Michigan pursuing Miss St. DT transfer Fabien Lovett
Michigan has reached out to Lovett, a 6’3 330lb DT from Miss St.
Lovett entered the transfer portal after Leach posted a meme depicting a noose which his family did not like. He’s so far heard from Michigan, Houston, Florida, FSU, Tenn., Oregon, Ole Miss, and Houston and has expressed that he would like to take visits to FSU, Oregon, Tenn., and Michigan.
He is originally from Mississippi and was ranked #437 in the class of 2018. He redshirted in 2018 and then had 19 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss in 2019. His connection to Michigan is through Bob Shoop who used to be the DC at Miss St last year.
1) Leach clearly unaware of the times. Whatever your opinion on PC culture, etc, the coach of a major college football team in the south needs to have a better pulse on where the media/general public stand on these issues. Given it's the SEC, I doubt there's a public lynching...pun intended.
2) The idea that the kid is transferring solely because of the tweet is a stretch. If he liked the coach, program, thought he was in line for major playing time and was a big part of the expected rotation for next year, he would probably stick around. This feels a lot like Justin Fields transferring because of the N-bomb, knowing he had a better shot of immediate eligibility given circumstance. Not even the NCAA is dumb enough to start fighting the validity of race cases.
We could use a 330 lb DT against Wisconsin and OSU...definitely a take. I expect him to be granted immediate eligibility, unless of course he transfers to UM.
Leach has never been PC. He posted stuff at his other coaching stops. He posted a doctored Obama video and is a staunch supporter of Trump. Being a supporter of Trump on its own should not matter, but I can see his comments and tweets a cause for concern for some of his players or recruits.
"Not even the NCAA is dumb enough to start fighting the validity of race cases."
Agree with your post. But never underestimate the stupidity of the NCAA.