Mailbag question: Recruiting services and who is right and who is wrong?

I have a question for you guys about the Rivals and Scout Michigan sites.

First off, I am a member of both sites and like both of them.

It seems like we have been getting a lot of differing reports lately from those two sites.

For instance, over the weekend and on Monday, one site says that Floyd is coming for a visit and also Henderson. Whereas the other site states that neither are even interested in Michigan, that they have given Michigan the “thanks, but no thanks” speech.

So whom do you believe and what do you guys think of this situation?

Is one site just saying these types of things just to increase viewer ship, get the boards friendlier, and get their site more attention?

Thanks and Go Blue!

Dan B.

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Thanks for the question.

All the different boards are businesses and there are more places than just those two sites. So the competition is natural, along with getting recruiting services to engage a long-term emotional attachment with their readers. Giving good information enhances the attachment.

All the different “insiders” have different sources they trust, so getting different information is understandable.

We suggest using the different sites for two things:

1) Entertainment.
2) Information.

All recruiting is fluid and changes quickly and sometimes this is how one can determine who might know (accurate) and who might not know (inaccurate). It is a tough business and many times readers must read between the lines and not take as literal gospel what others (or even the recruit) are telling you. Simply put, understand this concept: sometimes people tell you what you want to hear.

Again, many times “insiders” are trusting people they do not really know, or believing stories from somebody that is not as close to the situation as maybe others more informed might be.

People do not want to hear, rightly or wrongly, about lesser ranked players (two stars/three stars) a program is getting commitments from, so certain sites will push the higher rated kids, with far less interest in a school and also with far less likelihood of signing, to create a “buzz” or interest on their site to generate excitement and possibly bring in more viewers. This is the business end of recruiting sites, right or wrong.

We have followed both of these prospects and believe that neither will pick Michigan in the end, because every time the recruits discuss schools of interest, rarely does either talk about Michigan, unless it is to a person who covers Michigan. As recruiting followers, we all need to remember that recruits are pulled in different directions and so forget the idea of consistency and again certain sites will be told what is popular, but not necessarily accurate.

One thing to keep in mind; if a recruit does not mention your school when other reporters are doing interviews it is likely he is, at that time, not really giving your school strong consideration and is just trying to be nice. Or the reporter is pushing a school on him and he is just answering the question, as best he can, without letting the guy down.

As we stated before, take everything, or most things, connected to recruiting with a grain of salt and do not get too emotionally attached to a recruit, until he signs his letter of intent to your school. But even then, one is never completely certain that the recruit will attend the chosen school until he shows up and gets cleared by the NCAA clearinghouse.

Coaching at the college level can turn hair a different shade of color, quickly. Recruiting is one reason many proficient football coaches seek jobs in the NFL.

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Written by CoachBt, Doc4blu and ErocWolverine

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