TomVH: RB Bri'Onte Dunn Offered
I normally wouldn't start another thread on this, but the other thread got out of hand, which you can see here. MGoUser chewieblue mentioned a rumor about Bri'Onte Dunn being offered by Michigan.
I spoke with Glen Oak High School AD Scott Garcia who confirmed that rumor that Michigan has offered Dunn, who is currently an Ohio State commitment. Garcia didn't know too much about the impact it would have, or what Dunn was feeling right now. He did say that Bri'Onte talked to him about the offer and that he was definitely excited about it. It's interesting to say the least that Michigan would offer him if they didn't think they had a chance. We'll see what happens from here.
February 17th, 2011 at 12:13 PM ^
Didn't chewie state that it wasn't a rumor? That he was positive about his claim?
February 17th, 2011 at 1:47 PM ^
Rumor here (in Canton, OH) is that Dunn, the OSU verbal commit, will be offered as soon as possible. Considered a heavy Ohio lean, but the new coaches and offense in AA might be enticing.
February 17th, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
February 17th, 2011 at 12:15 PM ^
Bri'Onte Dunn is a big time football name. I can just imagine the announcers having fun yelling it.
February 17th, 2011 at 12:18 PM ^
I Dunn'o what you're talking about.
February 17th, 2011 at 12:19 PM ^
February 17th, 2011 at 1:52 PM ^
"We're sailing into a shit typhoon Randy, we'd better haul in the jib before it gets covered in shit"
February 17th, 2011 at 12:21 PM ^
He did state it was a rumor. The point I challenged him on (and will also ask Tom about) is why do we think we even have a shot at him? I live really close to Canton and EVERYTHING I've heard about this kid and from this kid screams "Buckeye" and nowhere else.
I would love it if he came north - I just hadn't heard or read anything that indicated he was even considering the option. So that's why I asked - not to challenge the rumor that he was offered - I challenged the rumor he was considering accepting the offer.
February 17th, 2011 at 12:57 PM ^
I wonder if this is Hoke going into Ohio and making a statement to osu that "I'm not scared of you, not going to back down and everything between us will be a fight." He seems like the type that's not scared of a challenge, grew up in Ohio and realizes how fertile this area is to recruit.
I like saying F@#$ you Tressel, I'm coming after this guy & if you aren't all over him I'm going to take him from you.
Or this simply could be making a name for himself with these programs. By doing this he is putting his name out there with the players and coaches which only helps future recruiting.
February 17th, 2011 at 1:04 PM ^
I agree completely with you here. I'm sure hoke knows that all he has to do is take one kid that is a strong OSU lean and bring him to Michigan this year to at least put the thought in future prospects minds. OSU does already have Warren Ball as an RB recruit from the state of Ohio--maybe Michigan can show Brionte the love and convince him he has a much greater chance to play here.
February 17th, 2011 at 12:26 PM ^
Can't be!
February 17th, 2011 at 12:28 PM ^
...that Coach Hoke is not letting the word "committed" stop him from offering high caliber student-athletes. I am all for offering a scholarship to any player who has been properly evaluated by the coaching staff. That said, if any other institution wants to try to offer UM's verbal commits, go for it and let the best man win.
February 17th, 2011 at 1:00 PM ^
So he's not honoring the gentlemens agreement either?
February 17th, 2011 at 1:12 PM ^
snake oil
February 17th, 2011 at 4:12 PM ^
February 17th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^
Interesting...I have to assume that there must be a lil bit o' luv there, I cant see us wasting time on kids we have 0% with but stranger things that have happened.
February 17th, 2011 at 12:56 PM ^
I think it's great that Michigan is making a lot of scholarship offers, especially with high quality players. What have we got to lose? Just a piece of paper and maybe FedEx cost. I'd rather see us casting a wide net regionally and nationally to see what really good players want to come here rather than being tightwads with the offers and having to scramble at the last minute to fill the class with so-so guys. Of course it could kind of backfire and we might have to turn some guys away, but that would be a nice problem to have. Just my opinion.
February 17th, 2011 at 1:36 PM ^
Did you hear that Tressel may soon be retiring? I did. And if Dunn were to believe this, that much better for us. Look what happened with Carr's last few years, when word got around he would be leaving. Tressel picked up all the scraps and now has been cleaning up. Well, now its our turn. We have the much younger coach in Hoke, with far more long term stability, who will be here at least 8 years. Did I say yet that Tressel soon may be retiring? Spread the news.
February 17th, 2011 at 1:40 PM ^
Some of these higher-end recruits might not be ready to look hard at Michigan right now, but the reality is that this year's team might be good, even great, if just a few things on defense can get straightened out.
I'm so shell-shocked after the defensive collapse at the end of last season that I'll believe it when I see it, but surely some of the returning first-year starters on defense are going to make significant leaps in their second years, right? So I'm saying there's a chance, and Hoke is trying to get into position to exploit that momentum if it happens -- the media will eat it up ["Michigan is back!"], and a lot of tickets to Bolivian will be punched around here as morons argue about who should get the credit. Like I give a fuck. It's about what Hoke does with it, not how it came to be.
February 17th, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^
"Some of these higher-end recruits might not be ready to look hard at Michigan right now"
That is wrong. Now is the time they will look hard at Michigan. They have a coach with stability, and there is good chance of early playing time.
February 17th, 2011 at 2:22 PM ^
They have a coach with stabilityLet's wait a couple of years first.
February 18th, 2011 at 4:48 PM ^
Just because you want something to be true, doesn't make it so.
February 17th, 2011 at 1:53 PM ^
But I wouldn't hold my breath, given this nugget from the espn camp article linked on the previous thread:
Bri'onte Dunn, RB
(Canton, Ohio/Glenoak)
He committed early to Ohio State but in today's world of recruiting, do early commitments even mean anything any more? They do to Dunn, who showed up in Buckeyes gear from head to toe and said he's rock solid to Ohio State, has no interest in checking out other schools and will only take one official visit this fall and that's to Ohio State. The reason he committed early was to get the process over with and behind him, and he doesn't want to be contacted by any other schools.
As far as getting truly competitive with Tressel in recruiting Ohio goes, it will only happen when, and if, we start beating Ohio State. A single victory in the next five years won't do it; it will take two victories in four years, or better. That may be a tall order for Hoke & Co., but that's what the situation is. Bo was able to open up the spigot of Ohio talent so quickly in part because he won the first two out of three games against OSU, and also because of his deep roots in the state. Having Hoke be an Ohio native might be as important as anything else on his resume.
February 17th, 2011 at 2:23 PM ^
Agree but in that scenario, absolutely nothing to lose by offering him. Doesn't want attention, doesn't want a visit, etc. Absolutely no downside unless someone's going to claim Tressel wins this "recruiting battle" vs. Hoke (which, LOL).
And UM doesn't need to equal OSU in Ohio recruiting (an impossible task) but just take a few players here and there. If UM could get at least two or three guys with OSU offers out of Ohio each year, that would go a long way to improving things.
February 17th, 2011 at 1:57 PM ^
Here's what this offer does:
If nothing else, you force OSU to spend time on him to make sure they get him and in turn they cannot spend time on someone else. Recruiting time is pushed the way it is and every minute they have to spend with someone takes away from someone else. Recruiting time is a zero sum game and the more you make them spend time on a guy who has always been a Buckeye, the more advantage you have on others. If for some reason this kid changes his mind, you win again. There is no risk in this, IMO.
February 17th, 2011 at 2:01 PM ^
On Bri'onte's Facebook page he announced that Hoke had spoke with him and offered. His father Brion Dunn then replied simply "Let's go visit". Again it's the facebook of a high school kid, so take it for what it's worth.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=729182043&aid=243073#!/profile.php…
February 17th, 2011 at 2:01 PM ^
I love the Hudson Explorers. Great Soccer in your city, as well as a nice little connection to the infamous John Brown.
Seriously, you are right. We have no way of knowing if this will pay off in a commitment from a top level recruit, but rather that it's nice to see our staff chasing Buckeye commits. I do know a guy close to the program and he says the kid is more open to recruitment than he is letting on.
February 17th, 2011 at 2:24 PM ^
I like Hoke making all of these offers to top tier talent. We're not going to get any if we don't offer. And I also like him doing it for an OSU commit. At a minimum, will force OSU to spend more time babysitting their recruit... if not, maybe the door cracks open and Hoke squeezes his big butt thru.
February 17th, 2011 at 4:33 PM ^
Or during Tressel's era as OSU coach, has he ever offered or "gone after" a recruit who had already committed to Michigan?
February 17th, 2011 at 4:55 PM ^
I think the new NCAA rules have kind of changed things. These kids can't even get actual official written offers until this coming August. Nothing is really set in stone.
February 17th, 2011 at 7:05 PM ^
None of these kids have real offers right now, so it's really not that extreme to gauge his interest. Especially being the second RB in the OSU class already.
The staff definitely wants to get one big bruising back in this class, and there aren't many eligible ones to choose from.
February 18th, 2011 at 10:41 AM ^
...but you guys have no shot with Dunn. None. Until Hoke beats Tressel on the field for a few years, your success against him in head-to-head recruiting will be few and far between. His Ohio roots will help marginally, but in the end, the only reason you guys will have good top-shelf recruits out of Ohio for a while will be if we don't have enough scholarships to go around like in 2012.
February 18th, 2011 at 3:11 PM ^
i dont believe tressel would do such a thing and go after a committed player, i believe some see it as "class-less." From what i understand they offered two players so far in the 2012 class who committed elsewhere and are no longer recruiting them in he least bit. Yes i know offers cant officially go out until later this year,but from what i heard this past year in recruiting, only when players open their recruitment back up or contact tOSU does tressel listen. He is not a coach that is known for pressuring players to come to tOSU so i cannot believe he would contact/let alone offer a kid. Their all-world linebacker recruit Curtis Grant said earlier this month that tressel was the only coach that recruited him whodid not pressure him what-so-ever and let him make up his own mind. It may not sound like much but that kind of attitude goes a long way with recruits, especially after Brionte said a few days earlier that he did not want other schools to contact/bother him. If you look i dont think they would want players from Michigan anyways or who are comitted to michigan, not trying to say anything about Michigan football, but if you look at their roster they have a total of six players from michigan. I think we need to build more competitive high school players from a younger age. How great would it be if we didnt have to take any players from Ohio, they feel they do not want many players from Michigan so shouldnt we do the same and stop going after Ohio recruits...show them what we got. I hate tOSU so why do i want players from Ohio. I think Hoke could make a statement by not going after players in Ohio like tressel does, to kind of say we dont want players from Ohio anyways. All i see on here is people bashing Ohio so why do we go after their players? I dont see the logic?