OT - Alabama TE/OL coach Cristobal leaving for Oregon

Submitted by PolskaPride on

Alabama TE/OL coach Mario Cristobal leaving to be Co-Offensive Coordinator at Oregon

He is a great recruiter for Bama so this may help Michigan with some prospects. Notably Malcolm Epps a 2018 TE and current Bama verbal commit.

EDIT: per Ryan Bartow on Twitter

MGoBoard

Cali's Goin' Blue

January 13th, 2017 at 2:04 PM ^

Twice in the last 3 years we have lost a recruiting battle because another team waits for players to enroll to announce that their primary recruiter/position coach is leaving. I don't know how a punishment would work for this, but maybe the player can transfer immediately, or get out of his LOI, if their position coach/head coach leaves for another job? Seems fair to the players, but I guess that isn't the NCAA's job

Joined: 02/02/2015

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ish

January 13th, 2017 at 12:35 PM ^

unlikely to matter for our 2017 class.  hopefully it helps going forward, although i imgine that we'll be in OL recruits oregon wants, just as with alabama.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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Lutha

January 13th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^

So Hello: Alex Leatherwood? Is he already enrolled? Thought Cristobal was his main tie to Bama.

 

EDIT: Too slow. Evidently I was thinking the exact same thing as the rest of you degenerates.

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ken725

January 13th, 2017 at 12:48 PM ^

Looks like his staff is coming together nicely. Taggart went and got himself a Samoan DL coach who played in the NFL.

Is Jim Leavitt considered to be part of Harbaugh's coaching tree?

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nerv

January 13th, 2017 at 12:52 PM ^

Everyone keeps saying Leatherwood, who was an EE, but why not give a call over to Jedrick Wills. We were in on him, he took a visit, he probably doesnt love the development of his coach leaving, & he would still be our highest rated OL recruit. Seems like anything 2017 would be a major long shot but if anyone could pull something out of his hat it would be Harbaugh.

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nerv

January 13th, 2017 at 1:06 PM ^

Well Im not certain but I think I may have said this would be extremely unlikely. Maybe Cristobal was a nonfactor for him... or maybe they were close. 

So it is probably not happening. But why not reach out, what is the downside? Imagine people speculating about recruiting on a college football blog. That is a crazy ass notion, huh?

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StayThirsty85

January 13th, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^

...inasmuch as he fast-tracked an in-home visit by OC Sark and G/C coach Brent Key to the Wills household in KY yesterday... the very first day of the Contact Period after the Dead Period and, whaddaya know(!), the day before the Cristobal news was to break publicly...

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Heptarch

January 13th, 2017 at 1:21 PM ^

I've always wondered about what emotional fulfillment naysayers get from always being pessimistic assholes.

Based on having read a variety of your posts, I feel at this point I can confidently say you're in a unique position to indulge my curiosity.

So what is it?  What do you get out of constantly being a prick?  Does it make you feel good about yourself to imply that you're better than those who disagree with you?  Do you just enjoy getting people to react to you?

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Don

January 13th, 2017 at 2:38 PM ^

While I also think it's unlikely that he'd leave a program in Alabama's position solely because of the departure of his position coach, it's a fact that for many recruits their position coach is a huge factor in where they commit. We lost Damien Harris because Borges got shown the door, and others downthread have already mentioned the Mike Weber/OSU kerfuffle.

It would be silly for Harbaugh and staff to assume out of the gate that the departure of any position coach at any school doesn't matter to a recruit, and if they think Cristobal's decamping for Eugene opens up a potential door for a recruit to come to Ann Arbor, they will pursue the possibility.

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StayThirsty85

January 14th, 2017 at 11:20 AM ^

...per Chris Kirschner at SECcountry (not $):

"Of note, Alex Leatherwood, the nation’s No. 2 offensive tackle, before early enrolling at Alabama, told SEC Country numerous times that if Cristobal did ever leave the school, he would have likely explored his options and re-opened his recruitment. He can’t do that now because he’s already at Alabama and has practiced with the team."

Alas.

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Squash34

January 13th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^

If the Wisconsin DC gets the Cal HC job, there is a very good chance that Tosh L also leaves bama to go back to his alma mater as the d cordnator. I am not quite sure if I was the cal ad I would allow him to come back after how he did them so dirty when he left for Washington. However, if it does happen that is a huge blow for the tides recruiting moving forward. Moreover, this would help with Michigan/Bama recruiting battles for west coast recruits.

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Cali's Goin' Blue

January 13th, 2017 at 2:09 PM ^

Let's not kid ourselves. It is Nick Saban and his track record of winning games and sending kids into the NFL that gets kids to go there, it's not some position coach who nobody heard of until he comes knocking on your door. Saban also hires some of the best recruiters in the country as assistant coaches, so there will not be a big drop off from Christobal to the next guy

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Squash34

January 13th, 2017 at 6:11 PM ^

And the recruits will come no matter what because of saban, why does he go out that are know as the best recruiters? It is because he knows how important it is to get guys that are known for being elite recruiters from areas outside of their traditional recruiting grounds. Christobal is considered to be the best recruiter in the nation for the south Florida area. Whereas, Tosh is know for being one of, if not the best recruiter of the west coast. In fact, tosh was brought to bama largely because of his recruiting. With saban being a defensive guy he can afford to get a younger position coach that may not be skilled as a position coach, but us an elite recruiter of California kids. Sure, bama will get high quality kids. But losing 2 of the best recruiters in the country will hurt them. They will still land rediculous classes but will lose out on some elite kids from the west coast and south Florida because of this.

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