Unverified Voracity Got A Job Just Yesterday
DON'T DO THIS
WEBER FIASCO DEFCON 1. The damn day after Mike Weber signs a LOI to Ohio State, running backs coach Stan Drayton leaves for the Bears. Weber:
I'm hurt as hell I ain't gone lie
— Mike Weber (@mikeweber25) February 5, 2015
Tony Paul:
The timing of this move is odd, to put it mildly.
John Fox was named the new Chicago Bears coach in early January, and much of his coaching staff was in place shortly thereafter. It seems curious Drayton would be making the move only after Weber signed his letter of intent to play for Ohio State.
UCLA pulled a similar stunt with their DC. Roquan Smith managed to find out before he used the fax machine, but you have to think that maybe some of UCLA's defensive commits would have looked around if UCLA had announced when they knew about it a month before signing day. Just more of the usual crap.
Recruits! DON'T SIGN A LETTER OF INTENT.
DON'T SIGN A LETTER OF INTENT
I mean, if you're a random three star and they say sign this paper or we're moving on, go ahead. If you're a big deal, do this:
The NCAA last fall began allowing football prospects who plan to enroll in January to sign financial aid agreements with college programs as early as August 1 of their senior year. The agreement, which allows the college program to have unlimited contact with the player and publicly speak about him, binds the school to the prospect, but not the prospect to the school. So there's nothing to dissuade a situation like that of Josh Malone, who signed financial aid agreements with four schools before ultimately signing with Tennessee.
Sign a financial aid agreement. It's like the LOI, except backwards, and that makes schools hate it. Instead of stuff like this happening to you, you can have hilarious quotes like this apply to your situation:
"You're basically taking the word of the kid," Mallonee told the AJC. "That's part of the issue."
Yeah! A kid who might drop a school for no reason or sell a school a false bill of goods. Damn kids. Always doing mean things with all the power they have.
Meanwhile. Can't say I'm surprised about this.
Unconfirmed rumblings that an Ohio State BEAT WRITER knew the RB coach was leaving, but held off on reporting it so not to lose Mike Weber.
— Tony Paul (@TonyPaul1984) February 6, 2015
Upshot. Could this lead to Weber flipping back to Michigan? Maybe. Schools can release players from LOIs.
Institutions are now empowered to grant a full and complete release from the NLI at anytime. To do so, an official Release Request Form must be initiated by the prospect and submitted to both the NLI office and the signing institution.
There's also an opportunity to appeal when school refuses to release a player, a process that ND signee Eddie Vanderdoes successfully went through a few years back. I'm unclear on what, exactly, this means as part of the Vanderdoes case:
The victory for Vanderdoes comes after a rather lengthy (and sometimes public) spat with Notre Dame and head coach Brian Kelly, who allowed Vanderdoes to enroll at UCLA, but refused to release him from the letter of intent he signed with Notre Dame in February.
Kelly can't prevent a guy from enrolling wherever he wants, and there appears to be no partial release from a LOI. The Bylaw Blog post on the topic implies that this was a straight-up win for Vanderdoes after Kelly refused to release him.
In any case: OSU could release him if the publicity gets bad enough, or Weber could decide to go somewhere else and attempt to appeal. If he did not win that appeal he would have to sit out his freshman year and he would lose that year of eligibility, making him a true sophomore in 2016.
Weber would have to want to pursue that, of course. It's possible he gets over it.
ESPN doing Hatch things. Hatch things:
Hiring various people for 'crootin' and 'lyzin'. Michigan announced they've hired longtime college coach and Harbaugh family associate TJ Weist as a "senior offensive analyst." Weist was the WR coach at Michigan in the early 90s, when a guy named Desmond Howard was hanging out, and was most recently the OC at Connecticut.
This analyst position is not a full assistant job, so Weist won't be able to work with players directly or recruit. He'll do film, find tendencies, and advise. Usually when established coaches take these jobs they're short-term gigs before something opens up elsewhere.
Michigan's also hired Gwendolyn Bush as "director of player development." Bush is the mom of Wayne Lyons, the fifth-year Stanford transfer who's supposed to be landing in Ann Arbor.
This has led to a couple of assertions that Michigan is getting down and dirty. If so, let's be clear why: it's not because Michigan wants a defensive back who will be around for one year. It's because Bush was—uh—"team mom" for South Florida Express, a high-powered 7 on 7 outfit that launched the careers of Teddy Bridgewater and Geno Smith, amongst many others.
@gdbush24 @UMICH_Mama_G thanks for everything you have done for SFE!!! You are a big part of our success!!
— Brett Goetz (@sfecoach) February 5, 2015
SFE won the national 7-on-7 championship, which is apparently a thing that exists now, and got profiled in SI, etc etc.
Meanwhile, Lyons. The Lyons transfer thing has broken loose from the paysites and made the Mercury News:
Stanford coach David Shaw on Wednesday enthusiastically described all 22 players who signed letters of intent as part of another well-regarded recruiting class. He was slightly less eager to discuss a player who might be leaving the program.
Cornerback Wayne Lyons is reportedly considering a transfer to Michigan, where he would play one season (as a graduate student) for former Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh.
"For those guys going into their fifth year that want the opportunity to play someplace else,'' Shaw said, "I've never said no, never tried talk anybody out of it.''
Lyons started seven games last year for Stanford's kick-ass defense. Michigan doesn't really need a defensive back but they've got a slot if Joe Kerridge isn't guaranteed a scholarship (and since it's highly likely someone leaves the team before fall that's probably moot anyway). May as well fill it with a quality player.
Michicon Valley. SJSU hires a familiar name:
I'm hearing former NFL lineman and Michigan GA Adam Stenavich will be the new #SJSU OL coach with Keith Carter off to the Atlanta Falcons.
— Jimmy Durkin (@Jimmy_Durkin) February 5, 2015
Then they did the thing:
SAN JOSE -- San Jose State officially announced two of its coaching hires on Thursday, with Al Borges being named offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and Dan Ferrigno the special teams coordinator/tight ends coach.
Greg Robinson is of course the DC. It will be… interesting to see how SJSU does this year. I predict bad.
Meanwhile in offensive coordinator hires that Michigan fans are extremely skeptical of. Tennessee is actually, officially doing their thing:
For UT followers: Mike DeBord has told his staff, colleagues at Michigan that he is leaving for Vols, per source w/ knowledge of situation.
— Evan Woodbery (@TheSaintsBeat) February 5, 2015
DeBord has never coordinated anything approximating a mobile quarterback and couldn't even find a position coach job after leaving the NFL, instead landing at Michigan for an Olympic sports administrator thing. Let's see if he can submarine Butch Jones's 80 recruits per year.
Dabo's very particular. This private bathroom thing is a thing.
My favorite thing that I've seen so far covering National Signing Day at Clemson. pic.twitter.com/EmY13lhwsv
— Brian Franey (@FraneyESPN) February 4, 2015
I've heard worse ideas. BYU signed a guy who's never played football before. Does this sound like an idea on par with hiring an Olympic Sports Administrator to be your offensive coordinator? Not so fast my friend:
Welcome Motekiai Langi to the #BYUFOOTBALL family!! #BYUNSD15 pic.twitter.com/xO8yZK1zAS
— BYU Cougars (@BYUCougars) February 4, 2015
That's no moon. Unless it's orbiting a planet. Then it totally is.
Etc.: In case you were considering taking Dave Zirin seriously about anything ever, you probably shouldn't. Vegas odds for the hockey national title are bonkers. Iowa wasn't real happy with the Higdon flip.
Signing day interviews with JayHar, Baxter, Jackson, and Wheatley (Jr).
February 6th, 2015 at 12:42 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
I wonder if he's played rugby before. It's pretty big in the South Pacific and a lot of its skills are applicable to football.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:29 PM ^
You really can't teach size either, and it's not like Samoan kids haven't turned out to be above-average football players recently. It honestly was a pretty smart move.
February 6th, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^
is a track record??
February 6th, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^
dont be like that
February 6th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^
Bottom line is OSU did Mike Weber dirty. OSU fans should stop trying to rationalize it or equate it to other program's actions... just admit that someone at OSU did Weber dirty. Period.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
If Urban Liar had no knowlege of losing his position coach, Tressel never heard of Tattoos.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^
Either:
1. Go back to MLive, or
2. Pay attention to the culture of this blog, and respect it
February 6th, 2015 at 11:07 PM ^
Urban Liar? Its kinda cute....
While not quite as nuanced, its kinda like like wrapping up the Anglican church in Cake or Death.....
February 7th, 2015 at 1:06 PM ^
Just a little play on words. Read plenty worse on this Blog, including your term "motherf*%$er" used on 10/21/14. We cool?
February 9th, 2015 at 12:06 AM ^
can fucking swear all you want. It's the names that a fourth grader would use that are tiresome (on par with scUM, etc. elsewhere).
We are fine, but it's not just me. I'm just letting you know what it's like where you are posting Nothing personal. Go Blue.
February 21st, 2015 at 7:33 PM ^
Seems personal, though. Especially since you called someone a "tool" in Nov. 2011. Maybe I'm just not clear about your standards for people other than yourself on this blog (especially a blog where the author tags someone as "a piece of **** human being"). Anyway, maybe we can agree to....Go Blue!
February 6th, 2015 at 1:34 PM ^
OSU fan and graduate here, and I agree.
Everyone knows when college football coaching staffs make their changes, and it isn't the day after NSD.
I'm not tuned in enough to other programs to know where or when this may have happened before, but that doesn't matter. If we are older than seven our moral code has to be deeper than "he does it too."
It is always nice to imagine that the sports teams that we follow are the "good guys." The real world disabuses us of that notion regularly.
So a bad day for OSU, but ultimately not a surprising one.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:33 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 12:52 PM ^
I hope this Weber story catches on nationally. Would love for it to blow up in Urbans face. At the very least it seems that Cass Tech coaches aren't too happy from tweets out there.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:19 PM ^
that OSU might get to keep Weber but that Cass Tech/OSU connection is broken.
February 6th, 2015 at 3:02 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 3:21 PM ^
Now when Cass Tech students read Joseph Conrad's 1899 novel Heart of Darkness, they can point to OSU and Columbus as a modern day example. Urban Meyer is their Mr Kurtz.
- My appologies to Joseph Conrad for dragging OSU into his story.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
Our coach has had his own drama with bathrooms in the past:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2009/08/24/stanford-football-harbaugh-arrillaga-and-the-50000-bathroom/
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
February 6th, 2015 at 12:53 PM ^
"chengelis: Wilcher on @dery1051 says he has to stand by Weber now "This is not going to be an easy thing. This is not going to go away."
February 6th, 2015 at 12:58 PM ^
Recruiters are alot like strippers. They butter you up and make you feel all special then turn around and tell the next guy the same bullshit story.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
Just gotta know how to ask.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 12:59 PM ^
Something like an outline of the state of Michigan with a block M in it with a tag line of "All your failed coordinators will be ours!"
Thinking about the one we had for West Virginia when we poached JB and RR around the same time.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:23 PM ^
Wouldn't it make more sense to have an outline of the state of California and an SJSU logo?
February 6th, 2015 at 12:59 PM ^
I'm still wrapping my head around the size of this BYU kid. 6'7", 410 pounds?
February 6th, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^
If he's mobile he could be a great OT.
At DT he is so large the linebackers probably won't be able to see the backfield!
February 6th, 2015 at 1:36 PM ^
Very short video though.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:56 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^
I clicked over to that BGHP link about Karan Higdon. 181 comments on the article, and not one bad word about Michigan. Kind of surreal. Reasonable folks, those Iowans. Plus I got this out of the deal.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
That is a gem
February 6th, 2015 at 2:59 PM ^
I don't know if they are reasonable towards us so much as they are exasperated with Ferentz and see this as another strike against him.
February 6th, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^
Go to other boards. Iowa's 247 board was calling Higdon a "sociopath."
February 6th, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^
1) Yes. Zirin is completely nuts.
2) Is it possible to make a $1 Billion short bet on Wisconsin winning the Hockey NC? Alternatively, I'll take any and all action at 28-1.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
is a magical concept, but it constantly seems to work.
The Mike Weber story is yet another example.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^
called an 18 year old dumb. In caps. While I've seen worse, your docking was more deserving than what this guy wrote.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:21 PM ^
If your karma comment is directed at Weber, -1
If it's directed at OSU and their loss of a pipeline to Cass Tech, +1
Since I'm not sure, I'll just move on...
February 6th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
He should immediately ask to be released from Bourben Meyer. That guy reeks! Mike Weber should take a breath, do what's necessary, and start fresh. Period.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:51 PM ^
could use a running back.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:59 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 4:38 PM ^
How dare you insult bourbon like that. I just don't know what to say.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:27 PM ^
Didn't Kellen Jones transer to OU from UM AFTER reporting for fall camp. Wasn't the logic that he was allowed to do that and play without sitting out a year because he hadn't yet enrolled?
This is confusing and stupid.
As for Weber, I can empathize with him as the parent of a teenage college student. I have little sympathy for an OSU football player. I'd be super pissed as his dad. As a Michigan fan, file under "meh." I only talk about players who play for UM.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:26 PM ^
Or did he assume that? Wilcher made it sound like Weber was torn between the school he wanted to go to (UM) and honor his committment to OSU. I didn't hear anything about the Higdon offer playing a role.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:51 PM ^
He told reporters at his announcement that Higdon’s decision to choose the Wolverines made his choice to stay with the Buckeyes much easier.
Link.
"I thought I was really the only back to get recruited in that class and when I heard (Higdon) was committed, it was like, 'Oh, well then there you go.'" Weber said. "That was the answer. That's what it was."
February 6th, 2015 at 2:51 PM ^
And it was the wrong answer.
I just can't gin up any outrage over this. Mike Weber committed to Michigan, and then changed his mind before Brady Hoke was let go. He stated in his decommitment message that he would announce his eventual choice at the AAA game on Jan. 3. If he had done that, he would have been an uncommitted recruit for Jim Harbaugh to try to win back to UM.
Instead, Weber verbally commits to OSU on December 11, almost three weeks before Harbaugh was hired. It's not as though there was no talk about Harbaugh being a possible candidate for the Michigan job in early December, and Weber could easily have waited until the new coach was installed before committing to OSU. In other words, in spite of his alleged lifelong love for Michigan, he decided not to give the new coaching staff the opportunity to recruit him on even footing with OSU. The new UM coach was going to have to flip him.
February 6th, 2015 at 3:20 PM ^
Especially in hindsight.
"It's not as though there was no talk about Harbaugh being a possible candidate for the Michigan job in early December, and Weber could easily have waited until the new coach was installed before committing to OSU."
If you were a 17-year old with (presumably) NFL aspirations, would you take this risk? What if OSU had decided to move on and recruit another RB and Michigan had ended up with Greg Schiano or some such?
February 6th, 2015 at 5:35 PM ^
If I was a RB...what they were doing seemed pretty damn exciting to me.
Zeke Elliott had a 3 game Heisman run over Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon. No pushovers.
Meanwhile everyone and their mom is saying Michigan has NO shot at Harbaugh.
EDIT (or Wheatley for that matter).
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