3 things I thought at lunch
I have five minutes to digest what I heard during lunch. Damien Thigpen is the conversation of the day. Context: Thigpen was an early commitment to Tennessee. He remained a commitment throughout the coaching change. This past weekend, during an official visit, he was told by the coaching staff that he probably wasn't going to be the right for Tennessee. National Signing Day is next Wednesday. Most are viewing this as a horrible thing to do to a kid. Perhaps it was, but that conclusion is based on too many assumptions.
- It's wrong to tell a commit this close to signing day that he's not the right fit. Lots of thoughts here, but they all boil down to this: Isn't the 11th hour better than the 12th? Isn't that doing him a favor, telling him that he may want to re-think things because the team is headed in a different direction? What if they didn't tell him, he signed, and only then did he realize he wasn't going to play? He could transfer, but he'd have wasted one or two years.
- Okay, maybe the 11th hour is better than the 12th, but they should have told him before they did. That assumes they knew prior to this weekend's visit. What if their recruiting class is shaping up better than they expected and there's now a logjam in front of the guy? Wouldn't he want to know that? What if they discovered something about him during his visit that they didn't like? One caller pointed this out but was essentially cut off and criticized for bringing the kids' character into question without any basis for doing so, which he did not do. He merely said something could have happened during the visit that made them change their mind. It could have been just a vibe. Different goals. Different ideas about playing styles. Whatever. Even if the caller did call the kids' character into question, making such an assumption wouldn't be much different than assuming the worst about the coaching staff, would it? Maybe they didn't know until then, and when they knew, they told him so that he could make an informed decision.
- Using this "you've still got a scholarship offer, but you're not going to fit in here" comment is essentially using a loophole to run a kid off. You don't know that they're running him off. They said they would still honor the offer. Perhaps they're just being honest with him that things may have changed and that he might want to reconsider whether to accept the offer.
I believe that I'm in the minority on this, but what do y'all think?
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I agree
I was actually struggling with this myself since the story was released and came to a similar conclusion. Which was ultimately that I really didn’t know enough to form a decent opinion on the matter. Recruiting coverage is one of the strangest animals in sports media. Writers do their best to assess the thought process of an 18 year old based on extremely limited material, most articles often site text messages like " I enjoyed my visit" and run an article based on that statement alone.
All I know is that since he’s been here Lane Kiffin has been honest about everything, to the point where hes gotten some heat from it. I don’t have any reason to believe there was anything shady going on so I’ll assume it was a mutual understanding that was gone about in the best way they could.
To say it's wrong, it does requires assumptions
…that the kid’s character or something else wasn’t an issue.
Barring a circumstance like that, it’s really messed up to do that to a kid this late in the process.
"Florida didnt win their first SEC title until 1991 and now they think they invented football."
-Ron Zook
Being honest
What is the difference in doing this ? When you have players leading you up to signing day and then decommeting on you after you’ve spent a small fortune on them. NONE!!!
by lastlap on Jan 30, 2009 4:03 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Damien Thigpen
The kid was done wrong. You do not wait until 4 days before NSD to tell a kid he does not fit. If you agree with this you have no more charter then the new coaching staff or the so called AD. I have been a VOL fan since 1960 and I am not feeling good about the coaching staff at this time. It sends a wrong message to kids who change their committment from UT at the last minute.

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