Rashad Weaver Decommits

Submitted by JR's Flow on

https://twitter.com/R_Weaver80/status/691808427765534721

 

I'm sure there will be more mudslinging from this one.

 

EDIT: For those who didn't click the link, he says that JH says they didn't know if they would have room for him and ultimately offered him a PWO. He does thank JH and UofM for the opportunity. Not as bad as Swenson, but some will overreact to it. 

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Albatross

January 26th, 2016 at 9:41 AM ^

Then I suppose Jourdan Lewis, Jabrill Peppers, Jake Butt, Jehu Chessen, De'Veon Smith, Will Henry, Maurice Hurst, Chris Wormley, Sione Houma, the Glasgow brothers and everyone else on the team not named Jake Rudock, had nothing to do with the success. Nor does a roster coming back that will nearly exclusively be Hoke recruits have anything to do with being so highly ranked going into next year.

If you asked Harbaugh, i think he would tell you he would be ecstatic if he could recruit a defensive line as good as the one he has, or have a TE as good as Butt, or a lock down corner as great as Lewis, or as dynamic a player as he has in Peppers.

I never felt talent was an issue with Hoke, it was his coaching. He was an exceptional recruiter and he would have recruited even better if his coaching was on par.

The topic at hand is simple. Do you need to conduct recruiting this way in order to win? I do not see any benefit the way Harbaugh is going about recruiting. He seems to have a bottom up approach. You target big fish, if you miss out on them to slowly move your way down the priority list. If you really wanted Weaver in the class, it wouldn't have been hard for you to beat out Temple for him even this late in the game.

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Albatross

January 25th, 2016 at 10:50 PM ^

If anyone thinks we have some exclusive pipeline to Cass Tech any longer hasn't been paying attention. We have lost as many or more Cass Tech players then we get. It will be interesting to see what happens with Peoples-Jones, he is usally the type of player we would have a big lead on considering his circumtances. I haven't heard him him talking about Michigan as a leader, which gives me some pause.

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SC Wolverine

January 26th, 2016 at 1:11 AM ^

Let's all cut JH a little slack.  I think this is exactly what it looks like.  Harbaugh made a mistake in underestimating our recruiting this year and he gave offers to guys he shouldn't have.  Meanwhile, he asks the players to give their all for the team and he is trying to give his all to the team as well.  We'll see if this is a long-term problem.  My bet is that it isn't.  So let's a) wait til all the info is out on this situation (like Swenson), and b) cut Jim a little slack and see how it plays out of a few years.

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Erik_in_Dayton

January 25th, 2016 at 9:33 PM ^

I really don't like the long period of no contact.* I also wonder whether Coach Harbaugh has fully adjusted to our current era of social media. This stuff is bad PR at the very least. *Yes, we only have one side of the story, but this appears to be a common Harbaugh behavior toward lower-rated recruits.

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SpikeFan2016

January 26th, 2016 at 12:05 AM ^

The problem I have is with offering these kids in the first place. 

 

Maybe Harbaugh thought we weren't going to have as many options as we do now, or maybe he just wanted to get publicity during his tour, but in the future he should not offer 2/low 3 stars until the last week of January in the instance that we actually need them. 

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AnthonyThomas

January 25th, 2016 at 9:59 PM ^

The drama surrounding NSD now was mostly the same four years ago from what I remember. But Stanford students and alumni aren't exactly known for their sports passion. Especially considering where that program was before Harbaugh arrived. This kind of stuff would've totally blown over without anyone hardly noticing, probably. 

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gustave ferbert

January 25th, 2016 at 9:51 PM ^

but at the same time, it's not like it was under Hoke where he insisted that recruits are done taking visits if they commit.  

You always need to keep your options open.  that's how it is in life.  Or at least in business. 

Onwenu just took a visit to MSU.  Jordan Elliott looks like he is flipping again.  JH seems to allow these players to at least keep their options open. 

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LSAClassOf2000

January 25th, 2016 at 10:49 PM ^

As an aside to this, I never understood Hoke trying to force meaning into the notion of "verbal commitment" and I do not understand people who use them for character assessment of kids rather than what they are - the tangible construct created to assess class size. As I am sure many here realize, they in fact mean nothing and are neither binding to the player or the coach, but yet many act as if they are. 

If nothing else, Harbaugh seems to at least get that on the surface (I am guessing based on behavior, so I might be wrong there), which might be part of the perception issues that some are having. In reality, the door of potential commitment is by definition open until you sign the grant-in-aid (I will not condone signing an LOI for various reasons, but same thing - that ties you to the school officially per the NCAA). 

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Everyone Murders

January 26th, 2016 at 8:42 AM ^

LSACLassOf2000 notes

As I am sure many here realize, they in fact mean nothing and are neither binding to the player or the coach, but yet many act as if they are.

I agree that "commitments" are not binding on the player or the coach.  Given the nature of NSD, that's axiomatic - and more than fair to point out that it's a two-way street.

I disagree with the former part of that assertion, though.  Commitments should mean something and in most cases do mean something.  That's the crux of the arguments that we're seeing in response to Weaver, Swenson, etc. being squeezed out.  And that's the part Harbaugh should focus on more.

That's not to say that Weaver, Swenson, and any other kid who doesn't hear from the coaching staff for 6 months shouldn't be looking.  But Harbaugh's staff does recruiting virtually every day of the year over many years, while the kids and their coaches have nowhere near the same experience.  So it seems to be incumbent upon Harbaugh and his staff to be forthright with these kids as early as possible. 

These late January break-ups are not a good look for the program, and the problem is avoidable with full disclosure to the recruits and their coaches.*   If the coaches are up front about cooling interest, and give the players sufficient lead time, I've got no problem with them changing horses.

*Bearing in mind that it's possible that Harbaugh and Co. have been pretty blunt, and certain players have been frustratingly slow to absorb the message.  Six months without contact isn't a red flag.  It's a red flashing beacon with a siren.

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LSAClassOf2000

January 26th, 2016 at 9:31 AM ^

*Bearing in mind that it's possible that Harbaugh and Co. have been pretty blunt, and certain players have been frustratingly slow to absorb the message. Six months without contact isn't a red flag. It's a red flashing beacon with a siren.

This is where I think I get hung up in this ongoing story and it probably colors my interpretation of events somewhat. It is difficult for me to believe that this particular staff -as organized as they seem to be -  would overlook the need for timely communication, which I entirely agree should be part of the process. If they did, then that is a problem and it does need to be worked on because - as in most circles - that does create some perception issues and can easily be interpreted as having an intent that doesn't exist. 

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JFW

January 25th, 2016 at 9:33 PM ^

Good luck to him. After Swensen I'm going to assume good intentions unless facts come out saying the coaching staff screwed him. Too much he said/they said in all this.

He sounds like a nice kid. I wish him all the best.



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AnthonyThomas

January 25th, 2016 at 9:33 PM ^

I really have no concrete opinion on the ethical issues of these decommittments, but stopping contact with commits for a long period of time and then telling them there may not be a spot for them a few weeks before signing day doesn't make the program look good in the eyes of future recruits. There's gotta be a smoother way of doing this.

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901 P

January 25th, 2016 at 10:03 PM ^

I agree. And it seems like many posters keep saying that we should wait for the whole story, that there might be more to it, that we should give Harbaugh the benefit of the doubt, etc. I mean, every case is complex, and no single instance is as black-and-white as it sometimes seems. But at this point isn't it pretty clear that this is part of Harbaugh's recruiting strategy? (People here often like to say, "where there's smoke there's fire." There's been an awful lot of smoke in our recruiting lately--good and bad.)

I guess I don't mind if some people are for it and some are against it, but we should be honest about what is going on. Harbaugh's approach to recruiting is different from what we've had in the past, and I think we would all agree it's a little more . . . cutthroat? (That's a loaded term, but I'm too lazy to search Thesaurus.com for something more neutral.) This clearly may lead to a stronger class, but I think we do need to consider the potential fallout as well.

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Elmer

January 25th, 2016 at 9:34 PM ^

I really hope the coaching staff changes this type of recruiting.

A.  Don't accept commitments in the summer from lower level recruits during a camp.  We didn't keep any of them.

B.  If we have to part company, please tell the kid as early as possible.

 

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Hail Harbo

January 25th, 2016 at 9:36 PM ^

His tweet suggests that he never received an official offer, or if he was, that he wasn't academically eligible.  I mean who gray shirts or gives a PWO to a four star that isn't otherwise qualified?

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