UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Hannibal]

Part of it, maybe a huge part of it, is driven by asshole "M" fans who have been tweeting at him. Now he has taken to antagonizing them. It's a real destructive loop.

That truly does suck.

Reason #171 why twitter adds no value to society.

[Mike]

Eric Dickerson was committed to Texas AM.

Yep. And he drove that gold "Trans A&M" to Dallas when he signed his contract to play for SMU. Of course, that was back in the free-wheeling days of Southwest Conference FAs.

[Rocky Bleier]

This from Ace at MGOBLOG:

"The thing is, in both cases where Michigan has parted ways with a recruit due to this policy?Pharaoh Brown and David Dawson?it was clear that there was contact with other schools going on without the knowledge of the coaches, which may be the reason why neither had/has the option of returning. Conley has been very up front about his intentions; it's possible that because of his situation (committing without visiting other schools) and his being so forward about his plans, the coaches treat his matter differently from Brown/Dawson."

"Cass Tech's coach, Thomas Wilcher, made it very clear that Michigan no longer will recruit Dawson. Considering it's very likely he contacted Florida to set up visits multiple times without informing Michigan's coaches, I'm not at all surprised that's how they're handling the situation, and I think it's the best way to go about it for the sake of the team, the current commits, and the prospects they're going after."

[hack]

Sounds like a key distinction -- being upfront about it or doing it on the sly.

Mgoblog says Conley's not set up any visits yet.

[WM Wolverine]

Conley visiting Ohio

[hack]

This will be an interesting test of Hoke's rule.

[iam416]

I saw that. Apparently Conley also thinks M will pull his offer. Or something.

Don't know where Conley ends up. I guess Oregon, OSU or M.

[hack]

Any info you have warmly welcomed here. This, more than some of the others, is going to be an interesting one for me. It's different if a kid wants to go to Florida like Dawson, visits in secret like Brown, etc. Conley seems up front and is being courted by M's main rival. What will Hoke do?

Is the desire to play WR a factor, or is he happy at CB where M recruited him?

McQuay is a factor -- if he's ready to commit, that may influence how Hoke treats the Conley situation and may not serve as a template for the future.

[Hannibal]

With as crappy as our wide receivers have been, have we really told this kid "no way you play WR"?

[Hannibal]

Wasn't the Chicago Tribune story on Diamond supposed to come out this week?

[hack]

With as crappy as our wide receivers have been, have we really told this kid "no way you play WR"?

Who knows? Maybe. One hopes not. But really this seems to be the price of finding sleepers early. When everyone else realizes that the kid is worth a look, you get a commit who may feel like he missed out on the process and wants to reopen his recruitment.

On the one hand, you want players who are focused on the football part only. On the other, you can't blame a teenager for wanting to go explore his options a bit. It's only respectable to want to expand your horizons. Were I in there position I'd be taking all my visits...

[iam416]

When everyone else realizes that the kid is worth a look, you get a commit who may feel like he missed out on the process and wants to reopen his recruitment.

I think this is exactly Conley's situation. It is, obviously, not Dawson's situation. Coach Tressel always encouraged recruits to take visits before committing to be sure OSU was where they wanted to be. He didn't get a ton of early commits, but he almost never had a decommit. He also lost out on some really good players because, IMO, he was too passive. Tajh Boyd and Marlon Brown spring immediately to mind.

I will pass along what I hear. I usually try to filter out "wishful" anti-M rumors. Heh.

Also, I didn't know you boys were knuckle deep on McQuay. Interesting.

[iam416]

Malik McDowell apparently said if his team still isn't playing he will visit OSU for The Game. And M will get its revenge for Billy Price.

[hack]

There's probably merit in several approaches. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Hannibal]

In-state blue-chipper where Michigan has the inside track. McDowell is a "must get" for us.