCOs. I'm thinking there's a reason for that (rather than suspecting groupthink on the issue). For example, how many do you see on the rosters of Florida and USC?
I have no problem letting Kansas State and Mississippi State have all the Juco players.
The Big 10, generally (not just UM) has very few JUCO players (jg2112's exception noted). When the next Austn Panter or Russell Shaw come along, they are welcomed additions. If that means only 1 guy every 10 years... so be it
Would have been nice to grab a JUCO QB in the winter of 2008 when Pryor screwed with us. Someone to run the spread for two years while RR recruited his guy.
they are great to fill an unsuspected hole. When Henne was graduating and (assuming) Carr knew Mallet was leaving, then taking a JUCO QB would have been wise. But to just take one to add depth is short sighted. I would rather take a sleeper HS senior and let him try to develop. This all assumes that the overall depth is above average through recruiting that excludes the need for stop-gap measures.
At least thats what I do in NCAA 10.
This is a random question on my part. Is it just me or do a lot of junior college guys seem to be busts? Just look at recent years and tell me how Brent Schaeffer, Carl Moore, or Kenny Shaw did when they arrived to their new teams.
Granted they don't always work out, but I don't think UM should have a blanket policy of ignoring all JUCOs.
Here are some recent notables:
Jason Paul Pierre (2009)
Terrence Cody (2008)
Phil Loadholt (2007)
Reggie Nelson (2005)
I don't think UM makes it a policy not to take JUCO kids, it's just not usually worth the time. There are so many kids who are able to go right from HS to college, and spending your time on the JUCO kids, when so many of them won't be able to get in, and a lot of the ones who could won't cut it once they get here, just isn't worth it.
There are the once every 5-10 year exceptions, but that's not enough to make it a priority.