What a fantastic troll move that would be. Perhaps frame it as, "this money will go towards X charity, unless UofM is willing to apply it to a lifetime contract for Harbaugh". Boom... let the donations pour in!

Surely I can't be the only fan wondering if the coaching staff should give him a go at RB, right? He clearly has the vision and moves to make people miss, might just need a year to develop physically for the D1 college game.  

He's making 1M+... but to be honest, he just seems better suited to college athletes than pro. Good for him.. he is hitting the ground running!

Yeah... I agree. I spend about 50 nights a year in a hotel, maybe half of that after flying. It doesnt take long to build status... I'm pretty sure the coaches are flying much more frequently than I am. 

If that tweet is the truth, it's likely because most of his flights are via private jet.

C'mon Cam Martinez... just send your LOI in right now. You're in fantastic, Red Bull-holding hands with Coach Coombs!! 

I was not a Tuf Borland fan after the 18' season, but I thought he played much better last season. Whether it was him being fully healthy, the scheme, more experienced, whatever.... he played better this year. Must be a hell of a guy though, I don't believe I've ever heard a coach say anything negative about him.

People make decisions based on what motivates them, right? What possible nefarious motivation could Etienne have that would cause him to stay in school?

Money: He'll make much more going pro.

PED's: He'll get those in the league too.

Girls: He"ll have even more when he's a millionaire NFL player.

So what's motivating him? It has to be something other than "Clemson is cheating". While I agree with you that the whole system is corrupt, I just don't see where the NCAA's preferential treatmen of southern teams has anything to do with him returning to school?

Maybe he just wants to earn a degree, win another NC, etc. 

The kid is a projected 1st rounder... he would have signed a guaranteed multimillion dollar contract. Take off your tinfoil hat my man, Dabo isn't paying him MILLIONS of dollars to stay. Is it soooo implausible that maybe he wants to earn a degree, win another CFP Championship, or play another year with his Team? To be clear... he may well be geting $500 handshakes, but he's not staying just because of "bagmen" and the money. That's a pretty low IQ thought process...

Our fanbase makes me cringe... some of us sound like MGoblog posters. The math isn't fucking complicated... he'd make a hell of a lot more money going Pro than he could possibly get being paid under the table at Clemson. 

NFL contract > Clemson bagmen. This isn't complicated. Whatever his reason for staying another year, it's not money.

I havent seen Williams play very much, does he have the wiggle and change of direction that a corner needs? In the limited snaps I watched, he looked more like a Ted Ginn-type burner to me. 

Possibly... but the 40 is more a measure of acceleration than top end. Lawrence showed speed for sure.. I'd wager he runs the 40 in the 4.7-4.8 range. Of course... this kind of talk still sucks... we should have won..

I'm seriously beginning to wonder if the SEC Booth officials we're leaned on a little to ensure questionable calls went Clemson's way. Just seems odd that in what, 4-5 plays that no flags were thrown, or officials on the field made the call one way, that every single time the booth got involved... it went in favor of Clemson. 

Something isn't right there.

Great post... and I'm honestly surprised we haven't seen more negative coverage of the replay officials. It was an all SEC crew, the officials on the field weren't bad, but the guys in the booth who kept initiating reviews certainly were. And Herbie isn't lying, ESPN would have LOVED the narrative of an OSU/LSU national championship game.

<Puts on tin foil hat> What are the chances an SEC executive could exert a little influence on the replay officials to make questionable calls go Clemson'w way? In the interest of securing another SEC Natty, would exec's rather LSU be playing Ohio State, or Clemson?

Thank you for the support, Bill... but I'm glad you'll be watching from the stands this year.

-Buckeye Nation 

Agreed... kid did what he thought was best for him, hard to fault someone for that. Plus.. can you imagine the 11W meltdown if Urban had added a 2* recruit to that class?!?!? People groan when 3* recruits commit!

Plus one... this is the format I'd like to see, and leave the seeding to a more BCS/analytics driven formula. I hate that a bunch of people who clearly can't watch all the games is choosing, and seeding the "top teams". It would be nice to have a system that actually values SoS too.

I believe you're correct, just too lazy to look it up. I wasnt so much interested in the teams, just how the BCS wohld have seeded teams vs how the committee has. For instance, how would this year's four teams be seeded using BCS criteria?

In my opinion, that speaks more to the committee's human incompetance than it does to the format. It would be interesting to go back and use the BCS system to seed the team's, then compare those "blowout" wins to the committee's. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the winner in alot of those games was the higher seed in the BCS formula.

Great take CowCat... I'd posit another scenario. Go after one of those criminally underrated 3* guys (like a Cam Martinez), lock him up, and focus on one 4 or 5* guy with everything you have. While we all hope Williams makes the best of this opportunity and shines one day, he was very cleary a plan C at best. Thats a tough pill for OSU fans to swallow, especially given the history of the position at Ohio State. Just seems like, ironically, Alford shot for the stars, but ended up on the moon instead.

It’s literally one of my favorite sites to visit, just for that reason. It’s a negative feedback loop trapped in an echo chamber. They talk so flippantly about us cheating and paying players that most of them whole- heartedly believe it, right along with UM running a clean program and making their players attend class on campus. It’s almost cute, kinda childlike.. that they’re so stupid they don’t even know what they don’t know.

I implore all 11W readers to grab a bowl of popcorn and cruise over there...  that site is the epitomy of what an echo chamber ultimately becomes. Almost all of the posters' have legitmately convinced themselves they "won't break NCAA rules or lower admission standards to recruit the kind of "thugs" OSU recruits", and the only reason OSU has been successful is through bagmen and cheating. A few are more rational, noting that winning and NFL development play a role in a recruit's decision... but hell, most of them are legitimately so far up their own ass, they have no base in reality. It's absolutely amazing to read.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPxPSzz0LBY

Brady Hoke: Philosopher King

The ACC is GARBAGE. Unless Florida St, Louisville, or Miami suddenly rises up and returns to be a perennially ranked team, there is exactly one monster in that conference, and nobody will ever expect Hafley to beat Clemson. BC plays Holy Cross, Ohio (Bobcats), Kansas (who beat them this year), and Purdue next year OOC. Those are four winnable games, on top of the easy conference schedule.. I think Hafley made a smart decision. Go out and recruit well (like he already does), take BC to a 9-10 win season a couple years in a row.. and he'll be getting looks from the blue blood programs.

Also, I'd prefer if our coaches don't purposefully deceive a recruit (Phillips) just to get their signature, then bolt for the door. Drayton did that to Mike Weber a few years back... it was a bad look for the program, and to Weber.