Belleville coach likes anti-Harbaugh tweets
The latest micro aggression in the ongoing feud between Michigan and Belleville.
Their head coach Jermain Crowell liked anti-Harbaugh tweets.
Harbaugh once criticized the coaching done at Belleville in front of The Team during a meeting and it got back to Belleville.
Crowell used to be Cass Tech’s OC. Rumors that it was Jourdan Lewis (who has his own issues with Harbaugh) who leaked it. Also rumors that he’s shared his sour Michigan experience with recruits which is influencing them. Pretty weak shit from an all-american if true.
If Lewis has a problem with Harbaugh then maybe we should listen instead of just brushing it off as "weak shit"? Or does Lewis go on our list of guys we don't like now because he said something we don't want to hear (like Harbaugh in 2007)?
Clearly a lot of people have had issues with the guy here and everywhere.
No one doubts that Harbaugh is abrasive and clashes with people. Generally the mature way to deal with personal issues is to handle them... personally. Steering recruits away from a program because you have a personal problem with the coach is self centered and tampering with high school kids' futures.
BUT I'm a blind Harbaugh apologist so my opinion is worthless.
Is it though? Lewis, a Cass Tech alum, just saw what 3 years of Harbaugh got another Cass Tech alum in DPJ which is no rings of any kind and wasted potential.
Lewis might have legit beef with Harbaugh, but he can't complain about what they turned him into at Michigan. Why would DPJ be relevant to that?
Ironic because DPJ was notoriously under coached as a high school player.
Does anyone really think DPJ would have had more personal achievement at any other program?
He is 6’1” 210 lbs and runs a 4.45 40. If an NFL team truly thought he was underutilized these measurables scream take a gamble before the 6th round and coach him up. DPJ had a nice career at Michigan and I hope he has a long NFL career.
There is a reason he got picked where he got picked and it’s not Harbaugh’s fault.
It's actually partially his own fault, based on what he told teams in interviews.
These are the nuggets that you tease that always lead me to believe that if you had a paywalled blog, I'd buy it. Please elaborate.
Basically DPJ alluded to not getting along with Harbaugh towards the end to some coaches. Personally, I would avoid jabbing at your head coach in a job interview - especially when your head coach's name is royalty in the league - but that's just me I guess. I also would not downplay the role that Tarik Black played in DPJ's experience at Michigan. Tarik soured on Harbaugh first, and Tarik is DPJ's boy.
Donovan is a good kid from a good family. I hope some time apart from Ann Arbor and in the league makes him see through the fog a bit and rebuild his relationship with Michigan.
Quite a bit of smoke out there about the two of them being a problem in the WR room too yeah? Enough that Nico was leaving if either one stayed.
That's what I don't understand with people claiming Harbaugh somehow submarined his potential at UM. I absolutely thought DPJ would have been more successful at UM and he was hurt somewhat by the larger offensive issues, but a guy like his doesn't go in the 6th round because he didn't get enough targets. The NFL is ALL about potential, so if they looked at him via the combine and everything else and figured "worth a late-round pick, at best", that's not on Harbaugh.
DPJ didn't exactly shine in his last chance on the Big Stage in the game against OSU. Dropped 3 or 4 balls that were very catchable if my memory serves correctly.
Defensive back thinks Michigan doesn't recruit Detroit enough.
This coach steers his players away from Michigan.
Despite this, last cycle Michigan signs this coach's top defensive back, who loves Michigan.
'17 class was filled with Michigan players. Count how many are still on the roster.
Michigan fans blast Michigan for not recruiting Michigan and Ohio enough, like they did in the 80's and 90's. OSU doesn't limit themselves to recruiting Ohio like the 80's and 90's. OSU consistently beats Michigan.
Michigan fans blast (negative recruit) their own team and coaches. Players outside of Michigan only see this side of Michigan fans during the offseason.
Michigan stays just under top level of teams.
Rinse-repeat...or prior to '15, much much worse.
Yea. It's the fans fault we "stay just under the top teams." Give me a fucking break.
Hey, if I were a top-flight recruit, I know I wouldn’t want to play and work my ass off for a fanbase filled with entitled, loudmouth, never-was, dipsh** p***ies. Would you?
I’m sure they prefer ass kissing dorks like you, who don’t know shit about football.
You just described every single college football blue blood fanbase especially Alabama. Why you think we're any different I'll never understand.
Fans are delusional if they think they play any sort of significant role in whether or not a recruit commits to the school they are a fan of.
Negative fans absolutely can affect recruits - kids have said as much. Great fans probably won't win a kid over, but extremely loud and negative fans on social media can and do have an impact.
So how do you protect against the under the radar OSU fans on the dark web pretending to be Michigan fans? How these kids survive social media in the spotlight is beyond me. I would have flipped out on all the jackasses lurking around.
Much more likely MSU fans than OSU fans. I agree tough that is an issue, that you can't do much about.
Im genuinely curious how DPJ getting passed on the depth chart by Ronnie Bell and Nico Collins is Harbaugh's fault. And by all NFL Draft scouting, DPJ was just a bust. He was a good athlete with a good body coming out of high school, but then just never developed. Struggled with separation, struggled with drops, etc. Other receivers developed, but DPJ just never did. He was a bust
Man, Michigan wasted a 1st round pick on him.
What's a bust in college?
Undrafted Austin Mack was similarly a bust then.
OSU's whole recieving cores the past 5 years (especially last year) besides Mike Thomas were busts too then, since 3* Olave passed a lot of them.
He's a bust I guess because Michigan didn't beat OSU.
Browns got a steal in the 7th round. Would have been a steal in the 4th.
I was actually thinking this as well; the lions took that RB out of New Mexico State in the 6th. Could have taken DPJ and probably gotten more value out of him. Cephus and DPJ in this draft would have potentially offered them all the weapons they need for Staffords career
For whatever problems DPJ has to deal with, being drafted by the Lions isn't one of them.
No, he lucked into being taken by the Browns instead!
Yeesh!
Huntley was a great pick. Electric in space and broke more tackles in FBS than anyone last year. He'll play in the slot more than the backfield. He's basically a younger and quicker Theo Riddick.
Could he be a steal in the 6ht round based off his athleticism and measurables? Sure, but he was a bust in college and didn't live up to his ranking. And it seems like that's mostly on him
Those bust WR's at OSU sure did a number on Michigan's defensive backs though.
As they did to most outside-of-the-playoff teams, besides Purdue and Iowa.
I never saw the level of compete in DPJ that is needed for success. I know that is very subjective but he just did not seem to want it as much as one needs to. We will see I guess when football resumes.
Didn't seem to want what, targets?...Consistent, accurate downfield targets?
To beat Ohio State?
To play in the NFL?
Why does DPJ get a pass for his lack of performance? I have heard of a lot of receivers in different blogs working out with QB's over the past couple of years. Nico, Bell, Sanristil and last hear even Black preparING for the upcoming season. I have never heard DPJ's name mentioned. I'm not saying he didn't, but he was never mentioned being there. All those guys have talked about how hard Milton was throwing the ball in off season workouts, except DPJ.
He and Nico were hurt last spring camp and right up until the season started
Turned him into? I know that coaching and opportunity matters, but let's not pretend that the individual doesn't matter either. Because on the flip side, Harbaugh "turned Lewis" into an All-American and Day 2 draft pick. And he and Sherman have a major clash, but he must have "turned Sherman" into an all-pro NFL DB.
If any of this is true then Lewis is a little over sensitive. If Crowell is offended by Harbaugh, I get it. But they're all entitled to feel what they want to feel. Just feel like it's stupid to stew over what are very minor transgressions.
If you went through the program and weren't happy, why on Earth wouldn't you warn away people?
There's so much smoke here around Harbaugh's treatment of players. Maybe JUB will write about it in his 27th book about Michigan football.
Might get you picked in the 7th round or possibly undrafted.
Or you could go the underutilized 2nd-round pick route.
Perform on the field and it doesn't matter what your feelings are. If these players balled out with their opportunities, you wouldn't hear any of that.
Nobody knows what the gripes are, only that there are gripes, and they're somehow fine with that because they have not winning the B1G gripes.
Coach "likes" a tweet and it's headline. I'm sure he'll be liking a lot more tweets, if that's all it takes to get attention. *He needs to be trying to figure out how to win a state championship with all that talent.* Since I'm sure that's the opinion that'd be said if Harbaugh "liked" a tweet.
There is no more smoke or evidence of the coaching staff at Michigan mistreating players than any other program. The only indicator that matters is transfer rate and Michigan's transfer numbers are roughly in line with the rest of the B1G / FBS.
This is just total internet bullshit like the whole "Harbaugh is interfering with his players getting waiver approval" rumor which went around the blogosphere 2 days before all but one of the players got approved (including two with very weak cases).
Harbaugh came to Ann Arbor and inherited a dumpster fire, irrelevant mid-tier B1G program and turned it into a top 10 team. If Michigan were in the Big 12 or Pac 12, we would have been to the playoffs a couple of times already. But we are not...
His one and only failure is the inability to beat Ohio State (which is a huge problem when you are the head coach of Michigan). For his reign at Michigan to be considered a complete success, he will need to beat OSU multiple times. We all know that - he knows that - and it gets talked about ad naseum. End of story.
The rest is whiny, bitchy bullshit.
The Kool-Aid is strong with this one.
I'm not going to bother linking all of the stories about pissed off formerly injured players, and their families, calling out Harbaugh. I'm not even going to bother linking our huge attrition numbers from the 2017 class.
His one and only failure is the inability to beat Ohio State
His shit bowl record and inability to beat more than 10 teams in a single season are additional failures. Piss poor QB development isn't exactly a success either.
There are over 100 kids on the team every year and yes some will get pissed off / feel mistreated. That happens at every damn school. Look at the shenanigans that happen at Bama. Michigan, under Harbaugh, is a school that people care about so the media reports it. Michigan State has had a ton of disgruntled coches and players leave - but nobody outside of Ann Arbor or East Lansing gives a shit about them.
We have had enough players get medically disqualified at Michigan and then end up playing elsewhere (including top prospects like BSJ) to think that Michigan is systemically forcing injured players to play.
i have managed teams of 10-60 professionals over the past 12 years for my career and it is the same thing. There is around 10% of any large group that is always going to be disgruntled. A strong manager / coach / etc... will alienate a small group of people - tough shit.
I don’t give a flying fuck about Bowl exhibition games unless we make the playoffs. I barely even watched the last 3. I was a student at Michigan in the mid 90s and the only Bowl game I can remember when I was there is the 1998 Rose Bowl for obvious reasons.
This is my favorite response.
Totally agree, people who whine about bowl records outside of rose bowl, and playoff record, are really just looking to complain.
I mean he lost the gator bowl, what the fuck is coach Jim doing
A "top ten program" that's finished in the top ten at the end of the season ONCE in five years at #10. Interesting.
OSU isn't a playoff team = Michigan isn't a Top 10 team.
OSU is a playoff team...they've made it 3 times and twice since Harbaugh has been here. It's also easier to finish in the top ten than the top four.
The idea that M is a (bottom portion) top ten program since JH arrived is...
1. Based on S&P+ and other advanced metrics, not polls.
2. Based on total wins and win percentage since JH arrived.
Thank you, BP. Please keep saying this. Someone (or some group) has to balance the incessant negativity that permeates this once-fun and informative sports blog.
What if he tried to work out the problems and got blown off and is just providing kids with the information about his experience. Its not like he's paying kids to not go to Michigan because he hates the school, he's providing them with his honest assessment of the man that would control their future if they go there.
that's a big "what if".
What if... none of that is true?