Which recruits do we get because Urb's scandal?
Zach’s Harrison is the major one. It’s hard to imagine his parents wanting him to play for OSU now.
Steele Chambers was also a guy we were somewhat in on who is committed to OSU
I wouldn’t worry about it for now, let’s see how it all plays out.
"It’s hard to imagine his parents wanting him to play for OSU now."
That's what everybody said about playing for Penn State, and what many here have said about playing for MSU. People in general have an amazing ability to disregard or compartmentalize negative information.
What's the coach-speak? You play for the school not for the coach.
His parents are buckeye fans........ i'm guessing this won't change their opinion.
The timing couldn't be any worse for OSU.
They're going into camp without their head coach and with an investigation queued up. What happens if other coaches are implicated and canned in the next month or two?
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People compartmentalize things.
If they still want him to go to OSU, it will be a "Meyer issue" and not an institutional issue. "We still like OSU as a school and what they stand for. We don't like what Urban Meyer stood for but he's not around anymore."\
Or if Meyer is retained after their investigation (for that to happen you have to imagine OSU will come out and go over the top to say Meyer is squeaky clean because anything less than that will be a fireable degree) then they'll all ignore it.
A stated reason for them favoring OSU is they liked the coaches.
Sure, people that like OSU will still have reasons to like them. But if what we heard was true, that Harrison's parents were pushing OSU and he wanted to go elsewhere, the parents' argument just got a lot weaker.
I know a number of Michigan fans insist on being pessimistic. If they were OSU fans, they would be writing off Harrison today.
O sure, but I find myself to be more pragmatic than pessimistic (the asshole way of saying I'm cynical).
It would not surprise me to see the tune change from "we likef the coaches" to "we've always valued the education (and whatever else) OSU provides."
It's a moving target for some people. Coaches screw up. "We care about the school". In MSU's case, both screw up and people find a different reason to still support it.
August 2nd, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
Let's be realistic here. If there is truly a conflict between parents pushing OSU and kid wanting UM/PSU, why the delay in his announcement?
Kid was ready to announce for OSU, but has second thoughts. It's his choice, not his parents'.
Kid was ready to announce for UM/PSU but parents convinced him to wait, give OSU another chance.
The kid decided the choice was just too close to decide now.
While the parents may well still favor OSU, they weren't able to persuade Zach so far. Their arguments just got a lot weaker. Remember too that a big reason the kid said he liked OSU was Larry Johnson. His future is uncertain. His own reasons for choosing OSU have gotten weaker, not just the ones his parents would push.
If he had already committed to OSU, then I'd be inclined to agree. The parents and the kid would all have reasons to defend that decision.
August 2nd, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
It's not a given that he goes Blue at all.
But it's hard not to see him in Ann Arbor when it was essentially a coin toss BEFORE this.
If Michigan is smart and I am sure they are they are not rushing in on this with both current and potential recruits. I would not bring this up at all ever and let it marinate a bit before any contact.
I don't see anything wrong with bringing it up. This is competition. If your opponent has a weakness, exploit it.
On the contrary, I would see something wrong if Michigan did not seize the opportunity.
I don't know how often these kids get contacted, but I agree that letting this breath a little and not looking like an opportunistic ambulance chaser is the better choice here. If they contact kids daily, then keep contacting them, but only bring this up if it is brought up by the kid for at least a week.
August 2nd, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
Call PJ Fleck. Dude contacted a recruit every half hour for weeks on text message. Like clock work! Recruit was a 4* and was finally annoyed and chose a different school.
You don't exploit it by attacking the coach or program they chose. There is no need to bring this up. Michigan will be far from the only program interested in their recruits.
Just let them know you're still interested. Tell them how they fit into your recruiting class now. Sell your own school and program.
I'm not sure there are any good candidates to flip. We weren't the second or third choice for any of their commits as far as I know. Other than Chambers and Harry Smith, were we even recruiting any of them? I'd reach out to 2020 OT Paris Johnson.
It should help with Keegan and Harrison. If we get both, that's a very good outcome.
August 2nd, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
We may not have been a 2nd or even 3rd choice but could seriously reset the entire deck. Time has passed and slots have been filled.
I will be extremely disappointed if UM uses this situation to negatively recruit against Ohio State. We are better than that.
If OSU fires Urban, this shouldn't be leveraged. If they decide to keep him? It needs to be the first thing discussed.
They don't have to focus on the actual investigation and the horrible domestic issues surrounding all parties. In the event Urban gets canned, I'd look at facts:
1. No HC in place or an interim HC a recruit probably doesn't know that well.
2. Will there be any changes in philosophy and playing style.
3. If the situation lingered into the actual season and they play poorly, would that have an affect?
Some might call it negative recruiting but outlining the facts to potential recruits can benefit us without getting into all the nuts and bolts of a very serious, bad situation.
Ugh. Can we not have this post? First, no one has been fired yet. Second, it looks terribly pathetic to be excited as to what recruits we might scoop up. Let's just do what we do and worry about getting our team and program to the highest level it can be.
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Seriously, if your first thought was "recruiting advantage" after news broke, you need to rethink your priorities...
It was absolutely my 1st thought. I'm not gonna lie. Urban's first thought was not the welfare of Courtney Smith, so fuck him and that program. That guy has been getting away with shady shit since he left Utah.
*Looks at MGoPoints*
Why am I not surprised?
Yeah. Some things in life are bigger than football. Meyer has spent his career harboring criminals and abusers, now apparently covering for them too.
He’s taught them that there are virtually no consequences for their actions as long as they remain productive on the field and win football games.
It is much more important that a person like that is no longer in a position to be a mentor and role model for teenagers as they transition into adulthood and join the real world than it is to say “how does this help us get their recruits” or anything related to what is in reality a meaningless game.
There are things in life that are more important than football. This is one of them.
It’s a blog, it’s speculation, I think the post is fine. It’s not like we are the ones making the decisions or calling the potential recruits. Just my opinion.
1. It's posts like these - ones that miss the point - that gives the blog a bad rap.
2. Why does the question even need to be asked? The ONLY answer to this is, "at worst, it has no effect."
I think that sentiment is only conjured up in the minds of those who place way too much importance on this message board. It's a message board, dude. Get out and play a round of golf with a nice cigar.
August 2nd, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
If you say you haven't thought about how this benefits UofM, then you are lying to yourself, and the people in this thread. I do agree with you in a way, however. I would prefer we refrain from this kind of thread, because it's a bad look and is insensitive in a way.
In the end, it's a sports blog, and people come here to talk about sports. I'm not going to judge anyone for doing so.
August 2nd, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
I'm not going to say either of you are wrong. A little part of me did wonder how it benefited Michigan, but I didn't really dwell on that. As what's been said before, there's more to life than sports...
To be honest, it's very likely that I'm placing too much stock into a message board. I just don't want the standard on this blog to be, "something horrible happened with a rival school, lets see how this benefits Michigan." But seeing how many controversies/scandals have popped up in the Big Ten the last several years, it's bound to happen. I'm more pissed off about that than anything else, actually...
And, personally, I see this blog as a University of Michigan blog, not JUST a sports blog. But that's just like my opinion, man.
August 2nd, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Again agree with you. We are here because of Michigan football first and foremost...everyone know s what happened sucks. So are we not to think about ANYTHING else except the victim(s)? Yeah right...I hope their recruiting class falls apart and they collapse as a team this year. A lot of the kids that like OSU though, like the culture there, and it's different than Michigan, so Michigan probably isn't a 2nd choice for a good bit of their recruits.
and it would only be payback when Urban had feasted off of the PSU scandal when he first got to O$U.
This should help with that young man Harrison shouldn't it?
My fear is that this benefits PSU more than us w/ Harrison and other candidates.
Not after we hammer them in AA this year and make the playoffs.
August 2nd, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
It helps both, but in my opinion is better for Michigan. The reason for that is proximity to home, which is a major part of why the only schools Zach is considering are all in the same region. Ann Arbor is, if I remember this correctly, approximately 2.5 hours from home vs. around 6 hours from home for Penn St. Maybe his parents hate Michigan due to their OSU fandom or for whatever reason hate Harbaugh, but if proximity to home is more important than who you root for or root against on a typical Saturday, then Michigan likely benefits more from this. Especially if Zach does in fact favor Michigan personally.
Then again, it's all just speculation. We will find out soon enough.
I love how some people are jumping on the OP for posting this, when in reality the only reason any of us Michigan fans care is because of 'sports'... If we didn't care about Michigan football no one here would be reading this story or given it a second thought....
You're projecting. Stick to speaking for yourself and leave us out of your "guilt by association" crap so you don't have to feel like you're the only sociopathic asshole in the room.
lol.... wow... Oh Holier than thou...
There were multiple posts about the Baylor/Briles situation. That had no tie to the Michigan program.
I've hated Urban since he's been at Florida for being a shitty human being and him being at OSU made me hate them more in all honesty. I hope Urban gets what should've come to him years ago
Checking my list of priorities right now. Lessee. . .
- Safety of Courtney Smith and her children
- Extent of the scandal (anyone else at risk?)
- Any precedents set by action or inaction
- Zach Smith's fate (already fired but he shouldn't work again)
- Urban Meyer's fate (see #3)
- . .
Nope, extremely stupid, insensitive and psychotic thoughts by ldevon1 isn't on there. I'm going to continue to focus on other things, thank you very much.
Dude get off of your high horse. It's a sports blog about UM athletics. You, nor I have any say in how this situation was or will be handled. I'm sure you have had numerous sleepless nights worrying about Courtney Smith and her kids, but in the end, what has that done for her? Extent of scandal? She was in an abusive relationship, and it was covered up. This isn't Larry Nassar all over again. Take a xanax and move on.
Did you make some calls down to Courtney to see if everything is okay? , sorry dude, it just sounds a bit dramatic with all the virtue signalling.
I personally didn't even read all the details of the case, it's a sad situation no doubt but there are multiple authorities and agencies working through the situation. My first thought after thinking "beating his wife, people knew about it?" was "how does this effect Michigan football?" which is pretty much why most are here and no I don't they're not psychotic for wondering how this situation will be resolved.
I couldn't begin to guess at who or how many, but I always wonder just how much even something as awful as this story would dissuade recruits from a particular school - OSU, MSU, PSU or any school that has had a massive scandal with accompanying fallout, or anticipated fallout in OSU's case. I wonder this because people have an amazing - or annoying, depending on how you view it - ability to not allow even stories like this one in Columbus to change their mind ultimately.
This is true, but while recruits might not bail because of a scandal, they absolutely might because of a coaching change. If a bunch of Urb’s staff leave too, you might see a big hit to their 2019 class. Whether any of them flip to UM is another matter.
Nope,
this is a bad post OP and you should feel bad.
I feel bad that the world we live in now, doesn't allow people on a sports blog to wonder how something that happens a a rival university, will affect their university? I didn't disparage anyone, I didn't even make a determination on guilt or innocence. I just wondered, what I'm sure a lot of sports fans were thinking. Does this put a dent in the OSU recruiting dominance. If you don't want to participate in the discussion, move on, but don't tell me how I should feel, or I must be psychotic for asking such a question. Take your moral outrage out on the police or authorities in Columbus, or the OSU athletic dept, or even Zach Smith.
August 2nd, 2018 at 11:45 AM ^
I... sort of agree.
Not saying the folks aren't sincere in their empathy but the amount of immediate and direct outcry that all Michigan fans need to only think about those involved is palpable at best. It's not like the OP said "I don't care about the victim, only the possible recruits".
Yes it's a little overzealous that within 24 hours of the news breaking this is what he's thinking of but the blind, automatic mention "that we should only think of the victims of this trying time" almost seems like a formality anymore. Of course we should think of the victims. You're a human and anyone with half a brain knows this situation is horrible especially since it could've been stopped much earlier. If someone wants to approach it from another angle without being inflammatory, go for it.
Hardly important now.
This post made me think of a cartoon that seems to best represent fans and coaches of other Big Ten colleges. Hard to deny it...
