UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Da Geezer]

Talent:

I simply have never heard anything about the extent of the oversigning by the SEC, but over of "other things in CF" there is the Tulane study plus lots of other information. I find it hard to believe that the B1G does not view this cheating as being detrimental to their franchise. DeLaney should be screaming it from the rooftops.

I think one way "to scream" this is to push for an early signing period. Any player who signs during this early period gets a 4 year scholarship. No Exceptions. Those who want to wait until NSD get one year renewable scholarships. No Exceptions. This would put the SEC in a jam. It also gives a player a reason to sign early, which avoids situations like Tubberville. I'll bet that a lot of the 5-6 extra cuts that the Nick makes were early commits.

I say Green has acted exactly like I would have wanted my (5*) son to act. He has taken his visits, and he has taken his time. And he is probably fine with a one year renewable.

[WM Wolverine]

Part of the issue is there aren't a lot of QB, WR, RB talent in the midwest. Midwest's strength is OL, DL, LB recruits; which M has done very well. DB and the 'skill' positions are harder to find in the midwest so M has a harder time landing them. A lot of the DB's in the midwest are athletes that got put in the defensive backfield that aren't near as polished as those defensive backs from the south, southeast.

[WM Wolverine]

re: handlers - I talked to a recruiting insider 6 months back or so and talked about how M doesn't recruit kids with them, they'll only recruit the kid and his parents. They are more prevalent than talent implied, this guy made it sound like a good amount of the top 50-75 recruits had them and he did there were more of them in the southeast...

These handlers aren't just looking out for the kids, a lot of the times they are looking out for someone who has something to gain if that school does well on the field and he'll direct them to the appropriate school.

[WM Wolverine]

I don't have time right now but I wrote a lengthy piece on 'handlers' like I said 6 months back, I'll see if I can find it later.

[The Oracle]

Drake harris has opened things up. We better get to gettin. This would make up for treadwell.

[Da Geezer]

great news

[lineygoblue]

Do they have room for him?

[DennisT]

2014 kid so yes.

[WM Wolverine]

What I posted a few months ago:

Talked with a recruiting insider, told me M doesn't recruit kids from the south that have 'handlers'. They'll only recruit the kid himself not through a handler, parent or family friend. He also brought up that lots of these elite recruits have their entire recruitment handled by a 'family friend' who showed up when they looked like an NFL prospect. These 'family friends' ironically have more than one family to look after.

I brought up Cam Newton and he said that is more rare that a kid who is getting taking cared of by a 'handler', a third party loosely associated with the university. He mentioned the typical programs expected of this and a couple surprises: Auburn, Alabama, LSU, USC, Florida, Florida State, South Carolina, Georgia, Clemson and Texas. Not really any 'news' from this but confirmed what I've heard and he said college basketball is easily ten times as competitive.

[Chuck Mallory]

Arguments are coalescing ..... I can see both sides.

I don't think you need to be a coach to make rational, reasonably well informed observations about what happens on a given play or in the game overall. Wins and losses are a pret good predictor of the effectiveness of any coaching staff.

Sports blogs, the good ones, have given incredible insight to the fan. I'm sure coaches hate it. Screw them. They are getting paid a ton, some of them millions or close to it, to produce wins. If you are a student of the game, take in responsible post game analysis available to any one with an Internet connection, you can come to reasonable conclusions about a coaching staff's competence.

OTH, there is great potential for making judgments based on only some of the facts. We don't know what the coaches know ..... About injuries, about what might have happened in another part of the play that is out of the view of the TV cameras, etc. so, to be fair, those who have been critical can rightly be told to STFU.

The performance of the OL, if the productivity of the running game (minus Denard who made his own big runs more than he ran to the hole of a well blocked play) was poor. We know this just from simple observation. With the help of blogs like mgogblog, we pretty much know WHO on the OL screwed up or if the defense got the better of the play call because it was a bad one.

I have no interest on ragging on a player. None. I do think it is fair to hold the coaches to a high standard and when bad things happen, I tend to turn to the coach and ask why? You won't get an answer from them because they don't owe us one but you can surmise based on the information that is available. Fair or not, that's the way it is in the current Information Age among avid fans who then bounce there views off each other at places like this.

Thats a fair statement and I agree. I have no interest on ragging on a player either, I do hold them accountable for execution just as much as I do a coach however and I will not simply assume its coaching when things aren't going great.

[iam416]

Drake harris has opened things up. We better get to gettin. This would make up for treadwell.

great news

Indeed. Opened up his recruitment roughly 10 seconds after UFM stopped by Grand Rapids and offered him a scholarship.

[iam416]

Talked with a recruiting insider, told me M doesn't recruit kids from the south that have 'handlers'. They'll only recruit the kid himself not through a handler, parent or family friend. He also brought up that lots of these elite recruits have their entire recruitment handled by a 'family friend' who showed up when they looked like an NFL prospect. These 'family friends' ironically have more than one family to look after.

I brought up Cam Newton and he said that is more rare that a kid who is getting taking cared of by a 'handler', a third party loosely associated with the university. He mentioned the typical programs expected of this and a couple surprises: Auburn, Alabama, LSU, USC, Florida, Florida State, South Carolina, Georgia, Clemson and Texas. Not really any 'news' from this but confirmed what I've heard and he said college basketball is easily ten times as competitive.

Too add on to this, what a few OSU guys said is that South Florida is, by far, the worst area for handlers. There was a story on significant gambling on Dade County pee wee football -- which directly suggests these guys start paying kids EARLY. Jamal Berry -- and this directly from an OSU insider with great knowledge -- but Jamaal Berry was, apparently, a prize street racer -- guys from certain parts of Dade would race their fastest kids against one another and bet huge amounts of money on it. I guess Berry was doing steet races when he was 11 or so. And I'm sure getting paid handsomely for it.

Berry, oddly, didn't end up with a handler and committed way early in the process. Eh, whatever.

I guess the point is that there's a culture in South Florida -- Dade/Broward -- that rewards atheltic accomplishment at a very early age and manifestly encourages handlers. I mean, a guy that has been giving you money since you were 10 or 11 -- it's not a stretch to think he might get paid (if you get paid) when you got college.

[Optimus Prime]

Reese Bobby:

"Your teacher wants you to go slow, and she's wrong because it's the fastest who get paid and it's the fastest who get laid. "

[classmates all cheer]

[hack]

Eureka! It's obvious now that all we need to do is lock Borges in a car with a panther.

[iam416]

I'd pay to see that!