2020 QB Harrison Bailey announcing commitment today at 2:45
As the title says, Harrison Bailey is announcing his commitment today at 2:45pm. He's deciding between Michigan and Tennessee and was supposed to be a heavy Michigan lean until at least last night. However, a bunch of crystal balls came in for Tennessee last night and now they have the lead. Not sure how much credence to give to that, but Bailey is probably the staff's top QB target for this class so hopefully he ends up in the maize and blue!
November 29th, 2018 at 10:22 AM ^
Well... that sucks.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:22 AM ^
Wow...
November 29th, 2018 at 10:23 AM ^
I thought this guy was all Blue. I hope he signs with the good guy but recruting is just a strange beast.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Future Life Champion
November 29th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
2020 is a long way away. It would have been great to get the top choice at QB so he can recruit for the class, but everything will be OK.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
I know one of the reasons potentially holding him back from choosing UofM was he wanted to be sure Pep wasn't going anywhere.
At least that might be the brightside if Bailey commits elsewhere.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
Ryan Gosling's coming!
/s
November 29th, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
If true would be a bit strange as the narrative was always a QB wanted to be coached by Jim.
November 29th, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
I'm not too deep into it the recruiting circles, but it was one of the reasons given on 247 as too why he never committed on his last few visits.
Yeah, I thought I read it in a free Sam Webb article.
"But the most important bond is the one that he has forged with Michigan quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton. He previously made note of how he found Hamilton’s no-coddle approach in their first ever meeting endearing. Their relationship has been growing ever since.
“Harrison immediately took to Pep,” Mr. Bailey said. “You know, you go on a lot of recruiting trips and coaches are telling you how great you are, how awesome you are, and how they’d love to have you at their school. My correspondence with Harrison after the first time he met Pep (indicated that) Pep was more like, ‘young man, let’s see what you know on the board. Let’s pick your brain.’ He was real demanding of Harrison. Even at that point, probably knowing that they were going to offer Harrison, he still said, ‘look, I want to see who you are mentally and see if it’s a good fit here.’ That demand actually piqued Harrison’s interest, and I think that’s where the bond started.”
November 29th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
The possiblity of Pep leaving is pretty high according to edge of internet rumors.
November 29th, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
For what? He was rumored to be in the running for The Charlotte HC job but apparently that’s been filled.
November 29th, 2018 at 11:52 AM ^
Supposedly Maryland was interviewing him (not sure if for HC or not).
November 29th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
Well obviously hes going to Tennessee because he doesn't want to go to a school that loses to their most hated rival year after year after year...
November 29th, 2018 at 10:39 AM ^
Good strategy, especially with how Tennessee has done against who they consider to be rivals (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and almighty powerhouse Vanderbilt.)
November 29th, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
Perfect username for this whoosh.
November 29th, 2018 at 1:05 PM ^
Perfect username to call out the other username
November 29th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
looks like Tennessee
aren't we in on Jay Butterfield?
November 29th, 2018 at 10:44 AM ^
Yeah, and we were interested in Parker McQuarrie at one point, not sure if that's still the case.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
This is a situation where the OSU debacle may have had an impact on a recruit. If I were a highly rated QB recruit and watched Michigan pull that stale gameplan out against OSU with a playoff spot on the line, it would certainly cause me some concern. It's criminal that we have Black, DPJ, Collins, Perry, Martin, and our TE's and don't run more spread passing sets.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
Sure, if he was choosing between Michigan and a school that wasnt Tennessee that might make sense.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:32 AM ^
Yeah, why go to a top 10 Michigan team when you could go to a 5-7 Tennessee team that just got blown out by Vanderbilt last weekend? And got blown out by WVU. And Alabama. And Florida. And Georgia. And Missouri.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:58 AM ^
Because you can start year 1 at Tennessee, its closer to home, and they can sell you on year 1 and an upward trajectory from here while Michigan has a 4 year history under its current coaching staff of not being able to get over the hump.
November 29th, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
I was specifically commenting on being blown out by OSU shouldn't change his mind since Tennessee has been blown out much more often by much worse teams...
Also, being on a top 10 team that has yet to make it into the playoff is better than being on a team that dreams of being ranked in the top 25 in a couple years.
November 29th, 2018 at 12:30 PM ^
So Tennessee can guarantee an upward trajectory to, um, 10 win seasons? You know who has three 10 win seasons in his four years coaching at his current school? This guy:
November 29th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^
Have you seen Tennessee's offense?
November 29th, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^
No, I haven't. What offense?
November 29th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
Just that it's offensive
November 29th, 2018 at 10:37 AM ^
I feel like the word "spread" is one of those buzz words thats over used, because there are some many versions of the "spread offense" you could actually take this in multiple ways. you could say why dont we do 5 wide and just air it out, or you could mean why dont we run 3 wide, 1 tight end, single back which is what I think is more likely to happen than 4 and 5 wide. look at the rams offense in the NFL, they use a lot of the same sets with similar personnel and they still are able to pass and run the ball with consistency, all the while KC is able to get the ball down the field with all of their athletes by airing it out with 4 WR in most sets.
its all just relative to what youre trying to do as a team, and if you can run the ball with even a little consistency you can run play action and pick teams apart.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
Yeah, maybe if the other school he was considering wasn't Tennee-freakin'-see, they of a 5-7 record and an average margin of defeat of 25 points.
(Fun fact: UT's first three losses this season were all by 26 points.)
November 29th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
Or maybe it has something to do with a secret handshake extended from Sabanite Jeremy Pruitt? I'm sure he's got an organization already stood up to improve UTenn's crootin'...
Or maybe he just grew up a UTenn fan? Or just like Pruitt, or his offensive staff?
A long term decision didn't come down to one game. Especially considering the current state of UTenn football...
November 29th, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
Zero impact. C'mon. Michigan is a top 10 team and Tennessee is where Michigan was 4 years ago losing to lower echelon teams. I do believe, which has been stated here, that Pep may be leaving and rather than mislead a recruit, they told him the truth. How refreshing. Another point, if Shea does stay, that leaves McCaffery, Milton, McNamara and possible Peters ahead of him. You got to know that Tennessee is telling him he has a good shot at playing early and likely does with the lack of talent ahead of him.
November 29th, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
Coaches can use UMs offense to negatively recruit the program. Any coach can say: If you come to Tennessee we’ll spread the offense out and you can sling the ball 40 times a game. Or you can go to UM hand the ball off to a FB and pass for a 180 yards a game.
November 29th, 2018 at 11:52 AM ^
That's actually.....a really dumb thing to say, if anyone said it.
You can spread the offense out all you want and still be 5-7 Tennessee. You could also go to a Top 10-15 program that is in a far better position to even attempt the results you might want as a recruit.
November 29th, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^
That would be reason to go to Leach in Pullman.
November 29th, 2018 at 1:29 PM ^
Reminder that SkyBlue is a Sparty troll
November 29th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
But.... if he goes to Tennessee, will it cause Harbaugh to change his offensive philosophy?
Do we want Harbaugh to change it? We scored 39.
I don’t even know.
November 29th, 2018 at 11:03 AM ^
39 shit points against a terrible defense. 0 points in the 3rd when OSU kicked Harbaugh’s ass
November 29th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
Are we still buckled up for the commit watch earlier in the week for a 2019 recruit? Did I miss a hello post?
November 29th, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^
yeah George Johnson III committed last night, you missed it...sorry we didnt wake you
November 29th, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
Chatter has been that it's Anthony Solomon, 4* composite LB but 3* to 247. I wouldn't have called it "huge" as some hyped it up to be but I do respect the kid for pulling the trigger right after the OSU game.
https://247sports.com/player/anthony-solomon-82362/
EDIT: I don't think this commitment has been announced publicly yet btw.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
My seat belt is really starting to chafe. I don't think I can stay buckled much longer.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^
Is this guy fast enough to be QB here? We need athletic QBs.
November 29th, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
Bailey is not a dual-threat guy. He's a pocket QB.
November 29th, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^
I was interested in that discussion. With the way Harbaugh used Shea and the run game Harrison does not seem to have that skill set.
In his HUDL you never even see him move much in the pocket let alone scramble to move the chains. He is listed at 5 in the 40.
He seems to be a unique pro type arm talent but does that supersede what you give up?
November 29th, 2018 at 11:50 AM ^
I was thinking the same thing.
November 29th, 2018 at 10:47 AM ^
I think my friends, this means Pep is on his way out...
November 29th, 2018 at 10:59 AM ^
Happy to lose a recruit who thinks that playing for Pep is a good thing if that means we get someone worthy of being on Michigan's staff.
November 29th, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
Tennessee's OC, who was Bailey's primary recruiter, left last week to take another job. Yet it sounds like Bailey is still going there. So I doubt his decision has anything to do with rumors about Pep leaving.
November 29th, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
Maybe UT is going to hire Pep as their new OC?
November 29th, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
I watched some of his highlights, and he did not look particularly dynamic and his release looked pretty slow. This shift in crystal balls may not be against the wishes of our coaching staff. Either way, of course, we wish him great success.