'15 FL DE Marques Ford (FORMER UT commit)

#1,426
#1,426
Roustabout said:
Not a Vol fan?

I was born at Ft. Sanders while both my parents were students at UT. My Papaw was personal friends with Gus Manning and got our family season tickets which we held from the 70s until about 6 years ago. I'm a 96 grad and have been to bowl games, road games, and spring games. You don't know what you're talking about.
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Was posting that you were an accident really necessary?
 
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#1,427
#1,427
LebanonVolunteer said:
I would have to agree. Tough to expect kids to shut down their recruitment in June if they start to see you dropping commitments 2 weeks before NSD just because you ran out of spots and or can't count.
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I agree with you on this one Leb, the timing was dirty. Ford will have an opportunity at Rutgers but at the same time he may have found a better situation and have been able to enjoy the recruiting experience more if he hadn't shut down everything earlier. I'm sure some fault Jones and truly I think he does bare some blame but we have high expectations for Jones to bring in the best players and put us in the best position to be successful, sometimes to do that you cannot be the good guy. I hate it but it's the nature of the beast.
 
#1,428
#1,428
LebanonVolunteer said:
Makes sense as someone had posted they were in his final 3. Glad to see they still had room for him this close to NSD.
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What if they didn't have room for him and they dropped a kid to make room for him Leb? What if they did the exact same thing we and every other football team does when a better player becomes available?! Smh at all the posters worrying about this nonsense. Good for the kid and good for us, we are on to bigger and better things than the past few years have brought us.
 
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#1,429
#1,429
We offered Ford a grayshirt to keep him in the class, but he refused. So we pulled his offer, but called other schools on his behalf. It was an unfortunate situation, and the timing wasn't good, but we weren't heartless or underhanded about it. I think everybody wanted it to work out here, but he quickly landed at a school he likes. Wish him the best!
 
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#1,430
#1,430
LA Vol said:
We offered Ford a grayshirt to keep him in the class, but he refused. So we pulled his offer, but called other schools on his behalf. It was an unfortunate situation, and the timing wasn't good, but we weren't heartless or underhanded about it. I think everybody wishes it could have worked out here, but he quickly landed at a school he likes.
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So yanking a kids offer and forcing him to GS and pay his own way 2 weeks before NSD is not underhanded? I'd bet ALOT of recruits and parents would disagree.
 
#1,431
#1,431
LA Vol said:
We offered Ford a grayshirt to keep him in the class, but he refused. So we pulled his offer, but called other schools on his behalf. It was an unfortunate situation, and the timing wasn't good, but we weren't heartless or underhanded about it. I think everybody wanted it to work out here, but he quickly landed at a school he likes. Wish him the best!
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Sounds like Dews from last class. Young kid gets offered a grey shirt but wants to get in school immediately. I am glad if it is true about the coaches making calls on his behalf but after his performance at his all star game I doubt he needed any help.
 
#1,433
#1,433
LebanonVolunteer said:
So yanking a kids offer and forcing him to GS and pay his own way 2 weeks before NSD is not underhanded? I'd bet ALOT of recruits and parents would disagree.
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Grey shirt means he would hang out at home or prep school for the fall and enroll at UT next January and essentially be an EE for the '16 class. No conspiracies here Leb. Try again.
 
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#1,434
#1,434
gogators13 said:
I'm sure other coaches sitting in living rooms will not bring it up with a kid that might be interested in UT.
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Other schools do the same shaz. This is recruiting and the silly season at that. Thanks for trying though.
 
#1,435
#1,435
glichtenwalter said:
Grey shirt means he would hang out at home or prep school for the fall and enroll at UT next January and essentially be an EE for the '16 class. No conspiracies here Leb. Try again.
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Or ask him to wait, then stop taking his calls like they did Dews. A GS is garbage. Kid is doing nothing but setting himself up to get burned.
 
#1,436
#1,436
LebanonVolunteer said:
Or ask him to wait, then stop taking his calls like they did Dews. A GS is garbage. Kid is doing nothing but setting himself up to get burned.
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And he didn't take it. I don't blame him. The staff will probably keep using this tactic though and eventually it might work. However, it isn't dirty.
 
#1,438
#1,438
LebanonVolunteer said:
2 weeks before NSD is not dirty? Sorry, I just can't buy it.
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Why do you insist that our coaches are dirty? They have got to assemble the best team possible. The ebb and flow of this process will invariably cause new needs to pop up and old needs to dissipate. That it turns requires the coaches to do some things that may not be the most favorable but if they don't make those tough decisions they won't be coaching SEC football very long. They have helped multiple students get placed in other schools and JUCOs and IMO have proven to be of very high integrity.
 
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#1,439
#1,439
glichtenwalter said:
Why do you insist that our coaches are dirty? They have got to assemble the best team possible. The ebb and flow of this process will invariably cause new needs to pop up and old needs to dissipate. That it turns requires the coaches to do some things that may not be the most favorable but if they don't make those tough decisions they won't be coaching SEC football very long. They have helped multiple students get placed in other schools and JUCOs and IMO have proven to be of very high integrity.
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Simple IMO. The move was the definition of dirty recruiting. You are ok with it and prefer to justify it. I don't feel the need. Its cool.
 
#1,444
#1,444
LebanonVolunteer said:
Yes. It leaves a kid very uncertain about his future. As its been pointed out many times a GS guarantees a recruit NOTHING. He could never be added to the team even if he agrees and rolls the dice on waiting.
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You said he had to pay his own way which is 100% false.

If you're going to trash the coaches at least be factual.
 
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#1,446
#1,446
From the Bleacher Report: "It's a tough break for Ford, but this is how things work.

As classes start filling up and some players who coaching staffs may not have been counting on begin to flip to them, somebody has to go. It's better that the players know now rather than on national signing day, when it's darn near impossible to find a home."

It is a common practice for top programs. Get over it, Leb.
 
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#1,447
#1,447
I'm not defending the practice. There are a lot of things about recruiting that I wish were different. I don't like this situation and wish we had found a different alternative that led to a better outcome.

My point was simply this: we handled it better than a lot of schools do. We made an effort to keep Ford, we offered alternatives (acceptable or not), we were honest about what was happening and why, and we made sure he had a soft landing.

Grayshirting is used by every major university. It's not always negative. Sometimes, it allows recruits to play where they want to play when that wouldn't be an option otherwise. I'm not endorsing it, but we have players on our roster right now who are grateful to have been grayshirted. It wasn't the right choice for Ford. I wish him well.
 
#1,448
#1,448
I think Leb with all his big Hawaii money should fund a scholarship for these precious athletes that are so "screwed over" by coaching staffs so they too can get a higher education free of charge.
 
#1,449
#1,449
bignewt said:
I think Leb with all his big Hawaii money should fund a scholarship for these precious athletes that are so "screwed over" by coaching staffs so they too can get a higher education free of charge.
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I would but my concern would be paying their way then losing them 8 months later to transfer anyway as they would need to be processed to make room for 50 New guys the next year.
 
#1,450
#1,450
To play Devil's Advocate...

Leb, do you think it's dirty as well when a kid commits to a school and the school prepares to have them on their squad for the next year, only to have them flip to another school on NSD?

IMO, the coaches are paid to put the strongest possible roster together and if they don't, well they will fail. If your job was determined the same way that theirs was, I am sure you wouldn't want to put all of your faith in the "commitment" of a 17 or 18 year old kid.

I am not saying it doesn't suck for the kid, however sometimes it is necessary in this cut throat business.
 
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