Everyone is obviously in a tough spot here.

UCF now with only 2 QBs on the roster because they assume that NLI means things are settled and they stop essentially stop recruiting since scholarships are filled. I mean, UCF had plans to move their QB last year to WR, now instead of getting full reps at WR, he has to take time away from that to get more QB reps as an emergency 3rd stringer.

Obviously for DaMarcus, he's at the center of this. He went in just a week or so ago to UCF saying he's still wanting to be a Knight, and now he's faced with NLI penalties and being in an awkward situation. Clearly not a good situation, but it shouldn't be shocking UCF doesn't release him. No way they can as that would make an NLI at UCF be meaningless - which you can't have.

But I'm interested in the passive threats at UCF. I've seen you Maize makes these types of post on the CUSA boards and the boards here. Are you just going to keep making those insinuations with zero possibility to address/review them or are you going to just say what they are?

George's official statement is he is not releasing DaMarcus Smith from his LOI. Good.

The amount of drama that has happened over this one recruit is almost reminiscent of the Jeff George story. I'll say this - imagine if USF or UCF fans got this butt-hurt everytime a 4-star athlete from their hometown ended up signing a LOI with an out of state school.

These kids change their minds all the time. Just a couple of examples that I recall were Kawika Mitchell and Marvin Peoples. If UCF sticks with their decision to block his LOI, he'll be able to survive on financial aid as an in-state student at Louisville for a year. Meanwhile, there's a very real chance this will be used for negative recruiting purposes against UCF much the same way Schiano's handling of Savage's transfer request went. To be honest, UCF's in a no-win situation here. I'll see if I can muster up a crocodile tear...

Nope.

USFFan

ucf's in a no win situation, if his recruitment was clean, i really can't blame them for not releasing him. however when this goes to appeal a lot of dirty laundry may get exposed, it'll be very interesting to see how this unfolds.

(03-29-2011 01:01 PM)usffan Wrote:  The amount of drama that has happened over this one recruit is almost reminiscent of the Jeff George story. I'll say this - imagine if USF or UCF fans got this butt-hurt everytime a 4-star athlete from their hometown ended up signing a LOI with an out of state school.

These kids change their minds all the time. Just a couple of examples that I recall were Kawika Mitchell and Marvin Peoples. If UCF sticks with their decision to block his LOI, he'll be able to survive on financial aid as an in-state student at Louisville for a year. Meanwhile, there's a very real chance this will be used for negative recruiting purposes against UCF much the same way Schiano's handling of Savage's transfer request went. To be honest, UCF's in a no-win situation here. I'll see if I can muster up a crocodile tear...

Nope.

USFFan

Well put. We would be exhausted with everyone leaving. Look at any roster.

One player, no matter how good, is going to make or break any program. Let the kid go to the UofL and move on with business.

I can only think that every coach in America will use this against UCF, no matter how innocent they are in the whole situation. They will say "are you sure you want to sign with them, considering you may end up changing your mind and they will screw you over?" I'm not saying that is exactly what is going on here, but perception is reality and it will give them an opportunity to set up a perception of GOL and UCF in general.

I'm with MylesKnight... 1 kid does not make or break a program, and in this case seems like more risk than anything else.

(03-29-2011 02:06 PM)mlb Wrote:  I can only think that every coach in America will use this against UCF, no matter how innocent they are in the whole situation. They will say "are you sure you want to sign with them, considering you may end up changing your mind and they will screw you over?" I'm not saying that is exactly what is going on here, but perception is reality and it will give them an opportunity to set up a perception of GOL and UCF in general.

I'm with MylesKnight... 1 kid does not make or break a program, and in this case seems like more risk than anything else.

I doubt this. It is not unprecedented for a coach to not grant a release when the circumstances don't truly justify it. GOL himself has denied NLI releases from players in the past. Smith coming into GOL's office and stating he is committed to being a Knight just two weeks ago doesn't really lend to a situation in which a release would be truly justified. Or else, why have the NLI in the first place? It becomes meaningless at UCF which I imagine would be worse than anything coaches probably bad mouth UCF with currently and in the future anyway.

(03-29-2011 02:29 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  I doubt this. It is not unprecedented for a coach to not grant a release when the circumstances don't truly justify it. GOL himself has denied NLI releases from players in the past.

Not generally to everyone... they might put stipulations to keep them away from a certain school or schools, but not everyone.

Yeah I think DeMarcus and Co. will definately try to spin this to make UCF look bad.

What doesn't add up is it was clear after signing his Letter of Intent, Demarcus thought he had a clear shot at the QB job at UCF. Somehow he got confused that it was the former starter that was moving to WR and not the current starter. DeMarcus own words were that he had talked to the QB and he was excited about making the switch to WR. I think what appears to have happened is UCF and Co. did mention that one of the QB's was moving to WR and somehow DeMarcus thought that was his main competition. When articles came out interviewing the OC and Godfrey and everyone started laughing at DeMarcus comments and saying "Yeah....that's news to us". Demarcus felt he had been duped. I think it was somewhere closer to he made a stupid assumption and now he is in a worse situation than he thought he would be facing had he gone to Louisville.

Sad to say, the kid doesn't sound all too bright so I don't think he will have anyone to blame other than himself but I am sure this will be spun "George O'Leary (who has been known to lie) lied to me" (How stupid could this kid be? Did he not ever watch UCF's bowl game? Doesn't sound like it. Big difference between Calabrese and Godfrey.

Here is Oleary saying he never lets anyone out of the NLI.

http://ht.ly/4oSTr

(03-29-2011 02:32 PM)The Brown Bull Wrote:  Yeah I think DeMarcus and Co. will definately try to spin this to make UCF look bad.

What doesn't add up is it was clear after signing his Letter of Intent, Demarcus thought he had a clear shot at the QB job at UCF. Somehow he got confused that it was the former starter that was moving to WR and not the current starter. DeMarcus own words were that he had talked to the QB and he was excited about making the switch to WR. I think what appears to have happened is UCF and Co. did mention that one of the QB's was moving to WR and somehow DeMarcus thought that was his main competition. When articles came out interviewing the OC and Godfrey and everyone started laughing at DeMarcus comments and saying "Yeah....that's news to us". Demarcus felt he had been duped. I think it was somewhere closer to he made a stupid assumption and now he is in a worse situation than he thought he would be facing had he gone to Louisville.

Sad to say, the kid doesn't sound all too bright so I don't think he will have anyone to blame other than himself but I am sure this will be spun "George O'Leary (who has been known to lie) lied to me" (How stupid could this kid be? Did he not ever watch UCF's bowl game? Doesn't sound like it. Big difference between Calabrese and Godfrey.

Here is Oleary saying he never lets anyone out of the NLI.

http://ht.ly/4oSTr

We also have interviews after the fact stating that he [Smith] is looking forward to competing for QB at UCF this upcoming season.

(03-29-2011 01:52 PM)USFMike Wrote:  ucf's in a no win situation, if his recruitment was clean, i really can't blame them for not releasing him. however when this goes to appeal a lot of dirty laundry may get exposed, it'll be very interesting to see how this unfolds.

This, they don't have to release him but they should not any further then this. There is a reason why UCF is NOT going to the NCAA on any possible tampering charges.

(03-29-2011 02:52 PM)Maize Wrote:  This, they don't have to release him but they should not any further then this. There is a reason why UCF is NOT going to the NCAA on any possible tampering charges.

What are those reasons? You keep stating these warnings for UCF.

And in general, this is very early in the process. I'd expect no institution to report anything at this point. How in the world would they have completed their own investigation and compiled everything they would need to in order to take that step?

Not so much warning but I am not going to repeat what I heard from ppl @ UK Bout this. Like I said it would not hunt my feel'n if he went didn't go to UofL.

(03-29-2011 09:21 AM)dbacard Wrote:  I was hoping he would stay at UCF and have a successful career. The only reason he chose UCF was because he was mad that we signed Bridgewater.

It wasn't that. It was that Bridgewater was coming, and enrolling early. Smith had thought he would be enrolling early, and would have the head start on any other QB. Once the situation was reversed, he developed cold feet.

(03-29-2011 11:27 AM)Joshua Wrote:  Does Louisville even have a scholarship available for him? If they do, were they saving it for him?

Louisville only signed 21 or 22 players initially, with 4 being early enrollees. There is room for several more players if they wanted. However, the lack of large numbers of returning seniors is why the number of freshmen was limited.

(03-29-2011 12:38 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  UCF had plans to move their QB last year to WR, now instead of getting full reps at WR, he has to take time away from that to get more QB reps as an emergency 3rd stringer.

That is part of the problem. One fo the reasons he signed, was a "promise" by O'Leary that a QB was moving to receiver, and by all accounts, he was lead to believe it was your starter.

(03-29-2011 02:03 PM)MylesKnight Wrote:  One player, no matter how good, is going to make or break any program. Let the kid go to the UofL and move on with business.

Not always true. See Newton, Cam.

(03-29-2011 02:55 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  What are those reasons? You keep stating these warnings for UCF.

And in general, this is very early in the process. I'd expect no institution to report anything at this point. How in the world would they have completed their own investigation and compiled everything they would need to in order to take that step?

Watch his press conference when announcing his LOI, and then look to the side of him. You may not know who that rather tall fellow next to him is, but everyone in Louisville does. Quite frankly, the mere fact that Smith was associated with this fellow, sort of concerns me if he does come to Louisville, that we might have to Calipari our wins down the line.

I have no dog in this fight, other than wanting the best for any Big East school. So I hope Smith winds up at UL, if that is what Louisville wants.

However, this might sound absurd coming from a USF fan.....but I kind of agree with O'Leary that the sanctity of LOI needs to be respected, otherwise you will have to keep recruiting kids for months after National Signing Day. It would be chaos to keep these kids under "contract" until they officially show up on campus.

A contract is a contract.

With that said, the whole thing was suspect from the beginning, especially after Smith said that he would be on the field right away b/c "their QB was moving to WR, the position he would be playing at the next level". Anyone who followed football in the Southeast would know that Godfrey wasn't moving anywhere after his impressive freshman year. So that leaves two conclusions: the kid didn't ask the right questions and was mislead by UCF....or....there is more than meets the eye here in regards to "street agents" and such taking the decision out of the kid's hand. Obviously something tipped the balance toward Orlando back in Febraury....I doubt the kid is "dumb as rocks" to think that he was going to get early playing time behind potential 4-year starter in Godfrey. What new information did he suddenly learn about UCF's QB situation that wasn't available before NSD?

Let's just say that there have been some interesting recruiting stories coming out of Florida the last two years.....I'll leave it at that. I agree with adcorbett above.....if I'm Louisville I would be very, very careful with this kid.

my point is recruiting is a dirty game, i'm sure if demarcus wanted to he could air out a lot of dirty laundry about what goes on at ucf (which to be fair may not be much different than other programs) but the fact is ucf is already on probation for recruiting violations, does o'leary want to risk getting hit a second time?

i agree with the fact that as a matter of principle i wouldn't release him, but they're opening themselves up to an ncaa appeals process, where demarcus from the interviews i've read is very confident about winning, so i'd be a little worried about this chain of events if i was ucf, in a way it might just be best to cut ties with the kid, it's not like ucf plays louisville in anything anyways.

At the end of the day is a no win situation. You DONT want to keep a kid that doesnt want to play for you.
The easiest thing would be for UCF to say, fine, we grant you a release but you cant go to UL or any other conference or team we are playing next year. Done. You come out looking good and if the kid really wants to go to UL, he sits out a year. Now you will have itr drag out and bring bad attention for a kid that will NOT help you out.

(03-29-2011 03:52 PM)USFMike Wrote:  my point is recruiting is a dirty game, i'm sure if demarcus wanted to he could air out a lot of dirty laundry about what goes on at ucf (which to be fair may not be much different than other programs) but the fact is ucf is already on probation for recruiting violations, does o'leary want to risk getting hit a second time?

LOL, you mean how UCF got in trouble for sending texts to a recruit when texting was new? Every school was doing that. There are a lot of vague assertions about "dirty laundry" in this thread, but there is no evidence of that. The only dirty laundry I've heard about is UL fans pressuring the kid and his family to back out of his NLI. UCF hasn't done anything wrong in this situation and should make the kid sit out a year if he wants to break his word and go to UL.