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?