Mathis no longer interested in USC?
Four-star DE Joe Mathis said #USC is not in his top five any longer. #Michigan and #Nebraska look good. #Washington trip this weekend.
Retweeted by Tim Sullivan
I bet a dollar I can tell you who is new number 1 will be after the visit
I don't like spreading crap about kids but someone on this blog (multiple people actually) seemed pretty convinced that Mathis won't be qualifying. Can anyone verify whether that is accurate or was it just some pissed off fans who started slinging mud after he changed his top school? Just wondering...
Don't ask if you don't like spreading crap.
Come on, it's not spreading anything to ask about the credibility of a rumor. It's one thing to say "It's probably because he won't qualify" when you don't know, it's another to ask, "I've read a few places that he might have issues qualifying - does anyone know if there is truth to that?"
If there is legitimacy to it, it's a valid question that could affect his recruitment.
Sorry, I wasn't aware that asking for verification about something was spreading rumours. In fact what I was hoping for was for someone with knowledge on the issue to respond so that it would be clear for everyone what the situation was. If that is spreading rumours....I guess I'm guilty as charged.
I apologize. My response was very a-holeish.
In the past someone trying to verify rumors actually led to more crap being spread by others.
I just wanted to be clear that wasn't my intent. I'm not one who likes to hear rumours and definitely not one to spread them. I just wanted to see if anyone could end the speculation on what was already out there for clarity sake.
The Mathis qualification rumors fall into the vast, wide chasm of "recruiting rumors that cannot be validated". I could be mistaken and there could be a quote from Mathis, his coach, or his principal on the matter, but I don't think there is. I think it started with rumblings on the USC Rivals site, but I am not 100% sure.
I'm not accusing anyone in this thread of this, but is the "he couldn't qualify" meme our equivalent of the "it wasn't a commitable offer" or "Urbs cooled on him" meme Ohio fans love to employ when they miss out on a recruit? Neither one really seems verifiable. Maybe Blue in Yarmouth saw this tactic being employed prematurely by some MGoBloggers who think Mathis is slipping through our fingers.
I'm not big on the "He's not going to qualify" rumors, but they seem to pan out more than 90% of the time.
This really isn't meant to be argumentative, so please don't read it that way. How do you know whether the potential recruit didn't qualify or he just decided to take his talents elsewhere? Isn't that information private? I can understand that in a high percentage of those rumors the kids don't end up at Michigan but how do we know why for sure?
When people say that a kid won't qualify, they don't mean at Michigan, they mean won't qualify with the NCAA. So if a kid ended up anywhere, it means he qualified. So if a kid has scholarship offers and ends up in prep school or JUCO, that means he didn't qualify.
Also, som kids don't qualify until after signing day, so sometimes Michigan (or other schools) pass on a kid for not being qualified, who then ends up getting his things in order in time for the fall. These situations are trickier, and often depend on how badly needed the recruit is.
until he visits USC.
it could have been more them cooling on him than the other way around. They have some players at his position already committed and a small clas to work with so it may well be he is no longer interested because they don't want him anymore.
This is exactly right, and I've been saying this since Fitts committed to USC (I follow their recruiting somewhat as well). Especially if there is any truth to the rumors about him having a hard time qualifying, then USC can't risk that. They can only take 15 no matter what, so they'll only take guys who are already qualified.
Since you follow them as well, they must be pretty confident about Ty?
I'm a member of the WeAreSC boards and they know just as well as Michigan that it's probably down to those two (Notre Dame has a shot too). Most really connected people I have talked to are not very positive about Isaac ending up in Troy. It seems the people I do hear insist he will be a Trojan have no real track record of predicting this kind of stuff.
This is exactly what I'm hearing too. The opinion on him is similar to ours on Levenberry a month ago or so. No one is really confident he'll be at SC, but every thinks there's still a decent chance. 60/40 is probably an accurate assessment of their view on it.
Thanks guys. I always thought Ty would be part of the class, but now I am not so sure. I know he was trying to visit SC again next month at some time. I never thought he would leave the midwest area, but now I am not so sure.
I don't know if this is post worthy, but I saw that Aaron Bailey picked Illinois yesterday. Didn't Ohio think he was an Ohio-lock?
Nice pick up by the new staff. It's great he choose UofI over Ohio. Great to take a player away from them, even better that they now have to face him every year.
I'm sure with their small class they weren't expecting to take 2 QBs, and they already picked up 4* out of Texas, JT Barrett. Haven't watched either play, so I don't have a take on which is better, but bot appear to be about equally ranked at their positions (247: Barrett #1and Bailey #4 dual threat; Rivals: #6 and #4 dual threat; Scout #7 and #6 QB)
Ohio already picked up a QB. Were they recruiting him at another position? Can't imagine they would have room for two QB's.
Edit: Sweet, Space Coyote. Old news is old.
Like said before, just make sure we're his last visit!
I said this in the thread on the main page where this tweet was brought up, but USC already has commitments from 2 SDEs ranked higher than Mathis, so it's very possible that it's USC that's no longer interested in Mathis. They only have 15 spots to fill for this class, and DE is not a position of need for them. Especially now that they have a 5 star and a top-100 guy already in the fold.
They actually still have three early enrollment spots that they didn't use in the 2012 class, so the plan is to take 18 if they can find enough guys to graduate early.
That being said, there is no way they give a spot to Mathis at this point, with the guys already in the class and with the major depth issues at DT that they need to address in this class.
How can they do that? From my understanding, they weren't able to back-date any of their 2012 signees, so they still have a 15 scholarship limit for 2013. Maybe you know more than me though - can you elaborate?
This is from USC's version of Wolverine Nation
The class of 2013 has 18 available scholarships for the Trojans -- the 15 allowable scholarships, plus three backdated early-enrollee spots -- and WeAreSC takes a look at how those 18 might be divided up among various positions.http://insider.espn.go.com/colleges/usc/football/recruiting/story/_/id/…
I see, that's pretty official then. Any idea why they can do that? It was my understanding that their 2011 class was full (33 dudes full), so they could not back date any of their 2012 class. So how can they now back date 2013 EEs?
This might answer more questions.
http://usc.ocregister.com/2012/02/03/usc-football-scholarship-count-231…
I'm not sure if all 33 commits ended up making it to campus in the end.
One thing I know about Kiffin is that he is sly when it comes to these matters.
Let's give the kid a little bit of a break. Yeah, maybe it seems flaky to make every new school your #1, but he's a junior in high school and I think it's kind of refreshing that he's going on college visits and enjoying them to the fullest and getting excited about it. Not every 16- or 17-year-old has to handle the process like they're signing an NFL contract with their parent as an agent. At the end of the day, Mathis's indecision is no more blameworthy than Levenberry's idea that he should settle on a school based on a major he may or may not even be interested in when he graduates from college 6 years from now.
Agree-
It's 100% his decision- if it is frustrating for others trying to guess where he goes that matters very little to him. He's a young kid being offered by amazing programs and schools- he should take his time, and he should go on all the visits (and its reasonable that he gets excited at each place- recency effect does that).
I hope he comes here like everyone else- I am just done worrying about his Top 5- let's just see where he decides at the end- it seems pointless trying to speculate...
And this post is the best one I've ever seen. I'm really excited about MGOBLOG. Funny, 'cause I was just over at 11W and I thought that was the best site I'd ever seen until I came here.
if this was directed at my post about what his new number one would be it was a joke. I have never even considered Mathis to be a possibility so who he chooses doesn't bother me in the least, I was just making a joke.
Not targeted toward anyone in particular - just a reminder to all of us (myself included) that, at the end of the day, these are kids with sudden celebrity thrust upon them. Some of them are more mature about it than others, but I try not to get too personally angry or disappointed or judgmental of any of them (even the ones who commit to Ohio).
Unless they call us "that school up north" before and after their visit. We'll see how much smack Bosa talks after Kalis and Kugler just crush him play after play.
Night and day Mathis man. I think we should all just wait until signing day with this kid.
I think that label should be included at the outset of all recruiting threads. The banter about Dee Hart definitely took at least several weeks off my life and I would have appreciated being warned beforehand.
After Garnett, More of my hair turned white, I gained 15lbs, and developed a studder. WHY GOD WHY?
I knew it was a matter of time before the spelling police came out. Here you go sir, STUTTER! Damn edit button went away.
He's now favoring Portland State after pulling off I-5 for a pee on his way to UW.
Would be a huge get for the Fighting Urban Planners.
April 28th, 2012 at 10:33 AM ^
Who I believe is also a DLine coach...
He's a Huskie. This one was easy. Next question?!