Exit Emil Ekiyor
[Isaiah Hole/247]
After an official visit to Tuscaloosa turned the tide, it seemed likely. After he cancelled this weekend's visit, it seemed inevitable. Now it's official: four-star IN OG Emil Ekiyor decommitted from Michigan and flipped to Alabama this afternoon.
ROLL TIDE ROLL‼️ #Committed pic.twitter.com/a583FE0wPV
— Emil Ekiyor Jr. (@bigE__18) October 29, 2017
As Sam Webb stated in the post linked aboved, Michigan wanted to keep Ekiyor in the fold, and they've pursued other interior linemen since it became clear the interest between Ekiyor and Alabama was serious.
At #105 on the composite, Ekiyor was the top-ranked player among Michigan's 2018 commits. While Mustapha Muhammad, at #109, isn't far off, Ekiyor was the only interior offensive lineman in the class, though it isn't a pressing need. (Four-star linemen Jalen Mayfield and Ryan Hayes both project to tackle or, in Hayes's case, tight end.) If the class calculator hasn't failed me, Michigan holds steady as the #14 class in the country and #3 in the Big Ten behind Ohio State and Penn State at first and fourth, respectively.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
Oh, he’s not a tackle? Ok.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:19 PM ^
Fuuuuuuu...
... oh, he's not a tackle?
Okay. Taking the shitting pants off.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:53 PM ^
I just hope the coaches are replacing him with someone decent instead of low rated kids in which Michigan were by far their best offers. Odds are those kinds of recruits are more like Ulizio than anything else.
October 29th, 2017 at 6:31 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 11:36 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 5:59 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 7:02 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 6:16 PM ^
Is anyone giving credence to the fact he switched to center and Alabama is losing their center, meaning he made this choice to play earlier? Ruiz should be locked in yeah?
October 29th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^
It will never make sense to me for anyone to choose Alabama over Michigan. He says he will go there to continue his education and play football but will only actually be going there to play football. If he really cared about the education part, he would still be planning on coming to Michigan.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:30 PM ^
You do realize that like 95 out of 100 recruits that talk about education do not in fact give two shits about their education, right?
October 29th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^
Or they care about education in terms of not having to work hard to stay eligible a la Michigan.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:46 PM ^
shut up about the education component. I can understand people wanting to play football and I can understand people wanting to not have to study hard, but there is a huge difference between a Michigan degree and an Alabama degree. If anyone wants to go there, it's their choice, but, for example, even a friend of mine who went to OSU finds it hilarious that Hand said he was picking Alabama over Michigan for its engineering program.
To a degree, though, what you so self-righteously and smugly say is beside the point. Among its many other problems, the University of Alabama is still in Alabama. For every societal reason I can think of, as well as every education reason, I will never understand anyone picking Alabama over Michigan.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:21 PM ^
Hand may or may not want to be an engineer, but let's take him at his word that he wanted an engineering degree. If he believed the odds of being accepted into the Michigan engineering school was approaching zero, while that of Alabama was closer to one, can you really fault him for choosing Alabama? After all, except for a very small handful of engineers, the name of the school doesn't make much difference, having the degree makes the difference. So, long story short, A 'Bama engineering degree trumps no Michigan engineering degree.
Also, winning trumps not winning. So there is that too.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:23 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 5:44 PM ^
are they? I think you get one year schollies until Nick decides whether he needs you.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:47 PM ^
That's false.
Bama was one of the first schools to start handing out 4 year schollies.
October 29th, 2017 at 8:37 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:31 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
I can't understand people that don't understand why someone would pick Bama over Michigan.
We're all Michigan homers here, but in your personal life, if you had a job offer to a company that was somewhere around the 15th-25th best company in your field but just had a couple of down quarters, and then suddenly the top company in your industry, who has had years of success and came through with a comparable offer, you would really turn that down? You'd be crazy not to.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:22 PM ^
First of all, these kids are going to a university. By your logic, since Michigan is the highest ranked public university in the world and Alabama not in the top 100, everyone should pick Michigan.
Your logic is also flawed in that Alabama is not offering anyone a job. It is a student-athlete combo that is offered, so what ought to be evaluated is the relative worth of the two components. Not everyone who goes to Alabama gets a "job" in the sense of even starting on the football team, let alone getting drafted and playing in the NFL. Everyone who does go to Alabama and finishes does get a degree that is worth much less than a Michigan degree.
Further, even if you are looking at it like a job, there are a number of factors that go into any job choice, one of which is do I want to live there. With Alabama, you get Tuscaloosa. With Michigan, you get Ann Arbor. With Alabama, you get the deep South, and the accompanying societal issues. With Michigan, you get the North and an absolutely great place to live.
Does Alabama have that many more players in the NFL than Michigan? It has a few more, as a result of Hoke and RR, but not that many more. Will it continue to have more? Not if Harbaugh keeps pumping people into the NFL like he did last year.
October 29th, 2017 at 5:30 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 6:39 PM ^
Ok, jackw, you're maize and blue glasses are securing fastened it seems.
As far as places to live.... The high in Tuscaloosa tomorrow is 71 degrees. In Ann Arbor... it's not. Yeah, Ann Arbor is a wonderful place to live if you're a grad student that likes craft beer, or have a young family with kids about to begin school, or are recently retired. For an 18-year old, however, the difference between one college campus and another isn't that big of a deal. There's frat parties everywhere. There's Uber and late night eats everwhere.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
Because he's a fringe top 100 recruit, and ultimately chose Alabama. It means his primary criteria is to play at the best football program. Right now that is quite obviously Alabama.
Don't get me wrong, it sucks that he bailed. But Michigan being a close second indicates that for such recruits the program is in that tier and with those priorities. Yes, I know the same could be said of Hand when Hoke was coach, but it was a major exception then. Now Michigan truly competes with Alabama for recruits and wins some of the time (Gary, Solomon, Collins).
October 29th, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 5:21 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 5:45 PM ^
I would choose Phoenix, lower humidity.
October 29th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^
He will be continuing his education there, it's a school. He never said he wanted to get the best education he could, just that he was CONTINUING it. Not like he said he was choosing Bama because of the education. Step off the ledge bro.
October 29th, 2017 at 7:56 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 9:29 PM ^
Here's hoping Saban retires & Bama replaces him with someone completely clueless.
October 29th, 2017 at 11:35 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^
at least we can move on and worry about other things, good luck to the kid but I'll always hate and root against Bama!!!!
October 29th, 2017 at 4:16 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:32 PM ^
It would seem natural for the top HS player in Michigan to play for Michigan, especially if it is at a position of need. Would like to learn more about any off the field issues that are keeping Harbaugh from pursuing him.
October 29th, 2017 at 6:14 PM ^
about a kid's character, it should be noted that he did suffer an ACL tear last season, which may be why schools backed off.
October 30th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^
Sounds like Michigan should have been more concerned with Ekiyor's character than McCalls.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^
What is up with this 2018 class? I get that it was projected to be a smaller class, but the drop off has been really bizzare...
October 29th, 2017 at 4:25 PM ^
Lets just hope we're not blaming the 2018 class for potential let downs in the 2021 season lol.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:48 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 5:50 PM ^
It does seems likely that Michigan will probably finish closer to the low-teens to high-20s though. Teams below Michigan like USC, Clemson, LSU, and Alabama are still in the running/favored for some top-100 guys.
Compared to Harbaugh's last two top-10 finishes, it seemed like that would be the pace/benchmark for the rest of his tenure. It would feel a little different too if Michigan was in the running for some top-100 prospects that they could nab near signing day, but I guess I don't follow recruiting close enough to know if there is anyone besides Tyler Friday that Michigan is still waiting on.
October 29th, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
October 29th, 2017 at 4:57 PM ^
commit to Michigan after Alabama had taken another center? I can't recall if he was still a "take" for them at that point.
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