November 22nd, 2018 at 7:36 PM ^
Zach Harrison & George Karlaftis?
November 22nd, 2018 at 7:56 PM ^
Pretty much.
November 22nd, 2018 at 9:04 PM ^
Oni yeschyo ne siniye
November 22nd, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^
He retweeted @Birm: Michigan loses a DE commit - something tells me this was probably not the player’s decision, ultimately.
November 23rd, 2018 at 4:37 AM ^
Welp, that whole "let's get on Belleville's good side" thing didn't last long lol. Worth it if it's for Harrison and Karlaftis.
November 23rd, 2018 at 1:55 AM ^
I heard somewhere that Harrison is in the Michigan student directory.
November 23rd, 2018 at 7:51 AM ^
Nice to see you, kid. I don't post much but know that your heart is true blue.
November 22nd, 2018 at 7:37 PM ^
Lower-rated defensive line prospect? Hmm, interesting timing ...
November 23rd, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
Kid didn't even get a proper Hello post.
November 22nd, 2018 at 7:38 PM ^
Commence speculation of whether it's tied to any silent commits.
November 22nd, 2018 at 7:38 PM ^
He was a lowish 3*. This seems like a mutual breakup.
November 22nd, 2018 at 8:09 PM ^
I'm a low 3*, and I'm sure plenty of my exes tell their friends that it was a "mutual breakup."
And sure, I've got a great girlfriend now, and usually had a good time being single...but that doesn't mean there wasn't a lot of whiskey...
November 22nd, 2018 at 9:55 PM ^
lol probably not mutual. Just be honest it about it, harbaugh is going to be processing out some lower rated committs. Everyone here is ok with it if we win so just be honest about it
November 22nd, 2018 at 10:29 PM ^
I understand your sentiment, but he was not "processed out". There was no LOI signed and he, like all of our current recruit prospects, are only verbal commits until such time that they have signed an LOI. The school and recruits both have the opportunity to seek greener pastures until signing day, be it the early signing period in December or the traditional signing day in February.
November 22nd, 2018 at 10:39 PM ^
I cab see Michigan seeking a greener pasture, but how likely would a 3-star recruit find a greener one than Michigan?
November 22nd, 2018 at 11:02 PM ^
Greener pastures is kind of a relative term there don’t you think? Greener pastures as in a better overall team...most likely not as Michigan sits at #4 in the country with the #1 defense in the country. However greener for the recruit is definitely possible with several options. Say he comes here and we net either Harrison or Karalaftis and believe me I firmly believe we get both but for arguments sake say we just get one. Currently Woods is listed as a DE, so he most likely sits behind Harrison/Karalaftis, Kwity Paye, Possibly Luigi Villain, and likely one or two other DE commits in his class. Some speculate he is going to grow into a DT which okay but he’s still most likely behind Mazi Smith and Hinton in his class, Dwumfour, Solomon, and probably a few others. He could go to a school like a MAC school and be an immediate major contributor. In that case he found a greener pasture getting more playing time than he’d likely see in his first few years at Michigan.
November 23rd, 2018 at 8:46 AM ^
Seems like a pretty narrow view of what "greener pastures" means to the student-athlete. UM pitches the opportunity at UM as a 40 year decision and not a 4 year one. While Woods could very well end up with more playing time elsewhere, he won't receive a UM degree and all of the benefits that go with it.
Additionally, by virtue of his commitment you can see what his preference was (i.e., UM over any other university) and now he doesn't have the opportunity to come and spend 3-5 years in AA, being exposed to world-class educators and a diverse student population, and graduate with a degree that resonates world-wide.
Yeah, he can probably find more football time elsewhere, but perhaps that wasn't the main or only reason why he chose UM in the first place. So perhaps dropping down to the MAC level isn't greener pastures after all.
November 23rd, 2018 at 9:40 AM ^
MAC schools were only a few of his options, he has interest from the Ivy League and as much as Michigan is a top tier education, so is the Ivy League. So he can get a world class education AND be an immediate major contributor. That’s much greener than he would have seen here. Now his Crystal Balls seem to be going towards Cincinnati for now and while it isn’t Michigan level of school or football, it’s still greener for him to play and get a good education.
November 23rd, 2018 at 11:08 AM ^
OK, let him commit to Harvard or Yale then. I hear Princeton is undefeated .
Don't get me wrong, but lots of players play for schools other than their first choice.
Best of luck to him.
November 23rd, 2018 at 5:10 PM ^
You do realize he could still choose to go to UofM as a nonschol/walk-on. Or just go as a regular student. He’s choosing to be a college student athlete, as such he will have to find a better fit, maybe even at an academically equivalent or superior school, maybe he goes to Northwestern? Their degrees are every bit as world reknowned as ours, maybe even moreso.
November 22nd, 2018 at 10:39 PM ^
I cab see Michigan seeking a greener pasture, but how likely would a 3-star recruit find a greener one than Michigan?
November 22nd, 2018 at 11:39 PM ^
No matter how many times you say it, I still prefer bluer pastures.
November 23rd, 2018 at 8:50 AM ^
Like the field at Boise State?
November 23rd, 2018 at 1:29 AM ^
If it is a cab, perhaps yellow pasture would be a more appropriate color option.
November 22nd, 2018 at 10:41 PM ^
I can see Michigan seeking a greener pasture, but how likely would a 3-star recruit find a greener one than Michigan?
November 22nd, 2018 at 10:50 PM ^
Maybe he’d like a shot at early playing time, or even playing at all? Maybe he hates the cold.
There are a million reasons.
November 23rd, 2018 at 5:43 AM ^
Speculators will speculate incessantly.
November 23rd, 2018 at 8:06 AM ^
“There’s no way this guy could have wanted to go somewhere else”
”false. There are million possible reasons such as...”
That’s hardly speculation, MGOHallMonitor.
November 23rd, 2018 at 8:46 AM ^
Yeah, you just described to a T what the whole "processing of lower rated recruits" thing is. It is what it is man. Don't try and disguise is under technicalities.
November 22nd, 2018 at 10:48 PM ^
This has been the way things have been since Harbaugh has been here. He gets commits with some lower ranked guys; in good recruiting years, not all of them are there at the end. We just picked up a CB who decommited from Georgia in the same way.
I don’t know exactly what communication occurs between the staff and the recruits, but some does. This does not come as a shock to them (disappointment? Sure, but it’s something they’re aware of through the process) and they get both the boost of being a Michigan commit and the time to find a place to sign.
November 23rd, 2018 at 9:20 AM ^
I agree it happens everywhere. Doesn’t make it not shitty from the point of view of the coaches. College football is sleazy. I understand and accept this is part of the process but I’m not going to pretend I like it or think it’s ok.
its also part of why I support no transfer restrictions for kids and never hold it against them when they transfer.
November 23rd, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
Go follow 55+ seniors badminton or some shit.
November 23rd, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
We'll never know everything that's said between the recruits and the coaches, but that won't stop a lot of us from jumping to conclusions.
We talk about whether offers are committable. Most clearly are but some are not. Some of those non-committable offers are contingent on the decisions of other recruits. We like you, but we're waiting on player X who's deciding soon, for example. They might schedule a visit after that player's decision.
Another version is we like you, but we're not sure if we'll have room for you. We can wait to offer you until we're sure. Or you can commit now, but if we fill up, we may have to cut you loose. As long as the coaches are honest with the players, most recruits would probably prefer the second option. The first option would be preferred by recruits already committed elsewhere.
Again, we don't know what was said. We do know Harbaugh got some bad press for how he handled some recruits in 2016 and heard reports that he changed his approach. There's really no reason not to be honest with these recruits. That's especially true when he's from a local powerhouse that you want to keep recruiting.
November 22nd, 2018 at 11:24 PM ^
I don't think anyone believes this is truly "mutual", but this isn't the processing we saw even earlier on with Harbaugh. And Woods has some measurables that seem to be keys for Mattison and Brown; he's fast and has the type of body you could probably add some mass to without it robbing him of speed. But my guess is also that UM didn't think they'd be the presumed leaders for 2 top-50 players this late in the year that play the same spot, and that was likely communicated to him. If push came to shove, my guess is the coaches would have taken Woods, Harrison, and Karllaftis and just not taken a flyer on some other guy if they had a scholarship spot. But lower-rated guys aren't naive; they know that a team like UM will always be recruiting guys to replace them (as they do at every spot), and coming in lower on the end of the class is only going to make that clearer. So you look elsewhere. It sucks, but Woods still has months to look for another place and seemingly has other offers still on the table.
November 23rd, 2018 at 12:10 AM ^
November 22nd, 2018 at 11:46 PM ^
Correct, he was “processed”. This is how recruiting works at major college football programs. What you hope is the coaches remain upfront and transparent with recruits about the circumstances of their commitment. Obviously the staff was not with oline kid from ‘16. That’s unfortunate, but “processing” recruits leads to the results we as fans want on the field.
November 23rd, 2018 at 12:19 AM ^
Incorrect, he was not "processed." He just saw the handwriting on the wall. So did Swanson - that's why he refused to go to any of Harbaugh's camps or come to campus to be evaluated. He'd promise to come, and then cancel at the last minute. Over and over. He knew what his circumstances were, and he landed in a sweet spot.
I'm not sure what "process" you think leads to the results you ant to see, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a player on Harbaugh's team that doesn't like the "process" that's allowed them to win ten games so far this year.
November 23rd, 2018 at 8:16 AM ^
Name checks out.
“Committed recruit replaced by someone the staff wants more” is, indeed, called being processed. It’s not “Saban processed”, but it’s still commonly called such.
Who knows if that’s what happened here, but if so, “processed” is a valid name for it.
November 23rd, 2018 at 11:46 AM ^
It's strange to watch people tie themselves in knots to explain away how a kid was asked to leave the class or if they stopped communicating with a player. A low rates 3 star is someone you should be able to offer today and get to commit. I'll never understand why they offer so many borderline high/low Div 1 recruits so early in the season.
November 23rd, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
User name is irrelevant to the topic.
"Committed recruit realizing he won't get playing time and reopens his recruitment" is not, indeed, called being processed. It’s not called “Saban processed”, and it's still not commonly called such.
Your assumption that the kid still wanted to come is unwarranted, as is the assertion that Swenson was "processed" when he was not, in fact, replaced by anyone.
November 22nd, 2018 at 7:40 PM ^
Good luck elsewhere young man. This was kinda a head scratcher for me...but I don't question Don Brown and defensive offers.
November 22nd, 2018 at 7:47 PM ^
A bird in the hand and all that.
It is a bit weird though, offers from Michigan, Air Force, MAC, and a couple of Ivy League schools. So I'm fairly confident in saying that it isn't the academic load that has him moving on.
November 22nd, 2018 at 7:54 PM ^
Trying to get their foot in the door at Bellevillle HS, where the coach made it clear that just showing interest in kids everyone wanted wouldn't be good enough.
November 22nd, 2018 at 8:04 PM ^
Is Belleville really a hotbed of talent? I know they've had a couple of good players recently but I can't think of any former Michigan players from Belleville. And honestly, it's a town of like 20,000 people.
November 22nd, 2018 at 8:18 PM ^
Belleville plays bigger than the town size because of the ‘recruiting’ that they do. But if we continue to win, UM can tell the coaches to stuff it. We can get equal/better talent out of state for the one 4* they produce each year.
November 22nd, 2018 at 8:21 PM ^
Ian Gold was from Belleville.
Belleville is loaded. How many of the kids are truly from Belleville is another question...call it the Greg Carter effect. Head coach gets gig and suddenly the “local” talent improves tenfold. Also see Ron Bellamy and W Bloomfield.
November 22nd, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
Did not know all that. Thanks for the info.
November 22nd, 2018 at 8:06 PM ^
Weird that elite HS players can still be influenced/steered by the HS coach.
This is not the Bo and Woody era were recruiting was based so much on relationships with HS football power houses.
It is easy now for HS players to get their own info and figure out what really would work best for them.
November 22nd, 2018 at 8:12 PM ^
If relationship with schools was everything Michigan would get all the Cass Tech players they wanted. It helps, but it is not what it used to be.