I do these investigations for a living and have been in this exact situation before. The lawyers might be to blame, or maybe not. Investigators are hired to do an investigation within a scope defined by the client. It would seem natural to me that they would’ve interviewed this guy, but imaging his computer is something else entirely. You would want to know whether the images were just sitting there on the desktop of his work computer, or whether they had been wiped and found only after someone came forward with a tip and the computer underwent forensic analysis. You would also want to know whether the investigators even knew about this computer. Some people keep multiple devices, some of which are not on the official inventory logs. When you show up to take their computer, they hand you the one they know has been sanitized, and you never see the bootleg device(s).
Finally, simply because the university officials got up and said the investigation found no wrongdoing doesn’t necessarily mean the investigation found no wrongdoing. Once the results of the investigation are turned over to the client, the client can make whatever public statements it wants to and there’s nothing the lawyers can do because the investigation is protected by privilege. I’ve read a client’s statements and or news articles about my investigations that bear only a vague resemblance to what I actually reported.
Bottom line – – might be a white wash, might be investigator negligence, or neither.
"Earning our highest ranking includes strength, consistency, operation time, athleticism, and character. Brad has all these traits..."
I'm good with the first four traits, but don't infect the ratings with character when it comes to your punter.
This guy has to stare down death in the form of a bunch of guys who look like X-men running at him seven times a game and we want to worry about character? If he wants to run a side-hustle on the long snapper's girlfriend or cheat at cards, so be it.
I agree with this, with the additional potentially-genius move of staggering the announcements every day for several days, which generates one story about the latest recruit, and another story about the "x day streak" of committments. Two for the price of one. As the boring portion of the bowl season approaches, there will be a lot of cable sports shows looking for football-related conversation that is more interesting than two 6-6 teams in a bowl played in Shreveport.
Smart people who understand how the media works would do it exactly this way, at exactly this time.
If I was Harbaugh, and I understood how the media works, and I wanted to create tremendous positive buzz at a critical time in the cycle, and where there is little other sporting news to discussI would plan it exactly like this. After the first commitment on Wednesday, the story will take on a life of its own. It's not just about each new recruit that signs up, but about the "streak," and the huge week UM is having with top recruits. In the end, you get more bang this way than you would have from the collective sum of the parts.
The only mystery is Saturday...wonder if that sport (a premium spot) is being left open for a certain prospect committed elsewhere.
I still don't understand why we haven't replaced the "most replaceable" of the three with Eno Benjamin, who basically begged to come to Michigan a few months ago. I hate that recruiting boils down to an insensitive game of human chess, but that's what it is, and giving people the most amount of time to find a new landing space is the decent thing to do.
Our situation is stable this year, but there are many other situations at big-name programs that are not (though some jobs are starting to settle). It is also interesting to see the "second tier" or programs where the coach is still in place, but not for long (UCLA, Notre Dame, much of the SEC). Why can't the same argument for eleventh-hour prospects be made for this year, just that the instability is elsewhere instead of our own back yard? I can't recall a [recent] year with this much uncertainty at such big name programs, both at the head coaching and coordinator levels.
I also do not believe that "don't watch this" is a fair disclaimer for graduates of the Texas public school system like me. That same hypnotic warning preceded videos about girls/cups, broken limbs, and other things that I now cannot unsee.
Can we please stop posting the Najee season highlight video? We're basically the guy who brings a photo of his long-time girlfriend backstage and brags about her to all the Production Assistants right before he walks out onto stage on the Jerry Springer Show.
(Do these people not ask for the episode name before they agree to be on the show? Have they ever seen the show before? Spoiler alert - the paternity test will show the baby is not yours, and the only question is whether Steve will tase you before you get a chance to tackle the baby daddy.)
If Solomon does indeed care about the value and marketability of the degree, with the quality of football being a close second, he is ours. Georgia is a regional degree; Michigan is a national degree.
Someone (Harbaugh?) put in his head that college football is a quid pro quo. The player is loaning the university his talents, and the player must demand something back in return (i.e. the value of the degree). Sounds like it might have sunk in.
All caveats apply whenever it is a recruit talking, but I don't necessarily think that MSU declaring their recruiting season effectively over is that crazy. What possible pitch would they make to a 4* recruit right now, and why chance having the person who committed in July wake up, remember that "I committed to MSU when I thought they were going to be 9-3," and start looking around at a similar-level program with a better short term trajectory?
I am a believer that, in recruiting this time of year in MSU's unique circumstance (nearly full class, all of which committed when they were going to be 9-3, not 3-9), one must be quite careful.
May I recklessly speculate that this is very good news for our chances with all of these players? It's a trip to Ann Arbor in December, so all the great beaches are closed. There is no football game, which weeds out any gents who are here for a free plane ride and to walk the sidelines at and hear your name yelled out a little bit. (Heck, Nico is paying his own way.)
Najee, in particular, is visiting a few weeks before he enrolls at his school of choice. If, as some speculate, he is looking for more than just the football experience, this is a good weekend to come and soak that up. He is said to value education and the football experience as 1a and 1b, and he is still coming even though he knows there is no CFP in the cards this year.
I therefore speculate that the guys who are coming this weekend are dead nuts serious about the University. This visit in December says "I just want to visit the University and make sure before I pull the trigger." If that's the case, and unless they are also visiting Stanford or Northwestern this month, they are ours.
But I think there is something to be said for where a team is headed. Their recruits are shitty by the 4*/5* standards that we have become accustomed to over past two years, but they are high 2*s, 3*s, and a sprinkling of 4* players. Some of them (Hunter Rison, offspring of Spiderman) are not going anywhere, but lots of them are the types that fill the rosters of middling and lower tier Power Five programs. I would think they would see MSU's arrow as pointing somewhere near due south, whereas there are a lot of other teams with arrows pointed due north. I understand why they committed in July and August, but to stay committed now is either a feat of loyalty, or they don't have TV/Internet.
To be fair, the article is quoting Rocky Lombardi, the "gem" QB of the 2017 class, who hints that there are 3-4 more folks that will be added to the class (presumably, silent commits), and one person they are still recruiting. I would ordinarily give short shrift to a recruit talking about the recruiting class, but he was fresh off a visit with MSU coaches when he started popping off authoritatively.
Same article said that MSU has essentially had the same recruiting class since before the season started, so perhaps Dantonio is staying silent strategically, and hoping for NSD to come as quickly as possible. Definitely an odd (admirable?) situation to hand onto your entire recruiting class through the Great Meltdown of 2016.
Recent Comments
If I was a MSU grad, I would be ripping off my drive-thru headset and slamming it on the Burger King counter right now.
Stanford's mascot is a tree. Not even a macho tree.
I just confirmed it was his bank account number. $11 in it, so everything checks out.
65 posts and no Ulizo reference? High-fives all around.
Great, now we have an extra scholarship for Jean Dela....shit.
"Earning our highest ranking includes strength, consistency, operation time, athleticism, and character. Brad has all these traits..."
I'm good with the first four traits, but don't infect the ratings with character when it comes to your punter.
This guy has to stare down death in the form of a bunch of guys who look like X-men running at him seven times a game and we want to worry about character? If he wants to run a side-hustle on the long snapper's girlfriend or cheat at cards, so be it.
Monday is Bagel Day at the office.
Starting Monday, I'm going to start taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
I just ran a 4.67 30-yd dash in work pants and dress shoes. It's not that difficult.
If, hypothetically, one is here to see topless photos of basketball players (based upon the patently misleading thread title), now what?
I agree with this, with the additional potentially-genius move of staggering the announcements every day for several days, which generates one story about the latest recruit, and another story about the "x day streak" of committments. Two for the price of one. As the boring portion of the bowl season approaches, there will be a lot of cable sports shows looking for football-related conversation that is more interesting than two 6-6 teams in a bowl played in Shreveport.
Smart people who understand how the media works would do it exactly this way, at exactly this time.
If I was Harbaugh, and I understood how the media works, and I wanted to create tremendous positive buzz at a critical time in the cycle, and where there is little other sporting news to discussI would plan it exactly like this. After the first commitment on Wednesday, the story will take on a life of its own. It's not just about each new recruit that signs up, but about the "streak," and the huge week UM is having with top recruits. In the end, you get more bang this way than you would have from the collective sum of the parts.
The only mystery is Saturday...wonder if that sport (a premium spot) is being left open for a certain prospect committed elsewhere.
We've been hit with more ballz in the past 48 hours than John Travolta.
I still don't understand why we haven't replaced the "most replaceable" of the three with Eno Benjamin, who basically begged to come to Michigan a few months ago. I hate that recruiting boils down to an insensitive game of human chess, but that's what it is, and giving people the most amount of time to find a new landing space is the decent thing to do.
We didn't find Asiasi under a rock. He was the rock.
Our situation is stable this year, but there are many other situations at big-name programs that are not (though some jobs are starting to settle). It is also interesting to see the "second tier" or programs where the coach is still in place, but not for long (UCLA, Notre Dame, much of the SEC). Why can't the same argument for eleventh-hour prospects be made for this year, just that the instability is elsewhere instead of our own back yard? I can't recall a [recent] year with this much uncertainty at such big name programs, both at the head coaching and coordinator levels.
I also do not believe that "don't watch this" is a fair disclaimer for graduates of the Texas public school system like me. That same hypnotic warning preceded videos about girls/cups, broken limbs, and other things that I now cannot unsee.
Some things are better left to the imagination.
Can we please stop posting the Najee season highlight video? We're basically the guy who brings a photo of his long-time girlfriend backstage and brags about her to all the Production Assistants right before he walks out onto stage on the Jerry Springer Show.
(Do these people not ask for the episode name before they agree to be on the show? Have they ever seen the show before? Spoiler alert - the paternity test will show the baby is not yours, and the only question is whether Steve will tase you before you get a chance to tackle the baby daddy.)
If Solomon does indeed care about the value and marketability of the degree, with the quality of football being a close second, he is ours. Georgia is a regional degree; Michigan is a national degree.
Someone (Harbaugh?) put in his head that college football is a quid pro quo. The player is loaning the university his talents, and the player must demand something back in return (i.e. the value of the degree). Sounds like it might have sunk in.
He said "amphibian," but I corrected it.
All caveats apply whenever it is a recruit talking, but I don't necessarily think that MSU declaring their recruiting season effectively over is that crazy. What possible pitch would they make to a 4* recruit right now, and why chance having the person who committed in July wake up, remember that "I committed to MSU when I thought they were going to be 9-3," and start looking around at a similar-level program with a better short term trajectory?
I am a believer that, in recruiting this time of year in MSU's unique circumstance (nearly full class, all of which committed when they were going to be 9-3, not 3-9), one must be quite careful.
May I recklessly speculate that this is very good news for our chances with all of these players? It's a trip to Ann Arbor in December, so all the great beaches are closed. There is no football game, which weeds out any gents who are here for a free plane ride and to walk the sidelines at and hear your name yelled out a little bit. (Heck, Nico is paying his own way.)
Najee, in particular, is visiting a few weeks before he enrolls at his school of choice. If, as some speculate, he is looking for more than just the football experience, this is a good weekend to come and soak that up. He is said to value education and the football experience as 1a and 1b, and he is still coming even though he knows there is no CFP in the cards this year.
I therefore speculate that the guys who are coming this weekend are dead nuts serious about the University. This visit in December says "I just want to visit the University and make sure before I pull the trigger." If that's the case, and unless they are also visiting Stanford or Northwestern this month, they are ours.
Dotson is quoted as being rock solid to MSU. Says the 2017 recruiting class is going to turn things around after an anomalous year.
But I think there is something to be said for where a team is headed. Their recruits are shitty by the 4*/5* standards that we have become accustomed to over past two years, but they are high 2*s, 3*s, and a sprinkling of 4* players. Some of them (Hunter Rison, offspring of Spiderman) are not going anywhere, but lots of them are the types that fill the rosters of middling and lower tier Power Five programs. I would think they would see MSU's arrow as pointing somewhere near due south, whereas there are a lot of other teams with arrows pointed due north. I understand why they committed in July and August, but to stay committed now is either a feat of loyalty, or they don't have TV/Internet.
To be fair, the article is quoting Rocky Lombardi, the "gem" QB of the 2017 class, who hints that there are 3-4 more folks that will be added to the class (presumably, silent commits), and one person they are still recruiting. I would ordinarily give short shrift to a recruit talking about the recruiting class, but he was fresh off a visit with MSU coaches when he started popping off authoritatively.
Same article said that MSU has essentially had the same recruiting class since before the season started, so perhaps Dantonio is staying silent strategically, and hoping for NSD to come as quickly as possible. Definitely an odd (admirable?) situation to hand onto your entire recruiting class through the Great Meltdown of 2016.
MSU suggested in an article on MLive this morning that they are done recruiting except for one player:
"From a recruiting standpoint, I'm working on one more kid and that's about it."
Presumably, he's talking about Ambry Thomas.
My life coach says to either get your money's worth, or don't engage in them. There is nothing less macho than the attempted ninja nut shot.