Dallas Gant is a Buckeye because Michigan started recruiting him too late. Dad is a Michigan fan
TOLEDO, Ohio -- James Gant stood up on the stage at Toledo (Ohio) St. John's Jesuit's assembly room proudly wearing his new bright red Ohio State hat.
His son, Dallas, had just announced his commitment to Ohio State and the two were posing for pictures and doing the Buckeyes "OH-IO" pose as the hot lights from above the stage beamed down.
James was smiling bigger than he's ever smiled in his life. He was so proud to be a Buckeye.
That's weird because James is a Michigan fan.
"I was a Michigan fan," James said, letting out deep breath while hesitating to admit it. "I was a Michigan fan, no doubt about it. I'll tell you man, this is Toledo. This is a half and half city."
"I'm excited to be a part of the Ann Arbor and Columbus battle," Gant said. "Michigan made their appearance pretty late, but it was cool. I went down to visit ad loved it. I loved Coach Harbaugh. It was a great time down there, but they just kind of game in late. Overall, I just felt more comfortable at Ohio State."
Had Michigan started recruiting Gant a year earlier, maybe this battle would have been different. James, who was admittedly excited (from a fan's perspective) when Michigan brought in Harbaugh, said it may have been a tight race.
But this is just another example of Meyer and his staff identifying an elite Ohio prospect early, recruiting him hard and, like always, closing the deal.
"All you're really concerned about is your kid, right?" James said. "When you get an organization like Ohio State interested in your kid and showing all the things they offer, you just want what's best for your kid. Of course I'm a Michigan fan, shoot, I may be a Michigan fan in four years. Who knows? Right now, I'm a Dallas Gant fan and the best program for him is this. ... I hope he kills Michigan."
"Michigan got me to think a little bit," Gant said. "Coach (Don) Brown is great, we built a great relationship and coach Harbaugh is obviously a unique guy with a great coaching staff.
http://www.cleveland.com/osu/2017/05/dallas_gants_commitment_to_ohi.html
Maybe I am just naive, but how does anyone know who is #1 on Michigan's board. Who's been hanging out at the Browns or Harbaugh's house?.
Maizen knows. He has to, in order to believe what he believes. What he knows is false, but that does not stop him from knowing it.
Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Maizen on this one. Either he was a high priority and M messed up by not recognizing it and offering him sooner, or he was a lower priority in a small class and he was going to end up there either way. It's not the end of the world.
Ahhhh yes, there it is. The ol' no one can take criticism bit. When your entire account is based on "pointing out the slightest negative thing", you're just trolling. The board has more or less figured out thats your thing.
Surprised that WMU, MTSU, etc. aren't getting a fair share of top prospects if it really is a "school who puts in the most effort" game.
Beilein shat all over your negative-nancying, so now you're going after Harbaugh's recruiting practices? You could always change your avatar to reflect your actual fandom instead of your fake fandom, because it's not like you're fooling anyone.
That's the preferable case for you. The other case is that you actually have such poor control over your terrible emotions.
What in the actual fuck are you talking about?
Harbaugh is killing it on the recruiting trail but in this particular instance him and his staff waited too long to offer and it cost them a player they wanted. I don't see the problem with pointing that out other than it's got you all sorts of triggered because you don't want your safe space interrupted. Like it or not these coaches are human and do make mistakes. It's ok, Harbaugh will still sign a great class, but I'm going to call a spade a spade.
If anyone has no control over their emotions just re read your own post. I mean my god. Fanboy gotta fanboy I guess.
Didn't Meyer have Percy Harvin tell the media that he grew up a Florida State fan, when he was actually a Florida fan. Dallas went to a OSU game in 2015 on a unofficial visit, he went to OSU junior day in January of 2016, he's from Ohio, we had no chance.
How does this guy have 10,000 points?! Using one player as an example of Michigan not recruiting Ohio well is ridiculous. We can always do better, but who knows what the actual story is with this kid. Meyer has three national championship trophies and a circle of trust. Of course he is going to recruit his home state well (and nationally). Harbaugh has been killing it and is one win away from pulling even if not past Meyer in recruiting.
I haven't actually paid attention to him in the past. Is this a recurring thing with him? Is he always this dramatic about recruiting?
Check any thread in the past couple of years that involves BBall recruiting or John Beilein in general.
Can you fill me in on where Michigan's basketball recruiting class ranks this year? Thanks.
Beilein wins in spite of his recruiting, not because of it. The one year he signed a top 10 class he went to the Final 4. Top 10 coach that tries to win with top 40 talent.
I like the recruiting updates, but frequently skip the comments for this reason, so I'm not going to go look at his past posts. I come across plenty of negativity without going to look for it.
As someone who follows recruiting closely I can tell you it matters a lot. I'm not saying you have to be first on every kid or anything like that, but you can't be too far behind most other schools.
For somebody that "follows recruiting closely" you are remarkably gullible when it comes to accepting recruits' statements at face value. Gant wanted to go to OSU. He gave a nice, non-inflammatory reason for choosing OSU that burned no bridges and gave Michigan's coaches a favorable mention. Had he said, "sorry, but OSU wins" it would have reflected poorly on Michigan and burned some bridges. What he said were his reasons were not necessarily his reasons. Michigan gave it a good shot, by all accounts, and came up short. No fault on any side that I can see.
MUST...DEFEND.....MY POST....TO THE....BITTER.....END!
I think we've reached the point where this post can safely be labelled as "noise" and be shit-canned by the mods.
Yeah, I have a few people in my family whom I would rather say I am "not related" to.