2019 Michigan Verbal Commit, 4 Star DE, Stephen Herron: Latest On His Recruitment
From this weekends Rivals Camp Series, Nashville. Stephen Herron asked to update his recruitment status.
-Michigan calls him once a week. He is still committed to Michigan. Will make an official visit some time in summer.
-Stanford has flown to see him 10 times in the last 3 months. Calls him at least 3 times a week. Is he going to make an official visit to Stanford? "I would say so. Yes."
2:27 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkGZDlamYFU
It's clearly sounds like his committment is not secure, is seriously considering Stanford, and could still flip there.
Herron is gone once that admissions letter comes back from Stanford in January. Hope the staff got a good backup plan unlike last time this happened to us with Hamilton.
You are the optimist version of Maizen.
WDE isn't a super high position of need, but they have guys in behind Herron like Newburg and are still chasing others IIRC.
Should be ok if he does flip. Obviously he's rated higher than the others, but there are bodies to fill in unlike the Hamilton thing where losing him was basically losing the only OT they had since Bredeson moved inside.
I hate to lose commits, but it's tough to blame a kid for flipping to one of the very few schools that are academically better than Michigan across the board (which just so happens to have a successful football program to boot).
Devery Hamilton
-played in 12 games as a RS FR
at LT last year for them as a second-year player.
Ah, well no big miss then... GOD DAMN IT
He did for a minute but then got passed up on the depth chart by one of the 2 5 star tackles they recruited the year after him.
LINK to Devery Hamilton's bio on the Stanford Football website. Played in 12 games for Stanford last season, and was starting at left tackle by the end of the season after starting at right tackle early in the season. He did not play during his freshman year.
Seems stupid to call him only once a week. They clearly want him or they wouldn't call him at all. What else is the staff doing this time of year now that spring practices are done? It's much easier for Greg Mattison and Harbaugh to drive down to Louisville than it is for Stanford.
Maybe frequency of visits is the determining factor in some cases. I can see the logic of it with guys his age.
Greg Mattison thought Michigan was secure with Tyreke Smith. 19 second video of Coach Mattison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95seR59RRKY
But, Ohio St called him 4 times EVERY DAY, yes, that's right, 4 times EVERY DAY: 33 second video: https://www.detroitnews.com/videos/sports/college/university-michigan/2017/06/04/four-star-de-tyreke-smith-his-recruitment/102492358/
He went Ohio St.
At his age 4 calls a day would make you feel wanted, I guess.
I would throw my phone in the ocean. Besides, how can multiple schools call that often? Don't the kids have friends, family, school and football?
Anyway, whatever. I honestly don't remember Michigan ever being a serious player for Tyreke Smith - I remember him being an OSU / PSU battle.
between feeling wanted and having to consider getting a restraining order.
What the hell do you even talk about during those four phone calls? I'm guessing topics of conversation must be limited to what he learned in chemistry today, how good the bosco sticks were, how many fortnite kills he has, or if he thought the new girl was cute. I just don't get that approach, but I'm also not a big time D-I college football recruit.
from different coaches. Talking about his development, family, girls, what drills he's doing, what his diet is, has he watched any film, what are you doing today to get better, know any other players you think deserve a look, "what i'd like to see you do/work on is..." video games, twitter, all of it.
And you just keep developing the relationship so you feel comfortable at a school. I'd feel good about having more than two relationships with coaches at my school of choice given that so many turn over.
At the same time, I would get exhausted within about a week.
Ugh. I'm no expert on recruiting, but it seems to me that if Michigan wants a prospect who can get into Stanford, Michigan does not get that prospect.
Seems like recruiting has really fallen off since we lost Tuioti to Cal in early 2017. Brian remarked in a podcast that this past January was like late RR in that we couldn't get anyone on campus for a visit. I'm not saying that Dudek is the reason for the recruiting issues but we know Harbaugh is not infallible to mistakes ala Drevno.
Not sure whose respnsibility it is but ultimately it falls on Jim Harbaugh, because he's the head coach and the whole operation seems completely disorganized. The thing that is most troublesome is despite the staff reshuffling the recruiting problem still exists just as much as it did last year. Pep, McElwain, and Warriner are all middling to bad recruiters, which would be ok if Moore and Jaybaugh were lights out, but they aren't. That's the entire offensive staff right there, and it leaves guys like Partridge, Mattison, and Washington on the other side of the ball to pick up everyone else's slack. As far as Dudek and Magee, I have no idea if they are good or bad at what they do, but I know as soon as they came on board Michigan hasn't been able to land a single composite top 247 recruit - and they've been here almost a year now. I'm not ready to say the last 12 months have been Rich Rod bad, but if this continues it absolutely will be.
He seems more interested in unearthing hidden gems than taking on the competition head on and beating them (another flawed Sales / Marketing tactic).
What gives you that impression? Let alone that he has any role in prioritizing who to go after?
Just another guy on the internet speaking out of his ass.
Gotta give him credit, it is a good sales pitch.
Best just to tell yourself that he's going to decommit so if it happens its not that big of a blow. If he stays then great. I did the same thing with Otis Reese and Emil Ekiyor last year.
It really did suck losing Emil Ekiyor. I wanted Greg Frey's head that day, because how bad the O Line was playing. I saw Ekiyor on a Land of 10 video say he had been watching Michigan's O Line every Saturday. He flipped the week after the Penn St game. Nick Saban had personally been calling him once a day, every day. It seems it would leave quite an impression on a 17 year old to have the best coach in the NCAA calling him every day.
There's a difference between being negative and being realistic. Anytime any program has three decommits over six months, there is a problem. It might not be a big problem but if he leaves we have to replace him. In 2016, we lost Devry Hamilton and didn't replace him with anyone of his capability and it set the program back a few years.
I don't think nitty gritty stuff like "number of phone calls" is the issue. But realism is warranted and there's a reason I don't spend a lot of time on recruiting posts these days, because the news is rarely that encouraging.
The plain fact is that the "new coach" sheen has worn off and if Harbaugh doesn't produce results on the field he's going to get murdered in recruiting by other elite programs. In 2016 the "this is the year" talk was warranted based on the roster but it wasn't the only shot Michigan had. This year is a "this is the year" type season not only because of the roster but for the sake of program momentum. If Michigan doesn't win enough to pull in serious recruits this year we're in serious trouble.
The pressure is on. Michigan needs results this year. Big time.
Winning, I'm sure, is a significant factor for where a player commits. And I think it is telling that Emil Ekiyor decommitted the week after the Penn St game last year. But, if Nick Saban had not been personally calling him every day Ekiyor may not have flipped to Alabama, but may have gone to another school.
Re-read your statement...saying something 'may' have had an impact and that he 'may' have gone to another school really waters it down.
In other words..who knows?
Win some big games and that is a surefire way to get kids excited about a program. Daily phone calls or not.
...or may have taken another week or two to make a final decision. Hard to say where he would have landed but the rumblings had been going for awhile on Ekiyor flipping. Either way, writing was on the wall for him. It's a shame M missed out on another bluechip offensive lineman. We need as many bullets in the chamber as possible.
AND
We need some of the guys we have landed to pan out. This year. The near future depends on it.
Well, half of our games against OSU are at the Shoe, so that will happen from time to time. It's been a while, eventually we have to beat them on the road again. I attended our last victory there with a friend to celebrate my 21st birthday; I'm now 38 and stories told to my four kids about that game are stories of ancient history to them.
Thing is, as unacceptably disgusting as a loss to OSU would be this year (and every year) Michigan can still burnish its recruitable credentials if it wins almost everything else. Finishing 11-2 with, say, a Rose Bowl win is fine. Finishing 9-4 while OSU goes to the playoff again and we're in Tampa or something is not.