I know there is a large segment of Michigan fans who look down upon fellow Michigan fans who pay any sort of attention to the antics of Michigan State, but highlighting lunacy, and particularly lunacy from allegedly unbiased media types, is a hobby of mine, and this is just too good to pass up.
Matt Dorsey of SpartanMag, MSU's Rivals affiliate, posted this a few months ago:
(click to enlarge)
Yesterday, Dorsey released his "post camp" top 25 in the state of Michigan.
The results?
What could have happened in the last few months to suddenly diminish Drake Harris in the eyes of Matt Dorsey? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
There's a Latin saying I like to use a lot, mainly because it makes me look much more cultured than I actually am, partially because Kiefer Sutherland used it in Desert Saints, and also because it's pretty damn true.
De gestibus non est disputandum.
Literally translated, it means, "there is no disputing about tastes." Its meaning, in case it's not obvious, is that when it comes to matters of opinion, debate is pointless. If you're trying to engage someone in an argument about something they have strong belief in, you're never going to win. You can't talk people out of their beliefs, whether it be religion, politics, music, or...football.
For the past three years, many (most?) Michigan fans did everything they could to excuse Rich Rodriguez. The list of deflections and excuses is extensive, ranging from everything between the red wristbands he wore to the actual play on the field. Only when faced with an excessively overwhelming heap of evidence did the vast majority of Michigan fans finally agree that he simply wasn't going to get it done, and that the future no longer held any promise of improvement under his guidance. But until the evidence was mountain-high - increasingly laughable losses to Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and finally Mississippi State - did the diehards (myself included) finally abandon ship. The breaking point was different for everyone - for me the MSU game put one foot out the door, and the PSU game put the other one out and slammed the door shut - but until we each reached that point, we stood strong in our beliefs and convictions, no matter what anyone else said.
That is why Michigan fans won't win the fight against Michigan State fans, and vice versa. It's like Muslims vs. Jews at this point. Neither side can convince the other out of the belief that the other side is destined to lose the endless struggle. There's always some sort of excuse, and that applies to both sides. For three years, we've heard MSU fans (and recruits) jabbering about Michigan disrespecting the state by not pursuing many of the in-state players, and how Michigan State was "turning the state green" and that "Michigan State is THE university of Michigan", and other superlative, hyperbolic nonsense. During this time, Michigan fans had some good reasons and some bad reasons for this. A good reason was the blatant and obvious influences of certain people on the recruitments of certain star prospects now residing in East Lansing and Columbus. There was nothing Rich Rodriguez could've done to change these situations, because they began to fester under Carr. A bad reason was the "Michigan doesn't have enough talent, we'll recruit nationally anyway" schtick. Yes, Michigan is down the totem pole in terms of sheer numbers when it comes to high school talent in football. But if you toss it by the wayside, the stars you miss on will almost always come back to bite you, and that's as painful as not having them on your team. We got lucky in the Epic Fail 2007 Class when Ronald Johnson, Dionte Allen, Joseph Barksdale, and others left entirely, instead of picking local rivals of UofM. Not so lucky in recent years; regardless of how they got there, William Gholston and Lawrence Thomas at Michigan State are problems. Johnathan Hankins at Ohio State is a problem. When the neighbors set up shop in your kitchen and start cherry picking your groceries, it's not as simple as going back to the market to get more.
So now, present day. Three years of submitting to our East Lansing Overlords has given way to an uprising and demanding an end to the Dantonio regime, and our new leader dares to tread on the dictator's territory. And once he does, and has, a different line of rhetoric begins, one that is inherently laughable: that Michigan State is evolving into a national recruiting power and can afford to miss out on the state's best players, because they'll get equal or better ones from elsewhere - sounds eeriely like the comments from Michigan fans the last three years that MSU fans heartily laughed at while hanging their "Mission Accomplished" banner over the mitten.
Another excuse is "All the kids Michigan is landing were scUM leans anyway." Oh, so you're implying the playing field wasn't fair? And you feel comfortable stating this while Gholston, Fred Smith and Ed Davis put on MSU jerseys while their high school coach spends his days fetching Dantonio's coffee and bran muffin each morning? You're okay with that position while Lawrence Thomas and Mylan Hicks suit up for the Spartans, knowing that their coach from Renaissance famously threw UofM under the bus while bouncing Dantonio's balls off his chin? Things considerably soured for Michigan at OLSM during the latter years of Carr and Rodriguez's three years, and yet when Hoke comes in and immediately lands James Ross (the best player in the state), you get one of two excuses. One follows the mindset summed up by the title of a post on a Michigan State message board: "(OLSM coach George) Porritt showing his true Blue colors again", the comical notion that Porritt favors Michigan despite sending Kalin Lucas, Jon Misch and Dion Sims to East Lansing in recent years. The other is "Ross is too small anyway." He's the same size Greg Jones was in high school. I think he worked out pretty well for MSU. Ross was also a high priority for both Ohio State and Penn State, two schools that I'm pretty sure know a thing or two about linebacking.
And then when presented with the cases of Mario Ojemudia and Devin Funchess, students at a notoriously pro-MSU school in Farmington Hills Harrison (Agim Shabaj, Drew Stanton, Mark Dell), a school still heavily influenced by former Spartan Mill Coleman, MSU fans play the "playing time" card. Lifelong Michigan State fan Ojemudia was obviously scared away by depth chart at MSU and was sold on a dream by Hoke and Mattison. So basically, Hoke's taking the same approach Dantonio took when he arrived at Michigan State, but it's a shallow and flimsy pitch this time. At Cass Tech, MSU fans were all excited to be in the top two for Dior Mathis, and got their hopes up when MSU offered Royce Jenkins-Stone and Terry Richardson before Michigan did. And then when Dior was clearly ticketed for Oregon, and Richardson seems bound for Ann Arbor, they're both far too small and too Cissoko-like to ever be impact players. Never mind that Oregon is developing a pretty impressive track record with defensive backs, or the fact that Richardson has offers from Alabama, USC, Ohio State, Penn State, and other elite programs. If Nick Saban offers you as a defensive back, chances are you're pretty good at football. But by all means, pigeon-hole the kid because his size resembles that of another player who had already graduated from Cass by the time Terry got there. If Richardson went to Renaissance, MSU fans would be comparing him to Mylan Hicks. But because he goes to Cass Tech, he's Cissoko part two. Comparing players because they go to the same high school is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
If Richardson was too small, Dantonio wouldn't have offered him. If Ross was too small, Dantonio wouldn't have offered him. If Ojemudia was too small, Dantonio wouldn't have offered him. You don't offer recruits a year before they sign if they aren't at the top of your board. I'm pretty sure James Ross was the first recruit either school offered for this class. He isn't "ideal" linebacker size, and isn't a physically imposing specimen like Gholston or Thomas. But he's also much, much more advanced as a football player than either of those two. That's not to say Gholston or LT won't be great. They absolutely can be. But so can Ross. His instincts are unmatched, and MSU fans trying to dismiss his commitment to Michigan as "he's too small" or "UM has more playing time" or "he was always a Michigan lean" are chewing on some exceptionally sour grapes.
Stop trying to spin what is plainly obvious: your "in-state dominance" was more a result of Michigan being thrown in the tank for three years. "Lifelong Michigan fans" still went elsewhere during Rodriguez's tenure. Whatever infrastructure Dantonio built in the state has already been surpassed by Hoke. If you think a bumpy first year will suddenly open the eyes of the recruits who have committed, and there will be some mass defection, you are sorely, sorely mistaken. Even Rodriguez never lost a single in-state recruit he got a verbal commitment from. The only in-state kid Michigan lost in recent memory (who was publically committed) was Jake Fisher, and that was because of the coaching change. Michigan State is coming off a (shared) Big Ten Championship, and an 11-win season, and now they can't even convince kids who grew up cheering for MSU and go to an MSU-friendly high school to commit to them. MSU may be able to salvage Aaron Burbridge - but it's unbelievable that Hoke has already pulled Michigan even. This is a kid that should've been committed to State months ago, and now Michigan has a real shot of stealing him away. Hoke has beaten Dantonio heads up in every single recruiting battle to date, and the future looks bleak too.
As for those who say Hoke is a terrible coach and was Michigan's Plan D or E or whatever (and even cite other Michigan people who wanted nothing to do with him): don't pretend to know how Michigan's coaching search went down. Even the vast majority of Michigan fans aren't sure what exactly happened. The general consensus is that Dave Brandon had a wink and nod agreement with Jim Harbaugh, and that it fell apart at the last minute when Harbaugh's NFL stock went nuclear. After that, no one knows for sure. There's a line of thinking that Les Miles was genuinely pursued, and politely declined, and then Michigan moved on to Hoke (making him a Plan C at the worst). There's another that says Miles was "pursued" only to placate the Miles faction that spent the last three years pouting and raving that they were ignored in 2007. This line of thinking points back to Brandon allegedly saying he would never hire Miles (everyone knows about the skeletons in his closet), and that he never offered Miles the job and was focused in on Hoke immediately after the Harbaugh agreement fell through. If that's the case, then that's not a bad Plan B. Brian at MGoBlog was famously opposed to Hoke's candidacy in 2007, and there remains a certain segment of the UM fanbase that believes Hoke is a patsy and Lloyd is really Emperor Palpatine, pulling the strings behind the scenes.
The fact is, Dantonio never did anything as a head coach prior to arriving at MSU that was more impressive than what Hoke did as a head coach prior to arriving at UM. Dantonio had success as a coordinator - on the staff of a proven cheater on a team that rode a felon and an ineligible athlete to a national title. As a head coach, Dantonio did nothing of merit at Cincinnati, and yet has proven himself to be a very dependable coach at State. Hoke also had success as an assistant, and he has a national championship ring on his finger too, from 1997. So he had an under .500 record at Ball State. Can you name a coach that had success at Ball State? Can you even tell me where Ball State is located? And yet he managed to win 12 games in his final season there in 2008, their first 10-win season since 1978. They scored the most points in school history that year, with 489. The second most was 2007, also coached by Hoke, with 409. After that, in third place? 377, in 1977. At San Diego State, Hoke took over a program that was 4-7, 5-7, 3-9, 4-8, and 2-10 in the five years prior to his arrival. Two years later, they were 9-4, losing four games by a combined 15 points, being the only team to stay within striking distance of TCU (until the Rose Bowl), and winning the Poinsettia Bowl by three touchdowns. No evidence exists to suggest Hoke is any worse of a coach than Dantonio was prior to taking over MSU's program. Using the aversion many Michigan fans had to him as proof he's a lousy coach is amusing, but useless.
Throw out all the excuses you want. "MSU's depth is scaring recruits away." "Some of these kids are too small." "Some of these kids are lifelong Michigan fans." "Hoke is selling a dream." "There will be mass decommits when we kill UM on the field this year."
Thank you, Rationalization Man. You have saved the village.
I'm not going to comment about Demar Dorsey. I'm not going to comment on him for a couple reasons: One, there is no coach in the country that deliberately seeks out bad character kids for their program, nor is there any coach in the country that doesn't do due dilligence when it comes to finding out about a kid's background. Two, I trust Brian at MGoBlog almost implicitly. If he says he has a source that told him Vance Bedford (two-time UM assistant under Carr) called Rodriguez and personally vouched for Demar Dorsey's character, that's good enough for me.
I'm also not going to comment (much) on people like Drew Sharp and Dave Birkett. Sharp is what he is - a miserable, trollish sonofabitch who has admitted he doesn't care what fans think. He's a megalomaniacal bomb thrower only interested in poking the hornet's nest and then laughing as the swarm futilely stings at his bee suit. His comments were stupid, ignorant and pompous - three character traits he is intimately familiar with. I will take pleasure in watching his industry continue to wither away into irrelevancy. If there is a God, he will sink with it.
As for Birkett, well...he writes for AnnArbor.com. Why? Because the Ann Arbor News went under. Wanna know a good way to accelerate your demise (aside from being an obsolete medium of news information)? Hire guys that loathe the biggest thing in the town you're based in. Guys like Jim Carty and Michigan State University graduate Dave Birkett. Birkett is insignificant. He was fishing at the Signing Day presser, trying to show the room he had the balls to stand up to the 8-16 Michigan coach. If Rich Rodriguez was 16-8 instead, he tells Birkett to shut up, and it's done. If Lloyd Carr was still the coach and he heard a question from Birkett he didn't like, he would give a glare, and roughly 3.9 seconds later, Dave Birkett hustles out of the room with a dark stain on the front of his pants.
A few things interest me. Like how the Free Press can have an extensive seven-page background check into a teenage kid's past completed and ready to go in a little over a day. I'm interested in that. I'm interested in how much longer it will take for someone - anyone - inside Michigan's athletic department to show some kind - any kind - of support for their coach. I mean, you hired the guy, and he's getting raked over the coals (again). Wouldn't it be smart business to fight back, to stick up for the man you picked to represent your biggest product? Unless...maybe after two years of horror on the football field, some people of importance have secretly decided that an awful mistake was made in mid-December 2007, and they're now subtlely feeding the beast intent on running the man out of here. Beats me. I'm just musing.
But the double standards are still piling up. Michigan State allows Glenn Winston onto the practice field the same day he gets out of jail, and someone at the Freep (it might've been Sharp, actually) says that might've been naughty. Michigan kicks a drug dealer off the team immediately after learning about his habits, and Rosenberg's got his "win at all costs" column ready to go. These "journalists" hide behind the charade of wanting to do what's right and maintaining a standard of decency and integrity at the University of Michigan, when in reality Rosenberg doesn't like Rodriguez because he (Rosenberg) is an elitist snob who can't stand seeing a "hillbilly" coaching his alma mater. When in reality, nobody would be saying anything if Rodriguez was winning. In the end, these "journalists" are just as shallow as the rest of us - they aren't looking out for core values like integrity and personal responsibility. They are interested in the darker sides of humanity. They're interested in advancing their own beliefs and interests at the expense of someone they passed judgment on long ago.
Just wait for it. If they succeed in their jihad, and Rodriguez is gone, wait for the reaction if Jim Harbaugh is hired. Wait for the media stroking about how Michigan righted a wrong and brought a Michigan Man back to Michigan. Watch as they gloss over Harbaugh's own run-ins with the law, as they conveniently forget the words Harbaugh spewed about UofM. They will burn Rodriguez about his recruiting methods, and will cover their ears when confronted with Harbaugh's practice at Stanford of blindly taking commitments from kids only to have to drop them in November and December because Stanford's admissions were too tough and Harbaugh never should've taken them in the first place. Harbaugh is no cleaner than Rodriguez, but because of the Detroit media's bizarre xenophobic attitude toward the latter, the former would be greeted like a king should he return to the place he spat on three years ago. It's selective memory and sleazy, irresponsible, bullshit journalism like that that is driving the newspaper industry into the ground, and I welcome it. I have true, genuine disdain (I won't say "hate", but it's probably closer to that) for people like Mark Snyder and Michael Rosenberg (along with the rest of them, really). Does anybody actually believe either of these "journalists" care about NCAA rules? They're both Michigan grads. Snyder has been to many, many Michigan games, not as a "journalist", but as a fan. Do you think he really would have a problem with Michigan players exceeding the allowed practice time to - gasp - improve as football players? No. Their issue is squarely with Rodriguez, and it's personal to them. Jim Schaefer, who apparently wrote the latest hit piece (I haven't read it, won't click the Freep links, etc)...he is an Ohio State grad. Letting an Ohio State graduate and two virulent anti-Rodriguez shills report on the ins and outs of Michigan football and Michigan recruiting...and Free Press editor Paul Anger lets it go on, even encourages it.
My endgame is this, and I hinted at it a while back, but sadly, I'm starting to firmly believe it: 2010 is starting to look like the end for Rodriguez at Michigan. Not because of one specific incident, but because of everything. The list is long, we all know what's gone on. But the longer we hear silence from the UofM athletic department, the longer we can only assume that it will take an enormous improvement in 2010 to save Rodriguez. Could it happen? Maybe. I could definitely see an 8-win team. Would an 8-5 season calm the storm? In a perfect world, yes.
But as we've all become painfully aware of, since we lost Bo in November 2006, nothing is perfect about this situation, this university, this athletic department, and this football program.
Preface: Rival fans (particularly of the Green and White persuasion), hit the bricks. There is no comfort for you in the words herein, and my troll tolerance is at zero, so you will be wasting your breath with any flames you attempt to leave here. Go to MLive, go to the Freep and DetNews comment sections, go to freaking ESPN. There is no quarter for you here, so spare everyone the effort. And to the MSU people I actually know personally and consider friends...please close your browser. I'd prefer to remain friends with you, and if you read this, well...you'll hate me, and you'll probably pay someone to burn me and my couch.
So. It's early August, and the Red Wings have still lost Game 7. I'd be lying if I said I was fully at peace with this. Since the night of Game 7, I still have not been able to wear any Wings t-shirts, which is actually a much bigger hit to my wardrobe than I initially realized. I have had to omit certain songs from my normal rotation of listening material because I came to attach them to the Red Wings. What can I say, things linger with me more than they should. I probably won't be able to watch them much at first next season. Old wounds heal slowly.
But anyway.
In the preface above, I probably should've mentioned "many Michigan fans" as well, because this is going to be a hit piece, and there will be no sacred cows. Why? Honestly, I'm fed up. With everything. Maybe it's just the dog days of summer and there's nothing else to talk about, but restlessness is abound in the world of college football, and my frustration level with certain topics and certain groups of people is quickly approaching the boiling point.
So yes, this will be a hit piece, aimed primarily at our friends of the green persuasion, and inward at a growing faction of Michigan fans who need to be slapped upside the head. I had a hard time deciding who would get the knife stuck in them first, but I figured it didn't really matter. I've got ranting for both sides, so I flipped a coin. Heads was Michigan fans. Tails was Michigan State. It came up heads, so Michigan fans, assume the position.
So, Michigan fans. First, stop laughing at Michigan State and their "obsession" with Michigan. UM fans have become just as guilty of this. The MSU propaganda machine that has gone into overdrive over the past year has permeated every part of this state, and that includes Wolverine message boards. Go look at The Fort on any given day recently. There is always an assortment of threads dedicated to discussing MSU, Mark Dantonio, MSU recruiting, MSU fans, or just laughing at any of the above. Guess what? All of those, even the laughing, are indicators of obsessive behavior. For years, Michigan fans have snubbed their noses at the Spartans while laughing about how closely the MSU fans follow the goings on on Ann Arbor. Well the time for that nauseating hypocrisy is over. Michigan fans harped on William Gholston for months, they harped on Mylan Hicks, they're harping on Marcus Rush, they're harping on Dior Mathis, they're harping on Mike Sadler. The ongoing QB debate of Gardner vs. Bolden vs. Boisture isn't even a debate at all. Boisture is a solid third behind the other two, and most Michigan State fans agree with this. And still arguments explode about how MSU wanted Gardner first, and then they started spewing lies when Bolden cooled on them. The Austin White/Nick Hill arguments are similar. Both schools offered White back in September. Fast forward almost a year, Hill has no Michigan offer, gets offered by MSU, commits to MSU, and when White commits to Michigan, MSU fans say they wanted Hill all along and cooled on White while Michigan fans squawk about beating State for a legacy recruit. It would be far too ridiculous for the two sides to compromise and say that both schools landed a talented running back, and both schools landed their #1 in-state targets (Gholston for MSU, Gardner for UM). Instead, because we're rivals, we have to constantly snipe and degrade the other side. Both sides are filled with arrogant, childish neanderthals (of which I can be seen as at times as well, I admit), and I'm getting sick of Michigan fans still laughing about "Little Brother's" obsession, when our own fanbase is largely responsible. Stop laughing about it and start chastizing your own people for doing the same.
Alright Sparty, your turn. If when I'm done you accuse me of being more critical of your side, well...remember what blog you're reading.
1. Your in-state dominance is a myth. And you have done an excellent job of convincing the driveby media and some select high school coaches in the state of Michigan that Rich Rodriguez doesn't care for the talent here. To this, I say: bullshit, you goddamn spin doctors. Rodriguez has said on more than one occasion, he wants Michigan's recruiting base to be Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, while then branching out to Florida and other states after that. The #1 player overall at any position on Michigan's recruiting board was Devin Gardner. Devin Gardner plays for Inkster. I'm not a geographical expert or anything, but last time I checked, Inkster was in the state of Michigan. Cornerback is probably the biggest position of need out there right now for Michigan. The #1 cornerback on Michigan's board, and it's been this way since last September, is Cullen Christian, who plays in Pittsburgh. Pssst, MSU was recruiting Christian too, but they blew him off when he tried calling the MSU coaches when he was on his way to East Lansing to visit. So he stopped by Ann Arbor for another day. Christian is a better prospect than both Dior Mathis and Mylan Hicks. Call me crazy...but I'd prefer it if the coaches of my team go after the best player not based on location, but based on actual ability to play football. And if you MSU people want to criticize that...why is Isaiah Lewis of Indianapolis a member of your class when Earnest Thomas was out there available? Why are you pursuing Latwan Anderson of Cleveland when Earnest Thomas could possibly be flipped from his UCLA commitment if he was offered by Michigan State? After all, Earnest Thomas plays for St. Mary's Prep in Orchard Lake, MICHIGAN! The answer is your coaches see Lewis and Anderson as better prospects and better fits at the safety position than Thomas. Bottom line: if you're a football coach, you go after the best players, regardless of where they play.
So...this whole "we own the state" thing. Let's look at that in depth.
The following prospects from the class of 2008 in the state of Michigan had offers from both Michigan and Michigan State: Boubacar Cissoko, Nick Perry, Jonas Gray, Fred Smith, Mike Martin, Kenny Demens, Tyler Hoover, Rocko Khoury, and Deon'tae Pannell.
Of those, four picked Michigan (Cissoko, Martin, Demens and Khoury), two picked Michigan State (Smith and Hoover), and the rest (Perry, Gray, and Pennell) went out of state. Michigan might've been able to get Gray if they really wanted him, but they picked Mike Cox of Connecticut over him. Even when Lloyd Carr retired and Mark Dantonio hit the trails trying to turn guys like Cissoko, they didn't waver. But guys like Cissoko, and Fred Smith...there are other circumstances at work here, and I'll get into those a bit later.
For now, let's move on to last year's class. These guys in Michigan from the class of 2009 were offered by both Michigan and MSU: William Campbell, Edwin Baker, Chris Norman, Cameron Gordon, and Thomas Gordon.
Of those guys, Campbell and the Gordons picked Michigan, while Baker and Norman picked State. Baker and Norman were definitely wanted by Michigan, and MSU did a good job locking them down while Rodriguez was securing the '08 class. Larry Caper and Dion Sims, on the other hand, were NOT losses for Michigan. Yeah, yeah. I know, they have checkmarks in the "Offer" boxes in their profiles on Rivals, so MSU must have beaten Michigan for them. Except the new staff completely passed on Caper. He's not a spread-type running back. Good fit for MSU, so congrats on landing him, but you didn't beat UM for him. And Michigan wanted Sims as a defensive end. The guy's dad works at Michigan. If UM had wanted him at tight end and pushed hard enough, you'd think they would've at least made his final three. Instead, it was MSU, Ohio State, and Miami. Why? Because Michigan wanted him for defense, he wasn't buying that, so UM let that ship sail in the summer. And I still see MSU fans crowing about guys like Andrew Maxwell and Blake Treadwell and Jeremy Gainer. How exactly are these victories over Michigan when they were never offered by Michigan? You guys wanted Thomas Gordon, and would've had him.....except Michigan offered, and his recruitment was over. And yet despite all the turmoil in Ann Arbor in 2008, 3-9 and all that, when William Campbell decommitted, he STILL didn't give Michigan State the time of day. So that fool Jim Comparoni over at SpartanMag dips down into the gutter and personally attacks the kid when he recommits to Michigan, all while ranking him 12th best in the state, when every other service has him as #1. That sort of bushleague "journalism" is repulsive. How can anybody take that guy seriously when he resorts to insulting a high school kid because he didn't give his school a look?
And now this year. Michigan and Michigan State both offered William Gholston, Devin Gardner, Robert Bolden, Dior Mathis, Mylan Hicks, C.J. Olaniyan, and Austin White. We both got our #1 targets in Gholston and Gardner. Hicks and Bolden were not top priorities for Michigan. If MSU fans want to claim that White was not a priority for them, fair enough. If you want to claim that you guys cut ties with Bolden because his dad asked for a job, whatever. Mathis, we'll see. I believe there is a lot of misinformation out there about his recruitment and that there are several more twists and turns before he makes a solid decision, but I will give props to MSU if he commits there. I personally believe he should be right there with Cullen Christian on Michigan's cornerback board, but I'm also going to trust the coaches. If Mathis goes elsewhere, it'll be a loss to me. If Olaniyan picks MSU like he's rumored to be doing at some point, that will be a loss, and I will give credit where credit is due.
So, over the past three recruiting years, since Mark Dantonio took over in East Lansing and made the state of Michigan his #1 priority in recruiting, the score, straight up head to head, is nine for Michigan, six for Michigan State, and four out of state, with guys like Mathis and Olaniyan still undecided. Does this sound like OMG DOMINANCE to anybody? This is propaganda. Pure and simple. MSU lands decent, quality players like Nick Hill and Andrew Maxwell and Joe Boisture and Larry Caper, and they run around saying they're dominating the state. Dominating against who, exactly? The majority of your in-state recruits were not offered by Michigan. How can you dominate something and claim victory over an opponent that more often than not you aren't competing against?
I mentioned other circumstances when I talked about Fred Smith earlier, and this is where it gets murky. Fred Smith and William Gholston went to/go to Southeastern High School in Detroit. Chris Norman and Mylan Hicks went to/go to Renaissance High in Detroit. Will Campbell, Boubacar Cissoko and Thomas Gordon all went to Cass Tech. When Gordon picked Michigan over MSU (and when Campbell ignored MSU completely when he opened his recruitment up), Spartan fans dismissed it because Thomas Wilcher is the head coach at Cass Tech, and he played for Michigan in the 80s, so MSU people believe there is a distinct pro-Michigan feeling at CT that steers players to Ann Arbor. Well, that works both ways, my friends. Archie Collins is the defensive coordinator for Southeastern High. He played defensive back for who in the 1990s? Oh, that's right...Michigan State. Oh, and Fred Smith grew up a Michigan fan....and was all set to commit to Michigan...before a random weekend trip to East Lansing...and suddenly he commits to MSU. I wonder what prompted this?? And at Renaissance, well, there's this: [Ed. note 5/17: link removed for the time being]
That's Antonio Watts, the head coach. And what he says in this video is almost slanderous, it's such bullshit. Carson Butler and Andre Criswell were "treated badly" at Michigan by Rodriguez? Well, for one, Butler was lucky to even be on the team. He was thrown off by LLOYD CARR after being arrested for beating the shit out of some innocent dude in a dorm room. Carr gave him a second chance, so he was back on the team when RR arrived...and he proceeded to punch a Notre Dame player in the head last year. This got him doghoused, and he left early for the NFL. And Criswell? He was a 2-star random recruit that Carr took a flier on on Signing Day in 2005. There were no expectations for him, and predictably, he never saw significant time. But he was treated SO poorly by Rodriguez, that he's now a graduate assistant on RR's staff.
...Wait, what?
The video screams one thing: Watts is getting his ass kissed by Dantonio. Dano's stroking the guy's ego and feeding him the bullshit he's feeding all the other coaches in this state, that Rodriguez is an evil destroyer of lives, and to send a kid to Michigan would be damning him to the darkest depths of hell. It's bullshit, and it's disgusting that people like Antonio Watts buy into it.
So what's the solution to this? Well, this is where we go away from the world of recruiting and delve into the realm of actual, live football. The solution is to win. It's absolutely amazing how one (ONE!!!!!!!!) MSU victory, over the worst Michigan team in history, completely changes the perception of the sheep media in this state. If Michigan wins the games against Toledo, Purdue and Northwestern last year like they should've, they go 6-6, probably get a bowl game, and the transition is viewed as rocky, but not a nuclear holocaust. If Michigan doesn't completely break down defensively against MSU last year and stumbles into a win, none of this bullshit being spewed out of East Lansing holds any weight. The way to make all these problems go away is to win, which, I'm sorry to break it to you, Spartan Nation, RR is going to do.
2. You're full of shit when it comes to the actual players, too. When it comes to complete and utter bullshit, nothing takes the cake like the post over at the RCMB which contains a list of players that have been "Rodriguezed"; in other words, it's a list of players that have either left the program or decommitted since Rich Rodriguez took over at Michigan. I'm not going to link it, because I won't give those mouth breathers the satisfaction of having their website get free hits from this blog, but I am going to break down this list and explain each case individually. I'm sure it will be dismissed as "scUM spin" by some, but well...we all have our agendas. The MSU agenda is to paint the picture that these players are being run off by "Dick Rod." My agenda is to shut you people up with facts and logic you won't find in the newspapers or from Mike Valenti on the radio.
The list:
Existing members of the UM fraternity: 1. Ryan Mallet 1/8/2008 2. Adrian Arrington 1/8/2008 3. Mario Manningham 1/8/2008 4. Grant DeBenedictus 1/??/2008 5. Brett Gallimore 1/??/2008 6. Jeremy Ciulla 3/25/2008 7. Alex Mitchell 3/25/2008 8. Justin Boren - 3/25/2008 9. Quinton Patilla - 6/4/2008 10. Marques Slocum - 7/17/2008 11. Taylor Hill - 9/3/2008 12. Marcus Witherspoon - 9/3/2008 13. Paul Bunyan - 10/25/2008 14. Zion Babb - 11/18/2008 15. Jason Kates - 11/19/2008 16. Artis Chambers - 11/23/2008 17. Carson Butler - 12/6/2008 18. Avery Horn - 12/6/2008 19. Sam McGuffie - 12/12/2008 20. Scott Shafer - 12/16/2008 21. Steven Threet - 2/16/2009 22. Andre Criswell - 3/11/2009 23. Toney Clemons - 3/24/2009 24. Doug Wermers - 5/17/2009 25. Dann O'Neill - 7/11/2009 26. Justin Feagin - 7/25/2009
Those committed to join the UM fraternity: 1. Kevin Newsome - 8/19/2008 2. William Campbell - 9/5/2008 3. Bryce McNeal - 10/14/2008 4. Anthony Fera - 10/21/2008 5. Jordan Barnes - 12/13/2008 6. Shavodrick Beaver - 12/19/2008 7. Dewayne Peace - 1/8/2009 8. Pearlie Graves - 2/4/2009 9. Dequinta Jones - 2/4/2009 10. Casey Blackport - 7/18/2009
Mmmk, let's see:
1. Ryan Mallett was almost universally despised by his teammates; Lloyd Carr threw transfer papers at him and told him he didn't like him, just his potential. The guy never gave Rodriguez a shot because he was having transfer thoughts the second he arrived in Ann Arbor. Rodriguez didn't "run him off", he left on his own. He would've been gone regardless of who the coach was; Carr, Rodriguez, Les Miles, Jesus Christ, anybody.
2. Arrington and Manningham - Does anybody actually blame them for leaving early for the draft, or are there actual thoughts that RR ran them out? Their stock wasn't going to be raised by running routes and then watching Threet or Sheridan overthrow them. They closed their careers with a bang in the Capital One Bowl, and left when their stocks were at their highest.
3. Benedictus, Gallimore, Mitchell and Ciulla - All of these guys QUIT FOOTBALL. DO YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THIS? They didn't transfer elsewhere, they didn't leave because of depth, THEY QUIT THE GAME. As in they are no longer playing. Benedictus and Gallimore never saw the field, and Ciulla was a career backup forced into action in 2007 because Mitchell was injured for much of the year because he was a giant blob of pudding and milkshakes. Not exactly the kind of guy that would fluorish under a strenuous S&C program.
4. Boren - Even you Spartans know the story by now. You're just choosing to ignore it. Boren was treated with kid gloves by Andy Moeller and the old staff. Whether it's because he was a legacy recruit whose dad played for Bo, or because they sensed he was fragile mentally and needed to be handled as such, who knows. But Lloyd Carr and Mike Gittleson exit, Rich Rodriguez and Mike Barwis enter, and the gloves come off. Instead of handing jobs to players without demanding effort, they require everyone to work their asses off and earn their place. Boren doesn't like this, so he leaves, and he chooses to nuke every bridge on his way out. His choice of school after he left and his Halloween costume pretty much sum up his character. But I suppose it's Rodriguez's fault.
5. Patilla - A 3rd string fullback leaves for Grand Valley State because...he's a 3rd string fullback...and had health issues that prohibited him from handling the workouts. RR's fault, of course.
6. Slocum - Guy flunks out after Lloyd Carr spent two years trying to get him qualified. RR ran him off!!
7. Hill - You do realize Michigan State wanted him too? And that he left because he wanted to be closer to home?
8. Witherspoon - Again, is it Rodriguez's fault Witherspoon didn't get past the Clearinghouse?
9. Paul Bunyan - I actually laughed at this.
10. Babb - He was kicked off the team for breaking team rules. But wait, I thought RR was a godless, lawless thug who harbored criminals and evil people?
11. Kates - In three years, he couldn't get onto the field. He was passed by a true freshman, and transferred. Nobody's ever heard of a guy transferring because of depth chart issues?
12. Chambers - He can't beat out STEVIE BROWN and transfers to BALL STATE? Is this a guy who is ruthlessly run off by a renegade coach, or someone who just isn't a high-caliber player?
13. Butler - Already explained. Rodriguez puts a thug in the doghouse, and Spartans criticize him for it anyway. You're welcome for Renaissance, bitches. Hopefully Dantonio is nice enough to give Coach Watts a reach around.
14. Horn - Again, depth chart. Would've been behind everybody at RB this year. Was a marginal recruit in the first place whose role would've been limited to return duties anyway.
15. McGuffie - Okay, I'll be honest here, MSU people: Fuck you guys for even putting him on the list. The guy leaves to be closer to his family (because a family member DIED), and you use him as more bait in your anti-Rodriguez crusade. I've even seen many (MANY) Michigan State fans mock the fact that he was small and was concussed three times at Michigan. Where are the decent MSU fans to step in and shut these clowns up? I don't think making fun of someone's health and family problems is especially classy, but hey, your coach felt the need to stoop down to talking trash to a college kid, so maybe you're following his example. Who knows.
17. Threet - You think RR ran off a QB? Seriously? Threet was MORE than welcome to stay and compete, but who exactly blames him for leaving? This wasn't the Michigan he signed up for. He left in a classy way.
18. Criswell - Again, already explained. He was treated horribly and is now...a graduate assistant. Like I said, you're welcome for Renaissance.
19. Clemons - Like Threet, it wasn't the Michigan he signed up for. He wanted to follow the typical Michigan WR pattern of blocking and catching like five passes as a freshman before breaking out as a sophomore. Didn't go the way he planned. But if RR was going to run him out, why wait until after the season? If he was going to chase him away, why not do it when he first arrives so he can give his spot to another player who fits the system better?
20. Wermers - Yeah, let's take the word of a bitter 3rd string flunkout. Kurt Wermers (who is Doug?) is almost as full of shit as the people who put this list together. He said the atmosphere was different under Rodriguez than it was under Carr. And....he would know this...how? Pssst...Wermers was NEVER a player under Carr. EVER. There is a difference between coaches as recruiters and coaches as actual coaches. This is true of every coach at every school everywhere. If you people really believe Dantonio is the same person in recruits' living rooms as he is on the practice field, then you need to change your mascot to the Ostrich, because you've got your heads buried in the ground.
21. O'Neill - Simply not the type of lineman that can succeed in a spread. Had trouble getting the footwork down and just didn't have the athleticism needed. Also, notice how despite getting a full release from RR (just like Boren), O'Neill transferred to a MAC school? What's that tell you? This isn't Rodriguez running a player off. This is a player seeing the writing on the wall and choosing to go play closer to home at a school where he can get on the field more easily.
22. Feagin - Again, this doesn't exactly jive with the whole "Rodriguez is destroying Michigan and creating a haven for thugs" mantra you people swimming in green Koolaid like to chant, is it? He commits a crime, and is immediately booted. Not suspended, not demoted, banished without a second chance.
And now onto the recruits...
1. Newsome - Michigan wanted to sign two quarterbacks in last year's class. They did so.
2. Campbell - Last I checked, Big Will will be suiting up for Michigan this year. But don't worry MSU, I understand that you're still butt hurt that he didn't give your school a look after decommitting. Michigan goes 3-9, State goes 9-4, and the 12th best player in the state still views Michigan as a better place for his future.
3. McNeal - Je'Ron Stokes.
4. Fera - Brendan Gibbons.
5. Barnes - Not so subtlely advised to look elsewhere. If you want to view this as a blackmark against Rodriguez, fine. But every coach does this at some point; don't assume your coach is a saint. And I'm pretty sure Barnes is gonna be just fine playing at another BCS school.
6. Beaver - Once again, Michigan wanted two quarterbacks and got two. But let's be honest here. Beaver lied. He committed to Michigan in April of 2008, knew all along Michigan wanted two quarterbacks, repeatedly denied any wavering thoughts, and DAYS before he jumped ship to Tulsa, he told both Rivals and Scout he didn't even have a MySpace page when it popped up that he "had a bad feeling about Michigan" on his MySpace. Seriously, on December 17th, he said, "People were saying I wasn't coming, but I'm coming." On December 19th, he commits to Tulsa. And this is Rodriguez's fault...how?
7. Peace - Was turned off by the cold weather and the thought of playing corner. That's the risk you take in recruiting the South. MSU fans don't have a lot of experience with this because your recruiting base isn't national.
8. Graves and Jones - Losses, for sure. Michigan wanted both, got neither. They weren't told to decommit or anything. They just wanted to stay closer to home. Again, MSU fans have little experience with this.
9. Blackport - I laughed at this, but only because it's completely pathetic. Are you HONESTLY crowing about a WALK ON quarterback?
Look, I understand. For 40 years, Michigan State has been a non-factor. For many of you, you have spent your entire lives cheering for a team that has been a speck in Michigan's shadow. Your one Rose Bowl team since the Johnson administration is tainted with steroids. And now, you get a coach who emphasizes the Michigan game, gets a buzz in recruiting, finally beats Michigan, and you all go nuts. For the first time, you sense weakness in Ann Arbor, and you don't know how to compose yourselves. So you don't bother. You let it loose. You have convinced yourselves that Rodriguez will fail because deep down, you are afraid. You're afraid that this shift in fortunes will only be temporary. You ignore Rodriguez's track record. You ignore things like 38-0 and 42-24 (those are the scores of the two head-to-head matchups Rodriguez and Dantonio had in the Big East) because you fear that those days will return. You cling to 35-21 like it's your life source. You see the trainwreck Michigan was last year and you have convinced yourselves that that will be the norm because the alternative is a return to the purgatory you have been locked away in for a generation. You make yourselves believe Rodriguez is a combination of John L. Smith and Bill Callahan, not because of any evidence presented, but because it is what you want to believe. A moronic Michigan State poster on the Rivals Main board a few days ago stated, when presented with this brilliant creation by LSUFreek, "Bo would never drink with RR. RR isn't a part of the Michigan Man fraternity." See, there is no way your typical Spartan could ever know this. It is rooted in bias and fantasy, when the reality is Bo talked with Don Nehlen multiple times about Rodriguez (in case you're wondering, Nehlen coached under Bo, and then coached Rodriguez at West Virginia). Bo admired RR as a coach and as a man. If he had been alive when Carr retired and Rodriguez was hired, Bo would've been one of the most vocal supporters.
Hear no evil, see no evil. That should be the motto in East Lansing. Rich Rodriguez goes out of his way to meet with former Michigan players, he travels the country attending Michigan functions, he's doing everything necessary to assimilate himself into the Michigan culture, and you will continue to crow about him being a classless outsider. Meanwhile, Mark Dantonio makes a smartass comment about a moment of silence, he runs his mouth to the media about Mike Hart, and yet he is a saint, and you're ready to lionize him and immortalize him in bronze outside Spartan Stadium. Note that I was not a fan of what Mike Hart said. It may have held some truth, but it didn't need to be said. And yet you use that as justification for Dantonio's sour puss comments afterward. To that I say: one of them was a college kid, the other was a 50-year old man. Who's supposed to take the high ground?
Oh, and the hypocrisy is lovely. For a year after that, all we heard from MSU fans was "You need to check yourselves" and "Pride comes before the fall", and yet now that the tables have been turned in one year, it is YOU with the out of control egos, YOU making jokes and mockeries out of our coach and the rivalry. If hypocrisy was a major in East Lansing, they'd be pumping out scholars.
So live it up, my Green and White friends. Keep that propaganda machine churning. See how effective it is when things stabilize in Ann Arbor. And yep, you can bet that they will. The evidence is all there. It's just a matter of you preparing yourselves by actually paying attention to it. Whether you like it or not, history is on our side.
