Da'shawn Hand's New Top Three
Da'Shawn Hand on Smashmouth: Will take 5 officials. Alabama, Michigan, Florida, USC and LSU. That's the list. Won't change.
— Kevin Scarbinsky (@KevinScarbinsky) June 12, 2013
That's some pretty good company.
Hey, where's Ohio State?
[Insert snarky Ohio State joke here]
That's also the preseason top 5 in 2015. Good choices.
based on prior Hand claims that green is his man according to his latest tweet. Forgive me I am new and do not know how to embed tweets. However this has to be good for us
The aforementioned "green" you speak of is indeed Derrick Green
Off topic but sort of on topic - how does Hand look relative to Clowney when he was coming out? Is Hand at that level of beastliness? Or is this a down year for DEs making him the default #1 so-to-speak?
Many say Clowney would be the #1 overall pick if college kids could come out after their frosh or soph years. So hard to compare people to a "generational" type of talent like that. With that said, Taylor contained him nicely ;)
I think #Michigan is clearly the team to beat now@dekeglahn: @rivalsmike who do you think the leader is?
— Mike Farrell (@rivalsmike) June 12, 2013
...is a really big deal because it eliminates proximity from the decision process.
I think this comes down to how well Michigan performs this year. If the team is competing for a B1G title and beats ND with Hand in attendance, Michigan's academic advantages, positive direction on the field and recruiting success win the day.
"I eliminated Virginia Tech because they don't offer a sports marketing program. And with South Carolina, the professor just didn't wow us. I have the utmost respect for Virginia Tech and South Carolina, and their coaches, and wish them the best of luck.
At Michigan, the [sports marketing] program was so impressive, I wanted to sign up right there. During my visit to Alabama, I met the dean of their [sports marketing] program, and it's an excellent program. He actually played football, and he gets it. And I haven't been to Florida, yet, but I've heard their defensive coaching staff and that defensive line with coach [Brad] Lawig and coach D.J. Durkin is amazing. And Alabama's engineering program was working on a $25M project when I was down there."
I feel positive that we are a strong contendor for the #1 player in the country. If you look at his final 5 teams, that's pretty good company. For some reason I have been kind of "meh" regarding his final choice. But now I'm starting to believe we could actually land the #1 and #2 players in the country and all this after an 8-5 season. Do you think this is an anomaly and these guy's personalities just happened to match up with Michigans or could this be more of the norm for the future?
The norm as long as the recruiting success translates to performance on the field.
Peppers is a unique case in that Michigan was his childhood dream team. Consider his top 2 of Stanford and Michigan. Let's be blunt and say that is not the normal top 2 for a top 5 team, even as homers. You'd usually have a few SEE EEE CEEE teams in there, a USC, a Michigan/OSU/ND mix etc.
Hand is unique just from a personality standpoint and again its a weird top 2 (or was a weird top 2) in that none of the typical players were involved again ... well until today with the new top 3.
I think the other thing that helps here is these are east coast kids and college football is not huge on the east coast in terms of national powers. When a kid from New Jersey or Virginia is top 5 rather than a kid from Florida, Texas, Cal, Ohio, PA etc it opens up the roadmap more. Contrast this with Fournette which is basically a LSU lean and until recently no one thought would even look outside the "normal characters".
I see Fournette as a Treadwell type guy. Heavy lean to a particular school for the entirety of the process. We point to a lot of Michigan recruits as trying to find a reason not to commit. It works both ways, so maybe Fournette has stated LSU leads, but isn't in love with them as much as many think. Man, is my glass full, but I feel like we have a shot...
I think that from what Laura Hoke said to me, Treadwell was someone who was wowed by a "red carpet" experience. He (and his mom) liked all the bells and whistles and steak and lobster and bling. That is NOT Hoke or Mattison or Borges, and they're not going to change. They're not going to coddle a recruit and promise the sun, moon and stars, and then things change once you're on the team.
One of the things that has been consistent with the recruits coming in is that they know what they're getting at Michigan. Michigan in and of itself has great facilities, coaches, and the like. But partly this is a personality thing. Some people like to be wowed, some people like it straight.
I'll tell you a personal story by way of analogy. I remember when I first met my wife, thinking, wow, she looks pretty good without makeup, etc. There were other girls who might have looked better when they were all dolled up, but they took a half hour or so to put on their makeup every morning, and weren't that good looking without putting all this stuff on. I thought to myself, I like the way my wife looks, with or without makeup. I'd like waking up next to her. I liked that I saw the real woman, and was still pleased.
Hand strikes me as one of those no nonsense guys, no BS guys, what you see is what you get. He wants the same from coaches or programs he is looking at.
Now, Fournette, I know nothing about. But I'd tend to think that he is a guy who wants to work hard and be around good coaches and good athletes who are willing to do what it takes to win. Especially with Peppers, but possibly Hand and a few others, and the coaching rep of Mattison (possibly Borges,) he could see a good thing building here. And want to be part of it.
I really haven't seen any interviews with Fournette. Take it FWIW, but that probably means he's really not a flashy, attention-seeking guy, and just likes to be low-key. If that's the case, and we get him to visit, we really may have a chance.
On the one hand, I think it's clear we are going to be recruiting at a very high level for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, I do think the stars aligned at least a little bit - how often is it that both the #1 and #2 players are truly that dedicated to academics and finding the right SCHOOL (not just the right football program) and it's not just the usual lip service?
We've beat Saban before for D-linemen (Pipkins and Poggi). We can do it again.
When's the BBQ? I need something to obsess over for the next few weeks. Also, is Mr. Peppers gonna be there?
Whenever Da'Shawn Hand is free.
/s (?)
re: Alabama, the Sports Management graduate program is part of their Human Environmental Sciences department. Although there is no sports mgmt undergrad major/concentration, it'd be easy enough based on what i'm seeing in the course catalog to design a custom curriculum with a sports/general management focus, and they do have a sports mgmt elective (although it's just a single course). Could be what they're selling to Hand.
Wonder if it ever occurred to them that Hand just flat out might not like their program or their school?
It's the relationship. I also don't see Saban having anything in common with Hoke personality-wise. I hope that is in our favor. I think it is.
Urban much like Saban is very slick and business like. He came away from osu unimpressed. Advantage :The Good Guys
Go get em Mattison!!!
This is why you come to Michigan, suck it bama.
Please tell me yes?
If so lock it up done deal.
Yes. That game will have more 5 stars on the sidelines than on the playing field... awesome.
Firefox one- Ferns
Firefox 2 - peppers
Firefox 3 - have Charles wodsoon say hi.
Atom bomb. - Gregory Mattison
Welcome Da Shawn :-)
Edit: it's been moved to diaries. I am not a smart man.
I think the fact that with this staff what you see is what you get will play a deciding role in Hand's choice.
Trying not to be excited and failing miserably. If we land Hand, already having Peppers on board, we are talking about an historic class in terms of its top layer. Just WOW.
Due to a vicious tackle that may or may not have actually happened (I get forgetful whenever Michigan loses) in last year's bowl game, I like to stay away from the word "Clowney" or any variation of that.
This is the first time i can actually say all i want is hand