5-Star DE Eyabi Anoma: so you're saying there's a chance...
For the internet trolls who are purely concerned with crystal balls, read no further; 100% of crystal balls have Eyabi Anoma going to Alabama. However as ACE put it yesterday:
The coaches have mostly narrowed their focus to a short list of high-level prospects, including DEs Eyabi Anoma...
Michigan appears to be making a big push for him and they aren't shy about letting reporters know when asked. Echoing Ace, the freep reported yesterday that Michigan continues to make a heavy push for him. So I'm saying Michigan thinks they have a chance.
I've outlined below paraphrasing rationale for why 100% of crystal balls are saying Alabama, as well as hopefully more information on Eyabi and his situation. In any case we will all know tomorrow as he has moved up his announcement date to tomorrow at 2pm instead of Friday.
Essentially from what I can gather the crystal ball calls have been made for the below reasons:
1) Eyabi has visited Alabama four times, the most of any school, and is their top DE recruit of the year. He lists only Alabama, Michigan and Maryland as his top choices.
2) Sam Poggi, one of his current coaches has ties to Alabama (suspend your knowledge of the Michigan connections for a moment).
3) It makes a pretty trend; Eyabi would be the second five star DE recruit out of the North East to go to Alabama recently, after Terrell Hall (he changed his name to Terrell Lewis ) (suspend your knowledge, this time of Rashan Gary).
4) Most importantly, Eyabi is looking for two things that Alabama can provide- Training to get him to the NFL and a winning schedule. In the words of his own head coach:
Alabama does a great job of getting guys to the NFL and putting their players in position to succeed. Coach Saban runs a great program. You have the academic support in place. All of the little things are taken care of in that program. Eyabi is also super competitive and hates losing. Alabama is that type of team. They don’t lose much. He thrives in those types of environments. I think that’s why he’s very attracted to what they offer.
However this is far from a normal recruit, and the predictions on this guy deserve a second pass.
I've compiled what I hope is a better understanding of Eyabi and his decision process.
Eyabi has played football for eighteen months at this level, and had been focusing his high school career on playing basketball prior to transferring to St. Francis as a Junior. However having seen him up close and in action I'd say that his frame is too big to play the kind of basketball he does, though he could easily put on more weight as a DE. His assistant coach is none other than Sam Poggi who hopefully needs no introduction. In Poggi's own words:
He's the best player I've ever coached
Michigan first became aware of him at a satillite camp Harbaugh attended in the summer of 2016 as he was preparing to start playing for St. Francis. In his Michigan interactions he attended the summer BBQ, the MSU game, watched the Maryland game, and took his official for the OSU game. He has indicated that he's looking for two things out of a program. First, he's looking for a school that can really challenge him to be a better defensive player.
So when I go up (to Michigan) I want to see how they coach. Are they aggressive? Are they conservative? Are they (relaxed) or are they on me? I want my coach to be consistently on me. If I’m going to do something wrong, yell at me. I take criticism pretty well when it comes to football, so I want that. I don’t want nothing given to me. I don’t want no promises. As long as that happens, I think that will be a good visit.
The second thing he is concerned about is getting to stay close to his sister Amiya who is also a senior (though they are not twins). He's the only boy in the middle of six sisters, so that should tell you all you need to know about his ability to thrive under constructive criticism. Amiya is looking at schools also, and they really want to compete together athletically at the next level. As a junior she was a state champ for track and field and also set the all time state record for the triple jump. In an interview with 247 Eyobi talked about the competitive nature between himself and his almost twin, and it doesn't seem like getting in together somewhere will be an issue.
(We) have many of the same scholarship offers and talk about attending the same school.
As far as what Amiya wants, academic wise the choice between Alabama and Michigan is fairly clear. While the SEC (to a lesser extent Alabama) has been a traditional powerhouse of women's Track and Field, Michigan just completed a state of the art track and field facility and roped in a very competitive 2017 recruiting class as a result. Amiya would be hard pressed not to consider Michigan if that's what her brother is doing.
With his two stated considerations above, I'd agree that at one point he may have made an informal decision with his sister to attend Alabama. However there's an important timeline that bears review, a narrative of facts if you will.
The day before Eyabi made his official visit to Tuscaloosa, Alabama's Defensive Coordinator Jeremy Pruitt announced he was leaving the Tide to be Tennessee's new head coach and was taking with him one of his assistants, Brian Niedermeyer. Pruitt then began a recruiting blitz for the Vols and wasn't around helping to prepare Alabama for the Clemson game (let alone helping with recruiting for Alabama) until the beginning of this week. Consider this development with Eyabi's need for good coaching as a new player, his desire to mesh with coaches, and not even knowing who the new Alabama defensive coordinator will be.
Soon after this Eyabi posted two similar tweets in what I can only consider a shot across the bow to anyone listening.
I am not committed to any school still weighing my options
December 19th, 2017 at 3:10 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 3:39 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 7:01 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 7:38 PM ^
Whether or not there's an actual, significant chance, I can't help but +1 for...
He's the only boy in the middle of six sisters, so that should tell you all you need to know about his ability to thrive under constructive criticism
December 19th, 2017 at 11:39 PM ^
Saban has to be close to retirement.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:42 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 3:48 PM ^
he said this... "So when I go up (to Michigan) I want to see how they coach. Are they aggressive? Are they conservative? Are they (relaxed) or are they on me? I want my coach to be consistently on me. If I’m going to do something wrong, yell at me. I take criticism pretty well when it comes to football, so I want that. I don’t want nothing given to me. I don’t want no promises. As long as that happens, I think that will be a good visit."
Don Brown's mustache will smack him in the mouth if he screws up, so there's that in our favor!!!
December 19th, 2017 at 5:25 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 9:23 PM ^
Nick Saban is also pretty well known for chewing out guys and coaching hard.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:48 PM ^
I'd much rather forget the outcomes of those recruiting sagas.
December 19th, 2017 at 4:02 PM ^
At least we're being realistic about our chances now. I remember hanging on every thread of recruiting news/rumors regarding both Dashawn Hand and Najee Harris. Those two experience are now burned into my memory. I will no long get my hopes up for any recruit until they've signed a LOI.
At least Gary worked out, though. That was fun.
December 19th, 2017 at 4:19 PM ^
Eyabi. The new Najee?
December 19th, 2017 at 5:13 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 5:56 PM ^
We should also
Remember Emil Ekiyor
December 19th, 2017 at 6:43 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 7:31 PM ^
Can we get a report of what his trainer wore today?
December 19th, 2017 at 10:32 PM ^
Damn, it seems like every year an elite prospect that appears to be going somewhere else is suddenly in consideration to commit to M... only to end up after all where everyone initially thought he would. This is getting tiresome. Stop playing with my heart.
December 20th, 2017 at 12:38 AM ^
I might pop in on a recruiting thread here or there, especially for bigger name players. But on the whole I've stopped following the process. I really just look for "hello" posts anymore and even those I only take as marginally interesting. None of it matters until NSD and all the info on the recruits gets linked when all the recruiting summaries go up.
I found the process to be too frustrating to follow any more closely than that.
December 19th, 2017 at 4:28 PM ^
TomVH had a nice tweet an hour ago.
ESPN 300 commit scorecard
Top 15 school listed.
OSU at top with 16
UCLA at bottom with 6
No Michigan
December 19th, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 7:59 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
It appears you've done your research... but I don't see a lot in the above that convinces me Michigan has a decent shot. Doubt this is a guy Saban doesn't land.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
He gone...
December 19th, 2017 at 5:40 PM ^
He never here...
December 19th, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
not really, but you know.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:16 PM ^
Yeah, he's going to 'Bama.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:16 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 3:26 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 3:46 PM ^
What about Olave?
December 19th, 2017 at 3:49 PM ^
Any iteration of this class that includes those two is a great success. Beat Bama and ND for the top and beat OSU and Bama for a top 100 DT. Good class.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:22 PM ^
I had more. The nuts and bolts of the remainder is that interestingly enough, while Eyabi had earlier decided not to take an official to Maryland, after the Pruitt announcement he changed his mind:
College park today
That's a legitimate change that corresponds with his statements that he really hasn't made up his mind. In any case I'm not saying he's 100% to Michigan or even 50%, just saying don't be entirely baffled if you are greated to a pleasant Hello post tomorrow as the Crystal balls don't entirely line up with his needs and Michigan is still pushing.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:21 PM ^
Pruitt leaving isn't that big of a deal since Saban is their DC.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:22 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 4:23 PM ^
Alabama was 10-0 & so was Notre Dame. Sunnuvabitch!
December 19th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
Gettysburgh address: 272 words
OPs post on Anoma: 1048 words. Plus he forgot to add the Maryland visit info.
December 19th, 2017 at 5:53 PM ^
I just ran out of room. I posted above, also before your post if you look.
He originally wasn't going to take an official and then a week after Pruitt announced, he said he'd take the official to Maryland.
Not huge, but it provides verification regarding his otherwise routine statement that he was still looking. Assuming arguendo that he is actually still weighing his options and Michigan (as of 12/16) was still in the picture, going to his hometown Terps for an official visit is sort of important as he's going to have to play them in conference play every year. The difference in having home support or animosity. If he was going to commit out of conference, the Maryland official means next to nothing. If we judge his coach's statement that he wants to win as one of his key elements for decisions, I don't know that the 4-8 Terps are really a high consideration, maybe something to bounce off as his 2nd choice vs whatever school he is considering.
December 19th, 2017 at 8:05 PM ^
Or he's taking advantage of a free college visit and finding out what the co-eds at College Park are up to.
December 19th, 2017 at 9:39 PM ^
He's shaking down the Alabama bagmen for additional "consideration" to not consider Michigan or visit College Park. The Sports Illustrated article covered this technique.
I'm not saying that for sure this is his deal. I would love to be wrong about his character, regardless of which school he chooses, and I wish him the best wherever he goes. But, we can't ignore the other plausible explanation for the available evidence.
December 19th, 2017 at 6:20 PM ^
...and then Maize_Nation's CliffsNotes, "He's going to Alabama".
December 19th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 3:23 PM ^
Is this Henry Poggi's older brother? And besides being related to Henry and Biff Poggi, does he have Michigan connections?
December 19th, 2017 at 3:29 PM ^
Biff Poggi is St Frances Academy's HC.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:38 PM ^
Oh I see. For some reason I thought he went back to Gilman. Mostly I was confused why the poster assumed everyone knew who Sam Poggi was and that his presence would influence this recruiting decision
December 20th, 2017 at 7:34 AM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 3:33 PM ^
Some think Biff Poggi wanted Henry to go to Bama and tried to get him there. I wouldn't put too much weight in any Poggi/UM connections.
December 19th, 2017 at 3:36 PM ^
what Poggi's NFL chances are, it's a good thing he will have a Michigan degree as opposed to Bama.
December 19th, 2017 at 7:01 PM ^
December 19th, 2017 at 9:46 PM ^
December 20th, 2017 at 7:40 AM ^