With the kickoff just weeks away, Ohio State and Michigan football camps are heating up. And with the players strapping on pads for the first hits of the fall, it's only natural that fans gear up for another season of the greatest rivalry in sports. With Michigan ranked in the top 5 and returning a number of senior stars, you can expect a great season for the Wolverines. But they will be playing with a chip on their shoulders, as Chad Henne and Michael Hart are 0-6 against Ohio State and in bowls. Can they finally finish strong? And how will Ohio State fare, replacing so many key players from last year's national runner-up? Will the talented youngster step up, or will this be a "rebuilding" season?Mocking and taunting, poking and prodding, joking and insulting...these are all bound to be part of any dialogue between fans of fierce rivals. Generally I try to keep these on the lighter side, but animosity, especially as November approaches, is bound to pop up once in awhile. With that in mind, I'll take a stab at answering our Michigan blogger's last few posts.
Head-to-Head Recruiting
While I appreciate the e.e. cummings-style explanation of the different types of recruiting offers, I think even our novice followers understand this distinction. The exceptionally minor tweak I tossed into the update on New Jersey defensive end Jack Crawford was simply a nod to our previous arguments brought on by the Koger commitment.
I still *strongly* disagree with our Michigan blogger's position on head-to-head recruiting, and have yet to hear him actually answer any of the substance. In his world, the only real head-to-head "wins" are created by the high school drama queens. If a player drags his recruitment out, constantly changes his mind, has a lot of articles written about him, or convinces the "experts" that he is genuinely undecided, these are the true battles.
While it's true that such situation require a staff to be more involved for a longer time, they do not always qualify as the most important victories. Ohio State fans do not feel like Prescott Burgess and Shawn Crable were somehow more important losses than Mario Manningham and Justin Boren simply because they happened later. This is particularly true of Boren, who mirrors some of the commits the last couple years (Saine, Herron, Torrence, Adams, Stoneburner, etc) that choose Ohio State over Michigan. It is 100% assertion on the part of our UM blogger if he thinks he knows how much time and effort goes into recruiting players during their early high school years through the spring of their junior year and summer before their senior campaign.
It's further in the interest of the "pay" sites to pump up the recruiting "victories" and downplay the "misses". Why bother to demoralize your base over a player that's not coming? There's no incentive to provide useless details for a player headed elsewhere. So for a player like Devoe Torrence who had legitimate interest in Michigan, why act like the school even cared? Time to move on, and helping the fans do so is part of the game.
So yes, national programs extend offers to players they don't have a high chance of getting. And based on feedback or other commits, they may stop pursuing the kids or withdraw their offers. But there position of our UM blogger is nonsensical.
Sam McGuffie
While I appreciate the e.e. cummings-style explanation of the different types of recruiting offers, I think even our novice followers understand this distinction. The exceptionally minor tweak I tossed into the update on New Jersey defensive end Jack Crawford was simply a nod to our previous arguments brought on by the Koger commitment.
I still *strongly* disagree with our Michigan blogger's position on head-to-head recruiting, and have yet to hear him actually answer any of the substance. In his world, the only real head-to-head "wins" are created by the high school drama queens. If a player drags his recruitment out, constantly changes his mind, has a lot of articles written about him, or convinces the "experts" that he is genuinely undecided, these are the true battles.
While it's true that such situation require a staff to be more involved for a longer time, they do not always qualify as the most important victories. Ohio State fans do not feel like Prescott Burgess and Shawn Crable were somehow more important losses than Mario Manningham and Justin Boren simply because they happened later. This is particularly true of Boren, who mirrors some of the commits the last couple years (Saine, Herron, Torrence, Adams, Stoneburner, etc) that choose Ohio State over Michigan. It is 100% assertion on the part of our UM blogger if he thinks he knows how much time and effort goes into recruiting players during their early high school years through the spring of their junior year and summer before their senior campaign.
It's further in the interest of the "pay" sites to pump up the recruiting "victories" and downplay the "misses". Why bother to demoralize your base over a player that's not coming? There's no incentive to provide useless details for a player headed elsewhere. So for a player like Devoe Torrence who had legitimate interest in Michigan, why act like the school even cared? Time to move on, and helping the fans do so is part of the game.
So yes, national programs extend offers to players they don't have a high chance of getting. And based on feedback or other commits, they may stop pursuing the kids or withdraw their offers. But there position of our UM blogger is nonsensical.
Sam McGuffie
I told you all the way back in March that McGuffie was destined to become a hot topic for the next few years. With Michigan fans fawning over the guy for months, I blanched at the idea that OSU would offer this guy, though he openly lobbied for one in a few articles. Thankfully this never came to fruition, and order was restored when McGuffie committed to Michigan a few weeks ago. Then again, if you read this blog you got a heavy-handed dose of how Michigan fans feel about this kid. It's like David Beckham coming to the USA, with double the hype, half the talent, and about the same relevance. You can check an entire google gallery of McGuff here.
When Michigan gets a superstar, I'll acknowledge it. Jokes about playing TE aside, Ryan Mallet is going to be a great QB there. Cissoko is the lockdown corner they've been missing. But giving the star treatment to a guy because of some YouTube video is ridiculous. You could make a compelling argument that Jonas Gray and Michael Shaw, two other UM targets, are both better pure running backs. And I can assure you that Larry Caper isn't losing sleep over this guy. But hey, if they want to act like this is the program savior, more power to them. I see a very good athlete, could be used in many roles, and has the chance to be a home run hitter. But Michigan fans, who always rail against the "bias" and "spin" of other sites, think they have the "white Reggie Bush". Good luck with that.
In regards to the Lamaar Thomas comments, the guy's not even committed yet so I'm not going to go out of my way to defend him. I would note the absurdity of the arguments in this post.
*Marginally height and weight differences are hardly relevant to who will be a better player.
*I won't pretend like either of us know jack about Maryland high school football and the competition level there. I know how this conversation goes, "Tom Beaver is from Texas. Tom Beaver says McGuffie is a God. McGuffie's God-like performance comes against the greatest high school players ever created." Or something like that, right? Regardless, it's foolish to act like high school stats are that relevant.
*I don't care about the race thing at all, though I love the periodic thread where Michigan fans try to make themselves feel better by naming white running backs. Mike Alstott! Tommy Vardell! Craig James?
*It is an undeniable fact that many of the schools that offered McGuffie were looking at him as a slot/all-purpose type player rather than a true tailback. So in that regard, I'd rather have Thomas in such a role rather than Sexy Sam and his intentionally flexed muscles trying to pound through a Big Ten schedule. This guy strikes me as the type of person who tightens his stomach muscles right before someone gives him a slap or a playful punch, hoping to make people think every muscle in his body is ripped. And please God, do not post any more gay pictures of this guy. I can't take it - I'll rename the blog "Homoerotic Recruiting" and change the color scheme to pink.
Odds and Ends
*A few links for our Michigan fans, who like to take the moral high ground as much possible:
Dumber college mistake...driving drunk or flashing your junk to a coed? Tough call.
Dumber college mistake...driving drunk or flashing your junk to a coed? Tough call.
And for all of the wanna-be Notre Dame UM fans who think that academics is some sort of program trump card...
*I'll close with a question for our UM blogger. Michigan fans have a perception that other schools often engage in "negative" recruiting against them. Recently, some of UM's commits were quoted as bashing other schools to potential recruits in an attempt to persuade them to join the '08 class. In particular, I believe both Sam McGuffie and Ryan Mallet were vocal in their criticism of other schools. Michigan State was definitely one of the targets in the unsuccessful attempt to get WR Fred Smith.
I assume the whole thing had Michigan fans gleefully laughing at the expense of their less successful state counterpart. So I pose this question: If OSU or USC recruits were saying the same type of things to other players like, "Dude, if you want to win a national championship, why go to Michigan? They could never beat us (USC) in the Rose Bowl." or, "Michigan over OSU? Don't you want to win some of the the rivalry games?" Would you automatically condemn these players as using negative recruiting? And the follow-up, since I assume you'll say that players are different from university employees like coaches. If such comments are in the press and therefore known by the public, doesn't a coach have an obligation to tell a player not to make such statement about other schools?
*I'll close with a question for our UM blogger. Michigan fans have a perception that other schools often engage in "negative" recruiting against them. Recently, some of UM's commits were quoted as bashing other schools to potential recruits in an attempt to persuade them to join the '08 class. In particular, I believe both Sam McGuffie and Ryan Mallet were vocal in their criticism of other schools. Michigan State was definitely one of the targets in the unsuccessful attempt to get WR Fred Smith.
I assume the whole thing had Michigan fans gleefully laughing at the expense of their less successful state counterpart. So I pose this question: If OSU or USC recruits were saying the same type of things to other players like, "Dude, if you want to win a national championship, why go to Michigan? They could never beat us (USC) in the Rose Bowl." or, "Michigan over OSU? Don't you want to win some of the the rivalry games?" Would you automatically condemn these players as using negative recruiting? And the follow-up, since I assume you'll say that players are different from university employees like coaches. If such comments are in the press and therefore known by the public, doesn't a coach have an obligation to tell a player not to make such statement about other schools?
Editor's Note: This is a tongue-in-cheek, mostly sarcastic post. If any readers (that's you, Bill) take offense or think this is some sort of frontal assault, it isn't. I'm just tossing around the playful insults that would have occurred if you hadn't bailed on us this weekend.
(photo by Scout.com of OSU freshman Daniel Herron, Brandon Saine, Dane Sanzenbacher and Brian Rolle)
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