0 8A - Wednesday, March 5, 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com A new standard for recruiting 0 ByCOURTNEYRATKOWIAK Daily Sports Editor Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez had just three weeks to assemble next year's freshman class, but Signing Day treated the Wolverines' coaching staff well. Not only did it keep the majority of former head coach Lloyd Carr's verbal commitments, it also pulled out some last-minute surprises before introducingthe new recruits on Feb. 6. Even though Michigan was pleased with its class, ranked 10th in the nation by recruiting website Rivals.com, other Big Ten coaches certainly weren't pleased with some of the Wolverines' late recruiting tactics. For better or worse, it's clear Rodriguez has already set a new standard. Persuading Carr's recruits Rodriguez's first priority was to make sure the 16 athletes who com- mitted under Carr still wanted to be Wolverines. "Obviously, there were a lot of new coaches and some new philoso- phies coming in - I didn't want to assume anything," Rodriguez said. "So we took the approach with them that this was the first time that the University of Michigan had talked to them." Rodriguez said he empha- sized face-to-face communication between recruits and his "very personable staff" while trying to persuade commits to stick with Michigan, but with his busy sched- ule, much of the recruiting was also done over the telephone. During the Wolverines' trip to Florida for the Capital One Bowl, Rodriguez called wide receiver Darryl Stonum and his father to make sure the Sugar Land, Tex. native was still interested in coming to Michigan. Stonum enrolled early, began classes this semester and has already started training with the Wolverines. Boubacar Cissoko, the first recruit of the 2008 class, scheduled a visit to Penn State after learning of Carr's departure. After hearing media reports that Rodriguez had fired all nine of Carr's assistant coaches, Cissoko told the Detroit Free Press in mid-December he was no longer committed. But by the end of December, Cissoko reasserted his status as a Wolverine. The Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail wrote in January that Rodri- guez had a head start on keeping Carr's recruits because he started wooing them the same day he offi- cially resigned from West Virginia. Records from his West Virginia- issued cell phone showed that he made calls to Cissoko and Traverse City lineman Rocko Khoury. Regardless of the controversy surrounding the timing of Rodri- guez's cell phone calls, he success- fullyminimized Michigan's losses. Two of Michigan's notable decommitments were h-back Chris- tian Wilson and quarterback John Wienke. Wilson originally commit- ted to the Wolverines in August, but after Carr retired, Wilson was unsure how he would fit into the new offense and defected to North Carolina. Wienke, who committed to Michigan in July, switched to Iowa in December. Rodriguez said he was told that "you lose as many as half of the commitments" after a coaching transition. But in Rodriguez's case, many recruits ended up coming to Michi- gan at the last minute. Controversial additions Being a Michigan Man entails somebody verbally commits to your institution, but they continue to visit, that verbal commitment is not a real solid verbal commitment. "That's like you say you're engaged to someone but you con- tinue to date. Your fiance ain'tgoing to be very happy." To improve recruiting practices, Tiller said he supports an early Signing Day that would theoretical- ly eliminate Roundtree-esque sce- narios. Under that system, athletes would be able to sign a binding let- ter of intent in the first half of their senior year. Interestingly, despite his success with last-minute switches, Rodri- guez also said he supports the idea of an early Signing Day similar to the one in basketball. The date would most likely be in mid-Decem- ber and would cater to athletes with long-term verbal commitments,like Shaw to Penn State or Roundtree to Purdue. Coaches would also ben- efit because they would have more time to fill holes in their recruiting classes. Rodriguez is on the board of the American Football Coaches Asso- ciation, and he said the group has talked about implementing an early Signing Day for years. "It really makes too much sense," Rodriguez said. "Hopefully, we can get that done. There are always going to be signing-day surprises, but that would clear up a lot of the mess." Branching out Of Michigan's 24 recruits, just five are in-staters. And despite the presence of a football power in Columbus, the Wolverines continued their tradi- tional success in Ohio by grabbing seven players - the most from any state in this year's class. Some of the Ohio recruits also received offers from Ohio State, but usually after Michigan had already been pursuing them. Columbus native and offensive lineman Patrick Omameh was originally committed to Cincin- nati, but changed his mind days before Signing Day after Michigan and Michigan State showed inter- est. The same day he announced his verbal commitment to Michigan, the Buckeyes offered him a scholar- ship. But Omameh stuck with the Wolverines. "You always have to be focused on in-state and any state that bor- ders you," Rodriguez said. "You want to see if you can get a few guys, and there are a lot of great football players in the state of Ohio." The Wolverines also signedthree players from Florida - Barnum, quarterback Justin Feagin and wide receiver Martavious Odoms. Odoms committed five days after Signing Day after narrowing his choice to Michigan and West Vir- ginia. The class is Michigan's larg- est from Florida in the last eight years. Rodriguez also praised running backs coach Fred Jackson's recruit- ing success in Texas. Jackson con- vinced Stonum, running back Sam McGuffie and multi-threat athlete Terrence Robinson to commit to Michigan, and his success is a sign the Wolverines will be looking in warmer climates more often. Both Smith and linebackers coach Jay Hopson have southern recruiting ties. Smith's South Flor- ida stint lasted six seasons. Hopson was at Southern Mississippi for six years and was the defensive coordi- nator at Mississippi in 2004. "There are alot of great football players in Florida," Rodriguez said. "A lot of those guys will leave, par- ticularly to a place like Michigan. We will be in Florida quite exten- sively in the future." a Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez kept most of Lloyd Carr's recruiting class intact and added a few players who changed their commitments on or near National Signing integrity and honesty. But according to Purdue head coach Joe Tiller in his now-infa- mous rant to the Indianapolis Star, Rodriguez doesn't fit that descrip- tion. "If we had an early signing date, you wouldn't have another outfit with a guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil get a guy at the last min- ute, but that's what happened," Til- ler said. Tiller was referring to wide receiver Roy Roundtree, who had verbally committed to Purdue in May. The Boilermakers pursued Roundtree for two years, but the Trotwood, Ohio native visited Michigan on Feb.1, received aschol- arship offer on Feb. 5 and signed with the Wolverines the next day. Roundtree wasn't Rodriguez's only Signing Day steal. Trotwood- Madison (Ohio) running back Michael Shaw had been commit- ted to Penn State since August, but in January, after Rodriguez was hired, Shaw announced he would visit Michigan and Tennessee. After taking his trip to Ann Arbor, he quickly changed his mind about his commitment to Penn State - and didn't bother visiting Tennessee. Shaw told news outlets he made his decision about20 minutes before he signed his letter of intent on Sign- ing Day. His last-minute departure no doubt left an unexpected hole in the Nittany Lions' recruiting class that won't be easily filled. "Mike is a guy we have known about for a little bit," Rodriguez RICKY said on BARNUM SigningDay. POS.:OL "He's a very HEIGHT:6-2 conscien- W tious young man." PREVIOUS Michi- COMMITMENT: gan also Florida snatched two touted prospects from SEC schools. Defensive back J.T. Floyd had been committed to Tennessee since his junior year of high school. Floyd told Rivals.com in Sep- tember 2006, shortly after he com- mitted, that the atmosphere at Tennessee was a large factor in his decision. "The stadium is just crazy, that's a big thing for me," he said. "I can't waitto getto playinfront ofl8,000. That's a great opportunity, espe- cially coming from my high school where we might be lucky to get 1,000 people there for a big rivalry game. I can't wait to get here." His comments, made nearly one and a half years ago, could eas- ily refer to the Big House. And next year, Rodri- guez said, the Green- MICHAEL ville, S.C., SHAW native has a POS.: ATH good chance HEIGHT:6-0 to see the field as a WEIGHT:185 freshman. PREVIOUS Offensive COMMITMENT: lineman Penn State Ricky Bar- num, who had been a Florida commit since January, decided to visit Michigan the week- end before Signing Day and inked his letter of intent with Michigan days later. Rodriguez said former South Florida offensive coordina- tor and current quarterbacks coach Rod Smith had been recruiting Bar- num "for some time over the last year or two" and that he was "tick- led to death" the Lakeland, Fla., native decided to play up north. How committed are they? After the tumult of Signing Day, the definition of a "verbal commit- ment" is seemingly open for debate within the Big Ten - and that's not to everyone's liking. "Therehasbeenanunspokenrule that if a guy commits (to another school) and you've been recruiting ROY him hard, ROUNDTREE you always POS.: WR call them HEIGHT: 6-0 up and say, WEIGHT 154 'Are you sure about PREVIOUS this?' Til- COMMITMENT ler said to Purdue the India- napolis Star. "If he says yes, you back off." But Rodriguez offered a different take. He said athletes will sometimes commit before visiting other cam- puses or weighing all their options, and coaches should understand that players may change their minds. "Sometimes coaches will tell you, when somebody verbals, that just tells you who you've got to beat to get him," Rodriguez said. "If B 9 Phelps shouldfocus on more than swimming in Beijing n essence, the Olympics are about two ideas: peace and moral principles. The Chinese government violates both. It repress- es human rights and supports the genocide- enabling gov- ernment in Sudan. Some have advocated a boycott of this IAN summer's Bei- ROBINSON jing Games, but that won't hap- pen. That doesn't mean the world should stand idly by as the host government continues its violation t4 of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Olympics are the perfect platform to pressure China to abide by inter- national standards. One group that can force the Chi- nese government to listen and raise awareness is the athletes. And Michigan men's swimming and diving volunteer assistant coach Michael Phelps is one of the most powerful members of that group. As he aims for eight gold medals this summer, Phelps could be the most dominant athlete in the world. But his performance in the pool shouldn't define his Olympics. Whether or not he uses his promi- nent position to challenge the Chi- nese government should. If a Chinese citizen tried speak out against his or her government, that person would get jailed. If they organized a rally, they would - well, we've all seen pictures of Tiananmen Square. If Phelps does something, he'll be heard. He would not only be remem- bered as a great athlete, but also, more importantly, as a great human being. Phelps would be the ideal ath- lete to launch this movement. The media will cover his every move in China. At the same time, it doesn't have to be Phelps. Whether he would be willing to take such a stand is unknown, since his media represen- tative did not respond to a request 4 for comment. As much as people want to keep sports and society separate, they are inextricably linked. Whether it be the Miracle on Ice or Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Base- ball, separating the two is impos- sible. A couple weeks ago, the Brit- ish Olympic Association essen- tially placed a gag order on its athletes. Under pressure, it has since rescinded that rule. The United States Olympic Committee said that it wouldn't restrict its ath- letes beyond the IOC's ban on "(any) kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda" in Olympic venues. But what Phelps could advocate goes beyond natonal politics. It's about humanity - about giving a voice to people whose government doesn't give them one. Steven Spielberg heard these calls for protest and responded. He was supposed to be a creative consultant for the Games' opening ceremonies but pulled out because China has given financial support to the Sudanese government. Phelps won't pull out of the Games. He has too much on the line. But that shouldn't stop him from making a difference. In Beijing, Phelps has the oppor- tunity to establish his legacy, and it will have nothing to do with how many world records he sets. How he protests is unimportant - what matters is that his message is clear. The most remembered ath- letes are the ones with conviction for a cause. Jesse Owens's career wasn't defined by the four gold medals he won in 1936. He's remembered for defying Hitler's claims of Aryan supremacy at the Berlin Games. Tommie Smith and John Cas- tillo are most known for their Black Power protest on the podium in the 1968 Olympics, not the medals they won. Phelps won't be defined by his medal count. We should care about whether he decides to defend peo- ple who don't have anyone to stand up for them. - Robinson can be reached at irobi@umich.edu.