Xavier worthy may be leaving?
So apparently a Texas board member on 247 noted that worthy is having trouble with the academic side of things in order to early enroll at Michigan and wants out of his NLI and transfer to Texas and play for Sark.
Also, the always negative Brandon brown confirmed that he does have a couple hurdles to climb to enroll at Michigan.
Gotta love Michigan I tell ya...
https://mobile.twitter.com/BSB_Wolverine/status/1348115893025460227
January 10th, 2021 at 8:54 AM ^
and how embarrassing is this for an individual. To have your academic situation open to the world to judge you. Wtf wants that type of attention, as a kid?
As fans that complain and bitch about us not being like the top echelon of teams, consider that.
Even Brian Kelly has addressed this issue at ND.
Oh, and Stanford? You can thank Harbaugh and his team for bringing them to relevance.
January 10th, 2021 at 9:01 AM ^
Yeah, that is such a terrible situation for a 17 year old to be in.
If this is the case, I think Michigan really needs to make institutional changes about academic requirements for athletes, and make them more lax. Michigan football players already contribute a ton for the university with respect to branding and revenue, why is it so bad if they can take online classes?
For being such a "progressive" and "liberal" school, Michigan is so stuck in their way of doing things because the academic portion is how "they have always done it".
Michigan is a good school, but by putting this academic hurdles in athletes way, they are scaring away players who could really help this program. Not being a top-tier student and wanting to focus more on football/NFL is not a bad character trait.
January 10th, 2021 at 11:57 AM ^
This is where I am with all of this too. Should the school admit kids that have to business even being in college like some other schools surely do? No. If a kid genuinely wants to get an education but didn’t grow up in the best environment, should they be given a chance? I think so. I also think “Football” should be a major. There is a ton of class work for football players and they basically don’t get credit for it academically. They should have to take the required general classes, but why shouldn’t they get credit for film study? I know this is ripe for teams pumping up GPAs and no school is going to fail a football player for film study, but still.
January 10th, 2021 at 9:00 AM ^
I am about the furthest thing from an “insider”. However, I do happen to have one mutual friend with Jim Harbaugh and I have been told multiple times that Michigan’s academics are a limiting factor for the football program. To hear him tell it, there is a whole group of recruits that other football factories are getting that Michigan simply does not have the same access to because they won’t make it at Michigan.
I had always been somewhat skeptical of that line of thinking—I’m well aware that top athletes often get the school’s “easy route” academically—but apparently that “easy route” still does not compare to SEC/OSU/etc.
January 10th, 2021 at 9:12 AM ^
I'd love for someone in the know to explain to me how Michigan went from admitting / keeping a player eligible that got a 6 on his Wonderlic at the combine in the late Lloyd years to "we can't win because of academics".
January 10th, 2021 at 9:24 AM ^
Affirmative Action lawsuit cases. They happened and are real at Michigan. Look it up. They started to make a serious push in the early 2000s.
January 10th, 2021 at 10:09 AM ^
Wow, didn't realize the Michigan was the only college that was ever faced with a lawsuit challenging Affirmative Action. I learned something new today and it's only 10 AM.
January 10th, 2021 at 10:22 AM ^
You asked what changed and I answered. And Michigan was at the epicenter of the whole AA discussion, which, also affect athletes. This change didn't start to get serious until around 2003 or so.
January 10th, 2021 at 10:32 AM ^
So because of that, Michigan and Michigan only made changes to make things harder for athletes while every other college did just the opposite?
January 10th, 2021 at 11:47 AM ^
Looks like Curious George is in a bit of mischief today
January 10th, 2021 at 10:52 AM ^
Not much.
They always have been allowed to bring in a few players that wouldn't normally pass admissions, but in the end those players would have to work to maintain a real GPA, and if they can't do that it seems, at UofM, they don't play.
As a matter of fact if you look at early recruiting under Harbaugh, it seems they let a few more guys in than normal that might have struggled academically, and they ended up being some of the transfers from the '16 and '17 class that really hurt the last two years.
January 10th, 2021 at 12:06 PM ^
UM's academic standards may prevent access to a group of recruits, but it doesn't preclude UM from getting the most out of the recruits it does land. UM needs to worry about utilizing the talent they have before excusing the coaches short comings based off talent it doesn't get.
January 10th, 2021 at 1:54 PM ^
Exactly. Wanting Bama type results without the athletes or acknowledging the problem is idiotic.
January 10th, 2021 at 9:16 AM ^
He’ll be a general studies major at Michigan. No problem. I went to UNC Chapel Hill and we are every bit as good as UM academically and Duke is even better. All of us get guys like this in for athletics every year. Michigan will be fine
January 10th, 2021 at 9:25 AM ^
Is UNC beating OSU every year?
January 10th, 2021 at 9:42 AM ^
Go ahead and list how many people are beating OSU lately. It’s a very short list. Make sure you add Purdue because the players on that team who BEAT OSU must have had cheated their way into Purdue. While your at it, list a few more excuses for us. I guess Michigan is cheating in basketball because of their recruiting classes as well
January 10th, 2021 at 9:59 AM ^
You still didn't answer my question.
Truly elite players required to beat OSU every year aren't going to come to Michigan when they can go elsewhere. Of course you will get the good player here or there, but fans questioning why we aren't the Bama of the north should factor this into their equation as to the why.
January 10th, 2021 at 10:39 AM ^
I understand your argument and think you have some valid points. It’s harder to get elite talent at Michigan because the pool of athletes that could be admitted is smaller. Got it.
...thing is we aren’t beating Wisconsin, Penn State or MSU consistently. When we do get elite talent we underutilize it. Or we fail to develop it. We’re not even close enough to being elite for a few players here and there to make a difference.
January 10th, 2021 at 1:29 PM ^
Honestly, I'd put us at the level of UW, PSU, MSU... We are roughly 50/50 with those schools. The real issue here is OSU, Bama, Clemson...
January 10th, 2021 at 2:09 PM ^
You mean the same joke of an academic institution that made up classes for athletes? Something Michigan would never do.
January 10th, 2021 at 9:41 AM ^
Maybe we should step away from the ledge?
Or perhaps I'm missing something?
An over pessimistic guy say. '"No biggie, just a snag in the way of early enrolement."
And we're all, "OMG, our seasons over!" and we're 9 months out!
OTOH, NOOO! Worthy was/is the player I'm most excited to see track speed +, incredible change of direction!
It doesn't look that far. I'm jumping. Who's with me?
January 10th, 2021 at 9:50 AM ^
I’m just tired of the self-inflicted wounds that this school specializes in
January 10th, 2021 at 10:00 AM ^
This is a click-bait rumor at this point. Calm down.
January 10th, 2021 at 10:28 AM ^
I am aware, but if true, it is par for the course in being a Michigan fan over the past 15 years or so.
It is why I also follow Arizona State/UT-San Antonio as my distant 2nd/3rd teams. Two teams with no expectations every year. Every game is so much more enjoyable because you are watching for pure entertainment value and no BPONE feelings in your gut.
January 10th, 2021 at 12:00 PM ^
The first step in getting rid of that sentiment is to stop using that asinine fucking acronym to describe yourself — unless, of course, you enjoy telling everyone you’re a childish, emo follower of the self-loathing blog owner who coined the term.
January 10th, 2021 at 10:05 AM ^
He still seems very pro Michigan on twitter! I think he likes that Harbaugh is staying. If Harbaugh would have left, I think he would have as well.
January 10th, 2021 at 10:12 AM ^
Why wouldn't he be pro blue? He genuinely wants to be here. But wanting to be here and being admitted here are two different things.
I'm hoping everything works out and he end up here.
We praise football and want to be truly elite, but we have to be realistic with our expectations. It's just harder for us to do the things that some schools are currently doing with ease.
January 10th, 2021 at 10:32 AM ^
Threads like this really throw into sharp relief the irreconcilable tension between (i) my desire to be "in the know" about all things Michigan and (ii) that I inevitably feel stupider catching up on message board rumors triggered by cryptic tweets from a 17 year old and a recruiting hanger-on. Alas!
January 10th, 2021 at 10:36 AM ^
Let me first say I love Michigan. I'm a life long fan. I bleed Maize and Blue but we all need to be realistic with our expectations of the program. Michigan will always have problems recruiting enough 5 star and high 4 star kids to complete with OSU, Bama, Clemson, USC, Georgia and other SEC powerhouse.
First, It's impossible to be a college football program when the big boys are football factories. Michigans very high academic standard eliminates a lot of kids immediately.
Second, Michigan requires most of their student athletes to attend in person classes. The football factories allow students to take most, if not all, of their courses online. If you are a super stud athlete and want to get to the NFL you go to a program/factory that allows courses online.
Third, Michigan refuses to turn their athletic department, especially football, into a public relations recruiting office. We have one or two people in charge of football recruiting. The football factories have multiple (5-10) individuals in charge of outreach within the program. This is a big deal. When the lifeblood of your program is recruiting we must have more people involved, period.
Fourth, Michigan won't allow the alumni, boosters and others to pay (bagman) and support players/recruits with the I'll say items that the big boys provide to their players. Bottom line is Michigan is a true College Football Program that does things the way the right way.
Since 2000, I think Michigan has been very naive in the way we run our program. If we expect to win things must change/evolve. If we are ok with being a traditional college football program we need to be content averaging 9-10 wins per year.
January 10th, 2021 at 11:13 AM ^
Okay, I'll bite. Take the 4 points you raised and ask yourself why Michigan basketball has improved 10 fold since 2000 and football has gotten worse probably 3 fold in the same amount of time. Did Beilein cheat? Does Howard cheat? Are Michigan basketball players illiterate?
Michigan football has far bigger problems beyond perceived issues with bagmen and academics. Bagmen don't develop 4-5 star QB's and WR's and get the most out of them, manage the clock, use tempo correctly, use defensive schemes to combat 2020 offenses, etc. You could go on and on.
January 10th, 2021 at 1:31 PM ^
I'll bite... There is way more parity in bball than football. And let's be honest here, we aren't a basketball school. The scrutiny to win in basketball isn't the same as foot ball.
January 10th, 2021 at 2:30 PM ^
Our Basketball team has been quite a bit more successful than the football team over the past 40 years, and it’s not that close. To try to minimize this fact by saying there’s more ‘parity’ in the sport is why that garbage stinking up Schembechler hall is a loser program that’ll find any and every excuse to be a loser program.
January 10th, 2021 at 2:32 PM ^
Thanks for the reply. That's a pretty easy question to answer. 85 scholarships vs 13. It's easier to run a system like Beilein did so we aren't recruiting directly against the big boys. Howard is a once in a lifetime coaching talent and we are lucky to have him. I'm not denying the fact that Harbaugh has issues with his coaching style and assistants. You have to start with 5 star and high 4 star recruits to be able to develop them in the first place. The difference between the top 5 classes and classes 6-15 is night and day. Just because you have a top 10 class doesn't mean the talent level is anywhere close. I believe if Michigan bought into the philosophy (lower standards for athletes, allow only online classes, bagman, large recruiting office, tons of tutors for athletes, special accommodations for athletes, etc...) that OSU, Bama and Clemson and make Athletics a priority we could achieve almost similar results. We don't and won't. Michigan handicaps themselves before they even get on the field to compete.
January 10th, 2021 at 10:38 AM ^
Ahhhh, Michigan fan's "in a nutshell".
Good Luck Xavier, hopefully UofM is the perfect fit for you but if is not, I'll always appreciate the trolling you did over flipping to Bama.
Plus take you're time, they all of sudden got loads of speedy receivers, so read up, bulk up and enjoy.
January 10th, 2021 at 11:04 AM ^
Make being an active student optional just as it is with every high school graduate--you dont have to go to college to get a job. Pay them as employees as anyone else providing a service to the university--here being advertising dollars getting the universities name out there. Problem solved. Michigan can have football and higher academic standards--maybe even get an NFL franchise to carry some of the cost. The old model of major college sports is beyond saving with the economic enrichment for only revenue generating athletes on the horizon---just let it die.
January 10th, 2021 at 11:07 AM ^
He doesn’t have to get out of anything. He can just transfer this year with no consequences.
January 10th, 2021 at 11:28 AM ^
So, is he WORTHY or is he NOT WORTHY? Enquiring minds wants to know.
January 10th, 2021 at 11:45 AM ^
The tweet was pretty vague. If it's a Clearinghouse issue then he can't enroll at any Division I school. If it's a Michigan specific requirement, that is obviously much different.
This entire comment section seems very uneducated. How high are Michigan's requirements over the Clearinghouse? Can Michigan "slot" their athletes--for instance, can they get 5 signees a year who are on the lowest tier and still get admitted? Would they have to make that up with 5 higher tier enrollees? I'm sure there are various hurdles involved but without knowing the specifics it's pretty hard to comment intelligently about it.
January 10th, 2021 at 2:12 PM ^
It’s usually about what classes they have taken or in the case of Michigan what classes they haven’t taken.
January 10th, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^
When will Brandon Brown get Yoder treatment? He obviously doesn't like Harbaugh and is willing to go the Rosenberg route to find anything to get rid of him.
Don't use him to confirm anything negative. Use an unbiased resource.
January 10th, 2021 at 12:57 PM ^
I absolutely hate the comment I'm about to make, but...
^this!
January 10th, 2021 at 7:06 PM ^
Brown has been acting like a mewling infant for a few months now.
January 10th, 2021 at 12:42 PM ^
The best thing to come out of this thread is the idea that football, or any division 1 sport really, should be characterized as a major. This is an excellent idea.
EDITED: I created a board topic, as this seems interesting to figure out.
January 10th, 2021 at 1:11 PM ^
I don’t believe it, it says on his Twitter he got admitted to the University of Michigan.
January 10th, 2021 at 2:04 PM ^
January 10th, 2021 at 1:31 PM ^
Let's hope this has the same happy ending as the time a coach went to Detroit Metro to bring back Anthony Carter, who was so homesick that he was leaving.
January 10th, 2021 at 2:15 PM ^
Worthy doesn’t want to leave. If this is true it’s saying Michigan may not let him in. But he definitely wants it.
January 10th, 2021 at 1:46 PM ^
Sounds like a future Sparty
January 10th, 2021 at 1:56 PM ^
And that's been the trend. UM has had a holier than thou attitude towards who they let in, and a lot of great athletes go to state.
No one is scrutinizing their academics on forums
January 10th, 2021 at 2:00 PM ^
So long young man and don't let the door hit you in the ass, on the way out.