Walter Nolen down to 3, no
His final 3: Texas A&M, Florida, Tennessee.
Why is Michigan now out? Maybe this is why: his father had this to say about Michigan:
The article where the picture above comes from has Tennessee at #1 among the 3:
https://saturdayblitz.com/2021/08/07/texas-football-aggies-move-5-star-walter-nolen/
Rivals has him to Tennessee:
Walter Nolen is from Tennessee:
Well….piss.
Of all the places, why the hell would anyone pick Tennessee? The program sucks and is about to go on probation.
He’s going to Florida
Tennessee is worse version of us but the difference is their McDonald's bags of cash that they can now just give out in the open
August 7th, 2021 at 10:43 PM ^
Of his three finalists, Tennessee has the nicest campus, city, and weather. We, as fans, tend to forget that these players are considering where they're going to live for the next three or four years (and when you're young, three years seems like an extremely long time).
At my age (44), I have found it funny how much perspective relates to time. If you are thinking about something that happened 3 years ago, it can seem like yesterday. With other things, such as retirement for some of you or UM football's next best shot at something significant (or any of MI's sports team for that matter), three years can seem like the distant future.
Tennessee has a brand-new coach, Josh Heupel. He's coming off two very successful seasons at UCF in '18 and '19, and was a successful QB coach and OC at Oklahoma. It's certain that he knows a bit about constructing a high-powered passing offense.
He also doesn't have the stink of "failure" around him. Maybe he will crash and burn in Knoxville, but that's in the future. Right now, there's no reason for Tennessee fans—and recruits—to think he won't change things for the better.
How is Texas am on his list, they didn’t even make top 5 last time.
Because things can change pretty easily in the minds of 17 year olds
August 7th, 2021 at 10:41 PM ^
Definitely the ROTC program.
Perhaps they offered up a very nice NIL proposal for him.
Yeah, I wouldn’t close the book on him yet. His Top 5 didn’t include Texas A&M and they made the Top 3. And Alabama didn’t.
Even when he listed the Top 5 it was “at this time”.
Not convinced he’s decided yet. Hopefully he’s milking the (cash) cow and still decided on UM.
I know, I know. Stop drinking (the Kool Aid) and go to bed!
I haven't followed his recruiting that closely but this definitely feels like a weird list. This absolutely feels like one of those recruitments that will go on for a long time and getting worked up about it one way or the other now seems unnecessary.
Also, that quote makes it sound like distance is a problem but it's not like College Station or Gainesville is really closer. Probably farther when you consider you can get to Ann Arbor pretty quick from DTW.
Well, just looked it up and it's actually twice as far to College Station as AA from Powell, TN.
August 7th, 2021 at 11:51 PM ^
He didn’t say distance was the problem with Michigan. He said the problem with Michigan is that it is in the North - not the South. Obviously Florida and Texas (A&M) are. I don’t think they are going to be able to change that.
August 8th, 2021 at 12:22 AM ^
It's still in the SEC, where he would have games closer to home. But yeah, it does seems pretty far away.
Yeah, I assume it's more a North/South divide than pure distance, but I also think a lot of these discussions a bit premature and full of some jockeying. Like, if UT gets slapped with sanctions going into next year (which you could happen given how obvious their violations were), that would completely shake up this list.
My guess is that he winds up at Florida. Just feels like that's his actual preference but trying to keep everyone happy for now.
August 7th, 2021 at 10:28 PM ^
Just like most recruitments.
We never stood a chance. At least we were mentioned early on. That was fun.
While it’s not Nua’s fault, he sure better step up his DL CROOTIN
August 8th, 2021 at 11:54 AM ^
he sure better step up his DL CROOTIN
I think that time has come and went. We did beat out MSU that one time. Not too shabby.
Happy meals
Double post
Probably switch to Alabama at the last minute. Isn’t that the way these things go with highly rated players?
August 8th, 2021 at 10:03 AM ^
That would be a seismic shift.
“Just they are up north and we are down south.” Yup. That about sums it up.
Translation:
"The SEC---They care pay more"
3 programs that can't get over the hump like us, but the difference is that they've been paying guys for ages so all of the sudden they can just flawlessly transition their paying scheme to out in the open due to NIL
Seth brought up a very good point on the WTKA Roundtable. All of the schools that are seemingly far ahead in the NIL department are the schools that were blatantly paying players previously. Now they can just do it out in the open. It's not that they have some NIL secret sauce
Correct. People who think NIL changes the dynamic weren’t paying attention.
NIL is still in its infancy.
August 7th, 2021 at 10:05 PM ^
Already tired of the Mich.NIL excuses,'in it's infancy." What's so damn complicated about getting rich Mich.Alumni $$$$ into the pockets of current players and recruits?
Michigan alumni may not be as excited about just throwing money at athletes as SEC alumni. (And they definitely haven't had as much practice at it.)
I wish the brain trust at mgoblog would make up their mind about the purity of the Michigan program in relation to paying players. No one believes that Gary turned down 300k to attend Michigan over Clemson. Can we stop with the fantasy that Michigan is/was above paying players? Does the SEC do it better? Yes, but that’s a Michigan flaw more so than a stain on the SEC.
Neat.
But he was wearing those gloves that one time…
....just to fuck with our minds. Hoping for a "Fuck Michigan".
August 7th, 2021 at 11:39 PM ^
Yeah. That worked out pretty well…until it didn’t.
Walter and his family seemed pretty cool to me. Good luck to him. Glad he's not listing Ohio State.
At this point, yes, just having him not go to OSU should count as a major win.
I just came across this. I would have put it in the post if I saw it earlier. EJ Holland put a forecast of Nolen to Tennessee 2 weeks ago:
I'm glad that I didn't listen to Sam Webb's "There's a chance" narrative. Been down that road too many times.
Sam wasnt wrong though. Are you confused about what “a chance” means?
August 7th, 2021 at 10:49 PM ^
I'll bet there's a slight chance that you're over 30 yrs. old.
There wasn't a chance in us getting the guy but Tennessee? Florida?
Like I understand completely going to Bama or Georgia (they consistently have great defenses), but Tennessee? They're more of a dumpster fire than Michigan is. And Florida may have a worse defense than Michigan.
It's just weird to me
Florida is very clearly on the up and up. They were in the SEC Championship last year and were probably as close to beating Alabama last year as anyone was.
But yeah, Tennessee would make little sense to me.
Their offense was really good. Probably top 5 in the nation. Their defense was awful tho. I don't see how joining that defense is appealing
It’s the SEC and you’re competing for national championships. That’s it. All you need to know.
Hackett's plan B in Mullen may have turned out better.... the only alma mater coach with real success has been Fitzgerald at NW....and that is a low bar he had. Those here who have long argued for avoiding bringing back former players, are correct.
August 7th, 2021 at 10:31 PM ^
Florida may not have a worse defense than us.
Did you happen to see the Mich- Wisconsin game last year??