Michigan Wolverine Recruiting: Shaun Crawford 2015 CB in Hot Water

Posted at 7:45am — 5/22/2014

Michigan Wolverine Recruiting: Shaun Crawford 2015 CB in Hot Water

Former 2015 Michigan Wolverine commit has gotten himself into some hot water and we don’t mean with the Michigan football staff and visiting other programs, but that too has gotten him put into the list of not being part of the 2015 Michigan recruiting class, at least in the eyes of the coaching staff.

Shaun got suspended from the track program for three days, which means he will not participate in three events for state because of missing events preliminary events which include the long jump, 100m dash, and the 200m dash. So, his season is over in those events, but he will be eligible to return and participate in the 4×200-meter relay on Friday’s second day of the district meet. His track coach, Menz, said Crawford will run the anchor leg of the relay.

You can read the entire story here (Link): St. Edward sprinter Shaun Crawford suspended for 3 days, ineligible for 3 track events throughout postseason.

As for the matter of his recruitment/commitment to Michigan, it now is on very rocky terms by both sides of this issue. The Crawford’s seem to be having a wondering eye and have been talking a lot to recruiting sites the past several months about going on visits to other schools. Michigan, like most college football programs, has a policy that isn’t set in stone, but their motto is if you’re going to take visits while being a Michigan Wolverine commit, you’re really not part of the recruiting class. Which means the coaches will not guarantee your spot any longer and will start to look around and offer your scholarship to other recruits at your position.

Don’t get us wrong here, we want Crawford at Michigan, but he needs to make sure where he wants to play college football, and it is better to try to figure that out now than after he makes his decision and signs his letter of intent. The problem comes with the lack of communication on the Crawford’s part since the coaching staff cannot contact the recruits at this time and talk with them on the phone. With today’s technology it doesn’t take much to talk with the recruiting coach, the coordinator, the position coach, or the head coach.

Seems like the Crawford’s were trying to play both sides of the fence. They want Shaun to remain a commit to Michigan, but also want him to take visits. They didn’t inform the coaching staff until after they came back from their Notre Dame visit, which seems to be Shaun’s favorite growing up. There was some confusion since his father is a Michigan fan and people assumed Shaun was as well.

We have seen articles that the father is questioning Michigan for offering other recruits and talking like it is a business. He doesn’t seem to get that his son and their decision to break the commitment no matter if they say they aren’t committed or not to Michigan is basically telling the coaches by taking a visit even though they know the Michigan policy that if you take visits your no longer committed to Michigan and they will start looking at other options as well.

It is noted that recently Crawford and the coaches have talked, but is it too late? The Michigan coaches will continue to recruit Shaun, but is there too much damage, along with trust issues, to come back together now? Time will tell, but he is planning on visiting Ohio State in the next couple of weeks, so Michigan will turn their attention to other prospects as they continue to recruit Crawford as well. His spot is no longer guaranteed.

The sad part is just a little communication between the two parties might have been able to save this relationship, but I’m not sure that is possible now, especially since Shaun and his family had their opportunity to talk with the coaching staff before his visit to Notre Dame, but decided to not get in contact with Michigan. They talked with several recruiting sites and spread their throughout the social media as well, which probably didn’t make the Michigan coaching staff very happy about hearing it from others than from the Shaun himself.

Dec 28, 2013; Tempe, AZ, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Brady Hoke in the second half against the Kansas State Wildcats during the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium. Kansas State defeated Michigan 31-14. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Since Coach Hoke took over the Michigan program, we have seen that several commits wanted to take visits elsewhere. Coach Hoke and staff were able to talk with some of those commits and either deterred them from visiting other schools, began recruiting other players in the event those recruits decided to visit other schools.

In 2013 recruiting class, David Dawson was teetering on taking visits. After talking with the coaching staff, it was agreed that he would take other visits, but the coaching staff would open his scholarship to other recruits with no guarantees his spot would be saved. After a few quick visits, he came back into the Michigan fold and recommitted to the Wolverines.

This is where the recruit, his family, and the coaching staff were all upfront before any visits took place and all parties understood the situation and circumstances of their actions if things were to change or become more open.

A recruit needs to make sure the school to which he is committed is the right school, but also the school has the right to open up that scholarship once you decide to start looking around.

The school has no leverage on a recruit until they sign the letter of intent except for their word on holding a scholarship for the recruit and their commitment where they will no longer look at other options even if they might present themselves because that would look bad on the coaching staff or the program if they decided to take away the offer to pursue a higher prospect on their recruiting wish list, but the recruit can back out at anytime before signing day and commit to another program whenever he feels like it and nothing publicly happens to that recruit.

This is where an early signing period for football would help these types of situations, and it would be similar to basketball recruiting, with two signing periods throughout the year instead of just one. I think it would make the recruits decide on a school, along with the college coaches knowing who they already have if a recruit has signed his letter of intent. Granted, several issues would need to be worked out for football programs, but I think with recruiting getting earlier and earlier, it is necessary for two signing periods now.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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