Drake Harris commits to Michigan, making plenty of enemies at MSU

It’s not like Michigan State fans needed more reasons to hate Michigan, but the last month probably hasn’t helped matters.

First the Wolverines make a run to the national championship game in basketball. Now the Spartans watched Drake Harris, one of their former verbal commitments for the 2014 season, make a new commitment to Michigan on Sunday.

The junior receiver from Grand Rapids Christian is currently rated as a 4-star recruit by Rivals.com and has the potential to move up to being a 5-star recruit by the time his senior season is over.

Harris was already a highly-touted recruit when he committed to Michigan State prior to the start of the 2012 season. He grabbed national attention for his performance in the Division 3 state football championship game when he caught eight passes for 243 yards and a touchdown, leading Grand Rapids Christian past Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, 40-37.

It was after that game that the heat really picked up on Harris’ recruiting, despite his commitment to MSU. Talk of Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and many others courting Harris seemed to be a reality, and in early March, Harris decided to walk away from the Spartans.

Harris originally committed to MSU when he was planning on playing both football and basketball for the Spartans. With his focus turning to just playing football, he decided to decommit and cited his desire to play for a national title contender.

It didn’t take Harris too long, just over a month, to commit to Michigan. He did so on Sunday, a day after the Wolverines’ spring game.

Harris’ commitment has certainly sparked a lot of back-and-forth between the fan bases and it is clear that Harris has made himself one of the biggest enemies in the eyes of the Spartans.

There are really three things to acknowledge with this whole situation.

First, Harris is allowed to do what he wishes. I can’t blame a kid for wanting to make the best decision for his future. The big problem with recruiting is that there is not an early signing period for football players to help keep the flip-flopping from happening. It’s tough for a teenager not to be tempted to break a commitment with all these other coaches and programs coming after him. I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing had I been in Harris’ situation (in terms of breaking the commitment to Michigan State).

Second, when I look at Drake Harris and his abilities, I can’t blame him for wanting to play for a national title contender. No offense to Michigan State, but the Spartans aren’t at that level. If Harris is truly as good as he is rated, he has the chance to play anywhere in the country. Michigan State doesn’t register as one of those five programs that a recruit of his caliber should be targeting if they really want to contend for a national title and have the chance to be a top draft pick in the NFL. Sorry Spartans fans, but it’s the truth.

With that said, Harris himself stated that he wanted to contend for national titles. If that is truly the case, I have to question his decision to commit to Michigan (the third issue). I know this will upset some Wolverine fans, but you can’t argue that Michigan is close to winning a national title right now. The only programs that can say they have consistently been in the title picture recently are Alabama, LSU and Oregon. You can probably throw Ohio State in that mix with last year’s unbeaten season and Urban Meyer’s coaching accomplishments.

I think Brady Hoke is doing a good job in recruiting and there is potential there for Michigan to get into the national title picture down the road, but last season’s opener with Alabama proved that the Wolverines aren’t ready for that discussion yet.

If Harris didn’t want to go to Michigan State and preferred to go to Michigan, that’s fine. He has the right to make that decision. But, if he is looking to win a national title, he may not have made the right choice. Either way, he certainly painted a big target on his back when he heads to East Lansing while sporting the maize and blue.

Then again, who knows if Harris will stand by this commitment either.

Urban Meyer is just what the Big Ten needs

When Urban Meyer was hired to be the head coach of the Ohio State football program, we all knew things were going to change in the Big Ten.

Meyer was bringing his brand of football, one that led to multiple national titles and SEC championships, to the B1G. What that meant was a cut-throat style of recruiting and a take-no-prisoners attitude on the football field. It also meant that the conference was getting a guy that was going to shoot from the hip and push his agenda when he saw fit.

This week, Meyer felt it was necessary to hold the other Big Ten coaches accountable for their lackluster recruiting.

Here is what Meyer had to say following National Signing Day on Wednesday (from Yahoo! Sports):

“We do need to as a conference need to keep pushing that envelope to be better,” Meyer said to 97.1 The Fan, via Larry Brown Sports. “Our whole conversation [at the Big Ten coaches meeting] needs to be about ‘how do we recruit?’ When you see 11 of the SEC teams are in the top 25 that’s something that we need to improve.”

According to Rivals.com, Ohio State had the second-best recruiting class in the nation, with Michigan coming in fifth. The Big Ten had just three teams (Nebraska the third) in the top 25 while the SEC had six in the top 10 and all 14 members in the top 39. Michigan State came in at 38^th nationally, which put them fourth in the B1G.

It’s easy for Meyer to point the finger at the other teams in the conference, especially when he isn’t afraid to go after recruits that have already verbally committed to other Big Ten teams. Meyer has the recruiting budget that many other teams in this conference don’t and he also has the success on the field that many don’t.

Make no mistake, Meyer is a bully. He is a loud-mouth, narcissistic bully.  But, he is just what this conference needs.

Meyer, in just one year as coach of Ohio State, has become the identity of the conference. Meyer is the lone coach in this conference that knows what it takes to win a national title and what it is going to take for the conference to gain national respect.

It would be easy for Meyer to not say anything about the lackluster recruiting for the Big Ten. He could continue to recruit well and pick apart the conference most years, earning BCS bowl bid after BCS bowl bid.

Instead, he knows that to truly contend for a national title, he needs the Big Ten to be competitive and play at a high level. Meyer needs his team to be challenged by some of the best in the country during the regular season to know he can compete on the field with the best the SEC has to offer.

A stronger Big Ten from top to bottom means a stronger Ohio State.

Meyer is going to force the rest of the conference to play up to his level, like it or not. If teams aren’t able to keep pace with him, they are going to drown. Those that can keep pace will be much better for it and play at a higher level than they have in recent years. I’m looking at you Michigan.

I think we all can admit that the Big Ten has been down in football in recent years. That’s not meant to be an insult at Michigan State or Wisconsin, but it’s the truth. Neither team could truly lineup with the national champion that year and put up a fight.

Meyer wants that to change and is willing to do what it takes to make sure Ohio State is better than anything the Big Ten has recently produced. It appears that Brady Hoke feels the same, but time will tell if he can truly accomplish great things on the national stage.

Love him or hate him, Urban Meyer is the best thing going for the Big Ten, and he knows it.

*NOTE: Speaking of recruiting, I saw this tweet the other day from MSU 2014 verbal, Drake Harris (@drizzygetbusy01): Got the chance to talk to coach Meyer at Ohio state, coach hoke at Michigan, coach jones at Tennessee, and coach muschamp at Florida today!

It can’t make Mark Dantonio, or the Spartan fans, too excited to see Harris getting all this attention from some of the biggest programs in the nation. It will take a lot of work to keep this kid’s commitment.

Is Urban Meyer good for the Big Ten

Parker's decision not too surprsing

Jabari Parker seemed to be most Michigan State fans’ favorite player before he had even committed to be a Spartan.

MSU was really hoping and counting on Parker to suit up in the green and white next season, but he instead opted for the “Yankees” of college basketball, Duke.

Parker made his commitment to the Blue Devils on national television on Thursday, changing the landscape of what Michigan State will look like next season.

In hindsight, the decision is not all that surprising.

Michigan State hasn’t been known to be a real hot spot for potential one-and-done recruits, which Parker is.

Tom Izzo has spoken out in the past about his dislike for the one-and-done rule and his only notable one-and-done player was Zach Randolph, who didn’t exactly flourish in his single season with the Spartans, averaging 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds.

Izzo also isn’t known for being real lenient on his freshmen. He rides them, he challenges them and he also isn’t afraid to bench them for lengthy periods of time.

That isn’t to say Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t do much of the same, but he has had a better track record with one-and-done players as of late, including Kyrie Irving and Austin Rivers.

Izzo seems to embrace the challenge of developing players over a number of years. He has produced a number of talented stars that have translated to the NBA, but many have stayed at least three years in the program.

You also can’t forget that Duke is Duke. No matter what Michigan State has accomplished under Izzo, the Blue Devils still are largely considered the top program in the nation and have been for more than two decades.

It will be interesting to see how Michigan State bounces back from this recruiting loss. The Spartans weren’t able to make certain moves or get commitments from other players as they awaited Parker’s decision. It was a risk vs. reward situation, and the Spartans came out on the wrong end.