Baltimore (MD) Gilman offensive tackle Devery Hamilton flipped from Michigan to Stanford. Hamilton is a 4-star, the #22 offensive tackle, and #244 overall.
Hamilton committed to Michigan in June (LINK) and his offensive line teammate, Stephen Spanellis, flipped from Virginia to Michigan last week. Hamilton congratulated Spanellis on flipping to Michigan, but then left him in the dust for Palo Alto.
Hit the jump for more.
I gave Hamilton a TTB Rating of 76, and I was pretty fond of him as a recruit, especially because he was Michigan’s most athletic lineman commit. He is an athletic offensive tackle prospect, something that Michigan is lacking much of on the depth chart. From purely a recruiting need standpoint, this decommit is probably the most damaging of the 2016 class. After Michigan whiffed on Mesquite (TX) North tackle Jean Delance, it seemed the coaching staff had put all of its offensive tackle eggs in one basket and perhaps had to reach for someone like Spanellis. Now Michigan is trying to make a late run at Lawrenceville (GA) Archer’s E.J. Price, but it might be too little, too late for the Michigan native who was not pursued very hard by the staff previously. Hamilton’s head coach Biff Poggi recently announced that he was stepping down from coaching at Gilman to pursue other interests, and Michigan reportedly offered him a job within their football program. It will be interesting to see if Poggi also ends up at Stanford or if this situation damages the relationship between Poggi/Spanellis and Jim Harbaugh. Poggi is, of course, the father of current Michigan fullback/tight end/defensive end Henry Poggi.
For what it’s worth, I did a rundown of prospective late offers within the state of Michigan (LINK). Late in the recruiting process, schools will often look to their own backyard to fill empty spots. Michigan is back down to 25 scholarship players in the 2016 class (LINK) and needs to shed at least 3 more scholarships before the fall. Hamilton is the 12th decommitment in the 2016 class and the second offensive tackle, joining Erik Swenson, who is still uncommitted at this point.
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This decommitment underscores the idea that if commits can change their decisions, then coaches should be able to do so, too. I know some people are really down on Harbaugh for pulling scholarships from kids like Swenson, Rashad Weaver, etc., but kids make the best decision for them right up until they sign their papers. Coaches have to be wary of stuff like this.
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Makes sense. Kids can flip on us just days before the signing day. Coaches should be able to as well. Until it’s signed…
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How does it underscore that? The existence of a decommitment is no surprise. Yes, coaches have to be aware that this can and will happen. Does that necessarily mean grown men have to resort to behaving like the lowest common teenage male denominator and start deliberately deceiving kids? I don’t think so.
There’s obviously an alternative, which we saw with Brady Hoke, who recruited very well on defense and had top 10 rated classes — just like Harbaugh is having. Programs “decommitting” from kids they offer scholarships to is not necessary.
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Wait, what? Who is “behaving like the lowest common teenage male denominator and start deliberately deceiving kids?”
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Harbaugh deliberately deceived Swenson. He wasn’t forthright with him and waited to tell him he was out until he had better options on the table. Apparently Hamilton noticed. If Harbaugh keeps it up others will too.
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I don’t think you have evidence that he was “deliberately deceived” or that he was deceived “until Harbaugh had better options on the table.”
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The evidence is that he was kicked out of the class in January instead of November.
Swenson’s stock didn’t change in that timeframe. Michigan gained a 10 win season thanks to a very impressive bowl victory.
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That’s not evidence that he was deliberately deceived. First of all, the opposite side says he was asked and given warnings previously. Second, Michigan had better options on the table a long time ago when Onwenu, Bredeson, and Hamilton were committed. Nothing had changed since Bredeson committed during the summer. And Spanellis had also not committed by the time Swenson was booted out of the class. If better options being on the table was the issue, then he could have been cut loose when Bredeson committed. Your timeline doesn’t mesh with reality.
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Michigan (via ‘Insiders’) says there were previous warnings. That’s not evidence, that’s somebody saying something to cover their ass.
If they had better options a long time ago they could have let Swenson go a long time ago. They didn’t.
Michigan is in a far stronger place now than they were in August, coming off a 5-win season. Michigan won 10 games.
It’s the same story you saw with Weaver, Enis, Reese, and a bunch of other decommits. Once Michigan had better options on the table it pushed commits aside. The guys they thought were good enough then suddenly were not good enough.
I feel like I’m just repeating common sense right now. It’s pretty obvious what went on here and to continue to defend it, to argue that it’s just fine if grown men behave like children, to argue that an Oklahoma football recruit is lazy, etc. just gets deeper into the realm of ridiculous.
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So…evidence is someone on the Swensons’ side saying something, but not someone on Michigan’s side saying something. But Michigan CAN’T say anything publicly. So if you don’t take what the “insiders” are saying as being true or possibly true, then you’re operating with only 50% of the story (at best).
Your statement about “better options” is where you’re not admitting that there are two sides to the story. They basically replaced Swenson with a kid with a different body, a different skill set, and a lower rating. Spanellis isn’t a clear-cut better option. It’s quite possible that after Harbaugh let Swenson play through his senior year and evaluated what their roster had, what their future looked like, etc., that they determined Swenson shouldn’t be a part of it. Just because he finished his season in November doesn’t mean the coaching staff evaluated their whole roster, their returning players, and their other options immediately. Michigan was still playing games through Thanksgiving, and then they were preparing for a New Year’s Day bowl.
The problem with your argument is that you’re framing it like “grown men behaving like children.” I don’t see how it’s “behaving like a child” to give someone a chance to earn something and then to determine that he didn’t earn it, or simply decide it’s not a good fit. That’s not a childish thing. I never called Swenson lazy, but it’s not impossible that he is. Michigan has recruited lazy players before. Why can’t Oklahoma? But yeah, I guess it’s ridiculous to think that a college football player could be lazy. You know, because Alex Mitchell and Ryan Mallett and Jason Kates were known for their hardworking nature…
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You framed this as “see, Hamilton decommitted, so Michigan should be allowed to too”. So that’s where the grown men acting like children comes into the conversation. And yes, I consider going back on a commitment to be a childish thing to do.
You make a reasonable point about the M staff possibly not evaluating Swenson until later — but that’s on them. You have to recruit year round and they were certainly busy flying all over the country in December to recruit people. To argue they didn’t have time seems disingenuous to me.
I hate the argument of Michigan can’t say anything because it’s dishonest. They got their message out through Spath. And they aren’t going to say anymore than that even after they can talk.
Anyway, Spath’s article doesn’t really contradict what the Swensons and the coach said other than saying he was told in November to “look around” instead of January (per the coach). Timing is critical to all this but the basic facts otherwise are agreed on.
Also notable is that Spath indirectly draws a distinction that indicates that the November timeline isn’t true. “So why didn’t they [Kiante Enis family/camp] react with the same venom? According to our source, they were also given the heads up weeks ago that this was coming, and were encouraged to take other visits and look at other schools. ” So was Swenson given many weeks or wasn’t he. Spath is unclear. The Swensons and the HS coach are.
Also note that the Michigan version of events came out AFTER the big media hubub. (i.e., damage control).
Also also Note that Harbaugh has a track record of not talking to kids as a means of “sending a message”.
The preponderance of evidence points to one “side” in this matter. Kids get dropped because of poor performance, and no one, including me has a problem with that but doing it in January is nasty business.
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“the opposite side says he was asked and given warnings previously”
Where are you getting this? The only person saying this is Michigan “Insider” Spath, as far as I know. Spath’s not the “opposite side” in any way.
Michigan doesn’t have to wait for a public commitment to think it has better options available to them. Bredenson has nothing to do with this. I don’t think your argument makes much sense.
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The opposite side is Michigan’s “insiders.” Of course, the true “opposite side” is Michigan’s football staff, but since they’re forbidden from talking about it (at least for now), that’s the best we can do.
I’ve presented to you why your argument doesn’t make sense. Your response is “Bredeson has nothing to do with this” and “I don’t think your argument makes much sense.” That’s not convincing.
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The road goes both ways. If a player can decide at any point – up to and including the last hours or days before National Signing Day – then coaches should be able to change their minds, say, several weeks in advance. Which Harbaugh did. If a 6’2″ point guard gets a scholarship offer, goes on a strict diet of donuts and Mountain Dew, stops working on his handles, and goes from looking like Trey Burke to looking like Khalid El-Amin, then a coach would have the right to pull his offer. If a coach asks a Michigan commit to camp and to develop his game, and the kid refuses and makes no progress in that area, then he can’t expect to be guaranteed to have that scholarship.
Also…are you saying that Devery Hamilton is the lowest common teenage male denominator? And who was deliberately deceived in this scenario?
Brady Hoke did a pretty good job of recruiting. I can’t take that away from him. But he didn’t put together a championship-caliber team, and you yourself have bemoaned the state of the offensive line many times, which Hoke recruited. He also did not recruit great athletes at the offensive skill positions (look at the running backs and quarterbacks, for example). Harbaugh doesn’t want to replicate what Hoke did. He wants to improve upon that.
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I don’t agree. To the coach – you’re talking about a player and if that player drops out their life is barely altered, because (with some exceptions) players are replaceable. It barely affects them. To the player – you are talking about a life-altering decision. And yeah, for some kids it doesn’t really matter if they go to Michigan, Virginia, Oklahoma, or UCLA but others are dropping out of the Power 5 and going to vastly inferior schools. The impact from the perspective of the two sides is not remotely proportional.
I do agree there are circumstances when an offer can be pulled. I don’t agree that Hamilton’s decommitment moves the needle in any way.
I am saying that teenage males are generally a low common denominator in terms of making thoughtful decisions that are considerate of others. Grown-ass men, especially very well paid and successful ones who purport to be leaders of men and molders of character, don’t need to act like teenage boys. A “commitment” may not be a commitment anymore to everyone but coaches still have to act like grownups and not leave kids in embarrassing and difficult situations.
To that I would add that putting Swenson on blast in public like this – painting him as a lazy soda-sipper – is irresponsible of the coaching staff and their mouthpieces (Webb and especially Spath).
Hoke’s failings had very little to do with recruiting or player talent. The QB recruiting was a debacle but otherwise they did very very well. Darboh and Canteen and Harris and Norfleet and Johnson are pretty good athletes. Michigan has good RBs. Hoke recruited Rawls and Funchess who are successful NFL players. Other guys like Butt, Smith, Darboh, Chesson could be on their way too. That’s not to mention Peppers and Lewis – who could easily play offense full time. Hoke had 3 full recruiting classes and he produced pretty well with them – even on offense.
There is plenty of evidence Harbaugh is a better talent developer and coach than Hoke and zero evidence he is a better recruiter.
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Well … crap.
It makes me wonder if Harbaugh does not suffer just a little bit from what Rodriguez seemed to — a fixation on certain player positions to the detriment of other positions.
I’m not bashing Rodriguez, and I think he had a good sense for the value of offensive linemen (though I think he initially underestimated what it takes to control the line of scrimmage in the Big 10). But he tended to favor offense over defense, and on offense he seemed to favor smaller and speedier types.
I’m wondering if Harbaugh is similar … he tends to view the offense from the QB position out, and he assumes the OL is there to support his vision. I’m not saying this is a glaring oversight … I’m wondering if it’s a subtle subconscious thing.
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Could be true. Harbaugh was a QB and seems to think QBs win and lose games. I hope he takes like 5 OLmen this year due to the numbers, but it seems like he’s reserving some more for WRs, DBs and so on. I am a bit concerned with the OL recruiting especially with this decommitment.
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I don’t think JH is overlooking any position groups, but do think we’ve struck out at the OL (Swenson doesn’t develop/Hamilton leaves/Delance picks UT).
I’m hopeful that these last few spots address OL, DT, and then “best available”
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I we really sure that Swenson didn’t develop? After his decommottment he received some good offers and just committed to OK. I don’t see schools like OK offering if they didn’t seem some talent. Just like the when the when all the stories/rumors came up that he “refused” to camp this past summer, I think some of that comes from insiders who’s career is depandant on keeping a good relationship with the coaching staff. I’m not saying that they lied for the staff, but at the same time I could see them twisting the narrative to make it not reflect so badly on the coaching staff. Otherwise, why wasn’t Swenson’s offer pulled immediately afterward.
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Well, I don’t think he developed very well, and Michigan’s coaching staff backed off of him despite wanting offensive tackles. Swenson was supposedly told during last season that he needed to pick it up, and he was told late in 2015 that he should look at other options. That’s fairly immediate. His offer wasn’t just yanked this month. Michigan insiders as well as people on Swenson’s side of things have both agreed on that last point.
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I must have missed that. Where did the Swenson’s admit that he was told to look around?
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Swenson’s coach said that.
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It’s not allowing me to reply to your comment below, but that isn’t how it went down according to Baumgarder in his article on 1/22/16. When asked about Swenson being told to look around back in Nov. his coach said
“That’s not accurate, according to Molinari.
Molinari says Swenson was not asked to attend any Michigan camp this summer and was not given any indication that his scholarship was in jeopardy until early January.
Swenson and Molinari attended the Michigan-Ohio State game Nov. 28. During that trip, Molinari says Swenson had contact with Drevno and was not given “any indication that this wasn’t going to work out.”
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2016/01/coach_erik_swenson_was_told_by.html
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Another quote from the coach in the same article is:
“The truth is, Erik’s season was completed at the end of October and the beginning of November. If they weren’t happy with his play, then they had the opportunity to tell him from November into all of December,” Molinari said. “But we never had anything close to a conversation like that until the beginning of January. And even then, we were told they’re not pulling his scholarship, but that they wanted him to explore and take all of his visits.”
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Michigan insiders AKA people whose jobs it is to curry favor with Michigan coaches and people inside the athletic department.
The Swenson’s have no motivation to lie about what Michigan did. Swenson’s coach gains nothing by telling this story.
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Swenson’s side has the same motivation as you’re claiming Michigan has: they want to save face. No kid and his family want to admit that he was afraid to compete, that he didn’t work hard in the weight room/on the field, that he refused to act when the coaches told him to explore other options, etc. I’m not saying that *is* what happened, but your criticism slices in both directions.
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Your argument assumes that Michigan’s argument is correct, but we don’t know. You assume that Swenson is indeed “Afraid to compete” and “don’t work hard”.
If true, why did Oklahoma take him? Is Oklahoma in the habit of taking kids like that? Unlike Michigan, they didn’t make a commitment to him, but want him anyway.
Michigan is manufacturing excuses. The did it with Falcon/Pipkins injuries (both are playing elsewhere), they did it for Reese (sorry kid you can’t early enroll but these other 8 guys can even though some committed after you) and they are doing it with Swenson. Maybe he disappointed them, maybe he didn’t, but it’s clear they left him hanging until they had better options.
I still haven’t seen evidence that they told him to “explore other options” other than Michigan insiders. Their disappointment – to whatever extent it existed – was not communicated clearly.
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The burden of proof in this argument is on you. You’re the one who says they “deliberately deceived” Swenson. I’m presenting the other side of the story, and I’m also confirming what I see on film (that he did not develop). As far as Oklahoma goes, I’m not tuned in to their recruiting, and I don’t care why they took him.
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Michigan made an offer and then yanked it. They did this a few weeks before signing day. That’s why they face this publicity fiasco. That’s why recruiting insiders (that aren’t just Michigan-slappies) are saying Hamilton flipped. The burden of proof is on them.
“I don’t care” is your response to evidence contrary to your opinion…so I think that about says all that needs to be said.
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“I don’t care” is my response when I don’t care. As I said, I’m not current with Oklahoma’s recruiting class, roster makeup, etc. You’re trying to force me to give you an answer that I don’t have any information about. While you’re at it, you might as well ask me to tell you about why Marshall accepted Sir Patrick Scott’s commitment. I’m full of Marshall insider information, too!
The burden of proof is on YOU here on this blog, because you’re the one here making claims about deception. If you can’t make the case, you’re just spitting out conjecture and/or you’re regurgitating information you found elsewhere.
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Swenson was deceived. To argue it was accidental implies incompetence on the part of the Michigan staff. I don’t think they are incompetent.
I do think they are cut-throat, dishonest and/or deceitful, and inconsiderate to kids who they spend a great deal of time making promises to and telling them they are wanted.
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Nobody here ever claimed that Swenson’s removal from the class was “accidental.” I don’t even know what that means.
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While I don’t normally post much, I do generally side with Thunder as opposed to Lanknows. In this case though, the staff seems to have messed up and faced a huge PR disaster. Swenson should have been told late Nov/ early Dec at the latest that his offer was no longer committable but that they would still evaluate him. Should have been CLEAR with no misconceptions left. Harbaugh has a history dating back to his time at Stanford of cutting off communication. If this had happened in Nov/Dec it would have been a small hiccup but no longer paid any attention to. It was done with other recruits as we all knew a few who were not going to be in this class. With no hints (like there was with the other recruits) of it up until the last moments, I think it was pretty clear what happened.
Has there been any mention of this playing any part in Hamilton decommitting? I’m assuming that since they both played OL they may have developed some sort of relationship. I don’t do the whole twitter thing, but remember that people had said that a number of other commits/future recruits had talked negatively about how it went down and didn’t know if he was one of them.
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I agree that the staff “messed up” in the sense that they should have been clearer sooner. That doesn’t mean Swenson was “deliberately deceived.” There are other options, such as Michigan communicating messages that weren’t received well (which is what multiple insiders have claimed) and Michigan taking time to evaluate their recruiting class and current roster. It’s not necessarily a black-and-white situation. In my opinion, “deliberately deceiving” a high school player is a pretty heavy charge, and Lanknows hasn’t really made any semblance of a case for his stance.
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What is the problem with the “deliberately deceived” phrase?
Was he deceived? Yes. He was offered a scholarship almost 3 years ago, committed over 2 years ago, and the mutual commitment has been repeatedly affirmed since then. His season ended in November. At that point Michigan had all the information it needed but chose NOT to pull his scholarship. No word was given until January of 2016. So they let him be “committed” to Michigan even though they knew they were recruiting people for his spot. That is deception.
Swenson’s coach said the first indication from the staff that things were going downhill was 3 weeks before his scholarship offer was yanked.
““It didn’t just happen yesterday,” Molinari said. “We got some red flags three weeks ago, just comments made from coach encouraging Erik to make all five official visits (to other schools). That was the first indication it wasn’t heading in the direction we thought it was going.””
Deception.
Was it deliberate? Yes. This staff knew what it was doing.
Allen Trieu – a respected recruiting insider said that the Swenson thing was to blame for Hamilton.
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“Deliberate deception” implies that Michigan was purposefully trying to mislead the kid or screw him over. I don’t think he was being deceived in the first place, and I don’t think it was deliberate. You’re not really making much of a case, either. I understand everything you’re saying, but I disagree with the way you’re presenting it. It seems like you’ve already made up your mind that Harbaugh is a shady individual, and you’re not willing to see the shades of gray.
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Well, I’m hopeful the staff has learned from the mistake and doesn’t let it happen again. I know Alabama just recently did the same thing and not a lot of noise was made about it, but it doesn’t mean that it should be happening. I haven’t found the Trieu article claiming that Swenson was the reason for Hamilton backing away, but if it is true that just magnifies the mistake even more. What was once a position group that looked loaded now looks thin. At one time I though the position looked deep enough to move Michael O to DL if needed, but that’s no longer really an option-assuming he sticks with his commitment tonight. I’ve read that this is being used against us with a number of current commits so I hope we can still somehow finish strong.
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“Michigan was purposefully trying to mislead the kid” – yes, that is what happens when you accept a commitment and don’t tell the kid you will be trying to get a better player in his spot. “screw him over” – that’s obviously not their objective but it’s an outcome they are willing to live with.
To say this is not deliberate, again, implies the coaches were incompetent or ignorant. They know what they are doing.
I see shades of gray to all this, but there is also a point where a line is crossed and these examples (pulling offers in January) are unprecedented at Michigan, unsavory, and ultimately detracts from the Michigan program image. We’ve seen immediate consequences of it (Hamilton) but the long-term ones are the bigger worry.
It’s not a smart strategy. There is a happy medium between what Hoke did (get everybody signed up as early as possible and then play defense) and what Harbaugh is doing, but if the results are the same in terms of talent brought in, then there is no need for being devious. Even if they aren’t – there’s more to a football program than just on-field production, and that’s something every college coach says.
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Trieu via chat on Detroit News
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/2016/01/31/talk-recruiting-allen-trieu-monday-11-m/79579834/
Comment From Dino rules!
Rumor of Lavert Hill & Michael Onwenu to MSU and Rashan Gary to Clemson due to Harbaugh’s recruiting tactics. What do you hear?
Allen Trieu:
Michigan just lost Devery Hamilton because of that and I think it’s definitely affected these kids some. There is no doubt other schools are using it against them. As of now though, I think those three probably still all end up with UM.
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It offends me when people cite Stanford’s academics as being somehow vastly superior to Michigan. If the kid wants to go to Stanford, great – i wish him luck. It is a great academic school and a very good football school. But the quality of academics at almost any school is a huge product of what you make out of it and Michigan and Stanford are on par with just about any major you would select.
I expect Michigan to find another OL, though you start wondering what quality is left out there. This is potentially a huge concern in this class since our OL depth chart is going to be thin in about a year and we now have a pretty large hole in the farm system. There are a couple of nice projects in this class, but no true OT and no blue-chip recruits.
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I’m a proud Michigan alum but come on. Stanford’s on another level.
Of course it’s always about what you make of it, but that same argument can be (and is) used by MSU vs UM.
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Thunder, what would you do in light of Hamilton’s decommitment? 1) Bank the scholarship for next year 2) Find a lower rated offensive tackle this yr who will commit to Michigan late in the process 3) Use the scholarship for another position and hope to stock up on offensive line next year?
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I don’t believe in banking scholarships. If it were me, I would attempt to flip a lower-rated tackle. If that doesn’t work – or if I have to reach too far – then I would try to get an “athlete” who could play multiple positions down the road (maybe a RB/LB or a WR/CB).
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That one came out of no where have he even visited stanford and what’s the reason for this decommitment o well we’ll be alright.
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Huge loss. There isn’t another current commit I wouldn’t trade for Hamilton if given the option. Michigan needs to find an OT bad. Hopefully they can find someone to flip. The Swenson decision seems like a clear mistake by this staff, on multiple fronts.
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