Jordan Lynch had one D1 offer. I think I disagree. Shaq Vann had offers from several MAC schools according to Scout (including Toledo) and according to the link you provided, a Big 10 school (Purdue). I remember when Keith Nichol was a 4 star MSU QB recruit. He was recruited under John L Smith. Before signing day and after the firing of Smith/hiring of Dantonio, he switched his commitment to Oklahoma. Soon after that, he was upgraded to a 5 star recruit. On top of that, they vary from service to service (24/7 sports has Beck as a 3 star recruit, Scout NR) so I take them all with a grain of salt.

(01-29-2014 12:32 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:02 PM)mshumaker Wrote:  Be that as it may, measuring how promising a player is or isn't is still subjective. I might see someone and think they have unlimited potential, and you might see them and think they are a borderline D1 player. I just don't see why it is an issue for other people to think some players who they had high hopes for and didn't work out for whatever reason to be included in this thread. (Mind you, I haven't put any players in this thread, just adding a perspective)

Agree. And if someone says they didn't have high hopes for Devontae Payne, a 6-5 QB who was looked at by Big 10 schools and who has a big-time arm, I definitely would not believe them. The reason he "got away" was due to inpatience. There is no denying the physical tools.

I wish to disagree. Someone close to the program told me he had a strong arm (and not accurate either) and nothing else.

This person did not see him as a near B1G prospect and wasn't surprised he bombed at EMU.

Just like someone close to EMU hoops told me we got James Head after he committed to Iowa after an excellent summer on the camp circuit that the 'academic' issues with Iowa was a red herring. James had a mediocre senior season and Iowa bailed on him or so I was told...

And, of course, he didn't set EMU on fire. Braun gave him not too many minutes as a frosh. Maybe BobW remembers the EMU fans in Toledo (MAC tourney) chanting "We want Head" and eventually Braun put him in the game. I'll double check, but Head had a very forgettable frosh season...

(01-29-2014 12:52 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:32 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:02 PM)mshumaker Wrote:  Be that as it may, measuring how promising a player is or isn't is still subjective. I might see someone and think they have unlimited potential, and you might see them and think they are a borderline D1 player. I just don't see why it is an issue for other people to think some players who they had high hopes for and didn't work out for whatever reason to be included in this thread. (Mind you, I haven't put any players in this thread, just adding a perspective)

Agree. And if someone says they didn't have high hopes for Devontae Payne, a 6-5 QB who was looked at by Big 10 schools and who has a big-time arm, I definitely would not believe them. The reason he "got away" was due to inpatience. There is no denying the physical tools.

I wish to disagree. Someone close to the program told me he had a strong arm (and not accurate either) and nothing else.

This person did not see him as a near B1G prospect and wasn't surprised he bombed at EMU.

Just like someone close to EMU hoops told me we got James Head after he committed to Iowa after an excellent summer on the camp circuit that the 'academic' issues with Iowa was a red herring. James had a mediocre senior season and Iowa bailed on him or so I was told...

And, of course, he didn't set EMU on fire. Braun gave him not too many minutes as a frosh. Maybe BobW remembers the EMU fans in Toledo (MAC tourney) chanting "We want Head" and eventually Braun put him in the game. I'll double check, but Head had a very forgettable frosh season...

Head turned out to be a solid contributor to a really good tournament team, not a dominant player like his sister Dena. I would not say Payne bombed at EMU...he was only a freshman, he didn't stick around long enough to see if he could cut it. He definitely had the requisite size and arm strength that every major conference program wants in their QB. Would he have improved his accuracy and game management? We'll never know.

(01-29-2014 12:52 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:32 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:02 PM)mshumaker Wrote:  Be that as it may, measuring how promising a player is or isn't is still subjective. I might see someone and think they have unlimited potential, and you might see them and think they are a borderline D1 player. I just don't see why it is an issue for other people to think some players who they had high hopes for and didn't work out for whatever reason to be included in this thread. (Mind you, I haven't put any players in this thread, just adding a perspective)

Agree. And if someone says they didn't have high hopes for Devontae Payne, a 6-5 QB who was looked at by Big 10 schools and who has a big-time arm, I definitely would not believe them. The reason he "got away" was due to inpatience. There is no denying the physical tools.

I wish to disagree. Someone close to the program told me he had a strong arm (and not accurate either) and nothing else.

This person did not see him as a near B1G prospect and wasn't surprised he bombed at EMU.

Just like someone close to EMU hoops told me we got James Head after he committed to Iowa after an excellent summer on the camp circuit that the 'academic' issues with Iowa was a red herring. James had a mediocre senior season and Iowa bailed on him or so I was told...

And, of course, he didn't set EMU on fire. Braun gave him not too many minutes as a frosh. Maybe BobW remembers the EMU fans in Toledo (MAC tourney) chanting "We want Head" and eventually Braun put him in the game. I'll double check, but Head had a very forgettable frosh season...

Head turned out to be a solid contributor on a really good tournament team, not a dominant player like his sister Dena. I would not say Payne bombed at EMU...he was only a freshman, he didn't stick around long enough to see if he could cut it. He definitely had the requisite size and arm strength that every major conference program wants in their QB. Would he have improved his accuracy and game management? We'll never know.

(01-29-2014 01:11 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:52 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:32 PM)Bob Wickersham Wrote:  

(01-29-2014 12:02 PM)mshumaker Wrote:  Be that as it may, measuring how promising a player is or isn't is still subjective. I might see someone and think they have unlimited potential, and you might see them and think they are a borderline D1 player. I just don't see why it is an issue for other people to think some players who they had high hopes for and didn't work out for whatever reason to be included in this thread. (Mind you, I haven't put any players in this thread, just adding a perspective)

Agree. And if someone says they didn't have high hopes for Devontae Payne, a 6-5 QB who was looked at by Big 10 schools and who has a big-time arm, I definitely would not believe them. The reason he "got away" was due to inpatience. There is no denying the physical tools.

I wish to disagree. Someone close to the program told me he had a strong arm (and not accurate either) and nothing else.

This person did not see him as a near B1G prospect and wasn't surprised he bombed at EMU.

Just like someone close to EMU hoops told me we got James Head after he committed to Iowa after an excellent summer on the camp circuit that the 'academic' issues with Iowa was a red herring. James had a mediocre senior season and Iowa bailed on him or so I was told...

And, of course, he didn't set EMU on fire. Braun gave him not too many minutes as a frosh. Maybe BobW remembers the EMU fans in Toledo (MAC tourney) chanting "We want Head" and eventually Braun put him in the game. I'll double check, but Head had a very forgettable frosh season...

Head turned out to be a solid contributor on a really good tournament team, not a dominant player like his sister Dena. I would not say Payne bombed at EMU...he was only a freshman, he didn't stick around long enough to see if he could cut it. He definitely had the requisite size and arm strength that every major conference program wants in their QB. Would he have improved his accuracy and game management? We'll never know.

Head had a good career, but not a good frosh year.

I'll double check his stats. I have all of the media guides.

BTW, I'm still looking for my photos which I took of EMU hoops in the late 1970s. I'm sure I have a 5 x 7 of the EMU/Detroit game. It was taken from side court (court level, unobstructed).

Dear AlwaysAHuron,
I don't quite understand your statement that the recruits aren't ranked. Six of the ten recruits are ranked as 2-star. Yes, six of the ten were only offered by Eastern, but if you check Central's recruits, they have 12 out of 17 that were only offered by Central. I don't necessarily believe that a recruit has to have multiple offers to make them a good football player. (I just went with Scout.com for the information)

I started it looking for atheletes that had already accomplished things at EMU and then they decided to leave. Alysha Newman is a legitmate Olympic hopeful as a Canadian pole vaulter. It is hard to overestimate her potential. I believe she already had a second place finish at the NCAA meet, which is a tremendous accomplishment. Her leaving was a terrible loss for our athletic department.

I figured the thread would eventually get to athletes who had accomplished nothing, yet were great prospects. That's the way conversation goes.

(01-29-2014 01:41 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  I started it looking for atheletes that had already accomplished things at EMU and then they decided to leave. Alysha Newman is a legitmate Olympic hopeful as a Canadian pole vaulter. It is hard to overestimate her potential. I believe she already had a second place finish at the NCAA meet, which is a tremendous accomplishment. Her leaving was a terrible loss for our athletic department.

I figured the thread would eventually get to athletes who had accomplished nothing, yet were great prospects. That's the way conversation goes.

Honestly, that is what I thought you intended by the thread.

The impression I got from reading your initial post here was an ass't coach who has an all-American caliber player and bingo, coach and player, show up at another school. Olympic sport athletes don't need to sit out so this one is so easy to pull off to the detriment of EMU.

Seems like 'tampering' and so easy to do within Olympic sports.

Latipha Cross, a 400m freshman runner last year was a bit of a national celebrity. To summarize her story: two bouts of cancer, rape, homelessness and a very fast runner. She ran highly competitive college times in HS.

Like Alysha Newman, who inspired this thread, I noticed that Latipha's name was missing from the track results early this indoor season. I don't know why as I've found nothing about her current status. She's not only missing from meet results, but she's not on the roster either.

Latipha had a rather mediocre season last season compared to her HS times. She was competitive and earning points, but not running like her HS best.

I don't know if she's left EMU or not. Perhaps she is taking a redshirt year.

(01-29-2014 09:22 PM)ljmhurons Wrote:  Latipha Cross, a 400m freshman runner last year was a bit of a national celebrity. To summarize her story: two bouts of cancer, rape, homelessness and a very fast runner. She ran highly competitive college times in HS.

Like Alysha Newman, who inspired this thread, I noticed that Latipha's name was missing from the track results early this indoor season. I don't know why as I've found nothing about her current status. She's not only missing from meet results, but she's not on the roster either.

Latipha had a rather mediocre season last season compared to her HS times. She was competitive and earning points, but not running like her HS best.

I don't know if she's left EMU or not. Perhaps she is taking a redshirt year.

I too was curious about her (even before this thread).

The bad 'news' is that I don't see her name in an online student directory search. I checked last semester also.

I wonder what's up with her.

A couple of years ago 400m runner Brycen Spratling qualified for the NCAA regional meet in his freshman season at EMU, then left for Pitt. I don't even want to see how he is doing, but I'm sure it is very well.