It's Over For Demar Dorsey And Michigan
As of yesterday, Michigan coaches were reported to be trying to get Dorsey in. Letter campaigns and what-not were in the process of being launched. You can keep up the campaigns if you want but know that they won't have an effect:
"He signed a letter of intent but basically what happened, I guess he didn't qualify to their standards," Jackson said. "Admissions sent him a letter that they weren't going to admit him to the school and said to disregard the other letter (of intent) and was free again to start looking at other options." …
Now, Dorsey will reopen his recruiting.
"I would like to see him stay closer to home," Jackson said. "But it's wherever he feels comfortable."
This is depressing on multiple levels. GBW's Gene Hankerson says Arkansas, WVU, Tennessee, USC, Louisville, LSU, and Miami will look at Dorsey now.
the fact that they've literally never been to the NCAA tournament, too), and that ceiling is pretty low. They barely scraped by EMU, they lost to the worst team in the Big East, and they looked good in a bowl only because they played a 7-5 Auburn team and got really lucky at the end.
Are you claiming that it's an insult to be compared to Northwestern, either academically, or football-wise?
Football wise yes.
Yeah..... I'd rather not be Northwestern?
Maybe I'm offbase, but I do not want our football team to turn into that of Northwestern. They occasionally play in a bowl game and are ranked in the top 25. That's great. I expect a little more.
I think these fake, arbitrary admissions standards for athletes are bullshit. The vast majority of these guys wouldn't have be admitted unless they were athletes. And they bring in an ENORMOUS amount of money for the school. In my opinion, you can't have it both ways - either hold everyone to the same standards or let in all of the recruits who qualify by the NCAA. If they fail out of school, they're out. Doresy wasn't even given that chance.
Brian put it perfectly: we're "Prostitutes who won't do THAT." The schoold looks ridiculous here.
I think I'm going to just cover my ears with my hands and spin around with my eyes squeezed shut yelling "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING LA LA LA!!!" for the next three months.
Hey, guess what everyone?
Cullen Christian (more highly regarded, across the board, than Dorsey. The only service that rated Dorsey higher was the one who sponsored the game Dorsey played in. Coincidence?), JT Turner, Courtney Avery, JT Floyd, Terr. Talbott, Troy Woolfolk, Teric Jones, Vladimir Emilien, Mike Williams, Cam Gordon, Thomas Gordon, Marvin Robinson, Jordan Kovacs, Carvin Johnson, Ray Vinopal, Josh Furman.
This is your team. Let's move forward.
LOL. You must have missed where Sean Parker committed to Steve Sarkisian, who coaches at a university in Seattle, Washington.
Ack! Indeed I did. I am MGoEmbarrassed. I accept my negbang with humility.
Yes, that's great. There are about 2 names on that list that I am confidant in. In 2012 that list will look AMAZING, but now? Lots of ? out there.
Not saying that Dorsey is a sure thing, either. Just playing devil's advocate.
(also the fact that somewhere along the line, DD got screwed by someone, really doesn't sit well with me. did he bring it on with his poor grades and his past? that's arguable, but he still got screwed. like when indiana jones was bent over by george lucas and steven speilberg)
That's great on paper, but the point here isn't that we lost Dorsey, but how the University fumbled the ball AGAIN with the administrative side of running a football team. I could buy this at certain schools, but UM is the winningiest team in college football history, and has been handing out scholarships to athletes for decades. To take this long, and to make such an egregious mistake, is mind-numbing to me. I know people make mistakes and that is part of life, but the self-proclaimed "leaders and the best" should be above this.
While I agree with you, it's still ok for people to be pissed, you know?
He is above this, apparently.
I understand what he's saying, it just comes off as a bit holier-than-thou.
Why would we even offer him an LOI in the first place? They obviously knew the situation.... It's absolute bullshit... I just lost a lot of respect...
I think it's one of either two things:
1. The admissions office has provided the football staff with a list of minimum requirements that every recruit must meet in order to be admitted that was either misunderstood or just ignored by Rodriguez and his coaches.
2. The admissions office is supposed to sign-off on every recruit the football staff states will be offered an LOI in order to ensure a smooth transition through the admissions process and due diligence wasn't paid in Dorsey's case.
In either case, Mary Sue and Dave Brandon need to get the U of M administration house in order. Between this and the whole thing about the CARA reports, we look like a bunch of bungling idiots.
This is unfortunate for Dorsey, as no one should get jerked around like that. At UM's end, I agree that this looks like (another) case of disorganization and miscommunication. Brandon has some work to do.
Man, I need a hug.
Best of luck to the kid.
Now that this fiasco is over we can all get back to expansion posts.
thank you, admissions. thanks for telling him he'd be good to go and then yanking the rug out from underneath him 4 moths later.
Since he is "attempting" to qualify at Marshall, he likely hasn't yet met the NCAA clearinghouse minimum. DD did, but M has a higher requirement than the minimum.
Blergh.
Retweet by TomVH:
RT @chengelis Am told by someone who would know that Rich Rodriguez is furious about the Demar Dorsey situation.
Like someone posted yesterday, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if at the end of the season, it is Rich Rod who tells UM... "Thanks for the opportunity, but I need to be at a University that works with me, not against me"
O let BLEW it!
He's gotten the shit end of the stick since he's arrived. Damn shame too.
1. The man has a lot of pride.
2. He probably won't get paid the remainder of his contract if he quits.
(3) 100% certain that South Carolina would pay him whatever number he asked for if he goes 9-4 this year.
I'm sure RR has all the pride in the world. But how much can he or anyone else take of people working against him? At some point, he starts to look like a fool for trying to stick it out. It's one thing to quit when the going gets rough, but I fear this situation is moving beyond that point.
I totally agree with you. I'll always be a michigan fan first and foremost, but what this school has done to RR these past couple of years really makes me mad. I have never seen a coach take such a beating from everyone all around. Im a huge fan of his and I hope that if he does leave Michigan, that he has instant success. Likewise, I hope that Demar goes to a big time university and is an all-american. Wish you nothing but the best. Something has to change here at Michigan, having played a sport here, this makes me feel really dissapointed that they took this chance away from him.
Tom's interview and the Det News article lead me to assume the coaches were up-front with him and that his GPA was too low, when adjusted for by UM Admissions (the NCAA definition of core clearly does not equal UM's definition). This may be because of DD's non-traditional HS.
I don't think anyone can blame Mchigan Admissions or Coaches. Demar just needed a bit more to qualify at Michigan.
Maybe this kind of high profile example will lead Michigan to adopt the NCAA clearinghouse standards, because clearly we need to compete against USC, LSU... in football and shouldn't be handicapped.
Also, I hate being lumped in with ND.
this was part of the campaign against RR. Everyone that needed to be involved in admitting DD knew of grades, history and EVERYTHING else.
What I don't understand is this notion that UM needs to remain some bastion of academic standards for its sports teams while other highly-regarded academic institutions let in more "special cases" without hurting the school's academic profile. UVa, USC, UCLA, ND, Berkeley, UNC, etc. are all schools with similar academic profiles as UM, and outside of ND, I don't remember hearing about any having "heightened" academic standards that have reaered their ugly heads in a situation like this. UM should know who they will accept and who they will not, and that needs to be communicated to the head coaches and the athletes up-front, not post hoc.
Really unfortunate for Dorsey. He recognized he needed a change of scenery to get his life together. Going to Michigan would allow (aside from playing for a great program and receiving a top education) him to get away from bad influences.
Really unfortunate when a person tries to turn their life around only to be met with a shut door. Good luck to him.
So says the knowledge.
You're gonna cause some MGoAneurysms joking about that. Even though I'm 100% certain this was a joke, it still caused a slight BP spike for me.
Thanks everyone! I wish you brilliant rainbows and happy kittens. And for the record this sucks balls; let's move on to praying the Cullen Christian cracks the starting line-up and the best defense is a good offense in 2010.
Did this ever happen when Lloyd was the coach (or Moeller, or Bo)? If so, is it because they didn't reach as much as RichRod? Did the @#$% lion guy (Slocum) have the same experience? (I can't remember.)
It depends what "this" is.
If "this" is a student not qualiftying academically and therefore not playing football at UM, yes, it did.
If "this" is a student not being admitted to the university because of some other reasons (legal, character) or a combination of low, but ok grades and character, then to the best of my knowledge, No.
Again, it appears Michigan said he wouldn't meet their standards, but it's not really clear how he didn't. Going by the scores that were given (2.5, 18) he would meet the minimum standards when Carr was there. Which is quite troubling.
Debacle. Incomprehensible Debacle
Yes, he is now behind in finding a new school, but what if he had come here, struggled and then become academically ineligible of flunked out? Then, he might have been banished to the levels of D2 or NAIA. I give him all the credit in the world for busting his ass to try and get here, but if he turns out to be as good as everyone says he will, he will go somewhere else, become and All-American and go to the NFL. Surely, some high-profile DI school will have him.
And, in related news, a junior back-up tight end at Alabama just hurt his back and probably will not be able to play football again.
You know, I try to find silver lining in every situation but I can't find one here. Not for DD and most definitely not for UM.
I am not certain about universities in the USA so I may be way of base here but this is how I look at (assuming it is relatively similar to Canada):
DD was never going to come to University and study Law or Engineering. He was going to take some lesser courses that many athletes take who have their eye set on a pro career. These course (though not identicle) are similar from one university to another (I stress similar).
At UM though, he would have the benefit of better professors and many other resources that he might not get at other institutions. He would also have the change in scenery that he was looking for in an effort to better his life.
To be clear, I think DD will be fine and go on to great things. I just don't think he has a better chance of that because he isn't at UM. I believe if he came here, the university could have propelled him to even greater heights.
In the end, it is most definitely our loss. Best of lick to you DD! I hope your future is as bright as I think it will be.
ANGER
I feel horrible for the Dorsey family. Best of luck to him wherever he ends up, and I hope he uses this as a chip on his shoulder to really become a terrific athelete and solid student. Prove them wrong young man.
or Northwestern. If Rodriguez has any real success in 2010 or 2011, he's got to think about going to a school that's interested in winning a national championship (e.g. Tennessee, Texas A&M), not a school that's content with 9 win seasons every now and then with warrior-poets. Heck, a major reason RR faced difficulty here was the lack of jucos. This is obscene.
I blame this all on Sean Parker.
So, for the record, Michigan makes the move to recruit him, gets a commitment leading to tons of bad press for accepting a student with a criminal history, but survives it to, for a moment, look like a level headed institution that will give a good kid a second chance. Now after survining that onslaught, Michigan is now refusing to admit the kid, leading to more bad press for being the school that does not live up to its word, and will likely get no future looks from very talented players with any academic/off-field problems at all. You cannot contrive a scenario that will have a more significant negative effect on this program.
I am beginning to suspect that Rich Rod may cut ties with Michigan before Michigan decides to do so with him, and I am not sure that I blame him.
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