Morrison

Bummer - I really liked this kid. Fortunately there's still a ways to go until signing day, hopefully Trai can convince him to get up here sometime during the season and maybe we can change his mind.

Really like this kid's presence, both on the field and (from what I can tell from Twitter...) off of it. If we can manage to snag him it would be a hell of a special secondary - and class! - we're putting together.

And without Mathews and Joeckel on the oline. It will be interesting to see how A&M fares in the next few years...Sumlin walked into a ridiculous amount of talent there. Wow!

No kidding - even if this is long shot, just getting these kind of athletes on campus is huge for the program long term. If we can get these kids here, we will net our share of surprises over time.

Yeah, got to think Abdullah and Gordon are 1a and 1b. Also think Langford could be a bit higher, he was impressive as the season wore on last year. But mostly I want to point out that Frank Kaminsky looks like a 7-foot tall Alex Henery. Which I think is awesome.

Post of the year.

I agree. Taking it a step farther, I am going to express my (admittedly) selfish feelings. One of the major reasons I like college sports over pro sports is I get so sick and tired of the constant battle between players and owners over contracts, hold outs, strikes, multi million dollar deals, trades...bla bla bla..... I get friggen tired of over paid adults whining about how much they get paid to play what should be a kids game. I see this bringing that whole mess into college sports. This is pretty much my frustration as well. In fact, just to add on to your point, there is a thing in psychology called the Overjustification Effect. From a psychological perspective there are, essentially, two types of motivation for an activity, Extrinsic and Intrinsic. Extrinsic motivators boil down to rewards - things like rewards (money, fame, power, etc.) where intrinsic motivators are internal measures of satisfaction (fun, pride, and so forth). The Overjustification Effect states that, when given the choice between an Extrinsic or Intrinsic motivator to perform an action, humans are much more likely to choose the extrinsic motivator. Paradoxically, however, external motivators will motivate the person LESS than an intrinsic motivator would have. In other words, once college football players are incentivized for their performance by an extrinsic award (money), it will be the money that motivates them, not competitive spirit, love of the game, school pride etc. Case in point, look at the NBA, where 90% of the players go through the motions for the majority of the season to collect their paycheck. The players care so little that regular-season NBA games are virtually unwatchable. My concern is that, if this becomes (even more) about the money for college players, the things that make college sports so special will devolve into a glorified pro sport that is nigh-unwatchable. Sure, college players aren't as skilled as pros, but I enjoy college sports (both football and basketball) much more than their pro counterparts due to the passion and intensity the games are played with. At the end of the day, the allure of college sports for me (and, I suspect, whether they realize it at the time or not, the athletes themselves) is that these kids are playing for the love of the game. If it becomes about them playing for their paycheck, it will just be a less-entertaining version of the NBA or NFL, which will kill the unique nature of these sports and, in the long run, probably kill collegiate sports as we know them today.

I imagine it's quite a bit less. But that in and of itself shouldn't be something we're concerned about - we all generate more money for our companies than we are paid ourselves. Doing some rough number crunching, I took home about $10,000 a year in pure profit, untaxed, based on my travel stipends and room and board stipends alone, each year I was in college. To be clear, that money was for pure spending, every living cost you could think of was already taken care of by the university. This is in addition to the non-quantifiable perks of being a student-athlete at a university (tutoring, people buying you drinks at a bar, etc.) But really, who cares? I didn't do it for the money, I played college sports because I loved competing. I loved going out in front of 8,000 people a night and hearing them cheer for the team. I loved the way the school spirit showed up against our rivals, and the way the students rushed the court after we upset a heavily favored opponent. I loved hearing "hey, good game last night" from the random guy I sat next to in calculus. I loved the bonding experiences I shared with my teammates, many of whom are still my closest friends today. I love being able to go back now and catch a game and still get treated like family by the administration and coaches. Those are the things that make college athletics so special, and it is sad for me to see it degraded to, essentially, "I deserve more money for my hard work". Yes, it is a ton of hard work, but the reward for that work shouldn't need to be more money. There are plenty of other ways the collegiate athletic experience can be rewarding without it and thats what so special about it. Hell, looking back on it now, I'd PAY money just to have some of those experiences again. Rarely has the professional world been so exciting or rewarding - even though I get paid a heck of a lot more now. Or maybe I'm just naive. We already have enough leagues where its all about the money and I'd hate to see college athletics lose what makes them so unique - both to play, and to watch. Edit: And if those things aren't enough for you, and you're in in for the money, I would echo Landlord (or was it Accountability's?) post from earlier - just sit out until you're eligible for the NBA/NFL draft.

The problem with these statements is that this might be the goal of athletes like Colter who are pushing for this now. They have absolutely no control over what this union pushes for 10-15 years from now. +1. Thank you.

As a former scholarship athlete (thankfully I am from a naturally-strong family), even I think this is ridiculous. I can confirm what was mentioned earlier in the thread regarding athlete compensation; it is not minimal. The amount of perks these guys get in terms of clothing, food, travel stipends, room and board stipends, gadgets (Ipads in every locker!), tutoring, and, let's be honest, notoriety, is considerable. Yes, the athletic departments and (NCAA) are making tons of cash, but I think people sometimes fail to consider that a significant amount of that cash is reinvested in the athletic facilities/programs at these schools (the much decried "athletic facilities arms race") - which is a benefit to the players that is not really quantifiable. Someone above me said that greed would bring down CFB before medical concerns did, and I think they might be right.

The comments on the Michigan site are, as one would expect, priceless. Highly recommended. I don't think anyone really thinks this would have been a close game (at least outside of Ann Arbor)....

Same high school as P.J. Smith and Walker Ashburn?