On Erik Swenson And Talent-Based Decommits

Sic.

Online newspapers tend to not capitalize every word in a title.

Brian Cook has an infuriating way of implying things in his writing.  His flock takes it as fact and follows.

Erik Swenson took the "high road," he writes.  There are all kinds of other statements ranging from 'if I don't know it it doesn't exist' to predictions of who is going to say what on signing day, not to mention who will be in the class.  Michigan pulled his scholarship and didn't tell him, he writes.  He even names the timing, as in after the season.  Another oddity among many:  he puts Nebraska academics on a level with Northwestern.

He doesn't know anything.

What is especially strange about this edict/last word on everything is he assumes a 'you can sign a LOI and attend but won't play' position from Harbaugh but then says the scholarship was pulled.  Which is it?

He doesn't know.

We'll see.  I don't know either.  My guess is Swenson was well aware.  Gentle pushing became more overt.  Put differently--'We are going a different way.'  Still too vague?  'You are not included.'  Perhaps he could have and should have reacted sooner or better, because Iowa State is not an equal landing place.

P.S.  Calling things "On" as in "On ethics and journalism" sounds pretentious.


 Here is one snippet from another site by way of MgoBlog:

When Jim Harbaugh took over at Michigan, Swenson's commitment was still in place. Then, over the course of the next several months, Swenson was asked to come to Ann Arbor and compete in camps, and also to work out in front of coaches, and Swenson refused. Harbaugh and company saw this as a red flag and decided to do some digging. They learned that Swenson had not developed like many thought he would and had become complacent with his work ethic and desire to compete. Some time in the fall, the coaches informed Swenson that they'd like him to look elsewhere and that he no longer held a committable offer from U-M. A source very close to the situation said that Swenson refused to go public with the information, convinced that he'd still end up in Ann Arbor.

You know there is a lot more out there.  Folks who range in credibility have said things.  The kid and his parents should have known.

I wonder what happened to the Iowa State thing?  I don't read many recruits' Twitter pages.  When I do they are usually about a recent game, a pic from a camp, or some energetic, positive experience.  Swenson's page had an ogling  picture of a truck and a bizarre, disillusioned countdown to signing day with Michigan.

We'll see, if this guy is a 4-star and where he'll land.  So far, or at this moment, the recruiting rankings are awfully far off.  This whole episode doesn't say much about them either.