Hoke's policy may cost him another recruit.

http://www.freep.com/article/20121030/SPORTS06/121029111/recruiting-michigan-wolverines-gareon-conley?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Michigan%20Wolverines

something needs to change in the recruiting world. i know these are just kids and their minds are all over the place and this is America where we haveall the freedom to do whatever we want, but at some point recruiting has gotten to be a mess where the word "committment" holds no value. what about having "signing day" be just that. once you sign, you're in. no more verbals. a team can think they're all set in recruiting and then a bunch of kids "reconsider" and decide not to honor their committment leaving the team to scramble. it's not only because it's happening to michigan, but to any school. once a player committs, i think it needs to be binding. this is getting frustrating....the inmates are running the asylum....

bluebult56 wrote:

something needs to change in the recruiting world. i know these are just kids and their minds are all over the place and this is America where we haveall the freedom to do whatever we want, but at some point recruiting has gotten to be a mess where the word "committment" holds no value. what about having "signing day" be just that. once you sign, you're in. no more verbals. a team can think they're all set in recruiting and then a bunch of kids "reconsider" and decide not to honor their committment leaving the team to scramble. it's not only because it's happening to michigan, but to any school. once a player committs, i think it needs to be binding. this is getting frustrating....the inmates are running the asylum....

whoa dude.

I think there should be an early signing period. There is one in basketball, why not football? I think everybody wins with this. The school has the signature, the player has the assurance and won't have to be hounded his entire senior year.

If you are not ready to sign, don't sign and take all your visits. I think it is a no brainer.

Fish is correct. But without that signing period then for sure the approach the coaches take is 100% correct. Remember that kids and their parents love that Hoke and co. are "honest"...this is part of the honesty

Early commitments are NOT commitments and are not binding on the kid, so maybe it's a mistake to rely too heavily on them. Commitment is not the right descriptor of early strong interest in attending a school. It's like being engaged before getting married. Nothing is official until it's official. An early signing period is the obvious answer, so don't expect any changes.

I don't think it's that big of a deal. A couple of kids always end up changing their minds or not panning out. This class is not finished yet and I think we'll get a couple more big recruits before all is said and done. I like the policy. It deters kids from not taking their commitment seriously enough, and if they're willing to lose their status as a commitment by taking more visits, they probably weren't that committed to the program to begin with.

jjabilene wrote:

I don't think it's that big of a deal. A couple of kids always end up changing their minds or not panning out. This class is not finished yet and I think we'll get a couple more big recruits before all is said and done. I like the policy. It deters kids from not taking their commitment seriously enough, and if they're willing to lose their status as a commitment by taking more visits, they probably weren't that committed to the program to begin with.

Agreed but I'll add a few things...

I will go on record and say that I am very excited about Conley's size and all the things I've heard regarding his raw talent. So that bums me out thinking another team (possibly O$U, Wiscy or MSU) may have a shot at him.

With O$U wrapping up Burrows and Woodard I doubt Conley would end up there if he decides to split. I see Wiscy or Lil Bro in the picture though.

if he does leave I think Hoke makes a push for McQuay and I wouldn't be surprised to see a big push for Priest Willis either.

So while Conley leaving would kind of suck, it's not the end of the world.

This was disciussed ad nauseum when the claess was forming. It was totally expected, granted we didn't really know who (well, we were fairly certain that it wouldn't be Shane).

fishgoblue22 wrote:

I think there should be an early signing period. There is one in basketball, why not football? I think everybody wins with this. The school has the signature, the player has the assurance and won't have to be hounded his entire senior year.

If you are not ready to sign, don't sign and take all your visits. I think it is a no brainer.

Fish..don't know if you have seen this, but there is at least one person who agrees with you on the early signing for football...and this is from an AL website!!

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/05/college_football_needs_an_earl.html

Go Blue!!!!

fishgoblue22 wrote:

I think there should be an early signing period. There is one in basketball, why not football? I think everybody wins with this. The school has the signature, the player has the assurance and won't have to be hounded his entire senior year.

If you are not ready to sign, don't sign and take all your visits. I think it is a no brainer.

Biggest no brainier ever. Why have differant recruiting rules for college sports? It doesn't make sense. It's really a disservice to the kids who would like to just focus on graduating instead of the recruiting circus.