The Story on Rojo, as gleaned from various internet sources.
Truth: Rojo's "people", apparently his mother and "a family friend" rumored to be mom's boyfriend. Told the Michigan coaches not to come on the in-home visit that was scheduled for today.
Rumor: Rojo's coaches had been keeping letters and recruiting info from him. This was discovered and put to good use by Urban Meyer and others. His mom apparently took this out on Michigan. Why, we have no idea, is it fixable? God I hope so, but doubtful.
Assume rumors are true..
Why taking it out on Michigan when his coaches are at fault? A huge program like Michigan wouldn't stoop down to asking high school coaches to block letters from other schools.
Murphy's law at its worse man.
SOMETHING happened between Michigan and Rojo and his family for his sudden change of heart. keeping letters was not it.
Urban Meyer offered me and Ronald an offer we couldn't refu$e.
Pretty laughable when you think about it. She'd be sending her kids to a new school pronto if she really had a problem with the Muskegon coaching staff. Do you really think that will happen?
Well, FWIW this is the e-mail that's been going around all day, it's posted over at Blahmetodeath...
Back in 2005 when Ronald Johnson blew out his ACl all the big time programs stopped sending mail and didn't offer...Except Michigan
Michigan (carr) invited Ronald to a game in 2005 when no on else would talk to him.
Ronald gave us a verbal that day....but soon after returning home is mother made him take it back.
During the next few months Ronald told Mallett and Terrance Taylor he was going to Michigan. (that exlains why Mallett came out on rivals.com and spilled the beans...So he wasn't lying its just that Ronald didn't want everyone to know yet)
Ronalds Mom wanted him to keep everything hush hush.
During RoJos recruitment his High school coaches were whispered to be keeping mail and phone calls not Michigan related from RoJo....His family heard these rumors and the relationship was damaged severely between RoJo and his high school coaching staff.
During his official visit on December RoJo gave a second verbal to English in the UM weight room in front of many defensive players... but told everyone to keep it from public knowledge.
Terrance Taylor made sure to tell RoJo on his official visit to take all of his visits.
Ronald had no intrest in taking more visits because he was set on his school he would go to. What seems to have pushed it over the edge was the florida visit. Ronald was...and I quote "Blown away" from the visit...
Yesterday at Muskegon high school rojo was visibly upset...and told his muskegon coaches that he had to talk to them...(FYI if you havent picked up by now his high school coaches are pro michigan)...
His mother showed up and wouldn't let the coaches speak directly with RoJo during which time she told them that Michigan was out of contention with Ronald....A small verbal war soon happened between the Johnsons and the coaching staff.
Later on yesterday Johnsons mother went to a Muskegon judge (family friend) and had him call the Michigan coaching staff that Ronald was done with Michigan and they had no chance in getting him....
The Johnsons also had cut off all contact with Michigan and cancelled all visits with the coaching staff.....They refuse to talk to anyone with Michigans staff and remain that Ronald is done with them.
It's clear that the rumor of the muskegon high school coaches holding back info from ronald info(which was rumored) had an impact in Mrs Johnson feeling betrayed.
> PS. Ronalds mom called Michigan a few days ago and led them to believe her son was still very intrested.....so either she was telling the truth and Michigan was still in the lead at that point are she was lying to them to set them up for this great fall.
English and Carr are now in Cali and even though they cannot speak with the Warrens they feel the presence could help in getting him...
If you have any questions email me back....Im just helping you guys better understand
Apparently contact has been made between Rojo and the U of M coaching staff, initiated by Rojo, so all is not lost...
To quote Orson of EDSBS, "recruiting is creepy." I think that basically sums up all of this.
But, I wouldn't be upset if RoJo still decided to come to UM, just sayin...
I can definitely agree on the recruiting is creepy. But sadly, I'm hopelessly addicted to it. It's sad that an 18-year old kid has kept me glued to the computer for the better part of today.
Totally agree with with you, Dave.
What a pitiful kabuki dance this is.
Now there's a rumor floating around that Ryan Mallett and Vince Helumuth are making a road trip to Muskegon to make their own in-home visit with Rojo. This is getting ridiculous!
Although if it's true then it just makes me love Ryan Mallett that much more.
Dude, Helmuth is such a badass too...both he and Mallett are lovin it at Michigan right now, so maybe that'll rub off on Rojo, but I'm expecting the worst.
I think it (recruiting) just another thing the Internet has completely changed in my lifetime.
I remember when the first I would hear of Michigan recruits was when I picked up Street & Smith's or Athlon's Big Ten Preview. The signed up recruits were listed, name, position, height, weight and a two sentence blurb. That was all I needed to know.
Now you have a list of potential players 2 years out. You read almost daily about them. The hype has got to go to their heads, how couldn't it?
It is an established fact that many recruits do have accounts on Scout or Rivals or whatever, they read what every schmo posts about the coach, the team, etc...I can't see this as a good thing. It opens up a whole new level of....ridiculousness. There are posters on Michigan boards who never have anything positive to say about Carr or the Michigan program, I wonder sometimes if they are actually fans of other teams intentionally posting negativity to sway recruits away. I am willing to bet that this does happen.
Very strange and powerful this Internet.
Let the Mallet Man Crush begin!...
rumor of helmuth and mallett is untrue. straight from helmuth
A few months ago Tom Beaver was on WTKA saying that if it were completely up to Rojo, he'd be a wolverine but that someone else was pushing another direction. He didn't say who that was, so draw your own conclusions...
The letters withheld from MomJo:
Letter from OSU:
1) Dear Johnson family:
YOu may not be aware how much better life is in Ohio. Taxes are much lower. So much lower, in fact, that a car costs only $3.
Your friend, Jim
2) Yo RoJo, CoJo, and MomJo!
No school will make you FEEEEEL better than MSU. Know whatta mean? Plus, you boys can play any positions you want! Heck, you both can play QB at the same time!
Signed, Whoever MSU's coach is for this year
3) Dear Future Hollywood Stars:
A big TV studio wants to make a story about a single mom with two athletic sons and a friendly "judge" living nearby. From Michigan. Named Johnson. With one of the boys named Ronald. Come out for a looong screen test. They'll take care of your lodging while the casting decisions are made.
4) To my friends in the cold, cold North:
As you know, the University of Florida won the national championship this year. This has been very good for the athletic department financially. We have so much money coming in, we don't know what to do with it. No idea at all! Well, I guess that's all I have to say.
Faster than the other UM, Urban Meyer
P.S. All this money and just nothing to spend it on!
Pure Gold! ftb.
hahaha very funny, but as much as I can't stand Urban Meyer, I would absolutely HATE it if he was found to be cheating. I hate the fact that when anybody has success in this game, it's because somebody somewhere cheated or paid somebody. It's a damn shame is what it is. I hope Florida is pulling in these guys because of clean recruiting...I'm so sick of scandals, most of which go unpunished*
*(unless it's Michigan basketball of course)
KGH
You toy with my emotions. But Mallett, Stephen Schilling("All American linemen in 2007"), Greg Mathews("stud wide out who is gonna have a breakout year next year"), Artis Chambers(recruit this year and "Future all american safety"), Garrett Rivas("Best damn kicker in the LAND"), Martell Webb(another recruit"Will be catching TD's over Luckeyes all day" ) all are part of the "Ronald Johnson, Welcome to Ann Arbor" group on Facebook. So, it wouldn't surprise me if they were at least calling him and trying to get him to join them.
Speaking of hoops, 19 first-half points for Courtney Sims. Wow. Iowa rules.
Anybody have a Rivals account? I'm not sure if there's any real info in here, I'm a poor college student so I don't subscribe...
http://footballrecruiting.rivals....asp?
CID=636342
why is ESPN reporting that the bball game is a final of 33-24
haha i'm sorry steve g. i dunno what i did, but if it was about the helmuth thing...i go to michigan and asked him basically.
steve g,
While we all want to see Rojo in an M uniform, including the players, there's only so much convincing current players can do. The work that Ryan Mallett's put in to persuade recruits to commit to us is widely documented. But take a look at his facebook status updates from today "Ryan is getting close to shutting down his facebook " -- and then take a look at his wall. Not only are people he's likely never met pleading for him to call Ronald and fix things, but there are references to deleted posts that crossed the line. I love the effort Mallett's shown, but come on, he's adjusting to his first semester in college. Not only is he far from home, he's far from home during what would be the second half of his senior year of high school. Sorry if it sounds like I've singled you out; I'm just pointing out that he already has quite a bit going on.
Sean
I know they're busy and all. My point was that they have that RoJo group and that they might be talking to him. If they didn't, that would be fine with me.
If we come back and win this, I hope the fans rush the court.
Sims: 29 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks.
Team: 33 points, 18 rebounds, 3 blocks, LOSS.
Poor dude has a career night spoiled.
This seems to be the right place to put this comment:
I hate college sports.
That's all.
God, our bball team sucks. At least if they'd won, I'd feel slightly better about still being at fucking work at 10:15 at night.
brian, how bout an mgoblog card game like "life", but for michigan football?
This will be one of the cards:
You're the "favorite" for the top cornerback recruit in the country. Roll to see what happens.
Roll 1: Despite a tradition of taking cornberbacks from his state and molding them into NFL stars, you lose your star recruit to an old man last seen mumbling about trying to find the bathroom under Ohio Stadium.
Roll 2: Star recruit is expected to go to Michigan, until he gets caught in a fire. Which causes him to get invasive skin grafts. Just before he is visited by another school's coach. Who happens to be notably scarred by invasive skin grafts.
Roll 3: Star recruit is expected to go to Michigan until he attends his son's birthday party and miracously bonds with son. Suddenly decides further bonding with son will be important to him in future. Also realizes Ann Arbor is far from Louisiana.
Roll 4: Star recruit is expected to go to Michigan. Is said to have actually verballed twice. Is answer to all the mistakes in rolls 1-3. Star recruit's coaches decide the best way to establish good, open relationship with Michigan is to hide communications from all other schools. You lose the recruit, despite your coach showing exactly the quiet loyalty you so admire. And you lose him to the very school whose shameless self-promotion you detest - a self-promotion ironically defined in recent months by a tendency to loudly proclaim the state of Michigan utterly without "speed."
Roll 5-6: You end up with a California sleeper. He's only 5-8 and 130 pounds. And he's never played in a real game, but he has mad flag football skillz!
who is roll 1? nice work their steve...
This thread has gone from "fans with battered spouse syndrome dreaming of a better life" to "creepy guy rustling through the lockers of 5th graders during gym class" in a matter of minutes. Christ allmighty.
1=justin king
tradition from PA=ty law and marlin jackson
what is roll 2? good lord i've never heard of that one
GODAMNITTT Our recruiting class thusfar has been mediocre at best. With Finch changing his mind and already missing out on Dionte Allen, Michigan would really be hurting without ROJO. Hopefiully the maize fairy visits him in his sleep and brings him to the BIG HOUSE.
2= victor harris and virginia tech
haha i figured it was frank beamer...but i didnt know the recruit
Was I crazy, or did Steve Brown play rather well on special teams this year?
i get it.......Ohhhhh *now* i get it....and yeh there is spelled there. time for bed.
p.s. this is the single strangest series of alledged events in recruiting i've seen since they put the intranets on computers.
Hell, Ohio State pays for players........Florida seems to be paying and We dont have to mention USC.....Michigan probably should start playing like the rest of the NCAA
Has news of Leon Hall's imminent first round selection in the NFL draft not filtered down to high school football players? Is Charles Woodson's current salary a state secret? Does Marlin Jackson play with a "?" on the back of his jersey?
We Still have MOUTON thank GOD
haha Father Figure...I couldn't agree more. even for the horrendousness of our secondary lately...we happen to produce/develop some of the CBs to ever play in college and in the NFL.
Well, I rushed this because of the topic. Weird. The blog is in rough form now, and I am sure Dan and BRCE will despair to learn that I am branching out from my usual forte of politics.
Sorry to pimp an offshoot of my site, but basically there is a problem and it's not just Rojo, who could be another Gabe Watson for all we know. It's a deeper problem that needs fixing.
http://www.logictimes.com/Blue/Blue.htm
Seriously, maybe this is because I don't have the ego of an athlete, but Donovan Warren should be salivating at this news right now, seeing an opportunity for 1) a quick route to playing time; and 2) a fanbase that would show him immense gratitude. I still remember observing Marlin Jackson enjoy the "Mar-Lin, Jack-son!" clap chants. Of course, most highly touted high school athletes probably feel that every school provides them with those opportunities.
Demand a new basketball coach!
Email Bill Martin at wcmartin@umich.edu.
I warned people at 2 forums of this a while back and got grilled.
mark me down as right with:
King, Colvin and now RoJo.
I think the harder thing for everybody to accept with RoJo is that he's an in-state kid. Colvin was a west coast guy and King was from PA, so the fact that both ended up going to more local schools wasn't that shocking. The same thing happened with Nic Harris and Jai Eugene; when a kid decides that he wants to stay closer to home, what can you do? With RoJo, though, the fact that he's a Michigan native(and that we've all kind of expected him to commit) makes this a little more painful.
I love you Ron, I want to be with you Ron.
Rip me a new one if you like, tell me I'm an idiot, but I still expect Rojo to be a Michigan Wolverine on Sunday. There's a lot going on here, more than many know, and to put it in the words of Josh Helmholdt from Rivals "there's still some twists and turns coming in this"
The uncertainty over the date of Carr's eventual retirement and who might be replacing him can't be helping, especially in comparison to Florida. With the internet rumor-mill running full tilt and the newpaper articles raising the issue, Meyer wouldn't even need to mention it himself.
It certainly appears right now that Wisconsin handled their coaching transition a bit more smoothly.
In 2004, Marlin Jackson and Leon Hall were the starting CBs and Stanton, Smith and Young ran wild. In 2007, opposing offensive coordinators will see Sears at the top of the depth chart and decide to throw. Carr has finally figured out how to stop running QBs. Brilliant.
All the conspiracy theories and unwarranted bashing of other programs aside, it might just be the case that RoJo - and his family, who, if they're worthy of the name "family", OUGHT to have involvement/influence/etc. when it comes to his choice of college - has decided that Michigan's football program is just not up to snuff compared to those of the other schools he's considering.
Think about it: Ohio State, Southern Cal and Florida are all in the RoJo sweepstakes. Each has been more successful in recent years than Michigan. Certainly, there's a distinguished tradition when it comes to Michigan DBs, but Ohio State's is (arguably) even more so. And the fact that the most recent Thorpe Award winner was a Gator can't hurt UF's chances.
Add to that the "uncertainty" and general dissatisfaction/grudging acceptance surrounding Carr - most of the arguments I've heard in favor of him boil down to the notion that he's a "Michigan man" and a pillar of integrity, as opposed to the notion that he's all that great a coach - and the "fact" that he's probably gone after next year, with no "sexy" or even respectable anointed successor in line to take over...can a disinterested observer blame him for choosing any of the aforementioned three rather than the Wolverines? Shit - even the Spartans (at the moment) have a more stable coaching situation.
I actually sort of hope that you guys get him, if for no other reason than the fact that my Buckeyes' 2007 class is LOADED at DB, and that the rending of garments and beating of breasts in the Wolverine nation, should RoJo go elsewhere, would be too schadenfreude-ish for my tastes. But I don't think y'all need to MAKE UP reasons why he might not come to AA. There are plenty of objective reasons available.
Hate to nit-pick, but what I think you meant to say was that the last Thorpe winner SHOULD have been a Gator, the Thorpe actually went to Aaron Ross of Texas, probably the least deserving of the finalists.
Slow down there champ...why don't you stop talking for a while...
If a hint of a rumor over LC's possible maybe one day retirement is enough to slow recruiting, then how does JoePA get ANYONE to come to PSU????
That's a great question Marzzz, I was thinking the same thing. I really don't think that rumors about Lloyd Carr MAYBE being done coaching in the next year or two have that big of an impact, especially since that's just come out in the last couple days and you can find other coaches (Paterno, Bowden, etc.) in similar situations who have had success in recruiting the past few years.
I think it's more of a glamour issue. Right now, OSU, USC, and Florida are probably the three "sexiest" programs in the country. USC and Florida have relatively young coaches who relate well to players, and that's the kind of thing that gets noticed by 17-year-olds.
OK, this is just getting ridiculous...
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbc.../702010456/
1069
Can someone please give a short recap of the RoJo situation? I understand from the scout.com and rivals.com sites and message boards that some "secret contact" leaked and that was the cause of the end of his consideration of Michigan. I've read the "secret email" and there is no reference to the "secret contact." I'm therefore confused. Is there someone enough in the know to give a basic summary of what transpired over the last 72 hours? Thanks.
I hate to be the fun-ruiner, but leaking information in a situation that is still ongoing can do nothing but hurt it. If you are patient, everything can be told after he signs his LOI.
Fair enough.
*** I've read the "secret email" and there is no reference to the "secret contact ***
The secret contact came well after the secret e-mail (and was not related to it).
Leaking that contact tipped off other parties that Rojo may not go the way his mother wants him to go, and thus his mother is now in a position to try to get Rojo (who is an adult) not to contact U-M again.
It was utterly irresponsible to leak that information, there is no doubt that the U-M sources who let Balas know that didn't want it getting out. Maybe they didn't have a formal non-disclosure agreement for him to sign, but Balas should have known better.
Not particularly plugged in on this, but I can say that much of the information contained in the so-called "secret E mail" is bullsh!t and that much of the additional leakage, rumor mongering, speculation, and, frankly, smack relating to the Johnson family, the Muskegon coaching staff, and others has been untrue and not at all helpful . . . .
How can any coach tell a recruit, in all honesty, say that he will be at the university for the next 4 or 5 years? Let's see: Mack Brown - maybe, unless fortune turns and the longhorn fanbase turns on him. Pete Carroll - doubtful. Jim Tressel - maybe, see Mack Brown. Joe Pa - best bet and I doubt that's a good thing. Bobby B - second best bet, see Joe Pa. The second best thing to sell is continuity. What the recruit now sees will continue in the future. There will not be a sudden switch to the wishbone or the fun-n-gun offense where certain skills and talent are obsolete overnight. The best thing to sell is the quality of the education. This is the tangible that's left after 4 or 5 years. It requires hard work and dedication to devote equal time to the classroom and to the football team. Michigan has invested millions in developing the educational support system to assure success if the effort is put forth. I am afraid that does not appeal to many of the 17 year old stars that dream of the NFL riches in 3 years. How many of the 2007 class of 4 and 5 stars will see the NFL. Not many.
I'm as disappointed as any UM football recruiting follower when guys we covet go elsewhere; I believe those who think recruiting's all meaningless hooey are dead wrong. However, every time I read about the Finch escapades and the Rojo saga and the Barksdale antics and the enormous amount of ass-kissing that all coaches are required to perfect, a little voice keeps telling me that ultimately Michigan profits most with kids who WANT to come to Michigan as opposed to kids who we have to beg, cajole, kowtow to and plead with to enroll. What's better for us: a supposed "only" 3-star kid who LOVES the idea of being at the University of Michigan, or a 5-star OMG Shirtless stud who just counts the days until the final gun of the bowl game his junior year?
i'm mostly with RW here....the coaching uncertainty is not as much of a detractor at M as other programs. Mich has been consistent for years, indep of coaches. it's not like MSU where they hire the "coaching opposite" of the last guy. whatever coach we get will probably NOT totally revamp the offense to the spread/option or anything. that's not to mention a total recall of the entire staff: if anything, I would bet that most of Carr's staff stays around post-Carr. do most programs do this under a coaching change? not really, most keep 1-2 key in-state recruiting guys and that's it.
It's no secret that Les Miles is a "Michigan" man. He played and coaoched for the wolverines. I could very well see him taking over for LLoyd Carr. LSU was so worried about this that they put a $1,000,000 clause in his contract that he'd have tp pay if he left for MICHIGAN!!!!!! Michigan would pay that in a heartbeat to get "one of their own." If more people new about this maybe recruiting wouldn't be so hard. On a sidenote.....Barksdale was very against Michigan from the beggining. ROJO gave 2 verbals to Michigan, that's why it hurts so bad. ROJO is a great player and I still for one would love to see him in a Michigan jersey.
Mike Maize, you may be right about Miles being a Michigan Man, but I'm not as sure about willingness of the U to fork over 1M to LSU to sign him. Don't have any inside info, but we either stand to land a very good group of dbs this year if all 3 sign. Still holding out for hope that RoJo and Finch are in, and maybe we can get Warren from Pete's grasp though probably not likely
Mike Maze,
Rojo was RUMORED to give two silent verbals to Michigan. Gosh, I'm sick of all these people that read anything on the internet and immediately think it's OMGZ NO DOUBT the truth. Face it...none of us know what is REALLY going on, so please for the love of God stop stating things that are rumors like they are fact.
OMG URBAN stop cheating!!!
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