UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[hack]

He's cute.

LOL! Even better.

[Masspartan]

Congrats! Thailand is on the list.

Thanks and if you go I'll be happy to share my limited knowledge. Michigan fan or not, lol.

[Mike]

So Swenson will receive a full ride scholarship to Northwestern and I'm supposed to feel sorry for him? I'll be sure to reserve some sympathy for him when my wife and I make our student loan payments next month.

[The Oracle]

Right.

[WM Wolverine]

People lose academic scholarships when they slack off their last semester of high school.

[edindetroit]

People lose academic scholarships when they slack off their last semester of high school.

Thought he had arrived and slacked off?

[WM Wolverine]

Well he committed to a different coaching staff, Harbaugh tried to get the kid on campus to do camps and evaluate him. They didn't like what they saw in his highlights. Point is, you have to earn scholarships until you actually sign the LOI.

[WM Wolverine]

Ditto for Harding too.

[jaadam4]

hope you had a fun trip Mass

[UMStan White]

She rivals Rocky's pic Mass

[Da Geezer]

Ya, Mass. Tell her the boys at the forum approve.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Froot's analogy re Trump is spot on. JH doesn't give a shit what his critics put out there. He gets press. Despite Trump's occasionally outrageous positions, he's on the brink of being the Pub's presidential nominee. JH will be similarly successful at M.

When JH was with SF he had plenty of critics. He ignored them. When SF was winning, criticism fell on deaf ears.

While I get the handwringing about culling and the valid arguments about perceptions, by July, all of this is going to be forgotten and like SF, nobody is going to be listening. If M wins big, which I suspect Harbaugh believes they will in 2016, the press will be suggesting COTY honors not criticizing his recruiting tactics.

M fans wanted wins. You build a winning team in today's CFB world by optimizing your roster with talented players committed to developing themselves with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. There are not a lot of HS players like that out there.

I see the benefit of treating recruiting as a tryout. Give them contingent offers (probably what Swenson got) then have candidates prove they want to play for JH at M. If they demonstrate they don't have the talent or desire, there's nothing wrong with culling. This way, coaches who choose this approach are in control for the most part, not having 18 year olds and their handlers jerking them around.

Hello from Boracai, Republic of the Philippines.

[Pasadena Blue]

I agree ... but I don't see a reason not to use this year to learn from .. I think the same results could have been achieved with less negativity oozing out.

[drok]

Jeff - I don't disagree with the notion that we need the best players to win big. And culling players is fine. But I don't think those goals and methods are at odds with being transparent about a recruit's chances and specific targets to get in the class. And when the scholarship IS actually pulled, the head coach can have the decency to call the recruit instead of through an assistant. There's two sides to the story of course, but I think more clarity to 18 year olds doesn't require more effort, doesn't detract from the program goals and in the end is just the right thing to do.

[froot loops]

There is one caveat to that Jeff. This is something that you don't want to make a common practice. Right now he is dealing with Hoke's players and some of Home's commits so he still has a grace period. If he is pushing out 5th year seniors, forcing medical scholarships and yanking commitments late in the process every year it willwow tiresome. You bring up SF he didn't care and won, but they committed franchise suicide to be rid of him by year 4.