1. Colson Dinner Pt. 2
Just after arriving in Nashville on Friday afternoon, I had an opportunity to have another dinner with the family of Rivals100 Michigan linebacker commit Junior Colson. As you guys know, I'm close to the Colson family, and it was great to sit down and meet with them again. I know my job is reporting on recruits, but some of these kids and their families become my extended family because I feel like I do so much more than just surface level interviews over the phone. I really take the time to try to get to know prospects and their parents. Colson's mother, Melanie, and father, Steve, are some of the best people you'll ever meet, and I encourage you to read this lengthy profile I did on the Colson family when they committed. They fed me some Nashville BBQ, which I was happy about because I can't find any good BBQ in Chicago, and I got to spend some time with the family cats — they have three of them! Like me, Junior has a tortoiseshell cat. Her name is Jersey, and she gets my vote to be the class mascot.
2. Getting In The Game
There isn't a uniform policy for getting into high school games. Most of the time it's a bit of a circus. I emailed the Ravenwood AD before the game, and he told me I would be on a media list but added that there would be tightened security because it was an ESPN game. I've done a few ESPN games in the past, and they were a pain, so I made sure to get there early. There was an open gate that I tried to go through, but a lady shut it on me. She asked if I was with ESPN because I had a camera, and I said yes, so I got in. But... while I was on the field, I realized I left my memory card in the car, so I had to run back out to get it. This time around, I went through the proper gate. Nobody had a media list, so the security guard just let me in. I guess it was easier than last week when I was mistaken for a referee.
3. Pregame
The atmosphere before the game was great. People were so hyped up, and we had fans in the stands! The Ravenwood student section was packed, and they brought great energy throughout the night. Of the few games I've been to this year, this one actually felt normal. I spotted JJ McCarthy and ran over to get some shots of him. He nodded but mostly ignored me because he was so dialed in. Junior was nowhere to be found, which I thought was odd. Closer to kickoff, I saw him on the trainer's table. He was getting some tape and an extra look. Junior actually suffered a shoulder injury a few weeks ago, but it was very minor. Ravenwood was just being cautious. After the coin toss, JJ came running over to me and gave me a hug. I told him good luck. It was like seeing a little brother. I miss having him here in Chicago.
4. The Game
The game was like a blur. It took forever because of all the TV timeouts. But it went by so fast on the field. I was trying to do my best to get video of JJ and Junior for you guys — I know some of y'all might not have ESPNU. I don't because I just found out that Sling is screwing people over with their packages. Anyway, I also wanted to do my best to watch Greg Crippen because I've been pretty critical of him on the site. Elite 2022 offensive tackle Tyler Booker is such an important target, so I knew I had to watch him too. I got a few texts that I got a lot of TV time because I was legit doing laps around the field trying to get the best angle to video and watch. Crippen was especially tough to keep tabs on in the interior of the line. My calves are still sore from jogging. Overall, it was a blowout, but Junior was terrific, and JJ flashed. I was just excited to see two of my favorite recruits in the class play against each other.
5. Junior
I gave my in-depth thoughts on Junior and the rest of the recruits in the game in this piece. But I do want to highlight Junior. As much as I love JJ, I'm fully onboard with Junior being the best commit in this class. He's such a safe pick to pan out. Again, Ravenwood was being a bit cautious with him because of his shoulder, but those that watched on TV saw the ability and versatility. Colson was a plus in pass coverage, got after JJ when asked to and recorded a number of tackles in the open field. He is so gifted athletically and has tremendous speed for his size. He is going to be fun to watch in Don Brown's attacking defense, and I think it's going to be hard to keep him off the field early. Keep in mind that Junior is an early enrollee.
6. No Interviews, Please
I've only been no interviewed by a recruit a couple of times. One time Kyler Murray told me to go kick rocks when I was just a cub reporter. I loved watching Kyler play and still do in the NFL, but man, he was not media friendly. It's been a long time since that happened. On Saturday night, I officially got the stiff arm from Greg Crippen. He swiftly said 'I have to get on the bus' and refused to do an interview with me and another reporter that wanted to talk to him. He also refused to take the picture with the Michigan flag with JJ and Junior, so for those that follow me on Twitter, stop asking and stop saying that I'm not showing Crippen love. Look, Crippen doesn't owe me a damn thing and neither did Kyler. If recruits don't want to do interviews then I respect their decisions. I mean, it would be cool if they did and it's a little frustrating. But some guys just hate media.
7. Interviews
I ended the night with one interview lol. IMG rushed off the field, and the coaches were yelling at them to get to the locker room. An IMG PR guy told me I need to get them after they came out of the locker room and said I needed to go through him. I talked to him earlier, and he called Mike Farrell to make sure I was legit, which I thought was weird. Like why are you so skeptical? Anyway, I disobeyed and got my top priority on the list — Tyler Booker. He told me to talk and walk with him, so I did. I rushed back to find Junior because Melanie wanted me to get the aforementioned picture of him, JJ and Crippen with the flag. We had talked about it at dinner, and she and Steve had talked to JJ's father, Jim, about doing it earlier that day. Junior hung around for like 45 minutes and walked to the away locker room, where we met with JJ after Crippen had given us the cold shoulder. It was pitch dark, so I had them go inside the building for the pic. We had to rush it because the IMG buses were completely loaded up. That's because a guy from TOS decided to do a video interview with JJ forever. Even Jim tried to interrupt it lol. The guy from TOS also followed us into the building and got his own pic... smh. Junior's brother, Josh, joked that he should have boxed him out, and Melanie, and I had a laugh about it. By the way, I told Jim I had just talked to JJ so not to worry about me. And I told Junior he should probably get to his locker room and that I see him all the time. There is no need to overbear kids with interviews.
8. Competition
I was mean and bombed the video interview the guy from TOS was doing with Junior, so maybe he was trying to get revenge lol. Seriously, I'm glad the competition is getting on the road more often. I even saw TOS made it out of the Midwest recently. That's great for the kids. The reason I'm so critical of people in our industry is because they don't get out and see the prospects they rank and talk about. Everybody that does this for a living full-time should be out watching recruits. It's supposed to be fun, and I feel like I'm letting the kids down if I don't do that, and in turn letting you guys down by not giving my best effort. If others don't feel the same way, I feel like they should go find a new career. Even Steve made the comment that he thought he would see TOS' national guys more often because they are headquartered in Nashville. The Michigan guy should not be seeing more kids than those in charge of rankings.. By the way, I like having competition. It pushes me to be better and our site as a whole to be better. I hope TOS keeps getting out on the road. Again, I'm all about the kids, and they deserve the coverage and proper evaluations. It's all love.
9. Parent Lunch
Before having dinner with me, Melanie and Steve had lunch with JJ's parents and Greg's parents. From talking to Melanie and Steve, it seems like the parents in this class are really getting along and forming a bond. A lot of them haven't met each other yet, so I know Melanie and Steve were thrilled about IMG making its way to Nashville. I actually spoke to Jim a few weeks ago, and he was super pumped about making the trip from Chicago to Nashville as well. He's the one that actually gave me the heads up that the game was in the works. Jim is trying to get everyone to Ann Arbor on Oct. 31 as I reported last week, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. A lot of the commits will be playing that weekend, and the parents are now aiming for Nov. 14. Melanie and Steve expressed their disappointment with the dead period, which was a big topic of conversation during our dinner. And I know a lot of parents feel the same way. They want at least one weekend to get to know each other in real life and have an official visit vibe.
10. Matty D
I've talked to a lot of parents over the last couple of weeks. From Melanie and Steve to Jim to Michael Hansen to Mark Martin and more. All have mentioned Michigan Director of Recruiting Matty Dudek during our conversations. Dudek got a lot of flak early in the cycle, but he's been a shining star during the pandemic. He's been the go-to guy for parents behind-the-scenes and is constantly keeping them informed and answering their questions, including ones that are basically impossible to answer with everything going on. Dudek has also been instrumental in making sure all the kids are getting things turned in on time — applications, essays. etc. He's also set up a ton of recruiting calls for Jim Harbaugh and is making sure the Wolverines are being as innovative as possible during an era of virtual recruiting. He deserves a lot of praise.
Just after arriving in Nashville on Friday afternoon, I had an opportunity to have another dinner with the family of Rivals100 Michigan linebacker commit Junior Colson. As you guys know, I'm close to the Colson family, and it was great to sit down and meet with them again. I know my job is reporting on recruits, but some of these kids and their families become my extended family because I feel like I do so much more than just surface level interviews over the phone. I really take the time to try to get to know prospects and their parents. Colson's mother, Melanie, and father, Steve, are some of the best people you'll ever meet, and I encourage you to read this lengthy profile I did on the Colson family when they committed. They fed me some Nashville BBQ, which I was happy about because I can't find any good BBQ in Chicago, and I got to spend some time with the family cats — they have three of them! Like me, Junior has a tortoiseshell cat. Her name is Jersey, and she gets my vote to be the class mascot.
2. Getting In The Game
There isn't a uniform policy for getting into high school games. Most of the time it's a bit of a circus. I emailed the Ravenwood AD before the game, and he told me I would be on a media list but added that there would be tightened security because it was an ESPN game. I've done a few ESPN games in the past, and they were a pain, so I made sure to get there early. There was an open gate that I tried to go through, but a lady shut it on me. She asked if I was with ESPN because I had a camera, and I said yes, so I got in. But... while I was on the field, I realized I left my memory card in the car, so I had to run back out to get it. This time around, I went through the proper gate. Nobody had a media list, so the security guard just let me in. I guess it was easier than last week when I was mistaken for a referee.
3. Pregame
The atmosphere before the game was great. People were so hyped up, and we had fans in the stands! The Ravenwood student section was packed, and they brought great energy throughout the night. Of the few games I've been to this year, this one actually felt normal. I spotted JJ McCarthy and ran over to get some shots of him. He nodded but mostly ignored me because he was so dialed in. Junior was nowhere to be found, which I thought was odd. Closer to kickoff, I saw him on the trainer's table. He was getting some tape and an extra look. Junior actually suffered a shoulder injury a few weeks ago, but it was very minor. Ravenwood was just being cautious. After the coin toss, JJ came running over to me and gave me a hug. I told him good luck. It was like seeing a little brother. I miss having him here in Chicago.
4. The Game
The game was like a blur. It took forever because of all the TV timeouts. But it went by so fast on the field. I was trying to do my best to get video of JJ and Junior for you guys — I know some of y'all might not have ESPNU. I don't because I just found out that Sling is screwing people over with their packages. Anyway, I also wanted to do my best to watch Greg Crippen because I've been pretty critical of him on the site. Elite 2022 offensive tackle Tyler Booker is such an important target, so I knew I had to watch him too. I got a few texts that I got a lot of TV time because I was legit doing laps around the field trying to get the best angle to video and watch. Crippen was especially tough to keep tabs on in the interior of the line. My calves are still sore from jogging. Overall, it was a blowout, but Junior was terrific, and JJ flashed. I was just excited to see two of my favorite recruits in the class play against each other.
5. Junior
I gave my in-depth thoughts on Junior and the rest of the recruits in the game in this piece. But I do want to highlight Junior. As much as I love JJ, I'm fully onboard with Junior being the best commit in this class. He's such a safe pick to pan out. Again, Ravenwood was being a bit cautious with him because of his shoulder, but those that watched on TV saw the ability and versatility. Colson was a plus in pass coverage, got after JJ when asked to and recorded a number of tackles in the open field. He is so gifted athletically and has tremendous speed for his size. He is going to be fun to watch in Don Brown's attacking defense, and I think it's going to be hard to keep him off the field early. Keep in mind that Junior is an early enrollee.
6. No Interviews, Please
I've only been no interviewed by a recruit a couple of times. One time Kyler Murray told me to go kick rocks when I was just a cub reporter. I loved watching Kyler play and still do in the NFL, but man, he was not media friendly. It's been a long time since that happened. On Saturday night, I officially got the stiff arm from Greg Crippen. He swiftly said 'I have to get on the bus' and refused to do an interview with me and another reporter that wanted to talk to him. He also refused to take the picture with the Michigan flag with JJ and Junior, so for those that follow me on Twitter, stop asking and stop saying that I'm not showing Crippen love. Look, Crippen doesn't owe me a damn thing and neither did Kyler. If recruits don't want to do interviews then I respect their decisions. I mean, it would be cool if they did and it's a little frustrating. But some guys just hate media.
7. Interviews
I ended the night with one interview lol. IMG rushed off the field, and the coaches were yelling at them to get to the locker room. An IMG PR guy told me I need to get them after they came out of the locker room and said I needed to go through him. I talked to him earlier, and he called Mike Farrell to make sure I was legit, which I thought was weird. Like why are you so skeptical? Anyway, I disobeyed and got my top priority on the list — Tyler Booker. He told me to talk and walk with him, so I did. I rushed back to find Junior because Melanie wanted me to get the aforementioned picture of him, JJ and Crippen with the flag. We had talked about it at dinner, and she and Steve had talked to JJ's father, Jim, about doing it earlier that day. Junior hung around for like 45 minutes and walked to the away locker room, where we met with JJ after Crippen had given us the cold shoulder. It was pitch dark, so I had them go inside the building for the pic. We had to rush it because the IMG buses were completely loaded up. That's because a guy from TOS decided to do a video interview with JJ forever. Even Jim tried to interrupt it lol. The guy from TOS also followed us into the building and got his own pic... smh. Junior's brother, Josh, joked that he should have boxed him out, and Melanie, and I had a laugh about it. By the way, I told Jim I had just talked to JJ so not to worry about me. And I told Junior he should probably get to his locker room and that I see him all the time. There is no need to overbear kids with interviews.
8. Competition
I was mean and bombed the video interview the guy from TOS was doing with Junior, so maybe he was trying to get revenge lol. Seriously, I'm glad the competition is getting on the road more often. I even saw TOS made it out of the Midwest recently. That's great for the kids. The reason I'm so critical of people in our industry is because they don't get out and see the prospects they rank and talk about. Everybody that does this for a living full-time should be out watching recruits. It's supposed to be fun, and I feel like I'm letting the kids down if I don't do that, and in turn letting you guys down by not giving my best effort. If others don't feel the same way, I feel like they should go find a new career. Even Steve made the comment that he thought he would see TOS' national guys more often because they are headquartered in Nashville. The Michigan guy should not be seeing more kids than those in charge of rankings.. By the way, I like having competition. It pushes me to be better and our site as a whole to be better. I hope TOS keeps getting out on the road. Again, I'm all about the kids, and they deserve the coverage and proper evaluations. It's all love.
9. Parent Lunch
Before having dinner with me, Melanie and Steve had lunch with JJ's parents and Greg's parents. From talking to Melanie and Steve, it seems like the parents in this class are really getting along and forming a bond. A lot of them haven't met each other yet, so I know Melanie and Steve were thrilled about IMG making its way to Nashville. I actually spoke to Jim a few weeks ago, and he was super pumped about making the trip from Chicago to Nashville as well. He's the one that actually gave me the heads up that the game was in the works. Jim is trying to get everyone to Ann Arbor on Oct. 31 as I reported last week, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. A lot of the commits will be playing that weekend, and the parents are now aiming for Nov. 14. Melanie and Steve expressed their disappointment with the dead period, which was a big topic of conversation during our dinner. And I know a lot of parents feel the same way. They want at least one weekend to get to know each other in real life and have an official visit vibe.
10. Matty D
I've talked to a lot of parents over the last couple of weeks. From Melanie and Steve to Jim to Michael Hansen to Mark Martin and more. All have mentioned Michigan Director of Recruiting Matty Dudek during our conversations. Dudek got a lot of flak early in the cycle, but he's been a shining star during the pandemic. He's been the go-to guy for parents behind-the-scenes and is constantly keeping them informed and answering their questions, including ones that are basically impossible to answer with everything going on. Dudek has also been instrumental in making sure all the kids are getting things turned in on time — applications, essays. etc. He's also set up a ton of recruiting calls for Jim Harbaugh and is making sure the Wolverines are being as innovative as possible during an era of virtual recruiting. He deserves a lot of praise.