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Bad Host
Bad Host

There is a guy who frequently hosts named Erin Hogan who’s been an Austin radio personality for a really long time. I don’t know him, but Rod Babers speaks highly of him. His lighting situation can ge

BobbyB
BobbyB

I’ll take any help/suggestions I can get. Seriously, I know I need them.

immamac
immamac

Well I guess it’s time to spill the beans if Monroe already did in his stream. We were going to wait till tomorrow. Yes I’m involved and yes it’s something you should definitely support.  There a

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Mdhorn

Mdhorn 5974

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So we've found support staff was fired was not fired and Sark was hired then declined the offer and may still be in the running for HC.  Brilliant reporting nitwits.  Maybe hit the pause button before creating news.  

NM--went beach strolling today and came home to a shit storm on the boards.    Damn.

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Zeus

Zeus 6108

Posted
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On 1/2/2021 at 12:51 PM, LTtxfan said:

Thought Announcers weren't supposed to be so biased... Hope this asshole "Brando" never gets a TEXAS game again...

 

seriously is there a way to get this creepy fat turd off the air for Texas games? 

 

tim brando.JPG

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satyanash

satyanash 14569

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(Chris Hummer) Oral History: The nutty final week of Najee Harris' recruitment

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Long before Najee Harris’ Rose Bowl hurdle set social media aflame and well before he helped Alabama win a national championship as a true freshman, Harris captivated audiences as the lead of an all-time recruiting drama at the All-American Bowl in San Antonio during the first week of 2017.

Harris ranked as the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2017 class, per the 247Sports Composite, and was a long-time Alabama commit. The way Harris’ recruitment was covered, however, made him essentially an uncommitted man. Frankly, Harris despised almost everything about recruiting, but he couldn’t quite shake the shadow of it. Months of coy non-committals put Harris into the situation he found himself in San Antonio: A week away from enrolling at the school of his choice, Alabama or Michigan, with no clear consensus on which place that would be.

Reporters hounded him about his options. Once after a midweek practice, a camera-toting reporter begged Harris to answer just one question, to which Harris responded with a smile: “Why? I’m the enigma, right?” The next few days would involve behind-the-scenes gossip, pitches, flight changes and arguably the most anticipated non-announcement in recruiting history. This is the oral history of that week in San Antonio, which, even four years later, draws laughs and a few groans from those who followed every machination and whim of a 17-year-old who had no interest in tipping his hand.

“It’s an all-timer,” former 247Sports Director of Scouting Barton Simmons said. “I’ve never seen a circus like that.”

***

Harris, a native of Antioch, California, debuted as a five-star early in the 2017 cycle. He committed early, pledging to Alabama after an unofficial visit during his sophomore year in April of 2015. Harris stayed solid throughout his recruitment, even as another five-star back, Cam Akers, committed to Alabama a few months later. But as his date to enroll early crept closer, Harris started to explore his options through official visits ahead of the All-American Bowl with Michigan pushing its way into the picture.

Brandon Huffman, 247Sports National Analyst: “For a non-quarterback, No. 1 player to commit that early and stay with it, you weren’t used to seeing something like that.”

Hank South, BamaOnline Recruiting Insider: “He was committed. He never said he wasn’t committed. But as time went on it was very clear he was still considering other options, most notably Michigan. He’d been there the summer prior for a barbecue recruiting event they do. They were getting the most buzz, and entering All-American week he wasn’t giving many reassurances that Bama was what he was going to do. But everyone knew that after the All-American Bowl he was going to his next school as an early enrollee.”

Sam Webb, Publisher of The Michigan Insider: “Michigan worked really, really hard to the point they had one of their satellite camps at his high school. That was very purposeful. It gave Tyrone Wheatley, the running back coach at the time, time to work with the kid. Jay Harbaugh was really active in his recruitment and it gave him time. It was a full staff effort. Things reached a fever pitch on his Dec. 10 visit, his last scheduled visit before the All-American Bowl. They did a really good job connecting with his mom, because she was going to move wherever he committed. They did a really good job getting her into the community to see the lay of the land and job options and that kind of thing. All of that was part of the process to the point Michigan was feeling confident.”

Huffman: “The wildcard in all of this was Cal. That’s the thing people don’t realize, UCLA got him on an official visit in November but Cal, damn near out of nowhere, made a late push to compel him to stay home. Cal left him doubting.”

South: “He was just kind of deflecting everything if you sat down with him — well, if you were lucky to get an interview with him. He was also dodging interviews. Entering All-American Bowl week, it was just: What will he do?”

Najee Harris (As told to 247Sports last week ahead of Rose Bowl): “I didn’t like (recruiting). It’s too much attention, way too much attention.” Marcus Malu, Harris’ Private Trainer: “He just didn’t want no part of that.” John Lucido, Antioch High School Head Coach (Also on hand at All-American Bowl as an assistant coach): “He really didn’t know where he wanted to go. That’s the big truth.”

10169014.jpg?fit=bounds&crop=620:320,off

Above: Najee Harris' dorm room number at Michigan

To understand why the Michigan buzz was so strong entering All-American Bowl week, you have to see a picture. Specifically, a room key from Michigan’s early enrollee check in, which featured Harris’ Michigan dorm room number and keycard for entry.

Webb: “You see all the time when a kid is legitimately torn, he’ll fill out the admissions forms to multiple schools. But what took it to another level with Najee is he went in and filled out his housing forms. It was legit official. That picture you saw was the check in for early enrollees. It had his pin number and housing in that packet. That was there with all the other early enrollees and that picture was sent to me by one of the guys checking in. They were expecting he was coming.”

Steve Lorenz, Senior Writer Michigan Insider: “The sources I’ve had on the Michigan side of things under Jim Harbaugh have always been conservative in optimism on guys. But there was a lot of confidence in this one. It really stems down to the fact he was prepared to be enrolled. The whole time I’ve ever even done this there hasn’t been a situation close to that when a student had a roommate and doesn’t end up showing up.”

Malu: “I felt like he was still going to Bama. I felt that way the whole time. There was a chance of Harbaugh and all that. But knowing him and how he likes to compete, I didn’t feel like there was anything he wanted to try than competing at Alabama.

***

Harris showed up late to the All-American Bowl, missing check-in, where he’d usually be bombarded with interviews. From there, tracking Harris down for an interview turned into a circus of its own.

South: “He got in late at night, so he wasn’t available to talk the day everyone arrives. When that happens, they typically have reporters meet them downstairs during breakfast. I wouldn’t say he was trying to dodge the interview, but he was trying to stay low-key and not have to answer questions. But Rusty (Mansell) caught him and made him do an interview. It felt more like an interrogation almost. We were throwing questions at him and he was just so mum on all recruiting questions. He wouldn’t really answer anything recruiting. But then if you just talked about the flight and the practices he’d completely open up. Totally different person. He’s such a cool guy but when you talk about recruiting, he just went into a shell.”

Simmons: “The irony is if he was trying to avoid that much drama, he could’ve very easily indicated he was down to these schools and that he’s unsure and things would’ve settled down. Because of the way he guarded the information and because of his unwillingness to not offer any hints, it really heightened the process to a degree I’ve never seen.”

Lucido: “There was a lot of media attention. Even coaches I coached with in San Antonio were asking, ‘What is he going to do?’ They were trying to get any kind of information out of me, and honestly, I didn’t really know. I had to watch what I said. He was talking about Alabama and not talking about Michigan.” South: “In terms of people waiting on the edge of their seats, even just general updates were getting 100,000 page views immediately. It was pretty insane.”

***

With Harris expertly dodging questions and the demand for any Harris-related info at an all-time high, eyes turned toward the only reliable source to figure out where Harris would end up: His flight information. Harris would either go home to California, fly straight to Alabama or go to Michigan from San Antonio. Turns out, Harris’ roommate that week, Tua Tagovailoa, was a pretty good source to begin with.

Tagovailoa in 2017: “We’re on the same flight. Everyone is making up stories.”

Harris when asked about Tagovailoa’s comments: “What flight? I don’t even know my flight.”

Simmons: “The only way we could have any kind of clarity where he was heading, because the schools and players didn’t know – nobody knew – was that he had to be on a flight. And unless he had his own ticket bought to throw people off the scent, the only way we’d find out was to find the plane ticket. … I had a tip that alerted me to his plans of flying to Birmingham and that was really the first time I ever really felt any sort of confidence in any direction.”

South: “That was a huge story since it kind of answered the question, so it went viral. But at the same time, NBC was filming commercials for the guys about where they were going. And Najee didn’t want to film it with Alabama hat or he wanted to wear both hats, all of this stuff. Najee wasn’t really giving any answers. After the Army Bowl there were reports he was on a flight home to Oakland to think about things. And again, this is pre-Early Signing Period, so everyone is just committed, not signed. You could still commit and it depends on where you showed up to enroll.”

Lucido: “He took that week [in San Antonio] to think about it. And he did have three plane tickets: Alabama, Michigan and back to California. That’s definitely a true story there.”

John Schmid, All-American Bowl Player Personnel Director: “We changed his flight multiple times. I’m being as honest as I can be. I just know Tosh Lupoi, who was at Alabama at the time (as Harris’ main recruiter), was asking me to change it. … It was either to home or Alabama. Most of the flights were getting them on to Alabama at a certain time. Over the years I deal with so many kids. But at that point I just wanted to get him out of San Antonio (laughs). Alabama was concerned he was going somewhere else. Alabama wanted to get him down on campus as soon as they could.”

***

Things were so up in the air with Harris that he asked Schmid to change his flight following the All-American Bowl game on Saturday afternoon. Harris, set to fly to his next destination the following morning, seemed to have most people guessing about where he’d go. Even today, opinions vary if his eventual destination was in doubt. The way Harris’ process ended, with almost a sasquatch-like airport sighting, remains an all-timer.

Malu: “It was a trip because a lot of people were saying he’s going to Michigan. I kind of knew where he was going before he left, so I sat there and watched the whole thing unfold.”

Lorenz: “I think the Alabama thing was a lot more real than Michigan thought. Not that they were dismissing it. But again, you’re in a situation in which you think he’s enrolled. What else are you supposed to think? (Michigan QB commit) Dylan McCaffery was down there, too, but the fact (Harris) was spending most if not all of his time down there with Tua, I thought was telling. That led me to think he may be enrolled at Michigan but I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if he got on the plane to Alabama.”

Huffman: “Part of (the mystery) was how little he used social media. He didn’t have a Twitter in high school. He hardly used Instagram. There were no hints out there. That’s unique in this era of recruiting. It allowed him to keep things close to the vest.”

Lucido: “Up to that (Saturday) where he met with Tua’s family for dinner he really didn’t know where he was going to go. I think that really had a lot to do with it. The night before they left, at 9 or 10 p.m. at night they went out to dinner. I think that’s when they figured out what they were going to do.”

South: “We had someone post up in the airport. Birmingham is a small enough airport where you can see everyone come in. … AL.com had someone there as well. We had a picture that confirmed he arrived.” Simmons: “Before that there was no certainty and he had shown no indication he can be trusted about what his intentions were.” Harris: “I just showed up. I didn't even tell them I was coming here. I just showed up. I was tired of it. I popped up at the airport with Tua.”

Lucido: “I saw a picture of him that morning in the airport and that was it. I don’t even think he packed a bag. The only clothes he had was from the San Antonio trip. … I was texting with him and saw the picture on twitter. Even the night before he was just asking me to borrow some shampoo.” Lorenz: “It was more of a surprise than any recruit I’ve ever covered.” Webb: “It was a real thing. A lot of people thought it was just for show. But that kid was really torn.” Simmons: “That was absolutely the No. 1 seed for all-time recruiting drama.”

 

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RGBIII

RGBIII 22840

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I have made fun of Mike Roach a lot but I will say he is fucking working during this coaching switch. He might be on the ketch diet and be too cautious for a 995er but he has put out more info on coaching staff than anyone at 247 as the recruiting guy. Him and the guys on the longhorn blitz are the only ones worth a shit on that entire website

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quigley

quigley 1563

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1 hour ago, Bevo14 said:

Only at Bama is the 62nd ranked player in the nation an underdog.

The whole Smith as underdog made me think of Steve Martin's quote at the Academy Awards about Halle Berry the year after Berry won an Oscar.

“Halle Berry is here, whose win last year broke down barriers for unbelievably hot women.”

Edited by quigley
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