OSU recruit who was not medically cleared will play for Auburn instead
Jamel Dean is the OSU recruit who enrolled early this past winter only to find out OSU would not clear him medically to play football. Coincidentally, OSU was oversigned at the time. Not that they were related at all. Well, Dean just got offered to play at Auburn. Strange to see an SEC school benefiting from a Big Ten school cutting a recruit due to oversigning.
I think they realized after his knee injury that he was never going to be the same player, and this was the best way to get back to the scholarship limit. Dean was one of the first recruits in their class, and I think OSU realized toward the end of their recruiting cycle that they could get better players. I am guessing they were hoping that the issue would take care of itself through regular attrition, but it looks clear that OSU is oversigned by a lot and had to take drastic measures to get down to the limit as that attrition may have not happened. It is telling that one of the biggest names in sports medicine, Dr. James Andrews, contradicted the OSU doctors and said it was too early to make this kind of diagnosis. They also recently asked their long snapper recruit to grey shirt.
The issue is that there is a good probability that they realized they were oversigned and used this kid's injury history as an excuse to medical him.
If they weren't oversigned, I would guess that they would have tried to get him on the field.
It's the Anti-Beilein move. John Beilein could have used a medical on Austin Hatch from the start and brought in another flier talent (who he would turn into an NBA player). Instead, he held off and Hatch actually got to play some -- where he showed that he could no longer be an effective B1G player -- before he was eventually medicaled.
EDIT: Beaten to the punch twice over.
What you think are the answers to those questions is probably directly related to how you feel about Urban and OSU's current recruiting practices.
So I get that OSU was oversigned and needed to free up schollys. But this Dean kid is a 4* and by all indications a good prospect. OSU has every reason to want him to succeed. Now mabye OSU needed to "cut" someone and since they figured this kid wasn't going to make it he was an obvious candidate, but my questions are:
1. Why sign him in the first place with his injury history? And if you are going to oversign, wouldn't you choose someone without his injury history?
2. Why not "cut" someone else Saban-style who had been in the program and wasn't cutting it? Why would you keep and older player with low-likelihood of impact and keep this Dean kid?
This just doesn't make sense to me. Granted, I think OSU does fishy stuff, I'm just not sold in this particular situation.
1. I think it would be even more bad publicity to pull a kid's schlolarship after his injury. It probably would have been a better move for the kid, but they would have gotten hammered in recruiting if they pulled a kid's scholarship for an injury.
2. You can't just cut any kid. A doctor has to sign off on a medical hardship waiver. Usually in these cases, both parties (the athlete and the coaches/medical staff) reach the decision together and amicably (like with Austin Hatch and some of the cases at Alabama). Some kids are just ready to stop playing due to injuries. I am guessing that there weren't any kids available that were ready to stop playing football or kids that he cut with cause (academics or conduct). And I would think it would be a lot harder to cut a kid who is an upperclassman that is working toward his degree.
By "cut" what I really meant was either: 1) put someone on a medical scholarship or 2) encourage him to transfer. We all know they are being cut. It's just being called something else.
What if there are no players on the roster that are ready to quit football or transfer? The players still have to agree to quit or leave. You can't force them out. What do you do then?
You do this.
From the article:
"A four-star recruit ranked the No. 32 corner in his class, Dean committed to Urban Meyer and Ohio State in early 2014, then enrolled in time for spring camp this past January. But the Buckeyes medical staff would not clear Dean to participate in practice, reportedly citing his 2013 ACL injury and other knee issues."
So OSU signed him *after* his ACL injury. Maybe he had those "other knee issues" after he signed? I agree that the differing medical diagnosises is troubling. I just wonder why offer the kid a scholly in the first place with his injury history? But looks like he was probably pushed out because it was expedient.
Recently I did some analysis of football scholly signings of various schools in the past four years and UM / MSU had in the low 80s, which makes sense given the 85 limit. OSU had 101 I think, which was comparible to LSU and some other SEC schools. Alabama was at around 105. These numbers seem pretty damning to me unless these schools just have some unusually high level of attrition.
The recruit was offered and committted to sign a long time ago, long before his knee injury. Jamel Dean committed to Ohio State in December 2013, over a year before he signed and enrolled.
Here is an article from Dec. 2013 when he first committed to OSU:
http://theozone.net/Ohio-State/Football/2015-2016/News/Jamel-Dean-Commits-to-Ohio-State
I understand the difference. I was relying on the article that the OP linked to be accurate when it said he "committed" in 2014. Given your link, it puts everything in a different light. Looks pretty obvious he was pushed out and they used the medical "evaluation" as an excuse. I just couldn't understand the motivation to offer an injured kid in the first place and then try to put him on a medical scholly, which was not the case.
No, thats one SEC school benefiting from another SEC school, hehe
Auburn more honorable than Ohio State*
*First time in the history of written language that sentence has ever been written.
and they bring up this story every game he plays in!
in the capital one bowl (or whatever the hell it is now), and this kid sticks it up OSU's ass with a couple of pick sixes. Or some scoops and scores. .. .
If UM can't spin this kind of stuff to their advantage, I'm going to be very disappointed in UM's recruiters. You can't let this go without exploiting it to your advantage.
Most recruits never think this is going to happen to them. This happens to the other kid, but not them. Until it actually happens to them.
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but parents do. It's a character issue, and Urban Meyer is a first rate slimeball.
Ya gotta get to the parents and ask them if they really want to let their kids play for someone with no morals like Meyer. Some will not care, but some will.
OSU offered to honor this kids scholarship and let him get a 6 figure education for free. As a parent, I'd be more concerned about a school letting my injured kid play and risk serious injury.
Which is why Michigan came under fire for how the Shane Morris situation was handled.
The OSU doctors and coaches are telling this kid he should NEVER play football again. This is different than trying to get an injured kid to play. No one is telling him to play right now. He needs more rehab. But to tell a kid right now that he should never play football again without giving rehab or another surgery a try at his age seems hard to imagine. He should have been given a fair shot to rehab and see if he could make it back. I'm betting he can play again. He may never be the highly rated recruit that OSU envisioned he would be, but that isn't the purpose of the medical hardship waiver.
Nothing about how this was handled looks like it was done for the best interest of the kid.
If you told 10 football recruits that you could not guarantee them a chance to compete, but you COULD guarantee them a free education, you would have 10 recruits signing elsewhere.
These kids commit with the (entirely justified) expectation that they will have the opportunity to play football, healthy permitting. If this kid was healthy enough to play, then saying OSU did right by him by giving him a free education is just a falsehood.
Shane Morris was not handled correctly and the Michigan community BLASTED Hoke for it.
Dean appears to be getting short-shrifted, and the OSU community refuses to even acknowledge wrong-doing.
Biggest thing is high school coaches. They are tremendously loyal to their kids and will not put up well with their players getting screwed over.
They are. Sounds like it turned off Onwenu towards them. If the Weber thing killed them from ever getting another Cass tech player I'll be happy.
Wonder what's so different about him now? Oh wait...
...is Buckeye Jon Ross? I guess he won't be commenting on this thread...
He's on some street corner somewhere shouting to the masses that OSU isn't oversigning.
I'm not suprised. Coaches like Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are at their schools to win football games. They are not there to produce upstanding young men or teach them life lessons. I doubt they even give a shit if they do good in school or go to classes, just be eligible.
College football is slimy and some coaches will manage their roster by any means to help create a roster that will win.
It's a miracle! He's been cured since OSU dumped him! Hallelujah!
Narrative of pushing this kid out for scholarship reasons doesn't make sense. Pretty sure OSU said they're already 1 below the limit coming out of spring camp.
If you're going to "process" a kid, it doesn't make sense to process a highly rated young player. You would cut a player who is an upperclassman who hasn't panned out.
Now if this kid blows out his knee (again) , Auburn is going to be a heap of trouble....
He claims to be cleared, but in the 247 article they cited his visit with Dr. Andrews from 4 months ago saying he would be cleared when he finishes rehab. Has he actually been cleared?
I don't think there is any question the kid needs rehab right now. But OSU is telling him he should never play football again and give up the sport now. Dr. Andrews is saying that it is too early to determine this. He needs to continue his rehab and there is good chance he should be able to work his way back to playing and participating with the team.
Michael Jordan this could be you! But serious, do recruits not see this? I know OSU won a championship, but there seems to be some slimy stuff that goes on there. Take notice recruits!
Most kids probably think this won't happen to them..... until it does!
Stop making sense. Urban is the devil.
It's amazing the lengths that people will go to to appear not biased by defending them when the evidence is right there. They are oversigned by a lot and need to make room for the players they signed last year such as Mike Weber.
No it isn't. People had to go because OSU oversigned badly. If you have to run some kids off, why not choose one that may never fully recover?
Dean's high school coach called the decision "ridiculous" and "totally wrong," citing an opinion from no less an authority than Dr. James Andrews that Dean would be capable of returning to action as soon as summer workouts.
Well, if you were going to get a thoughtful opinion on whether or not you might be able to play, that might be the person from whom you would get it. If indeed he is one of the doctors they consulted, then apparently Ohio State has someone even more experienced than that on staff, right? RIGHT? *crickets*
Right, because it's not like the kid's high school coach has any motivation to downplay his injuries. Not like he migh want to avoid any questions about whether he rushed he kid back after the first time he blew out his knee, thus contributing to he second knee injury.
Let's review the timeline of events:
1. Dean commits to OSU.
2. December 2013: Dean tears ACL. No big deal for OSU (see e.g. Barrett, JT).
3. Fall 2014: Dean comes back for senior year, plays all season.
4. December 2014: Dean tears his meniscus during his final game. Apparently the same knee as he previously injured.
5. January 2015, Dean early enrolls at OSU. This is the first time that OSU's physicians have been allowed to examine him. During his first week on campus, OSU's doctors determine he is medically unable to play football and refuse to clear him. Dean tweets about needing a meniscus transplant.
6. March/April 2015: Dean's coach publicly attacks OSU for hardshipping Dean, and claims (but does not seem to have provided copies) to have a second opinion from Dr. Andrews that Dean will be fine after a bit of rehab.
7. Dean goes to Auburn. It's unclear whether Auburn's doctors have medically cleared him, or whether they've even seen his MRIs.
Whatever helps you sleep at night, bro. Urban got caught in an oversigned situation he didn't expect to be in, and it is playing out like this. He is not someone with a track record of putting "the well being of student athletes" above one more kid he can stuff into an oversigned recruiting class. His shenanigans would be a little more believable had THREE kids who were well enough to play in the CFP finals not magically come down with career-ending injuries in less than a month before signing day.
The guy wins, enjoy it while you can, but don't believe for one second that he's a guy who is motivated by the welfare of anyone other than himself.
You might be right about the number. But I know for a fact that one of them, Armani Reeves, played in the game but was hurt (on a kickoff return I think) and didn't return. He sustained another concussion. Something he had a history of. That was the final blow. I don't see that as fishy at all.
As for the other two, I won't argue with you because I don't remember their specific situations.
Hmm your timeline seems to be missing the "Urban Meyer signs more scholarship athletes then he has avaliable scholarships for" on your timeline.
Can't imagine why you'd leave that piece of informaiton out.
I'm not an ortho but I could easily see how a complex tear that required total meniscectomy would be career ending(and considering there was talk about requiring a meniscus transplant something close to that is very possible in this case). Further injury of that joint could potentially be life-changing.